Janis Solomon

Janis Solomon retired from teaching in June, 2006.

During her 41 years at the College she developed new courses in German Studies and was instrumental in establishing the College´s newest major in film studies. Named the Lucretia L. Allyn Professor of German in 2002, she served as chair of the department and director of the Film Studies Program.

An expert on German baroque literature, Professor Solomon taught twentieth century German literature with a focus on the problem of artistic response to the moral and political questions posed by Germany in this century.

Professor Solomon taught a course on modern German theatre, and directed the German theatre workshop for many years, winning many awards. Solomon also specialized on film studies and taught courses on classic and contemporary German film and the representation of gender and race in film.

A former Fulbright Fellow at Freiburg University, Germany, Solomon concentrated her study on the secular poetry of 17th Century German poet and critic Martin Opitz and is the author of Die weltliche Lyrik des Martin Opitz (1973). She also wrote Die Kriegsdramen Reinhard Goerings (1985). Other works include "In Search of Self: Interrogation/Investigation/Narration in German Women's Films," "Gender and Genre: The Case of German Drama" and "The Blue Angel: Who Has/Is the Bird?"

Solomon has presented her work at conferences in several universities in the United States and abroad, including the Madison Workshop at the University of Wisconsin at Madison; the Beinecke Lecture Series at Yale University; and meetings of the Society for Cinema Studies. In addition, her articles and reviews have appeared in the Modern Language Journal, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Germanic Quarterly, German Studies, and Monatshefte.

Solomon is a former Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Yale University and Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Akademie der Kuumlnste [= Künste], Berlin, and the Deutsches Literaturarchiv, in Marbach am Neckar, where she conducted research on German expressionism, especially the dramatic works of Reinhard Goering.

View Majoring in Film Studies and the Film Studies Program website.