Barbara Hahn
Professor of German Studies, Emerita
Max Kade Foundation Chair in German Studies, Emerita
Hahn’s interests focus on late eighteenth-century to early twenty-first-century German literature, culture, and philosophy. She is working on two books, one on Hannah Arendt’s writing between languages and cultures, the other one on love and friendship. Together with Ursula Isselstein, she is publishing a critical edition of Rahel Levin Varnhagen’s letters and notebooks; together with Hermann Kappelhoff, Patchen Markell, Ingeborg Nordmann, and Thomas Wild she is the editor-in-chief of a complete edition of Hannah Arendt’s work (digital and print). She received funding for her work by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Hamburger Stiftung für Wissenschaft und Kultur and was awarded fellowships by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2008/2009) and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2014/15)
Specializations
German literature and culture, 18th to 21 century: German-Jewish literature; intellectual history
Representative Publications
Books
Endlose Nacht. Träume im Jahrhundert der Gewalt. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2016.
“Von den Dichtern erwarten wir Wahrheit.” Hannah Arendts Literaturen. Berlin: Matthes und Seitz, 2007. Co-authored with Marie Luise Knott.
Hannah Arendt: Leidenschaften, Menschen und Bücher. Berlin: Berlin Verlag, 2005. Paperback edition, Berlin: Berlin Verlag, 2007.
Die Jüdin Pallas Athene. Auch eine Theorie der Moderne. Berlin: Berlin Verlag, 2002. Paperback edition, 2005. The Jewess Pallas Athena. This Too a Theory of Modernity. English translation by James McFarland. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005.
Unter falschem Namen. Von der schwierigen Autorschaft der Frauen. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, 1991.
“Antworten Sie mir”. Rahel Levin Varnhagens Briefwechsel. Frankfurt/Main: Stroemfeld/Roter Stern, 1990.
Edited Books (selection):
The Art of Dreams: Representations and Reflections (with Meike Werner). Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016.
Charlotte Beradt. Das Dritte Reich des Traums, annotated edition. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2016.
Begegnungen mit Rahel Levin Varnhagen. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2015.
Denk- und Schreibweisen einer Intellektuellen im 20. Jahrhundert: Über Ricarda Huch, editor (with Gesa Dane). Göttingen: Wallstein, 2012.
Grenzgänge zwischen Dichtung, Philosophie und Kulturkritik: Über Margarete Susman, editor (with Anke Gilleir). Göttingen: Wallstein, 2012.