CURRICULUM VITAE
Cecilia Novero
The Penn State University
Department of German and Russian and
Department of Comparative Literature– 311 Burrowes
University Park, PA 16802 (USA)
cin1@psu.edu
POSTS
HELD:
The
Penn State University:
Assistant
Professor of German and Comparative Literature (July 2002 to date)
Assistant
Professor of German (2000-to date)
Affiliated
Faculty in Women’s Studies (since 2004)
Vassar
College:
Visiting
Assistant Professor (1998-2000)
University of Michigan:
Teaching Post-Doc: one-year appointment
(1997-1998)
EDUCATION
University of Chicago:
PhD: June
2000, Department of Germanic Studies
University
of Turin, Italy:
M.A.1989
in German Literature. Thesis: Sarah Kirsch: Poetry and Prose
Director: Prof. Anna
Chiarloni
(Minor in
Russian Literature and Language)
BOOK-MANUSCRIPT:
My
book-manuscript, entitled From Futurist Fast Food to Eat Art, is a
cross-disciplinary analysis of the interrelationships in 20th
century Europe among Avant-garde art and literature, consumption
& consumerism, and Critical Theory. More specifically, I argue that the
scholarship on the Avant-garde –whether in literature or art—has
neglected the important function played by food within
it – food used, in various works, both metaphorically and materially, i.e.,
as the material of art. The study brings together three intellectual
currents: the visual arts (studies
of the Avant-garde and performance arts in particular, for example Peter
Bürger, Rosalind Krauss, and Hal Foster); philosophical approaches to food consumption
(as in the work of Allen Weiss and Michel Onfray); and critical theory in a
broad sense (from Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, via Roland Barthes, to
Gilles Deleuze). The book is currently under contract with The University of
Minnesota Press
ACADEMIC
HONORS:
Penn
State University -- Institute for the Arts and Humanities
Resident Fellowship awarded for
Spring 2004
Columbia
University—Reid Hall in Paris c/o Maison des Sciences de l’Homme
Resident
Fellowship awarded for Fall 2003 (declined)
Cornell
University (German Cultural Institute—DAAD)
Summer
Workshop on Critical Theory (Peter U. Hohendahl)
Penn
State University
Global Funds
Support
for Participation in International Professional Event (350$)
RGSO (Research and Graduate Studies Office)
Faculty
Research Grant (2001) (5,000 $)
Vassar
College
Summer
Research Grant (1999): Funds for article “Sleeping Beauty” See Publications
University
of Chicago
Stuart
Tave Fellow (Spring 1996)
Gamer
Fellowship (1990-1994)
Berlin
Humboldt University (GDR)
Research
Fellowship (1986-1987)
PUBLICATIONS:
FOOD
RELATED ARTICLES AND REVIEWS:
“Class
and Gender Anxieties in Weimar Nutritional Discourse: Max Rubner’s Volksernährung”
revised for The Journal of Popular Culture
(forthcoming).
“Nouvelle
Cuisine Meets the German Cinema: Bella Martha’s Recipe
for Contemporary Film” in Food and Foodways 12: 1 (January – March 2004):
27-52.
“Frauen Kochen. Edited
by Martian Kaller-Dietrich and Annemarie Schweighofer” Review in
Food
and Foodways (forthcoming)
“Daniel
Spoerri’s ‘Invention of Tradition’: Symi and Eat Art” in Daniel Spoerri
presents Eat Art. Catalog of the exhibition at Jeu de Paume, Paris
April 29-June 5th, 2002 [In French]
“Daniel
Spoerri’s ‘Invention of Tradition’: Symi and Eat Art” in Daniel Spoerri presents
Eat Art Catalog
of the exhibition at the Kunstforum (Munich, 2001) [In German]
“Dada-Diets: Dysfunctional Physiologies
of Devouring” in seminar 37:1 (February 2001)
“Stories
of Food: German Nutritional Texts and Cookbooks between the Wars”
in Journal of Popular Culture, 34:3
(Winter 2000) 163-181.
"Food"
Encyclopedia of Contemporary German Culture Edited by J. Sanford
(London:
Routledge, 1999)
“Überbleibsel.
Eine kleine Erotik der Kueche by Jeannette
Lander.“
Review Focus on Literatur Vol.5 (Spring 1996)
Die
Entdeckung der Currywurst by Uwe Timm. Review
Focus on Literatur
Vol.
1. No. 2 (1994) 202-205
OTHER
ARTICLES AND REVIEWS:
“The
Lesbian Angel with a Penis: Thomas Meinecke’s Tomboy
(under revision for submission to German Life and Letters
) (REFEREED)
“Benjamin’s
Ghosts. Interventions in Contemporary Literary and Cultural Theory.
Edited by Gerhard Richter” Review
Article in CLS 41.2 (Spring 2004): 296-303.
“Benjamin
Heute: Großstadtdiskurs, Postkolonialität und Flanerie by Rolf
Goebel“
Review-Article
in German Quarterly 76.2 (Spring 2003).
“Neo-Avantgarde
and Culture Industry. Essays on European and American Art from
1955
to 1975 by Benjamin Buchloh.” Review in Canadian Review of
Comparative Literature (forthcoming)
“Walter Benjamin and the Corpus of
Autobiography by Gerhard Richter.” Review in
Seminar 39:4
(November 2003)
"Sleeping
Beauty or the Contemporary Voyage to Italy" in Multicultural Journeys, Ed. by
K.
Siegel (New York: Peter Lang 2002)
"Die
Dichterin und das schelmische Erhabene. Else
Lasker-Schulers Die Naechte Tino von Bagdads by Vivian Liska.” Review in Colloquia
Germanica 33:4
402-404.
"Primo
Levi: Tragedy of an Optimist by Myriam Anissimov.” Review in Annali d'Italianistica (Chapel Hill: 2000)
"German
Feminist Theory" and "Karin Struck" The Feminist Encyclopedia
of
German Literature (Washington:
Greenwood Press, 1995)
"«Baratto» e
l'affermazione passiva del pudore"
RLA.
Vol.2 (1992) 314-318
(double-columned)
"Spie
post-moderne: Gli intellettuali
tedeschi e la Stasi: L'affare Anderson"
Linea D'Ombra 75 (1992)
Interviews with artists
Gilberto Zorio and Mainolfi Dopodomani 1 (1988)
Translations
Alexander
Kluge (excerpts) Eds. Toffetti,
Spagnoletti Torino: Lindau 1994
The
Education of a Gardener
R. Page Torino: Allemandi
1994
Uwe Kolbe (poem) Poesia contemporanea tedesca
Edited by A.
Chiarloni Torino: Einaudi 1994
"Gayatri
C. Spivak" by Rebecca West, Marguerite Waller 149-164
I discorsi della
critica in America Roma: Bulzoni 1993
"La mia Germania non
compare in nessun atlante"
by Jurek
Becker and Martin Walser L'Opera
al Rosso 1 (1990)
PROFESSIONAL
PAPERS:
Invited
Presentations:
CORNELL
UNIVERSITY: 2002
THE
COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY: 2002
COMPARATIVE
LITERATURE Luncheon Talk, PSU: 2002
GENDER
HISTORY WORKSHOP, PSU: 2002
BATH
SPA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE: 2002
MUNICH—Kunstforum Praterinsel: 2001
Associations Meetings:
AATG
(American Association of Teachers of German): November 2003
GSA
(German Studies Association): September 2003, 2002,1999;
ACLA
(American Comparative Literatures Association): 2003, 2002,2001
ACPCA (American
Culture/Popular Culture Association): 2001,2000
NEMLA
(Northeastern MLA): 2000
KFLC (Kentucky Foreign Language Conference): 1999,
1997,1993
AAIS (American Association of Italian Studies): 1999,
1994,1993
Purdue Conference of Romance Languages and
Literatures: 1992
COURSES TAUGHT:
Reading / Eating: The Narratives of Food (Penn State University)
Description: Introduction to cultural
studies via an examination of representations of food in literature, film,
sociological and anthropological essays. The focus is on identity
Formation and belonging (national, ethnic, gender
and class).
Screaming
Faces, Fast Legs and Roast Poets: Aesthetics of the Avant-Garde (Vassar College and University of
Michigan)
Description: The role of incorporation and devouring
in the texts of the European Avant-garde: Futurism, Expressionism and Dada (Winter 1998; Winter 2000)
Cultural
Representations of Food (The University of Chicago)
Description:
This course, designed for advanced students in the College, discussed a number
of modern and contemporary texts, from film to literature, from psychoanalysis
to anthropology, which deal with the representation of eating as a metaphor of
national, cultural and sexual identity. (Spring 1996)
Description:
We focus on the New German Cinema, situating it in the post World War II
European Cinematic Production (Italian Neo-Realism, French Nouvelle Vague and
Eastern European Films). We analyse the meaning of national cinema. We conclude
with Post-Wall cinema.
Description: Introduction to the literary
works and debates around the role of the intellectual
in GDR culture, with particular focus on the
1970s. Films and occasionally art are included.
The course situates GDR culture within Eastern
European culture (Hrabal and Wajda).
Graduate Seminar: Visions of Power/Power
Envisioned
Description: Introduction to cinema
Studies from the perspective of notions of power as represented in the power of
the gaze and its impact on constructions of gender. Films from the GDR, Austria
and the FRG are discussed concomitantly with Foucault and Butler.
Graduate Seminar: Introduction to Literary
Theory
Description: Introduction to a variety of
literary theories from Linguistics to Marxism, from Feminism to
Post-colonialism and Postmoodernism.
German Composition and Conversation:
Contemporary Germany
Description: The students discuss and
write about contemporary issues as presented through Andreas Lixl-Purcell’s
Textbook Rückblick and through accurate readings of 4 recent novels: Benjamin
Lebert’s Crazy, Elke Naters’ Königinnen, Ulrich Plenzdorf’s Die neuen Leiden
des jungen W. and Helga Königsdorf’s Meine ungehörigen Träume.
Introduction to Contemporary German Culture
(German 200)
Description:
The course is based on the two series of Heimat to which are juxtaposed poems,
articles, essays, political statements and other films, in order both to
understand some relevant historical and cultural moments in German history as
well as to question this film's representation of contemporary German culture.
Freshmen
Seminar: The Human Bestiary: Outsiders as Freaks
Description:
The course takes as a starting point Hans Mayer's suggestion that the literary
representation of outcasts is evidence of the failure of the Enlightenment. The
students analyze several texts and films depicting Others and reflect about
normalizing processes and processes of exclusion.
German 310: Einführung in die deutsche
Literatur durch den Film (in German)
Description:
Introduction to major topics of German Culture and the Study of Genres through
the analysis of classical and recent cinematic interpretations of a variety of
literary texts.
Description:
A study of culture and literature from the Students’ Movement to Terrorism
in
France, Germany and Italy
Description:
Moment Mal! 2 (A communicative method)
Description:
Seduction, Love and Death through the lens of
Generational
and Sexual Conflicts
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
(1997-1998)
Advanced German: 4
courses
Description: 2 courses of German for first-year
University students with previous knowledge of the Language (Fall 1997)
Classics
of German Literature (Fall 1997)
Description:
History of German Literature: Survey Course
Conversation: 3
courses (Winter 1998)
UNIVERSITY
OF CHICAGO (1992-1997)
Lecturer:
Elementary German (1995-1997)
Beginning Italian (1992-1994)
Description: Language courses designed for students
who need to acquire reading and speaking ability in German/Italian for the PhD
or
advanced research in their field.
Both classes also provide a good introduction to contemporary culture.
ITALIAN
CULTURAL INSTITUTE (CHICAGO)
Italian
language and culture for beginners (1995-1996)
GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC CULTURAL
CENTER (TORINO)
Elementary German (1987-1988)
INVITED LECTURES:
Penn State University
(Prof. Adrian Wanner, Slavic Dept.): Italian
Fascism
Description: Lecture on the differences
between Fascism and Nazism (Spring ’01; Spring ‘03)
(Prof. Cathy Steblyk): Wim Wenders’ Until
the End of the World: Futuristic Primitivism
Description: Lecture on Wim Wenders’ film:
postmodernist global identities in relation to the representation of Japan and
the Aboriginal people in Australia. (Nov. 5, 2002)
University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor (1997-1998)
(Professor
Hartmut Rastalsky): Expressionism
Description:
Brief Literary History of the movement in Germany (1905-1925) (Spring 1998)
TEACHING
INTERESTS:
Food
in Culture, Art and Literature: Representations of Food
in Art, Film and
Literature
in Modern and Contemporary Europe; Food as system of communication
(anthropological
and semiotic approaches); Women and Food (Feminist Approaches to nutrition and
diets); Cookbooks and the Domestic Sphere; Hunger and Plenty; Food and Power:
Starvation, Hunger and Hunger-Strikes
Theoretical
Approaches to Culture: Semiotic, Psychoanalysis,
Cultural Studies, Feminist Theory, Postcolonial Theory, Film Theory.
Film:
Contemporary Films in German, New German Cinema, Films
in the German Democratic Republic (DEFA); Women’s Cinema, European Cinema, Experimental
Films, Weimar Cinema,
Art/Aesthetics:
Modernism and Postmodernism – Theories of the Avant-garde
Women
Intellectuals in Europe: Lou Andreas Salomé, Unica Zürn, Else
Lasker-Schüler, Marieluise Fleisser, Simone Weil, Hanna Arendt, Christa Wolf
The Sixties:
Politics, Art and Literature; The Seventies: Terrorism
in Germany and Italy
Critical
Theory: Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse
Contemporary
post-1989 Literature in Germany: Pop-Literature
19th-20th century: The
Literature of Mitteleuropa; Decadence and Turn of the
Century (Art, Architecture, Photography and Literature); Women’s travelogues
18th-19th
century: Poetry (Hölderlin, Novalis); The Surreal and the Fantastic: Kleist
and
Hoffmann; Büchner and Heine; epistolary exchanges (women)
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Food Art:
From body art to virtual foods; Food Films
Travel Literature
and Globalization
Contemporary
Film and New German Cinema, GDR Cinema and Experimental Cinema
Contemporary
Authors and post-Wende Literature (women writers; other writers of German [from
Tirol and Switzerland (for example Gstrein) and German-American writers
(Jeanette Lander, Ursula Hegi))
German-Italian Contacts:
Philosophical Receptions (Critical Theory; Pensiero Debole and Postmodernism);
GDR women authors and their reception in Italy
Teaching
with New Technologies: Workshops sponsored by Mellon
Vassar-Williams Consortium (Sept 1998-June1999)
Software Review of German Computer
Programs (April 1999, Williams College)
Delmas Faculty Seminar: A faculty seminar
run by Journalist Alexander Stille on
Culture and Technology (Fall 1998)
RELATED EXPERIENCE:
Italian
Cultural Institute
Instructor
of Italian (1996-1997)
Translator
for the Renaissance Society and The Art Institute (Spring 1997)
University
of Chicago (1991-1992)
Research Assistant (Prof. Robert von Hallberg)
Casa Editrice Umberto
Allemandi & Co.
Editorial
Office, Journalist for Il Giornale dell'Arte (September 1994 to 1995)
Free Lance Art Journalist
(1990-1991)
Editor of
art books and catalogues (1989-1990)
Il Giornale dell'Arte: Editorial Assistant (1988-89)
Co-director
of Editoria Internazionale (1988-1989)
LANGUAGES:
ITALIAN: Native Speaker
ENGLISH: Near-native speaking, writing and
reading ability
GERMAN: Near-native speaking and reading
ability; excellent writing
FRENCH: Excellent reading, good speaking
and writing ability
RUSSIAN: Reading ability
LATIN: Reading ability
REFERENCES:
Prof. Katie Trumpener,
Comparative Literature, Yale University
Prof. Rebecca West, Romance
Languages, University of Chicago
Off.: (773)702-3477; home: (773) 241-5617
Professor
John Ahern, Italian Department, Chair, Vassar College
Prof. Claudio Gorlier, Universita’ di Torino
Home phone and fax: 011 53 30 02
Recommendation Letters available
through www.interfolio.com