Gerald M. Moser GOIH (born January 3, 1915, in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, Germany – died March 2, 2005, in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, United States) was a German-American academic, philologist,

literary scholar Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. T ...

, emeritus professor, and author. His works were chiefly focused on lusophone African,

Luso-Brazilian Portuguese Brazilians ( pt, luso-brasileiros) are Brazilians, Brazilians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Portugal. Most of the Portuguese people, Portuguese who arrived throughout the centuries in Brazil sought economic opportunit ...

, and Spanish literature. He also had an interest in

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

, and Comparative literature and was among the first scholars in the world to teach and publish the literature of the five former Portuguese colonies in Africa. Moser served as an assistant professor of Spanish at

Bridgewater College Bridgewater College is a private liberal-arts college in Bridgewater, Virginia. Established in 1880, Bridgewater College admitted both men and women from the time of its founding and was the first four-year liberal arts college in Virginia to ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

from 1939 to 1941.

Biography

Moser was born around 1915 in Leipzig, Germany to Georg and Erna (Heymann) Moser. In 1935, he received his first degree with double graduation in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, from the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, where he was accorded a doctoral degree in comparative literature and Portuguese in 1939. The same year, Moser emigrated to the United States with his family, after the rise of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

in Germany and became a citizen of the United States in June 1945. He is the author of ''A New Bibliography of the Lusophone Literatures of Africa,'' a collaboration with Portuguese writer, Manuel Ferreira, and ''Changing Africa: the First Literary Generation of Independent Cape Verde'' which was originally published on January 1, 1992, by

The American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

Works

* * ''Changing Africa: the First Literary Generation of Independent Cape Verde'' * ''Essays in Portuguese-African Literature'' *

Biography

Works

References

Further reading