Dr Elystan Griffiths MA (Cantab), PhD, SFHEA

Photograph of Dr Elystan Griffiths

Department of Modern Languages
Reader in Modern Languages

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6178
Email
e.griffiths@bham.ac.uk
Address
Room 207, Ashley Building
University 麻豆精选
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

My research interests focus on the relationship between social and political inequalities and German culture in the period between 1750 and 1850. I have a particular interest in outsider figures, and above all the work of J.M.R. Lenz and Heinrich von Kleist. I have recently published a monograph on German-language pastoral writing, and am currently working on projects on the relationship between obedience and agency in German culture and on the Sturm und Drang. I teach widely across the curriculum in Modern Languages, including  language, literature and cinema.

Qualifications

  • MA (Cantab) in Modern and Medieval Languages
  • PhD in German Studies
  • PG Cert HE, University 麻豆精选

Biography

I grew up in Cardiff and attended a comprehensive school. I went on to study Modern Languages (German and French) at Robinson College, Cambridge and completed my doctorate on Heinrich von Kleist's thought on politics, law and military matters under the supervision of Professor Michael Perraudin. Following two postdoctoral posts I joined the University 麻豆精选 as a Lecturer in 2005. From 2019 to 2024 I was Deputy Director of Education of the College of Arts and Law.

Teaching

Within the Department, I teach German language, literature, history and film, and I contribute to modules on European film. I also teach a final-year option on German-Language Cinema since 1960.

Postgraduate supervision

My main research interests are in German literature of the period 1750-1850, with a particular interest in how social and political tensions manifest themselves in German culture. I have also supervised doctoral work on German-language cinema and have a particular interest in contemporary German and Austrian film. I am currently supervising a number of PhD projects, on German-language writing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. If you have a project in mind, please do get in touch.

Find out more - our PhD German Studies  page has information about doctoral research at the University 麻豆精选.

Research

My research is focused on German culture and society from 1750 to 1850. I am the author of books on Heinrich von Kleist's politics (2005), and on German-language pastoral from 1750 to 1850 (2020). Along with David Hill, I edited the first edition of J.M.R. Lenz's writings on social and military reform (the so-called 'Berkaer Projekt') (2007). Along with Martin Wagner, Calgary I am currently working on a book for Toronto University Press dealing with conceptualisations of obedience in the period from 1750-1850. I am also working with Se谩n Allan (St. Andrews) on a second project on Heinrich von Kleist's journalism and letters. I am also in the early stages of the project that aims to position the German Sturm und Drang movement in transnational contexts.聽

I am currently co-editor of聽German Life and Letters (Wiley),聽the UK's oldest journal in German Studies. From 2025, I will be co-editor of the Lenz-Jahrbuch, published by Wehrhahn-Verlag. Do get in touch if you would like to discuss potential publications.

Other activities

I am a trustee of Yardley Educational Foundation.

Publications

Highlight publications

Griffiths, E 2020, . Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture, Boydell and Brewer, Rochester NY.

Hill, D, Griffiths, E & Tommek, H 2007, . Historical-Critical Works on German Literature, vol. 42, Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main.

Griffiths, E 2004, . Camden House, Rochester, NY.

Griffiths, E & Wagner, M (eds) 2021, '', Oxford German Studies, vol. 50, no. 3. <>

Griffiths, E & Wagner, M (eds) 2020, '', Seminar A Journal of Germanic Studies, vol. 56, no. 2. <>

Recent publications

Article

Griffiths, E 2023, '', German Life and Letters, vol. 76, no. 1, pp. 21-42.

Wagner, M & Griffiths, E 2021, '', Oxford German Studies, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 269-284.

Griffiths, E & Wagner, M 2020, '', Seminar A Journal of Germanic Studies, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 85-91. <>

Griffiths, E 2020, '', German Life and Letters, vol. 73, no. 2, pp. 161-211.

Griffiths, E 2014, '', Publications of the English Goethe Society, vol. 83, pp. 22-36. ,

Griffiths, E 2014, '', Forum for Modern Language Studies, vol. 50, pp. 82-96.

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Griffiths, E 2021, . in S Allan & J High (eds), Inspiration Bonaparte? : German Culture and Napoleonic Occupation. Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture, Camden House.

Griffiths, E & Hill, D 2016, . in J Freytag, H-G Winter & I Stephan (eds), J. M. R. Lenz Handbuch. De Gruyter Reference, De Gruyter, pp. 257-267.

Griffiths, E 2015, . in C Zelle, A L眉tteken & W de Bruyn (eds), Kleist in der Schweiz - Kleist und die Schweiz. Wehrhahn, Hanover. <>

Book/Film/Article review

Griffiths, E 2023, '', Arcadia, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 279-283.

Griffiths, E 2015, '', Modern Language Review, vol. 110, pp. 285-87.

Griffiths, E 2015, '', Modern Language Review, vol. 110, pp. 284-85.

Griffiths, E 2014, '', Journal of European Studies, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 445-46.

Griffiths, E 2013, '', The German Quarterly, vol. 86, no. 2, pp. 222-223.

Griffiths, E 2013, '', Monatshefte, vol. 103, pp. 142-144.

Expertise

German literature, 1770-1815; contemporary German film

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