Dr. Silke Beinssen-Hesse Honorary Research Associate
Contact Details
Room W327
Menzies Building (Building 11)
Consultation by appointment
Contact Phone: 03 9905 2243 / 03 9547 2271 (priv.)
FAX: +61 3 9905 5437
Email: silke.hesse@arts.monash.edu.au / silke.hesse@bigpond.com
Mailing Address:
School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics
Building 11
Monash University
Clayton
Victoria 3800
AUSTRALIA
Background
Silke Beinssen-Hesse retired from the German Department at Monash University in 1999 after 34 years as lecturer and senior lecturer (1973). From 1977 onwards she also worked in the Centre for Women’s Studies, jointly directing it for part of 1990 and 1991. Since July 1999 she has been an Honorary Research Associate at the Department of German Studies, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University.
Beinssen-Hesse did her degrees first on a Commonwealth Scholarship at Sydney University, where she was awarded the University Medal for her honours thesis on “Rilke und die Dinge”, then continued her studies on a two-year DAAD Scholarship at the University of Bonn, before completing her Ph.D. on a Monash University Scholarship with a thesis entitled “An Anatomy of Ambivalence. The Work of Franz Kafka”.
Over the years Beinssen-Hesse’s teaching and research interests have included Franz Kafka; Grimmelshausen; 20th century German literature; women’s studies and German feminism; women’s literature; Else Lasker-Schüler; Ingeborg Bachmann; Christa Wolf. In 1995 she received an ARC Small Grant to critically evaluate/ translate/ publish the papers of her father, Dr. Ekkehard Beinssen. A 250 p. biography based on this work has recently been completed but not yet published. Other work in progress is a monograph on Else Lasker-Schüler, researched in Germany in 1993 and completed in draft form, and a long article, researched in Wolfenbüttel in 1973 and still to be revised, entitled “Eine parodistische Schicht in Grimmelshausens ‘Simplicissimus’”.
Publications
Monographs
Out of the Shadows. Contemporary German Feminism, with Catherine Rigby in the series INTERPRETATIONS, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1996.
Books Edited
Paul Hatvani (1892-1975) Die Ameisen. Mit einem Nachwort herausgegeben von Silke Hesse und Pavel Petr, Siegen 1994.
Articles in Refereed Journals
i) “Else Lasker-Schüler im Umkreis des Ersten Weltkriegs” in Metis. Zeitschrift für historische Frauenforschung und feministische Praxis, 2, 1996, pp. 45-55.
ii) “Reflections of an Australian Bilingual” in Journal of Intercultural Studies, Vol.1, 3, 1980, pp.53-55.
Book Chapters
“Zu Nation, Nationalismus und Adolezenz aus biographischer Perspektive” in Moderne Begreifen. Zur Paradoxie eines sozio-ästhetischen Deutungsmusters. ed. Christine Magerski, Robert Savage, Christiane Weller. Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag: Wiesbaden, 2007, pp.171-182.
“Paradigmen der Geschlechterbeziehung zwischen Aufklärung und Moderne” in: Die Lektüre der Welt. Worlds of Reading. Zur Theorie, Geschichte und Soziologie kultureller Praxis. On the Theory, History and Sociology of Cultural Practice. Festschrift für Walter Veit, ed. Helmut Heinze and Christiane Weller, in co-operation with Heinz Kreuz. In the series: FORSCHUNGEN ZUR LITERATURGESCHICHTE , ed. Helmut Kreuzer, Karl Riha and Ralf Schnell. Vol. 74. Peter Lang: Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2004, pp.223-229.
“Dichtung und Gemeinschaft. Zur Lyrik Manfred Hausmanns” in: Lyrik. Kunstprosa. Exil. Festschrift für Klaus Weissenberger zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Joseph Strelka. Francke Verlag: Tübingen and Basel, 2004, pp. 41-64.
“Leo Frobenius in the Pacific? Plans for Founding a German Institute for the Morphology of Culture in Sydney”, including a translation of the “Correspondence of Leo Frobenius and colleagues with Ekkehard Beinssen concerning proposed activities of the Frankfurt Institute for the Morphology of Culture in Australia” in: The Struggle for Souls and Science. Constructing the Fifth Continent: German Missionaries and Scientists in Australia. Occasional Paper Number 3, Strehlow Research Centre. Guest Editor: Walter Veit. Northern Territory Government: Alice Springs, 2004, pp. 152-182.
“Paradigmen der Geschlechterbeziehung zwischen Aufklärung und Moderne” in Die Lektüre der Welt. Worlds of Reading. Festschrift for Walter Veit, ed. Helmut Heinze and Christiane Weller in co-operation with Heinz Kreuz, Peter Lang: Frankfurt am Main, 2004, pp. 223-230.
“Christa Wolfs ‘Medea. Stimmen’ und die Krise des Opferkults” in Schreiben nach der Wende. Ein Jahrzehnt deutscher Literatur 1989-9, ed. Gerhard Fischer and David Roberts, Stauffenberg Verlag: Tübingen, 2001, pp.193-206.
“Weininger and the Time-Honoured Analogy between the Inferiority of Women and Jews” In Why Germany? National Socialist Anti-Semitism and the European Context, ed. John Milfull, Berg: Providence, 1993, pp.9-28.
“The Study of Australian Aboriginal Culture by German Anthropologists of the Frobenius Institute” in From Berlin to the Burdekin. The German Contribution to the Development of Australian Science, Exploration and the Arts. ed. David Walker and Jürgen Tampke, N.S.W. University Press: Kensington, 1991, pp.135-150.
“Fascism and the Hypertrophy of Male Adolescence” in The Attractions of Fascism. Social Psychology and Aesthetics of the 'Triumph of the Right, ed. Milfull, John, Berg: New York/Oxford/Munich, 1990, pp.157-175.
“Faschismus und die Hypertrophie männlicher Adoleszenz” in The Attractions of Fascism: Traditionen und Traditionssuche des deutschen Faschismus (Sonderheft), ed. Günter Hartung, Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Wissenschaftliche Beiträge 1988/55 (F 83), Halle (Saale) 1988, pp.26-54.
“Des abenteuerlichen Simplicii Verkehrte Welt, oder: Ein Topos wird fragwürdig” in Antipodische Aufklärungen; Antipodean Enlightenments, ed. Walter Veit, Peter Lang, Frankfurt(M) /Bern / New York, 1987, pp.63-75.
“The Ideological Implications of Wagner’s Changes to Wolfram’s Parzival’’ in The Richard Wagner Centenary in Australia. Miscellanea Musicologica. Adelaide Studies in Musicology, Vol.14, ed. Peter Dennison, University of Adelaide: Adelaide, 1985, pp.131-147.
“Zum Realismus in Christa Wolfs ‘Der geteilte Himmel’” in Wolf: Darstellung - Deutung - Diskussion, ed. Manfred Jürgensen, Francke: Bern and Munich, 1984, pp.23-49.
“’Kolun’, ‘Matapui’ or ‘Biek’? - Ekkehard Beinssen’s Story of an Expedition into the Mountains of Central New Guinea” ‘n Captain James Cook: Image and Impact. South Sea Discoveries and the World of Letters. Vol.II, The Pacific Syndrome; Conditions and Consequences, ed. Manfred Jürgensen, Hawthorn Press: Melbourne, 1979, pp.118-159.
Entries in Encyclopaedias
“Aufklärung”, “Bürgerliches Trauerspiel”, “Tragikomödie” and “Weinerliches Lustspiel” in A Glossary of German Literary Terms, ed. : E. W. Herd and A. Obermayer , University of Otago Press, Otago, 1983. Revised Edition: 1992.
Book Reviews
“Hendrix, Heike: Ingeborg Bachmanns ‘Todesarten’-Zyklus: Eine Abrechnung mit der Zeit.” Königshausen & Neumann: Würzburg, 2005, in Germanistik, Vol. 47 (2006), No 3-4, p.943.
“Colvin, Sarah: Women and German drama. Playwrights and their texts, 1860-1945”, Camden House: Rochester, N. Y., 2003, IX, 211S. (Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture) in Germanistik, Vol. 45 (2004), No 3/4, p.899.
“Understanding Ingeborg Bachmann by Karen Achberger”, in AUMLA, 84, Nov. 1996, pp. 111-113.
“Beicken, Peter U.: Franz Kafka” Athenäum, Frankfurt/M, 1974 in: AUMLA 46, 1976, pp.342f.
“Frey, Eberhard: Franz Kafkas Erzählstil” Lang: Bern and Frankfurt/M, 1974, in: AUMLA 47, 1976, pp.103-105.
“Polheim, K.K. (ed) Theorie und Kritik der deutschen Novelle von Wieland bis Musil”, Max Niemeyer Verlag: Tübingen, 1970 In: AUMLA 37, 1972, pp.106f.
Conference Abstracts
“Vision and Reality in Seventeenth-Century German Literature” in AULLA XXII Congress: Spectacle, Vision, Reception, ANU: Canberra 1984, p. 120.
“Arbeitskreis 6: Barockroman” in Internationaler Arbeitskreis für deutsche Barockliteratur. Vorträge und Berichte, ed. Paul Raabe and Barbara Strutz, Wolfenbüttel, 1973 pp. 129-132.
Published Teaching Material
“Christa Wolf’s ‘Cassandra’ and the German Classical Tradition” written and distributed for a course on women's literature in the Gippsland External Studies Programme, 1991.
Literary Translations
45 poems by German women poets: Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Else Lasker-Schüler, Nelly Sachs and Ulla Hahn translated into English, published in Newsletter 7, 1993 of the Association for Australian Studies e.V., Wuppertal, pp.180-207.
Radio Programmes
“Deutsche Frauenliteratur” 3EA, March 1990
Review of “Wonderful,Wonderful Times” by Elfriede Jelinek for 3RN “Books and Writing”, February 1991.
Papers Presented at Conferences
“The Complexities of Androgyny in Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina” (Bachmann Conference at Monash University, 2 December, 1996).
“The Abortion Issue in the Context of the West German Women’s Movement” (Europe at La Trobe Conference 1993).
“Travel as an Image of Disorientation in Contemporary German Women’s Literature” (Travel Conference, Monash 1991).
“Oppositional Strategies in the Mature Work of Elfriede Jelinek” (Literature and Opposition Conference, Monash 1991).
“The Brutalities of Population Control. A Much Misunderstood Eighteenth Century German Tragedy: H.L. Wagner ‘Die Kindermörderin’” (delivered at 23rd AULLA Congress, 1985).