School of Liberal Arts

Education

• PhD, German Literature New York University 2012
• MA, German Literature, History, and English Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg 2006
• Visiting Graduate Student University of Michigan 2003-2004

Biography

Thorsten Carstensen received his Ph.D. in German Literature from New York University in 2012. Prior to that, he studied at the University of Freiburg, Germany, where he graduated with an M.A. (2006). At IUPUI, he teaches German literature, film, intellectual history, and language. In his work as a teacher and scholar, he reflects on theories and critiques of modernity.

Thorsten Carstensen has particular research interests in German and Austrian literature since the late 19th century. His book, Romanisches Erzählen: Peter Handke und die epische Tradition, published by Wallstein Verlag in 2013, explored the Austrian writer's ekphrastic depictions of Romanesque architecture and sculpture. Other publications include co-edited volumes, book chapters, and articles on German literature and the life reform movements around 1900, modernist literature and everyday life, travel writing, and the modern novel. Thorsten is also the co-editor of the first unabridged English translation of Hans Fallada's novel Wolf Among Wolves.

Thorsten Carstensen's current book project explores the many connections between German-language literature and architecture since 1870. During the academic year 2019/20, he will be on leave, conducting research on Austrian architectural history as a Franz Werfel Fellow at the University of Vienna.

His other interests include translation, biking, and Bruce Springsteen.

Academic interests

• 19th- and 20th-century German Literature
• Literature and Architecture
• Exile and Literature
• Travel Literature
• German Literature and the "Lebensreform" movements

Teaching

Spring 2017:

• G 370/G371: German Cinema / Der deutsche Film
• G 408: Love and Nature in the Age of Romanticism

Awards

• Franz Werfel Fellowship (OeAD), University of Vienna, 2019
• OVPIA Short-Term Faculty Exchange (IU), Hamburg University, 2016
• Trustees Teaching Award (IUPUI), 2016
• Shipps Faculty Award (IUPUI), 2014, 2015, 2016
• School of Liberal Arts Summer Research Grant (IUPUI), 2013 and 2016
• Arts and Humanities Internal Grant (IUPUI), 2013
• New Frontiers Exploratory Travel Fellowship, Indiana University, 2013
• Dean's Dissertation Fellowship, New York University (2012, declined)
• GSAS Predoctoral Summer Fellowship, New York University, 2008 and 2009
• Henry M. MacCracken Fellowship, New York University (2007 - 2012)
• DAAD travel fellowship, 2005
• Max Kade Fellowship, University of Michigan (2003/2004)
• Baden-Württemberg travel fellowship, 2003
• Fulbright Scholarship, University of Michigan (2003/2004)

Publications

Monograph:

Romanisches Erzählen. Peter Handke und die epische Tradition. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2013.

Edited Volumes:

Die tägliche Schrift. Peter Handke als Leser. Bielefeld: transcript, in press.

Das Abenteuer des Gewöhnlichen. Alltag in der deutschsprachigen Literatur der Moderne. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2018 (co-edited with Mattias Pirholt).

Die Literatur der Lebensreform. Kulturkritik und Aufbruchstimmung um 1900. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2016 (co-edited with Marcel Schmid).

Journal articles and book chapters (selected):

“Lebensreformen: Praktiker/innen der Idylle,” in: Jan Gerstner/Jakob C. Heller/Christian Schmitt (eds.), Handbuch Idylle. Traditionen – Verfahren – Theorien. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, forthcoming in 2019.

“Colliding Worlds. The Disintegration of America in the Cinema of the Coen Brothers,” in: Journal of American Studies, 53:2 (2019): 333-352.

“Felsfenster, Ränderlandschaften, verbaute Natur. Wohn- und Architekturdiskurse bei Peter Handke,” in: Attila Bombitz/Katharina Pektor (eds.), “Das Wort sei gewagt”. Ein Symposium zum Werk von Peter Handke. Wien: Praesens, 2019: 40-59.

“Plaudereien über den Alltag: Theodor Fontanes Roman Die Poggenpuhls an der Schwelle zur Moderne,” in: Thorsten Carstensen/Mattias Pirholt (eds.), Das Abenteuer des Gewöhnlichen. Alltag in der deutschsprachigen Literatur der Moderne.Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 2018: 45–60.

“Peter Handke und die Romanik,” in: Katharina Pektor (ed.), Peter Handke. Dauerausstellung Stift Griffen. Salzburg/Wien: Jung und Jung, 2017.

“Skepticism and Responsibility. Paul Auster's The Book of Illusions,” in: Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 58:4 (2017).

“Kulturlandschaft im Dschungel. Ernst Jünger auf Ceylon,” in: Michaela Holdenried/Alexander Honold/Stefan Hermes (eds.), Reiseliteratur der Moderne und Postmoderne. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2017.

“Auffrischungen für Leib und Seele. Der lebensreformerische Diskurs im Kunstwart,” in: Carstensen/Schmid (eds.), Die Literatur der Lebensreform. Aufbruchstimmung und Kulturkritik um 1900.

“Keine Spuren hinterlassen. Bauen, Wohnen und Erben bei Thomas Bernhard,” in: Gegenwartsliteratur. A German Studies Yearbook, 13 (2014).

“Die Geschichte zwischen Mann und Frau. Peter Handke und die Liebe,” in: Gegenwartsliteratur. A German Studies Yearbook, 12 (2013).

“Der Welt nachlauschen. Peter Handkes Poetik des Hörens,” in: Entwürfe. Zeitschrift für Literatur, 67 (2011).

“Herr seiner Zeit. Peter Handkes Don Juan und das heilsame Abenteuer des Erzählens,” in: Zeitschrift für Deutsche Philologie, 02/2009.

“Zwischen Rekonstruktion und Dekonstruktion. Hermann Brochs Roman Die Schlafwandler am Ausgang der Moderne,” in: Seminar – A Journal of German Studies, 46:1 (2010).

“Shattering the Word-Mirror in Elizabeth Costello: J.M. Coetzee's Deconstructive Experiment", in: The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 42:1 (2007).

Service

Book reviews in journals such as Monatshefte, German Quarterly, Journal of Austrian Literature, and Literaturkritik.de.