Fricker, Christophe 1978- (Christophe E. Fricker)

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Fricker, Christophe 1978- (Christophe E. Fricker)

PERSONAL:

Born August 10, 1978, in Wiesbaden, Germany. Education: Dalhousie University, M.A., 2003; Oxford University, D.Phil., 2006.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, Duke University, 111A Old Chemistry Bldg., Durham, NC 27708. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Academic. Duke University, Durham, NC, lecturer. Junge Oper Rhein-Main, translator in residence, 2004-06.

MEMBER:

Modern Language Association, American Association of Teachers of German, German Studies Association, Hölderlin-Gesellschaft, Stefan-George-Gesellschaft, Oxford University German Society (president, 2004-06).

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Jan Bonin) Dunkeldeutschland: zehn Jahre deutsche Einheit in ihrer Provinz, Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg (Potsdam, Germany), 2000.

(Editor, with Manuel R. Goldschmidt) "Unser Ganzes Geheimnis Liegt im Du": Wolf van Cassel, 1946-1994, Castrum Peregrini (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2001.

(Editor, with Jane V. Curran) Schiller's "On Grace and Dignity" in Its Cultural Context: Essays and a New Translation, Camden House (Rochester, NY), 2005.

(Editor, with Bruno Pieger) Friedrich Hölderlin—Zu Seiner Dichtung, Castrum Peregrini (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2005.

(Editor and translator) "Living Together:" Die Amerikanischen Dichter Edgar Bowers, Dick Davis und Timothy Steele, Castrum Peregrini (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2006.

(Translator) Stephen A. Cooper, Augustine for Armchair Theologians, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (Göttingen, Germany), 2007.

Author and translator of poetry. Contributor to scholarly journals, including Oxford German Studies, Beiträge, Arbitrium, Journal of European Studies, Merkur, and Modern Language Review. Coeditor at publishing houses, including Castrum Peregrini, 2000-06, and Zeichen & Wunder, 1996-2001. Assistant editor of German Quarterly.

SIDELIGHTS:

Christophe Fricker is an academic and scholar of the German language. Born in Wiesbaden, Germany, Fricker received his higher education degrees abroad. In 2003 he earned a master's degree from Canada's Dalhousie University. This was followed by a D.Phil. from England's Oxford University in 2006. Fricker began lecturing at Duke University in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature. His areas of academic research include German poetry from the late eighteenth century to the present, hermeneutics, aesthetics, the relationship between politics and society, and the role of literature in society.

Fricker published his first book, Dunkeldeutschland: zehn Jahre deutsche Einheit in ihrer Provinz, in 2000, which he edited with Jan Bonin. Fricker edited with Manuel R. Goldschmidt a second book in German called "Unser Ganzes Geheimnis Liegt im Du": Wolf van Cassel, 1946-1994. In 2005 he edited Friedrich Hölderlin—Zu Seiner Dichtung with Bruno Pieger.

In 2005 Fricker also edited Schiller's "On Grace and Dignity" in Its Cultural Context: Essays and a New Translation with Jane V. Curran. The book analyzes a particular writing of Friedrich von Schiller, a late-eighteenth-century German poet and philosopher. The second half of the book is an updated translation of the work by Curran. The first half, however, compiles new scholarship on Schiller and "On Grace and Dignity" ("Uber Anmut und Wurde"). The essayists define the contrast Schiller makes between grace and dignity and place the two phenomena in the context of their times. Some essayists use cross comparisons with later writings of Schiller, but all primarily deal with the issues of the consistency of the argument found in Schiller's essay, the essay's rhetorical and political dimensions, and the ultimate influence Kant, Goethe, and other philosophers of the time had on Schiller's writing of that particular essay. In her essay, Curran places the work within the framework of Benjamin's "essay genre." David Pugh wrote about understanding Schiller as a product of his times and not a modern recreation of it. Alan Menhennet's essay observes the emergence of themes in Schiller's dramatic creations. Fricker closes the collection with an essay on the combination of the title words, grace and dignity. Daniel Dahlstrom, writing in the German Quarterly, remarked that Schiller's "On Grace and Dignity" in Its Cultural Context fuses together "insightful interpretations of ‘Uber Anmut und Wurde’" as well as Curran's new translation. He called the commentary essays both "superb" and "interpretive." Dahlstrom praised the book from the first essay, calling Curran's contribution "a provocative opening piece," adding that it "is no less intriguing than it is compelling." Dahlstrom stated that "Fricker also adds to the riches of the volume by elaborating the influence of the ‘twin concepts’ of grace and dignity on Stefan George." As for the conversion from German to English, Dahlstrom criticized that, "as with any translation, there is room for quibbles." Overall, however, he concluded that "the translation ably captures the poetic verse of Schiller's prose."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

German Quarterly, spring, 2007, Daniel Dahlstrom, review of Schiller's "On Grace and Dignity" in Its Cultural Context: Essays and a New Translation.

German Studies Review, May, 2007, Peter Hyng, review of Schiller's "On Grace and Dignity" in Its Cultural Context, p. 402.

Modern Language Review, July, 2007, Roger Stephenson, review of Schiller's "On Grace and Dignity" in Its Cultural Context, p. 880.