Dr. Joseph D. O'Neil
Education
2009 - Ph.D. - Indiana University, Bloomington, Comparative Literature and Modern German Literature and Culture
Dissertation: The Impossible Birth of the Political: Language and Crisis in Gracián, Goethe, and Kleist.
Director: William Rasch
Readers: Fritz Breithaupt, Gilbert Chaitin, Michel Chaouli, Oscar Kenshur
Director: William Rasch
Readers: Fritz Breithaupt, Gilbert Chaitin, Michel Chaouli, Oscar Kenshur
2000 - M.A. - Indiana University, Bloomington, Comparative Literature
1996 - B.A. - University of Louisville, magna cum laude, French, Spanish, and German
Teaching and Research Interests
- Literature, aesthetics, ethics, and politics circa 1800
- Recent social, political, and cultural theory, especially theories of the political
- History, theory, and representations of war
Courses Taught at Miami
- GER 102: Beginning German
- GER 252: The German-Jewish Experiences
- GER 301: German Language Through the Media
- GER 311: Passionate Friendships in German Literature
- GER 312: Coming of Age in German Life and Thought
Selected Publications
Book
- Figures of Natality: Reading the Political in the Age of Goethe. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2017. 306 pp.
Articles
- “Politik als Virus: Gedanken eines amerikanischen Germanisten aus Kentucky zu Donald
Trump.” literaturkritik.de, Vol. 11 (Nov. 2020) (Literary-political essay, 5,857 words)
https://literaturkritik.de/politik-als-virus-essay-joseph-d-oneil,27347.html
Presentations
- Participant in seminar: Participant in seminar: “The Duty of Art: Ethics and Empathy in Aesthetic Theory.” German Studies Association, Portland, OR, 2019.
- Commentator: Realism in the Age of Goethe and Its Legacy: Realism (GSA 2019)
- “Goethe with Sade? Principles of Republican Narratology.”
Modern Languages Association, Chicago, January, 2019. - Participant in seminar: “Race Theory in Classical German Thought.”
German Studies Association, Pittsburgh, September, 2018.
Memberships in Professional Organizations
- German Studies Association
- Goethe Society of North America
- Lessing Society
Languages
- English (native)
- French (oral and written proficiency)
- German (near-native)
- Latin (some reading proficiency)
- Scandinavian (for research)
- Spanish (near-native)