Daniela Hempen received an M.A. in German and Scandinavian languages and literatures from Eberhard-Karls Universität in Tübingen, Germany, in 1991. In September of that same year, Daniela relocated to Vancouver, Canada, to pursue doctoral studies in the Department of Germanic Studies at the University of British Columbia. She obtained a Ph.D. degree in medieval German literature and culture in 1998. While working on her doctoral thesis, Daniela began to teach as a Teaching Assistant and as a Sessional Lecturer at UBC. Daniela is currently a Lecturer in German in the Department of CENES at UBC, and has been teaching German language and literature at the university level for more than 20 years.

The sun is still, the earth is on the move.

– Bertolt Brecht

Medieval studies; 19th and 20th/21st century German literature and culture; representations of nature in literature; literary ‘otherworlds’ (dystopias/utopias); representations of trauma in literature

Research Projects

Dystopias/utopias and nature/environmentalism in post-WWII German literature

Translation of Elisabeth von Nassau-Saarbrücken’s Der Roman von der Königin Sibille from Early Modern German into English. (Custom Course Material for use in the classroom; completed 2014)

Selected Recent Publications

“Grünender Wald, gebannter Ort und Palast der Fee: Zum Verhältnis zwischen Mensch und Natur in Franz Grillparzers Melusina.” Monatshefte 105 (2013): 71-85. Print.

“Wie die Kinder den Krieg verließen . . . : Musik, Natur und Erlösungssehnsucht in Margarete Jehns Hörspiel ‘Der Bussard über uns.’“ Germanic Notes and Reviews 43 (2012): 7-14. Print.

“Wolfsvieh, Flügelbär und König Etzels Grab . . . : Ungezähmte Natur als falscher locus terribilis in Thomas Glavinics Endzeitroman Die Arbeit der Nacht.” Neophilologus 95 (2011): 291-303. DOI 10.1007/s11061-010-9223-3. Print.