Henry Sussman (born 1947 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania) is an American

literary scholar A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

who was a visiting professor of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. His research interests focus on European-American 19th and 20th-century comparative literary studies, contemporary system theories, and

critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...

. He is the author of several books, including The Aesthetic Contract: Statutes of Art and Intellectual Work in Modernity (1997).

Life and career

Before completing a master's degree at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, Sussman studied

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and

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

. Sussman earned his PhD at Johns Hopkins University in

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

in 1975. Sussman was a professor of Comparative Literature at the

University of Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

(SUNY Buffalo), where he served as the department chair and Associate Dean of Arts & Letters. From 2002 until his retirement in 2017, he served as a visiting professor at

. In 2015, Susmann was the Charlotte M. Craig Distinguished Visiting professor of German at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

. He has held fellowships at the Center for Excellence Morphomata (

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

) (2010–2011), the NEH Humanities (2001–2002), and the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

(1985–1986). He was a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

for his work the Aesthetic Contract (1994). Since 1988, he has been part of the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.

Selected works

*''Playful Intelligence: Digitizing Tradition'' (London & New York: Bloomsbury, 2014). *''Around the Book: Systems and Literacy'' (New York: Fordham University Press, 2011). *''Idylls of the Wanderer: Outside in Literature and Theory'' (New York: Fordham University Press, 2007). ssays on the Zohar, Nietzsche, Joyce, Benjamin, Kafka, Schulz, Faulkner, Baldwin *''The Task of the Critic: Poetics, Philosophy, and Religion'' (New York: Fordham University Press, 2005). *'' The Aesthetic Contract: Statutes of Art and Intellectual Work in Modernity'' (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997). *''Psyche and Text: The Sublime and the Grandiose in Literature, Psychopathology, and Culture'' (Albany: SUNY Press, 1993). *''Kafka's Unholy Trinity: The Trial, Twayne's Masterworks Series'' (New York: Macmillan, 1993). Afterimages of *''Modernity: Structure and Indifference in Twentieth-Century Literature'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990). *''High Resolution: Critical Theory and the Problem of Literacy'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). *''The Hegelian Aftermath: Essays on Hegel, Kierkegaard, Freud, Proust, and James'' (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982). *''Franz Kafka: Geometrician of Metaphor'' (Madison: Coda Press, Inc., 1979).

References

External links

Henry Sussman
at Yale Department of German language and literature {{DEFAULTSORT:Sussman, Henry 1947 births Brandeis University alumni American academics of German literature Johns Hopkins University alumni Living people University at Buffalo faculty Yale University Department of German faculty