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. She is publishing a critical edition of Rahel Levin Varnhagen’s letters and notebooks in ten volumes; together with Anne Eusterschulte, Eva Geulen, Patchen Markell, Annette Vowinkel, and Thomas Wild she is the editor-in-chief of a complete edition of Hannah Arendt’s work (digital and print). Hahn received funding for her work by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von 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):
Margarete Susman. Gesammelte Schriften. Five volumes, ed. together with Anke Gilleir, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2022.
Rahel Levin Varnhagen. Briefwechsel mit Jugendfreundinnen, ed., Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2021. Second printing 2021.
Rahel. Ein Buch des Andenkens für ihre Freunde. Nach dem Manuskript der Sammlung Varnhagen. Six volumes. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2011. Second printing: 2011.
Hannah Arendt. Complete Critical Edition. Print and digital: https://hannah-arendt-edition.net/index.html.
Rahel Varnhagen. Lebensgeschichte einer deutschen Jüdin. The Life of a Jewish Woman, ed., Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2021.
Sechs Essays. Die verborgene Tradition, ed., Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2019. Second and third printing 2019, fourth printing 2025.
The Modern Challenge to Tradition. Fragmente eines Buchs, ed. together with James McFarland, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2018. Second and third printing 2019, fourth and corrected printing 2025.