Wolfgang Ertl, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

Wolfgang Ertl CV Selected Publications

Wolfgang Ertl's scholarly interests focus on 20th and 21st century German literature and culture, with emphasis on GDR and postunification literature and German lyric poetry. His research and teaching interests also extend to 19th century German literature and interdisciplinary studies in literature and ecology. He is furthermore engaged in studies in art history and has been exhibiting his paintings in oil, pastel, and acrylics since 2007 in various juried shows in New England (https://www.wolfgangertlart.com).

Prof. Ertl has published five books on various writers and aspects of East German and postunification literature. His recent articles deal with diaristic and autobiographical prose by East German writers since the collapse of the GDR, the issue of GDR and the new German identity, humor and satire in postunification texts, environmental issues, and the theme of childhood in contemporary German literature. He is co-editor of Glossen, a peer reviewed scholarly journal on literature and art in the German speaking countries after 1945 (founded in 1997).

Professional Affiliations

Recent Courses

  • 13:111 - Nineteenth-Century German Literature (Fall 1998)
  • 13:112 - Twentieth-Century German Literature (Spring 2004)
  • 13:141 - Introduction to German Poetry (Spring 2006)
  • 13:198 - Undergraduate Special Topics: Green Issues in Contemporary German Literature (Spring 2004)
  • 13:295 - German Literature from Naturalism to Expressionism (Spring 2006)
  • 13:396 - Seminar in German Literature of the 20th Century: Ostdeutsche Autoren vor und nach der Wende  (Fall 2002)
  • Einführung in die deutsche Lyrik (Universität Freiburg, AYF Winter Semester 2000/2001 and 2004/2005)
Research areas
  • German
Wolfgang Ertl, Ph.D.
wolfgang-ertl@uiowa.edu