Agenda

Interview

1. Please provide a brief outline of your training and scientific activity.

Andreas Kilcher has been a professor of Literature and Cultural Studies at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich since 2008. Previously, he was a Professor of German Literature at University of Tübingen in 2004-2008. Furthermore, he has been visiting Professor at Princeton University, Stanford University, UC Davis, as well as Tel Aviv University. His main fields of research are the relation between literature and knowledge, Jewish literature and culture, Kabbalah and esotericism. He has published a wide range of monographs, edited volumes, articles, dictionary entries, and reviews. His book on Franz Kafka’s drawings has been translated in more than 10 languages and appeared on several bestseller lists. His most recent book “Kafkas Werkstatt. Der Schriftsteller bei der Arbeit” (Kafkas Workshop. The Writer at Work) also appeared on bestseller lists. His is currently working on a book about Doctor Faustus.

2. Please state your reasons for choosing Venice and the Department for your research and teaching stay.

There are several established connections with Ca' Foscari University (specifically the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies) as well as with other academic institutions in Venice. I intend to use this time both to engage in exchanges with local colleagues and to work, in a focused and undisturbed environment, on a monograph about Doctor Faustus.

3. Have you ever had a research collaboration with the teaching staff of the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies in the past?

In November 2025, at the invitation of Prof. Claus Zittel, I attended a conference at the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies.