New Humboldt prizewinner at LMU

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Wei Hu, Professor of German Studies at Peking University (China), is an internationally renowned expert in German literature. Her main areas of interest are the 18th century and the Goethe period, but also the 19th century and individual aspects of the modern era. In particular, she has made important contributions to the field of Goethe philology. Wei Hu has published a large number of essays, in German and Chinese, in first-rate journals. Her key publications include the newly published anthology, 100 Famous German Poems. In addition, she translated Goethe’s most extensive poetry collection, West-Eastern Divan, into Chinese and wrote a scholarly commentary for the text. It is the first complete edition of the Divan in Chinese.

Wei Hu will be hosted by Professor Friedrich Vollhardt at the Institute of German Philology. She is planning several stays at LMU to work, among other things, on her new project about Goethe’s conception and representation of nature from an historical and comparative perspective. “With this project, Wei Hu will furnish new insights that contribute to a deeper understanding of Goethe’s role as a builder of bridges between the cultural spheres in the period around 1800 on the one hand and modernity on the other,” says Vollhardt.

Wei Hu studied German, sinology, and art history at Peking University and at LMU, where she obtained her doctorate in 2006. She was assistant professor in the Department of German Studies at Peking University from 2006 to 2010 and then associate professor from 2010. In 2022, Wei Hu was appointed head of this department.