I could not be more delighted in announcing that our esteemed colleague Michel Chaouli has been elected as member for life to the German Academy for Language and Literature – Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung. The academy plays a central role in Germany and in the world. Alongside Jonathan Franzen and David David Wellbery, he is the third of only three members from the Unites States in what is arguably the most prestigious academy devoted to literature and language in German-speaking Europe.
I am proud that one of our colleagues has joined the illustrious ranks of Elias Canetti, Jean Cocteau, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Benedetto Groce, Jürgen Habermas, nobel-prize winner Elfriede Jelinek, W.G. Sebald and Christa Wolf among others. The academy also awards several of the major prizes for authors in German language: The Georg-Büchner Prize for literature written in German, the Johann-Heinrich-Merck-Prize for academic writing and essay, the Sigmund-Freud Prize for academic writing, and the Johann-Heinrich Voß Prize for translation.
-Professor Johannes Türk, Germanic Studies Department Chair
The College of Arts