Hans J. Rindisbacher

Professor of German and Russian
  • Expertise

    Expertise

    Hans Rindisbachers principal field of scholarship is German Studies, but his research interests have also drawn him to the topic of perception, particularly olfactory perception. His 1992 book, The Smell of Books: A Cultural-Historical Study of Olfactory Perception in Literature, examines the role that the sense of smell has played throughout the history of European literature.

    The book was the winner of the Modern Language Associations 1992 Independent Scholar Prize. In a review, the Sewanee Review said: Rindisbacher's undertaking is timelyin the age of pheromones, when film makers experiment with techniques to infuse appropriately stimulating aromas into theaters and when you cannot open a magazine without being assaulted by the latest fragrances. 色

    Research Interests

    • Literary, cultural, historical and social aspects of the German-speaking world, specifically the emergence of a new Europe
    • German-Russian relations
    • Swiss literature, culture and politics
    • The intersection of linguistic representation and neuroscience
    • Perception
    • Olfactory perception
    • History of perfumery
    • Style and fashion

    Areas of Expertise

    GERMAN

    • German Language
    • German Literature
    • German Culture
    • Cultural Studies
    • Interdisciplinary Studies

    PERCEPTION

    • Olfactory Perception

    ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

    • Environmental Issues
  • Work

    Work

    The Smell of Books: A Cultural-Historical Study of Olfactory Perception in Literature (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992).

    Writing Switzerland: Culture, History, and Politics in the Work of Peter von Matt, edited by Peter C. Meilaender and Hans J. Rindisbacher (Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Vienna: Peter Lang, 2019).

    Smells of Switzerland in: From Multiculturalism to Cultural Hybridity: New Approaches to Teaching Modern Switzerland, ed. Margrit Zinggeler and Karin Baumgartner (Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2010), p. 229-252.

    Hermann Burgers Die k羹nstliche Mutter und der thermo-emotionale Zustand schweizerischer M瓣nnlichkeit in: Nach Feierabend. Z羹rcher Jahrbuch f羹r Wissensgeschichte (2017). Der kalte Krieg. K瓣ltegrade eines globalen Konflikts. Hrsg. Silvia Berger Ziauddin, David Eugster, Christa Wirth (October 2017), S. 175-197.

    (訄郕訄  郋迡迮郇邽? 訄郋訇郋郋 .-. 邽邾訄郇訄 邽 郋郕郋郇郋 . 苺郅訇迮郕訄). 苠迮郋邽 郋迡, 14:1. Spring 2018.

    Review Essay: Exhibition Catalog of the eponymous exhibition, September 22, 2018 January 6, 2019, de Young Museum, San Francisco, curated by Jill dAlessandro, Reina Lewis, and Laura L. Camerlengo, (Munich, DelMonico Books, Prestel, 2018). 

    Review Essay.  Karl Schl繹gel, Das sowjetische Jahrhundert: Arch瓣ologie einer untergegangenen Welt (M羹nchen: C.H. Beck, 2017), The European Legacy, 25:3, 354-359, June 3, 2019.

    Book review:  (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017). Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, 2:22, August 2019.

    Book review: Transnationalization of Public Spheres; Hartmut Wessler, Bernhard Peters, Michael Br羹ggemann, Katharina Kleinen-von K繹nigsl繹w, and Stefanie Sifft (Basingstoke, UK, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)

  • Education

    Education

    Ph.D.
    Stanford University

    Master of Arts
    University of Bern, Switzerland

    Recent Courses Taught

    Comprehensive Examinations in German

    Directed Studies in German

    Elementary German

    Modern German Poetry

    Culture of Nature: German Roots of Green

    German Culture Through Film

    Critical Inquiry Seminar

  • Awards & Honors

    Awards & Honors

    DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Research Visit grant to Germany, summer 2011.

    Hirsch Research Initiation Grant, 91做厙, 2010

    91做厙, Yale Griffith Faculty Grant, 1998

    Harvey Mudd College, Mellon Grant for Technology Development, 1996

    National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminar, University of Washington, 1992

    MLA Book Prize for Independent Scholar, 1992