Theodore Ziolkowski (September 30, 1932 – December 5, 2020) was a scholar in the fields of

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

. He coined the term " fifth gospel genre".

Early life

Theodore J. Ziolkowski was born on September 30, 1932 in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

to Cecilia (née Jankowski) and Mieczysław Ziółkowski, second-generation and first-generation Polish immigrants to the United States. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in 1951, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from

in 1952 and, following studies at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...

on a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

, his

Ph.D A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1957.

Personal life

Ziolkowski married Yetta Goldstein in 1951. Together they had two sons, Jan and Eric.

Career

Following appointments at Yale and Columbia, he was called to

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

as professor of German in 1964. In 1969 he was appointed Class of 1900 Professor of German and Comparative Literature and, from 1979 to 1992, Dean of the

Graduate School Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...

. From 2001 to his death, he was

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

. A past president of the

Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

(1985) and visiting professor at several universities (Yale,

CUNY , mottoeng = The education of free people is the hope of Mankind , budget = $3.6 billion , established = , type = Public university system , chancellor = Fél ...

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Lueneburg), he received many awards for his books and honors in the United States and abroad, including the

Goethe-Medaille The Goethe Medal, also known as the Goethe-Medaille, is a yearly prize given by the Goethe-Institut honoring non-Germans "who have performed outstanding service for the German language and for international cultural relations". It is an offici ...

of the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

, the Jacob-und-Wilhelm Grimm Preis (DAAD), the Forschungspreis of the

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Resear ...

, the

Bundesverdienstkreuz The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

(1. Klasse) of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the D.Phil.h.c. from the University of Greifswald. He was a member of 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 ...

and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

. He was also a corresponding member of the Austrian Akademie der Wissenschaften, the Göttingen Akademie der Wissenschaften, and the Deutsche Akademie fur Sprache und Dichtung.

Awards

He received the

James Russell Lowell Prize The James Russell Lowell Prize is an annual prize given to an outstanding scholarly book by the Modern Language Association. Background The prize is presented for a book that is an outstanding literary or linguistic study, a critical edition of ...

and the Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities of the American Philosophical Society.

Death

Ziolkowski died in Kirkland Village, in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

, on December 5, 2020.

Works

*1964. ''Hermann Broch'' *1965. ''The Novels of Hermann Hesse: Themes and Structures'' *1966. ''Hermann Hesse'' *1969. ''Dimensions of the Modern Novel: German Texts and European Contexts'' *1972. ''Fictional Transfigurations of Jesus'' (James Russell Lowell Prize of MLA) *1973, ed. ''Hesse: A Collection of Critical Essays''. *1976, ed.''Hermann Hesse: My Belief. Essays on Life and Art'' *1977. ''Disenchanted Images: A Literary Iconology'' *1979. ''Der Schriftsteller Hermann Hesse'' *1980. ''The Classical German Elegy, 1795–1950'' *1983. ''Varieties of Literary Thematics'' *1990. ''German Romanticism and Its Institutions'' *1991, ed. ''Soul of the Age: Letters of Hermann Hesse''. *1993. ''Virgil and the Moderns''. *1997. ''The Mirror of Justice: Literary Reflections of Legal Crises'' (Christian Gauss Award of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

). *1998. ''The View from the Tower. Origins of an Antimodernist Image''. *1998. ''Das Wunderjahr in Jena: Geist und Gesellschaft, 1794/95 *2000. ''The Sin of Knowledge: Ancient Themes and Modern Variations''. *2002. ''Berlin: Aufstieg einer Kulturmetropole um 1810'' *2004. ''Clio the Romantic Muse: Historicizing the Faculties in Germany'' (Barricelli Prize of International Conference on Romanticism) *2004. ''Hesitant Heroes: Private Inhibition, Cultural Crisis''. *2005. ''Ovid and the Moderns'' (Robert Motherwell Award of Dedalus Foundation) *2006. ''Vorboten der Moderne: Eine Kulturgeschichte der Fruehromantik'' *2006, ed. ''Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Selected Works: Vol. 2 Fiction'' *2007 ''Modes of Faith: Secular Surrogates for Lost Religious Belief'' *2008 ''Minos and the Moderns: Cretan Myth in Twentieth-Century Literature and Art'' *2008 ''Mythologisierte Gegenwart: Deutsches Erleben seit 1933 in antikem Gewand'' *2009 ''Heidelberger Romantik: Mythos und Symbol'' *2009 ''Scandal on Stage: European Theater as Moral Trial'' *2010 ''Die Welt im Gedicht. Rilkes Sonette an Orpheus II.4'' *2010 ''Dresdner Romantik: Politik und Harmonie'' *2011, ed. ''Peter Hacks: Senecas Tod'' *2011 ''Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic'' *2013 ''Lure of the Arcane: The Literature of Cult and Conspiracy'' *2015 ''Classicism of the Twenties: Art, Music, and Literature'' *2015 ''The Alchemist in Literature: From Dante to the Present'' *2016 ''Uses and Abuses of Moses: Literary Representations since the Enlightenment'' *2017 '' Music into Fiction: Composers Writing, Compositions Imitated'' *2018 '' Stages of European Romanticism: Cultural Synchronicity in the Arts, 1798-1848'' *2020 '' Roman Poets in Modern Guise: The Reception of Roman Poetry since World War I''

External links

"Science, Frankenstein, and Myth"
Theodore Ziolkowski, ''

The Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. History ''Th ...

'', Winter 1981
"Gilgamesh: An Epic Obsession"
Theodore Ziolkowski,
Berfrois
', 1 November 2011
Official Page at Princeton

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziolkowski, Theodore 1932 births 2020 deaths Writers from Birmingham, Alabama Germanists Duke University alumni Yale University alumni Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the American Philosophical Society Princeton University faculty Professors of German in the United States Presidents of the Modern Language Association