Prof. Dr. Reingard M. Nischik

Professor Emerita of American Studies

Contact:
E-Mail: reingard.nischik@uni-konstanz.de
Phone: +49 (0) 7531 88 4225 (Secr.), -4596
Fax: +49 (0) 7531 88 4083
Room: H 109
 

Postal Address:
Universität Konstanz
Fachbereich Literatur-, Kunst- und Medienwissenschaften
Fach 166
78457 Konstanz


Research Interests

  • Comparative North American Studies
  • Canadian Literature and Culture
  • Margaret Atwood’s Oeuvre
  • American Literature and Culture
  • Canadian and American Short Fiction
  • Narratology
  • Literature and Gender
  • Border Studies
  • Literature and the Visual Media

Curriculum Vitae

Prof. Dr. Reingard M. Nischik: Short CV

Education and Career: Reingard M. Nischik completed her graduate studies in English/ North American Literature and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne, Germany, in 1977, where she went on to complete her doctoral (1980) and postdoctoral studies (“Habilitation,” 1989), working as an Assistant Professor as of 1979/80. During this time, she was a visiting scholar at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and at the University of London in London, UK. Appointed Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Mainz in 1988 and Professor of North American Literature at the University of Freiburg in 1992, Nischik was Full Professor and Chair of American Literature at the University of Konstanz from 1994 to 2018. She has served as Head of the Literature Department and Dean of Studies, and has been a member on various committees, including the Department Council and the Senate of the University of Konstanz. (See Nischik's full CV in tabular form here)

Teaching and Supervising: In her teaching, Nischik has focused on American Literature, Canadian Literature, and Comparative North American Studies. (Click here for a list of courses taught) She has supervised 173 State Exam theses, 91 Master theses, and 65 Bachelor theses, as well as 29 doctoral theses (24 completed, 5 current) to date.  Most of her former doctoral students today teach at university themselves, in Germany and the UK, with some working as editors, radio moderators or at cultural institutions such as the Goethe Institute, or teaching at grammar schools.

Research: Professor Nischik’s 30 books and some one hundred scholarly articles have especially concerned themselves with Canadian and American Literature and Culture, Comparative North American Studies, Margaret Atwood’s oeuvre, and short fiction. Her three most recent books are two monographs, The English Short Story in Canada: From the Dawn of Modernism to the 2013 Nobel Prize (2017), published in the USA by McFarland in Jefferson, NC, and Comparative North American Studies: Transnational Approaches to American and Canadian Literature and Culture (2016), as well as the edited collection The Palgrave Handbook of North American Literature (2014), the latter two books both published by Palgrave Macmillan in New York. Her other works in these areas include History of Literature in Canada: English-Canadian and French-Canadian (2008), The Canadian Short Story: Interpretations (2007), and her two award-winning books Engendering Genre: The Works of Margaret Atwood (2009) and Margaret Atwood: Works and Impact (2000), all published in the United States or Canada. Along with these research interests, Nischik has published on narratology, Literature and Gender, and Literature and the Visual Media. Among her many distinctions, Nischik has won the Best Book Award of the Margaret Atwood Society as many as three times (in 2000, 2010, and 2015), has been awarded the “Landeslehrpreis” for teaching, and numerous fellowships and grants. Her books have been nominated, among others, for the Gabrielle Roy Prize and the James Russell Lowell Prize. (see below for full list of publications) (Aug. 16, 2022)

List of Publications

Selected Books

Supervising of Doctoral Theses

Teaching

Videos, Audios, Interviews, Photos, Blogs

"Reingard M. Nischik on Margaret Atwood and Her Works: Interviewed by Peter Raymont (Berlin, Nov. 2018)" (password: "atwood", lower case)

Margaret Atwood on Postal Stamp: Tribute Video

Photolog: An Academic Life in Pictures

Photos Festivities Prof. Nischik, Oct. 29, 2018

"'Kulturelle Quantensprünge' und 'Brennholz' für Atwood": Interview mit Reingard M. Nischik" (uni'kon 68, 2018, 32-34)

Photos and Summary of "Canada Across Borders: Comparative Perspectives," 14th Graduate Student Conference of the Young Scholars' Forum of the GKS (Konstanz, July 7-9, 2017)

"Über Grenzerfahrungen und Grenzübergänge" (Interview mit Reingard M. Nischik) (uni'kon, April 2015)

Position Paper, Understanding Canada Conference at McMaster University
(September 2013) (video)

Wolfgang-Iser-Lecture 2013 (Linda Hutcheon, introd. Aleida Assmann and Reingard M. Nischik) (September 18, 2013) (video)

The University of Ottawa Press: "Reingard Nischik Wins Margaret Atwood Society 'Best Book' Award For Second Time" (January 21, 2011)

Margaret Atwood's Blog: Lit.COLOGNE and Dortmund, Nellie-Sachs-Prize. March 17-20, 2010. A Blog Catch-Up. (July 8, 2010)

"CanLit International: The Reception of Canadian Literature in Germany" Keynote Lecture by Reingard M. Nischik. Vancouver, CanLit 50th Anniversary Gala at the University of British Columbia, October 2009 (video)

"'No Canadian Should Ever Be Surprised Again': An Interview with Reingard Nischik (September 2009)" by Sarah Banting (Transcript + Audio). Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review (December 4, 2009)

Lesung und Textanalyse von Charles Bukowski, "Anmerkungen zu einer Gewinnsträhne" (SWR II Radio, Matinee 29.8.2004) (audio)

"Wider die Trichtermethode: Prof. Reingard M. Nischik erhielt den Landeslehrpreis für das Jahr 2002" (uni'kon 10, 2003) (interview)

"Nach 18000 Seiten Hausarbeit noch Freude an der Lehre" (Südkurier, January 21, 2003)