Evan Strouss came to Berkeley in the fall of 2018 after receiving his BA in German Studies and Comparative Literature from Brown University, and his MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College. His dissertation, "Distant Voices: Vocal Philology in Early Modernity," examines the German folk song tradition in a period spanning 1523-1779. He argues therein that voice takes on a metonymic function with Johann Gottfried von Herder’s two-volume Volkslieder, which inaugurates a tradition of comparative literature that uncritically figures "listening" as an authentic encounter with alterity.
Evan teaches German language as well as Reading & Composition courses. Recent courses have included "Writing Feeling: Melodrama and the Melodramatic," and "How to Be Popular," a course that examined popular forms and texts ranging from the Grimm Fairy Tales to Joni Mitchell's "For the Roses." He works and writes additionally on early modern Italian literature.
Selected Publications:
"Singing Community in Martin Luther's Kirchenlieder" Forthcoming in The German Quarterly
Courses:
Fall 2019 – German 1
Spring 2020 – German 2
Fall 2020 – German 4
Spring 2021 – German 3
Fall 2021 – German 4
Spring 2022 – German R5B "Writing Feeling: Melodrama and the Melodramatic"
Spring 2024 – Comp Lit R1A "How to Be Popular"
Fall 2024 – GSI for Comp Lit 20C "How to Live a Good Life: Ancient and Modern Answers" (Prof. Timothy Hampton & Prof. Victoria Kahn)
Fall 2019 – German 1
Spring 2020 – German 2
Fall 2020 – German 4
Spring 2021 – German 3
Fall 2021 – German 4
Spring 2022 – German R5B "Writing Feeling: Melodrama and the Melodramatic"
Spring 2024 – Comp Lit R1A "How to Be Popular"
Fall 2024 – GSI for Comp Lit 20C "How to Live a Good Life: Ancient and Modern Answers" (Prof. Timothy Hampton & Prof. Victoria Kahn)