Scholars of German from across the Midwest gathered to present and discuss their latest research as well as to renew old connections and past associations on April 7^th and 8^th. The diverse and innovative nature of the research being conducted in the field of German Studies from Chicago to St. Louis and points between was on full display.

In the first session, Tobias Boes (Notre Dame) gave a talk on the reception of Thomas Mann in the US, followed by Jennifer Kapczynski (Washington University in St. Louis), who presented on the holocaust, democracy and the documentary Nuit et Brouillard in West Germany. The second session began with a talk by Heidi Schlipphacke (University of Illinois, Chicago) about “The Aesthetics of Kinship: Lessing’s Nathan der Weise” and continued with Tyler Whitney (University of Michigan) discussing “Drumming Literature into the Ground: On Dada’s Tympanic Regime.”

That same evening, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures invited all presenters and discussants to the annual Carolyn Engel Luebeck Lecture, which this year was given by the renowned scholar Ian Buruma (Paul W. Williams Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College). He delivered a lecture entitled “Lessons Learned, or Not: Germany, Japan, and the Age of Trump” and provided for a number of lively debates both during the Q&A and after.

The following morning, the symposium began bright and early with our own Matthew Birkhold, who outlined “The Rules of Eighteenth-Century Fan Fiction” and Sean Ireton (University of Missouri), who gave insight into “Stifter and (Deep Ecology).” In the second session, Susanne Vees-Gulani (Case Western Reserve) dealt with “Dresden’s Past in the Military History Museum and Yadegar Asisi’s Panorama Exhibits,” followed by Bill Rasch's (Indiana University at Bloomington) “Total State, Ethical State”.

The Department would like to thank all the presenters and discussants for contributing to a lively symposium. Special thanks goes to Katra Byram and Matthew Birkhold (Ohio State), who led the conference organizing, and to Natascha Miller and Michelle Dixon, who handled the administrative side of the planning. Given the great success of this year’s symposium, the Department looks very much forward to hosting the 11^th Annual Midwest Symposium in German Studies on April 13-14, 2018.