Simone Willnath
Simone Willnath, Ph.D. Candidate
My academic path started in Münster, Germany with a double major in Germanistik and Theology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University. After receiving my B.A. in 2009, I continued my studies in the United States the same year, and enrolled in the German Master's program at the University of Delaware. At UD, I had the chance to take courses in German literature as well as in foreign language pedagogy. In my M.A. thesis “Die richtige Kleidung kann alles wettmachen – The Representation of Adolescent Identity in selected German Pop Novels,” I explored the effect of brands on adolescent identity and its differences in West and East Germany in Christian Kracht's Faserland, Florian Illies' Generation Golf, Jana Hensel's Zonenkinder, and Jakob Hein's Mein erstes T-Shirt using a socio-historical framework for my analysis.
I joined the PhD program at Georgetown in fall 2011, and greatly appreciate the opportunity to study in a highly intellectual environment with excellent faculty. My main interest lays in contemporary German studies, in particular popular literature and culture. As a PhD candidate in the German department, I also currently enjoy teaching an Introductory German course in our undergraduate curriculum.
