Weißenfels, Dennis

e-mail: dennis.weissenfels@uni-due.de

Biographical Information

After receiving his Abitur at the Mercator Berufskolleg in Moers and serving his obligatory time in the Geman military, Dennis Weißenfels began his studies of English and Economics at the University of Duisbug-Essen. It was there that he became increasingly obsessed with the field of Literary Studies, a passion that has caused him to burn many ‘midnight tapers’ ever since. Throughout the advanced stages of his studies, he had been a student assistant at both the Department for Anglophone Studies and the Centre for Information and Media Services. In addition to that, he worked as a freelance teacher in Business English, mainly giving courses for German companies, and he also did some freelance writing for international magazines. From 2013 to 2018, he worked as a research assistant at the Department for Anglophone Studies. Dennis is currently finishing his Second State Examination at a vocational college in Düsseldorf.

Memberships

Teaching and Research

Doctoral Thesis

Dennis Weißenfels has recently handed in his doctoral thesis "‘Narrating National Selves’: The Construction of an English National Character Through the French Other in Post-Napoleonic England", supervised by Prof. Dr. Heyl. His main interest here is the interaction between narrative and discursive structures used to construct an English national identity in diametrical opposition to the French. He first came into contact with that particular topic through working on his State Examination thesis, which was primarily concerned with stereotypical depictions of the French ‘Other’ in Post-Napoleonic England.

Research interests

Romanticism, Byron Studies, Milton Studies, Identities, Philosophical and Religious Discourse, Computer Game Studies, EFL Didactics

Publications

with Frank Erik Pointner. "Thomas Moore, Irish Melodies (1808–1834)." In: Handbook of British Romanticism. Ed. Ralf Haekel. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017. 474–488.

with Frank Erik Pointner. "From Childe Harold to Don Juan: Narrative Ambiguity in Byron’s Major Works." In: Romantic Ambiguities: Abodes of the Modern. Eds. Sebastian Domsch, Christoph Reinfandt und Katharina Rennhak. Trier: WVT, 2017: 69-82.

with Frank Erik Pointner. "Die Politische Philosophie Lord Byrons". Politisches Denken in der Britischen Romantik (Staatsverständnisse). Ed. Jürgen Kamm. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2019: 187-206.

"‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord’: Byron’s Miltonic Manfred and Wordsworthian Temptations". Byron Journal, 47.1 (2019): 55-68.

"The Body Politic and National Body: Political Myth-Making and Romantic Nationalism in John Bull’s Bible". Politics of Romanticism. Pascal Fischer und Christoph Houswitschka (Hrsg.). Trier: WVT, 2019 [in Print].

Teaching Migration and Cultural Diversity in the EFL Classroom (WVT-Handbücher zur Literatur- und Kulturdidaktik). Eds. Dennis Weißenfels und Frank Erik Pointner. Trier: WVT [forthcoming].

Courses taught

Introduction to Literary Studies
Byron
English Identities in Literature
Milton's Paradise Lost and its Legacy
To Read or Not to Read: Critical Theory across the Ages
Sex, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll in the 17th Century
The Blues
"Life, the Universe, and Everything" - Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Academia in Literature: The Campus Novel
Video Games