Dr Yixu Lu

Dr. Phil., MA (Regensburg); BA (Beijing).
Lecturer
Brennan MacCallum Building 518
Phone: +61 2 9351 3293


After obtaining her first degree at the Peking University, Yixu Lu spent seven years as a postgraduate at the Universität Regensburg, specialising in German Literature and Modern European history. Her doctoral dissertation there was on German drama of the early nineteenth century. She came to Australia as a Postdoctoral Fellow, has taught at the Universities of Adelaide, Melbourne and, most recently, UTS. She has held an Alexander von Humboldt-Fellowship at the Universität zu Köln and is currently appointed guest professor at the Chinese Ocean University, Qingdao (2007-2009).

Yixu Lu's main research interest is modern German literature and history. Her research work concentrates on the following areas: 18th-20th century German literature; German colonialism and nationalism, contemporary German culture and society.

Her current research includes a book project on the adaptations of the myth of Medea in German literature from the 18th century to the present, the works of Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) and two projects on German colonialism in China in conjunction with Professor David Goodman of UTS. The project Germany in China: Colonial Interactions, Qingdao 1897-1914 which is funded by an ARC Discovery Grant, examines the contemporary record of Chinese-German interaction in the former German colony, so as to assess different facets of Qingdao's subjugation by Germany as an atypical example of colonialism and its impact on Chinese nationalism. The other project Germans in China in the early 20th century focuses on the life histories of Germans who lived in China in the context of colonial cosmopolitanism.

Books

• Frauenherrschaft im Drama des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts, Munich: Iudicium, 1993, 234pp.

Articles

• “Germany’s war in China: media coverage and political myth”, in German Life and Letters (61:2), 2008, pp. 202-214.
• “Der Boxerbewegung in der Popularliteratur”, in Mechthild Leutner/Klaus Mühlhahn (eds): Krieg in China (1900-1901).Die Niederschlagung der Boxerbewegung, Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag, 2007, p. 192-198.
• “German Colonial Fiction on China: The Boxer-Uprising 1900-1901”, in German Life and Letters 1/2006, pp.78-100.
• “Exile and Stasis in Heiner Müller’s Medea-Adaptation”, in International Yearbook of the Society of Literature and Aesthetics IV, 2006, pp. 81-98.
• "Myth and Apologia in Christa Wolf's Novel 'Medea. Voices'", in Women, Activism and Social Change: Stretching Boundaries, Maja Mikula ed., London and New York: Routledge, 2005, pp. 198-214.
• "Die Spaltung des Menschlichen: Klingers Medea-Dramen und Goethes Iphigenie auf Tauris", in Jahrbuch der deutschen Schillergesellschaft, 2004, pp. 36-57.
• "Der Sinn des 'Heiligen' in Kleists Penthesilea", in Beiträge zur Kleist-Forschung, Lothar Jordan (ed.), Frankfurt (Oder): Kleist-Museum, 2004, pp. 143-163.
• "Die problematische Katharsis. Läuterungsprozesse im Werk Kleists.", in Kleists Beiträge zur Ästhetik der Moderne, Peter Ensberg and Hans-Jochen Marquardt (eds), Stuttgart: Verlag hans-Dieter Heinz, 2002, pp. 171-182.
• "Die Fremde zwischen Gottheit und Tier: Hans Henny Jahnns Medea", in Resonanzen. Festschrift fur Hans Joachim Kreutzer, Sabine Doering (ed.), Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2000, pp. 413 - 428.
• "Die Fährnisse der verklärten Liebe. Über Kleists Käthchen von Heilbronn", in Kleist und die Aufklärung, Tim Mehigan (ed.), Rochester: Camden House, 2000, pp. 169-184.
• "Die Theatralität des Göttlichen: Über Kleists Amphityron", Kleist-Jahrbuch 2001, pp. 148-159.
• "Mienen sind schlechte Rätsel. Transparenz und Verschleierung in den Figurenbeziehungen bei Kleist", in Aurora. Jahrbuch der Eichendorff-Gesellschaft fur die klassisch-romantische Zeit 60, 2000, pp. 45-73.

Teaching

• German Literature from the Enlightenment to the Present
• German history and society of the 19th century
• Myth and literature
• Contemporary German culture and society

Supervision

• German colonialism in China
• Myth and literature
• Media and culture in 20th century Germany
• German literature from 18th century to the present
• Heinrich von Kleist