Lecture Marks 20th Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall

Marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Knox College presents the 2009 Johnson Lecture, "Vicissitudes of History and Identity: Mapping Germany from a Cultural Perspective Twenty Years after the Fall of the Wall," by Elisabeth Herrmann of the University of Alberta, Canada. The lecture at 4 p.m., Friday, November 13, in Ferris Lounge, Seymour Union is free and open to the public.

An expert on German and Scandinavian literatures and cultures, Herrmann has published several books and articles on collective identities, cultural transfer, migration, and gender.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 by East Germany under domination by the Soviet Union, to keep Germans from emigrating to West Berlin and West Germany -- restrictions that were lifted starting on November 9, 1989.

Prior to joining the University of Alberta as DAAD Associate Professor of Modern German Literatures and Culture in 2006, Herrmann taught at Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany. Her research interests include Goethe and Enlightenment literature, German "Reunification" literature, cultural transfer, and the literary reflection of migration in Europe after 1990.

The Johnson Lecture is sponsored by the Joseph and Clara H.E. Johnson Distinguished Lectureship in Modern Languages and presented by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Knox College.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with students from 47 states and 48 countries. Knox's 'Old Main' is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.