Newcastle University

Background

I started my academic career as an undergraduate at the University of St Andrews. In the course of my degree in German Language and Literature I spent a year as an assistant teacher at a school in Hamburg and then a semester as an exchange student at Erlangen University. The year after I graduated I went back to Erlangen to work as a Lektorin for English in the Sprachenzentrum. After this I returned to Scotland, this time to Edinburgh University as a doctoral student. From there I moved down the East coast in 1978 to take up a post as lecturer in German. I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1998 and appointed to the Headship of the School of Modern Languages in 2004.

Roles and Responsibilities

Head of School

Director of the North East Routes into Languages Consortium

Director of the Teacher Development Agency funded German Extension Course

Representative for Germanic Studies on the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML)

Qualifications

1974      University of St Andrews: MA in German Language and 
                Literature
1986      University of Edinburgh: PhD in Middle High German Literature

Memberships

Association of German Studies; Women in German Studies; International Arthurian Society; Interantional Courtly Literature Society; Wolfram von Eschenbach Gesellschaft; Oswald von Wolkenstein Gesellschaft

Languages

German, French, Danish 

Research Interests

I work on German medieval literature, particularly mystical and visionary writing. Other interests are in the intertextuality and narrative structures of Arthurian romance, the articulation of voices and identity in women's writing and the influence of the hagiographical on secular subjects in vernacular writing.

Current Work

At the moment I am working on a BA funded project on the development of "mystical culture" from the 13th through to the 15th century in Northern Germany. This will result in a volume entitled 'Companion to Northern German Mysticism' commissioned by Brill ( Leiden) which I am editing together  with my colleague Henrike Lähnemann.

Within the context of the 'Northern German Mysticism' project, I am exploring  the impact that the translation of Birgitta of Sweden's  'Revelationes'  into Low German had on art and literature from  the  14th through  to the  early 16th century. I am particularly interested in the circulation of this translation in northern Germany and Scandinavia by the publishing houses of  Lübeck as  the centre of the Hanse.

Future Research

I  wish to investigate more generally  the circulation of Latin and Low German devotional texts by the publishing houses of  Lübeck through the mercantile channels of the Hanseatic League and their reception within Northern Germany and Scandinavia.

Funding

2001 BA conference grant (17th.  meeting of the Anglo-German Colloquium) 

2010 BA Small Grant Award  (Northern German Mysticism project)

2011 DAAD Study Grant (research in Münster)

Undergraduate Teaching

I teach courses on literature and film. My literature courses reflect my research interests in Middle High German literature, while my teaching in film focuses on the beginnings of the German cinema in the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the propagandistic use of film during the Third Reich (1933-1945).

 As Head of School the time I have for teaching is restricted. I normally teach on the following modules:  

SML1018 Texts and Contexts
GER4001 German Cinema to 1945: Weimar Republic and Third Reich

However, in 2011/12 I shall be on research leave in Semester 1. 

Postgraduate Teaching

I am eager to supervise students working on topics that fall within my research interests (12th and 13th century courtly literature, in particular the Arthurian romance; female spirituality in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; the 'Schwankroman'; Northern German literature in the late Middle Ages).

• Andersen EA. Birgitta of Sweden: Translation, Transmission and Reception in Northern Germany . In: Andersen, EA; Laehnemann, H; Simon, A, ed. Companion to Northern German Mysticism and Devotion in the Late Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 2013. In Press.
• Andersen E, Laehnemann H, ed. Companion to Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany in the Late Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 2013. In Press.
• Andersen E. Introduction: Mysticism and Devotion in Northern Germany. In: Andersen, E; Laehnemann, H; Simon, A, ed. Companion to Northern German Mysticism and Devotion in the Late Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 2013. In Press.
• Andersen EA. Religious Devotion and Business: the Pre-Reformation Enterprise of the Luebeck Presses. In: Scheepers, K; Polzer, M; Mertens, T; Prochowski, D, ed. 1517-1545: ‘The Northern Experience’. Mysticism, Art and Devotion between Late Medieval and Early Modern. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2013. In Press.
• Andersen E, Bauschke-Hartung R, McLelland N, Reuvekamp S, ed. Stil. Mittelalterkliche Literatur zwischen Konvention und Innovation. Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 2013. In Preparation.
• Andersen E. Die Norm des Komischen im Pfaffen Amis. In: Bruggen, E; Holznagel, F-J; Coxon, S; Suerbaum, A, ed. Text und Normativität im deutschen Mittelalter : XX. Anglo-German Colloquium. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2012, pp.321-332.
• Andersen E, O'Rourke R. Student Ambassadors for Languages in the UK Context. In: Plews, J., Schmenk, B, ed. Traditions and Transitions: German Curricula. Waterloo, Ontario, USA: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2012. In Press.
• Andersen E. Das Kind sehen: Die Visualisierung der Geburt Christi in Mystik und Meditation. In: Bauschke-Hartung, R., Coxon, S., Jones, M, ed. Sehen und Sichtbarkeit. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2011, pp.290-310.
• Andersen E. Das Heilige des Artus-, Minne- und Gralshelden im Prosa-Lancelot. In: Ridder, K., Huber, C, ed. Lancelot: Der mittelhochdeutsche Roman im europäischen Kontext. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 2007, pp.193-209.
• Andersen E, Eikelmann M, Simon A. Texttyp und Textproduktion in der deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2006.
• Andersen E. Rudolf von Ems. In: Hasty, W, ed. German Literature of the High Middle Ages. Elizabethtown NY: Camden House. An imprint of Biydell & Brewer Ltd, 2005, pp.225-234.
• Andersen E. >Das Fließende Licht der Gottheit< und der Psalter: Dialogische Beziehungen. In: Henkel, N., Jones, M.H., Palmer, N, ed. Dialoge: Sprachliche Kommunikation in und zwischen Texten im deutschen Mittelalter : Hamburger Colloquium 1999. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2003, pp.225-238.
• Andersen E. Mechthild of Magdeburg: Selections from 'The Flowing Light of the Godhead'. Woodbridge: D.S. Brewer, 2003.
• Andersen EA (trans.). Mechthild von Magdeburg. Translation of Selected Passages with an Introduction, Interpretative Essays and a Select Bibliography. Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2003.
• Andersen E. Time as a compositional element in Herzog Ernst (B). In: Jones, W.J., Kelly, W.A., Shaw, F, ed. 'Vir ingenio mirandus': Studies presented to John L. Flood. Göppingen: Kümmerle, 2003, pp.3-22.
• Andersen E. Continuation and Innovation in Narrative Literature of the Thirteenth Century. In: Gentry, F.G, ed. A Companion to Middle High German Literature. Leiden: Brill, 2002, pp.431-74.
• Andersen EA. The great heart of the narrative. Studies in narration and interdiscursivity in the 'Prosa Lancelot'. Modern Language Review 2002, 97(3), 757-759.
• Andersen EA. The Reception of Prose: The Prosa-Lancelot. In: Jackson, W.H., Ranawake, S.A, ed. The Arthur of the Germans: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval German and Dutch Literature. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000, pp.155-165.
• Andersen EA. The Voices of Mechthild of Magdeburg. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2000.
• Andersen E, Haustein J, Simon A, Strohschneider P (eds.). Autor und Autorschaft im Mittelalter. Kolloquium Meissen 1995. In: Anglo-German Colloquium. 1995, Meissen: Niemeyer, Tuebingen.
• Andersen E. Brothers and Cousins in the German Prose Lancelot. Forum for Modern Language Studies 1990, 26(2), 144-159.
• Andersen E. Heinrich von dem Tuerlin's Diu Crone and the Prose Lancelot: An Intertextual Study. Arthurian Literature 1987, 7, 23-49.
• Andersen E. Vaeter und Soehne im Prosa-Lancelot. Wolfram-Studien 1986, 9, 213-227.