Professor Henk de Berg
School of Languages and Cultures
Professor of German
Full contact details
School of Languages and Cultures
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½
S3 7RA
- Profile
-
Born in Holland, I studied German and comparative literature in Leiden, at one of Europe¡¯s oldest universities, and Siegen (in North Rhine-Westphalia, near Bonn). I came to º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ in 1996, after having taught comparative literature at Leiden for several years.
My specialist expertise is in German and French cultural theory, social and political thought, and the history of ideas. I am currently writing a sequel to my book "Trump and Hitler: A Comparative Study in Lying" (2024).
I am the Director of the Prokhorov Centre. The Centre organises the University¡¯s Prokhorov Lectures, which are delivered by world-leading academics and public intellectuals. Previous speakers have ranged from Sir Christopher Clark to Lionel Shriver, and from John Lanchester to Dame Marina Warner.
I have given many lectures both in Britain and abroad, and I have held a short Visiting Professorship at the Martin-Luther-Universit?t Halle-Wittenberg. In July 2024, I was the Researcher in Residence at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universit?t Erlangen-N¨¹rnberg. My book on Freud, which has been translated into three European languages as well as Chinese, received a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award.
- Research interests
-
My research, which draws both on classical thinkers such as Hegel and Freud and on contemporary thinkers and debates, represents a cross-over between cultural theory, social and political thought, and the history of ideas.
I am the author of four books: a study of the problems of literary historiography (which includes a case study of Young Germany¡¯s reception of Goethe); an introduction to Freud¡¯s theory and its use in literary and cultural studies (described by Peter Gay as ¡°as good an introductory text as one can possibly hope for¡±), which received a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award and has been translated into three European languages as well as Chinese; and a comparative study of the concepts of the end of history and civil society in G. W. F. Hegel, Alexandre Koj¨¨ve, and Francis Fukuyama.
My most recent book, written for a larger audience, compares Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler as political performance artists. It explores their populist self-staging and rhetorical strategies and explains how they connected with their respective audiences. It also analyses the two men¡¯s character, work ethic, and management style. In addition, it addresses seemingly peripheral issues like the reasons behind Hitler¡¯s toothbrush moustache and Trump¡¯s hairstyle. By demystifying Hitler and Trump, it throws new light on both of them.
I have also co-edited eight books on critical theory, including a 500-page Suhrkamp paperback on the reception of Niklas Luhmann¡¯s sociology in the humanities. My reader on German thought from Kant to Habermas, edited with Duncan Large, includes ca. 100 pages of editorial introductions and annotations; the editors¡¯ general introduction has been described by Joachim Whaley as ¡°probably the best short account of the development of modern German philosophy¡±. My most recent edited volumes are on the Bulgarian-born French thinker Tzvetan Todorov (2020; edited with Karine Zbinden) and the German philosopher Ernst Bloch (2024; edited with Cat Moir).
I am currently writing a sequel to my book on Trump and Hitler, which focuses on the relationship between celebrity, politics and populism.
- Teaching interests
-
- German intellectual history
- social and political thought
- cultural theory
- 18th- to 21st-century German history, culture and politics
Current undergraduate modules include the second-year option ¡°The Restless Era¡±, which covers the social history of the Kaiserreich and the Weimar Republic, and the fourth-year option ¡°Modern German Thought¡±.
At postgraduate level, I co-teach the School-wide modules ¡°Approaches to Literary and Cultural Studies I and II¡±. I offer MA, MPhil, and PhD supervision on any topic within my research area.
Elevate Staff Teaching Practice Award 2023 (nominated), 2024 (nominated).
- Professional activities and memberships
-
I have been External Examiner for German at Nottingham and for Dutch at Cambridge, as well as Internal or External Examiner for 15 PhD theses and 1 MPhil thesis.
I have acted as a referee for a variety of publishers (including Cambridge UP, Oxford UP, and Routledge) and international journals. I am on the editorial boards of the ¡°Publications of the English Goethe Society¡± and ¡°Convivium¡±.
Among the international conferences and colloquia I have organised are ¡°Tzvetan Todorov¡± (2015; with Karine Zbinden) and ¡°Constructing Europe(s): The Cultural Borders of Western and Eastern Europe Past, Present, and Future¡± (2017; with Evgeny Dobrenko).
Upcoming conference: "Comparative Aesthetics of Dictatorships" (Venice, 5-6 September 2024; co-organised with Evgeny Dobrenko). Participants: Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez, Victoria Clement, Ant¨®nio Costa Pinto, Henk de Berg, Evgeny Dobrenko, Simonetta Falasca Zamponi, Boris Groys, Anna Camaito Hostert, David Imhoof, Jae-Cheon Lim, Mark Lipovetsky, Marco Morini, Wolfram Pyta, Xos¨¦-Manoel Nu?ez Seixas, Xudong Zhang.
I organise the University of º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½¡¯s Prokhorov Lectures, which are delivered by world-leading scholars and public intellectuals. Topics range from philosophy and literature to society and migration. The lectures focusing on religion take place in º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ Cathedral and are organised in collaboration with the Cathedral¡¯s Dean and its Canon Misssioner.
- Books, lectures, interviews
- Books
-
1.12. Trump and Hitler: A Comparative Study in Lying (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
1.11. Rethinking Ernst Bloch, eds. Henk de Berg and Cat Moir (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2024).
1.10. Tzvetan Todorov: Thinker and Humanist, eds. Henk de Berg and Karine Zbinden (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2020).
1.9. Modern German Thought from Kant to Habermas: An Annotated German-Language Reader, eds. Henk de Berg and Duncan Large (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2012).
1.8. Das Ende der Geschichte und der b¨¹rgerliche Rechtsstaat. Hegel ¨C Koj¨¨ve ¨C Fukuyama (T¨¹bingen / Basel: Francke, 2007).
1.7. Freud¡¯s Theory and Its Use in Literary and Cultural Studies: An Introduction (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2003; paperback edition 2004).
1.7a. Chinese translation by Ji Guangmao: ¸¥ÂåÒÁµÂÀíÂÛ¼°ÆäÔÚÎÄѧÑо¿ÓëÎÄ»¯Ñо¿ÖеÄÓ¦ÓÃ(Beijing: Gold Wall Press, 2010).
1.7b. German translation by Stephan Dietrich: Freuds Psychoanalyse in der Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft. Eine Einf¨¹hrung (T¨¹bingen / Basel: Francke / UTB, 2005; UTB 2661).
1.7c. Polish translation by Maria Bralewska: Teorie Freuda a badania literaturoznawcze i kulturowe. Wprowadzenie do problematyk (Lask: Leksem, 2004).
1.7d. Dutch translation by Herman Van Den Haute: De mantel der zedelijkheid. Freud over psyche, literatuur en cultuur (Kampen: Klement, 2003).
1.6. Rezeption und Reflexion. Zur Resonanz der Systemtheorie Niklas Luhmanns au?erhalb der Soziologie, eds. Henk de Berg and Johannes Schmidt (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2000; stw 1501).
1.5. Interpretation 2000: Positionen und Kontroversen. Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstag von Horst Steinmetz, eds. Henk de Berg and Matthias Prangel (Heidelberg: Winter, 1999).
1.4. Systemtheorie und Hermeneutik, eds. Henk de Berg and Matthias Prangel (T¨¹bingen / Basel: Francke, 1997).
1.3 Differenzen. Systemtheorie zwischen Dekonstruktion und Konstruktivismus, eds. Henk de Berg and Matthias Prangel (T¨¹bingen / Basel: Francke, 1995).
1.2. Kontext und Kontingenz. Kommunikationstheoretische ?berlegungen zur Literaturhistoriographie. Mit einer Fallstudie zur Goethe-Rezeption des Jungen Deutschland (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1995).
1.1. Kommunikation und Differenz. Systemtheoretische Ans?tze in der Literatur- und Kunstwissenschaft, eds. Henk de Berg and Matthias Prangel (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1993).
- Upcoming and recent lectures and interviews
-
--- 5 November 2024: panel discussion on the US elections, Kulturzentrum Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim.
--- 5 November 2024: Talking Bigly: Trump¡¯s Rhetoric ¨C An Analysis, lecture at the Universit?t Mannheim.
--- 17 October 2024: Zur Resonanz populistischer Rhetorik, lecture at the Universit?t-GH-Siegen.
--- 15 October 2024: Talking Bigly: Trump¡¯s Rhetoric ¨C An Analysis, lecture at the Justus-Liebig-Universit?t Gie?en.
--- 9 October 2024: invited guest on Zale Mednick¡¯s podcast ¡°Preconceived¡±
--- 6 September 2024: Populist Rallies and How They Work: On the Relationship between Politics, Community, Entertainment, and Faux Empowerment, lecture at the international conference ¡°Comparative Aesthetics of Dictatorships¡±, University of Venice.
--- 22 July 2024: invited guest on Maximilian Jenz¡¯s podcast ¡°Divided Deutschland: Decoding Germany¡¯s Political Shift¡±:
--- 9 July 2024: What Can Cultural Studies Tell Us about the Lure of Populism? Reflections on Trump and Hitler, lecture at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universit?t Erlangen-N¨¹rnberg.
--- 4 July 2024: What Can Cultural Studies Tell Us about the Lure of Populism? Reflections on Trump and Hitler, lecture at the Eberhard Karls Universit?t T¨¹bingen.
--- 1 July 2024: Formen und Funktionen der politischen L¨¹ge. ?berlegungen zu Trump und Hitler, lecture at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit?t Munich.
--- 26 June 2024: television interview by Esmir Milavi?, Foreign Affairs Editor at N1 TV Bosnia and Herzegovina, CNN¡¯s Affiliate for the Western Balkans region (Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia)--- 20 June 2024: interview by Henrike L?hnemann (Oxford): ¡°Henk de Berg on his book Hitler and Trump: A Comparative Study in Lying¡± (2024)
--- 3 June 2024: interview by David Smith, Washington bureau chief of The Guardian: ¡°The Reich Stuff ¨C What Does Trump Really Have in Common with Hitler?¡±:--- 27 May 2024: invited guest on The Anotida Chikumbu Book Series:
--- 4 April 2024: invited guest on Andrew Keen¡¯s ¡°Keen On¡± web-/podcast: Henk de Berg on the Many Similarities Tying Donald Trump with Adolf Hitler:
YouTube video:
podcast:
--- 26 March 2024: online outreach lecture for Yr12 school pupils on Freud: Mind and Society.
--- 8 March 2024: Hitler and Trump: Reflections on the Resonance of Their Rhetoric, lecture at the University of Oxford.
--- 27 November 2023: online outreach lecture for Yr13 school pupils on Populist Propaganda in Germany.
--- 19 September 2023: Hitler, Trump und die grenz¨¹berschreitende Macht der Rhetorik, lecture at international conference ¡°Aktuelle Grenz(¨¹ber)f?lle, Grenzbegehungen, Grenzg?nge¡±, University of Lodz, Poland.
- Interviews conducted
-
Interview with Karen Armstrong, religious commentator
--
Interview with Miranda (MJ) Carter, biographer and novelist
--
--
Interview with David Engels, Classical historian
--
--
Interview with Sir Richard J Evans, historian
--
Interview with Giles Fraser, Anglican priest and broadcaster
--
Interview with Gary Gerstle, historian
--
Interview with John Gray, philosopher
--
--
Interview with Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, literary and cultural theorist
--
Interview with John Lanchester, novelist and journalist
--
Interview with Diarmaid MacCulloch (theologian) & Peter Bradley (Dean of º¬Ð߲ݴ«Ã½ Cathedral)
--
--
--
Interview with Alister McGrath, theologian and molecular biophysicist
--
Interview with Audrey Niffenegger, author and visual artist
--
--
Interview with Peter Pomerantsev, writer and expert on propaganda strategies
--
Interview with Nina Power, feminist philosopher
--
--
Interview with T. J. Reed, President of the English Goethe Society
--
Interview with Lionel Shriver, novelist and journalist
--
--
Interview with Mona Siddiqui, Islamic theologian
--
--
Interview (in French) with Tzvetan Todorov, literary and cultural theorist
--
See also my eulogy (in French),
Interview with Marina Warner, author and literary and cultural theorist
--
--
--
--
Interview with Larry Wolff, intellectual historian
--
--
- Academic courses available online
-
--- Hitler III
[web link TBA]
--- Hitler II
[web link TBA]
--- Germany ¨C Adolf Hitler I: Self-Staging
--- Religion, Faith, and Ideology
--- Walter Benjamin and the Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media
--- The Ideas of Sigmund Freud
--- The Philosophy of Karl Marx
--- Hermeneutics I: Hans-Georg Gadamer
--- Hermeneutics II: Paul Ricoeur
--- Classical Freudian Literary Criticism: An Introduction