Dr. Joachim Fischer
Responsibilities
- Senior Lecturer in German
- Course Director: BA in European Studies
- Joint Director, Centre for Irish-German Studies, University of Limerick
- Associate Director, Ralahine Centre for Utopian Studies, University of Limerick
Academic Background
Studied English, German, Media Studies and Comparative Philology at the universities of Mainz, Glasgow, Bonn and Trinity College Dublin.
MA (University of Mainz), PhD (Trinity College Dublin).
1983 – 1984 – Part-time Lecturer in Celtic Philology, Dept. of Comparative Philology, University of Mainz
1984 – 1987 – DAAD Lektor in German language and culture, Dept. of German, University College Cork
1987 – 1990 – Special Assistant in German, Dept. of German, University College Cork
1990 – Present – Assistant Lecturer, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in German, School of Languages, Literature, Culture and Communication, University of Limerick
Current Teaching areas
- German literature
- German cultural history
- Contrastive Cultural Studies
- History of the German language
- Film Studies
Research Interests
- The history of Irish-German contacts and relations
- The Irish image of Germany
- Travel Literature
- Utopian Studies
Selected Publications
Books
(with John Dillon): Myles Dillon, Correspondence 1922-1925. Irish-German-Relations and Celtic Studies. Dublin: Four Courts Press 1998
(with S. Dockrell, E. Hughes, J. Hayes, M. Mohan, S. Supple): Anders und doch nicht fremd. Materialien zur interkulturellen Landeskunde Irland Deutschland. 4. Dublin: ELO Press 1998 [materials for the Leaving Certificate course in German in contrastive cultural studies]
Das Deutschlandbild der Iren 1890-1939. Geschichte – Form – Funktion. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Verlag 2000. 680pp.
Edited Books
(with A. Chambers) Register of Research in Modern Languages 1989-93. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy 1994.
(with G. Holfter and T. E. Bourke): Deutsch-irische Verbindungen – Irish-German Connections. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier 1998 (Schriftenreihe Literaturwissenschaft. 42).
(with V. Kelly, K. Quinn and S. Rivière) Register of Research in Modern Languages 1994-1998. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy 1999
(with P. Ó Dochartaigh and H. Kelly-Holmes), Yearbook of the Centre for Irish-German Studies 2001/2002 / Irish-German Studies 1, Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier 2004. 183pp.
(with G. Neville), As Others See Us: Cork through European Eyes. Cork: Collins Press 2005, 427pp.
(with P. Lynch and B. Coates 1798/1998: Backwards to the Future, Forward to the Past. Amsterdam: Rodopi 2006, 2vols. 750pp.
Articles / Chapters in Books
Die fünfte Provinz Irlands: Inseln vor der Insel. In: H.-C. Oeser (ed.), Irland. Ein politisches Reisebuch. Hamburg: VSA 1987, p. 265-274.
Bilaterale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen ungleicher Partner. Das Beispiel BRD-Irland. In: K. Behne-Oswald [et al.], Fachsprache Wirtschaft. Bausteine zu einem kritisch orientierten Kurs. Bonn: DAAD 1987, p. 219-249 (text book unit).
Ernst Tollers Verhältnis zum Judentum. In: T. E. Bourke / R. Ní Néill (eds.), Third Galway Colloquium. Galway: Dept. of German, UCG 1988, p. 42-58.
Ernst Toller and Ireland. In: R. Dove and S. Lamb (eds.), German Writers and Politics 1918-39. Houndsmill and London: Macmillan 1992, p. 192-206.
Elisabeth Grube geb. Diez (1803-1871) und Katharina Diez (1809-1882). Leben und Werk zweier Schriftstellerinnen aus Netphen. In: J. Fischer, I. Längsfeld [et al.], Elisabeth Grube und Katharina Diez. Zwei Dichterinnen und ihre Zeit. Siegen: Vorländer 1992, p. 9-137.
Periphere Perspektiven: zum Deutschlandbild irischer Reisender zwischen 1919 und 1933. Runa. Revista portuguesa de estudos germanísticos 25. 1996, p. 447-455
The bi-cultural classroom: more German-Irish experiences. In: A. Chambers / D. P. Ó Baoill (eds.), Intercultural Communication and Language Learning. Dublin: RIA/IRAAL 1999, p. 136-149
“Kultur – and our need of it”: The image of Germany and Irish national identity, 1890-1920. The Irish Review no. 24. Autumn 1999, p. 66-79
Nineteenth-century Irish travellers to Germany and their tales. In: J. Barkhoff, G. Carr and R. Paulin (eds), Das schwierige 19. Jahrhundert. Germanistische Tagung zum 65. Geburtstag von Eda Sagarra im August 1998. Tübingen: Niemeyer 2000 (Studien und Texte zur Sozialgeschichte der Literatur. 77), 535-546
(with M. L. Schewe), Deutschunterricht und Germanistikstudium in der Republik Irland. In: G. Helbig et al., Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Ein internationales Handbuch. 2. Halbband. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter 2001, 1471-1480
‘Märchen aus Irlands Gauen’: Irisches und dessen Vermittlung im Kaiserreich. In Literaturvermittlung um 1900. S. Strümper-Krobb and F. Krobb (eds). Amsterdam: Rodopi 2001, 23-44 [Irish culture and its interpreters in Germany 1871-1918].
“… ‘thar lear’ chomh iomlán is chomh aoibhinn …”: Aspekte des Deutschlandbildes in der zeitgenössischen irischsprachigen Literatur Irlands. In: Philologica et linguistica. Festschrift für Helmut Humbach. M. G. Schmidt and W. Bisang (eds). Trier:
Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier 2001, 385-411
Ernst Toller 1893-1939: German playwright, political activist, and autobiographer. In M. Jolly (ed.), Encyclopedia of Life Writing. Autobiographical and Biographical Forms. Vol.II. London: Fitzroy Dearborn 2001, 879-80.
Rosa Luxemburg 1871-1919: German political and social revolutionary, and letter writer. In M. Jolly (ed.), Encyclopedia of Life Writing. Autobiographical and Biographical Forms. Vol. II. London: Fitzroy Dearborn 2001, 575-77.
August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben ‘Lied der Deutschen’ (1841). In: Poetry Project. Irish Germanists Interpret German Verse. F. Krobb / J. Morrison (eds). Oxford etc: Lang 2003 (British and Irish Studies in German Language and Literature. 25.), 59-66
Georg Weerth, ‘Deutscher und Ire’ (ca. 1845/46). In : Poetry Project. Irish Germanists Interpret German Verse. F. Krobb / J. Morrison (eds). Oxford etc: Lang 2003 (British and Irish Studies in German Language and Literature. 25.), 81-87
The eagle that never landed: a history of uses and abuses of the German language in Ireland. In: Languages in Ireland. M. Cronin / C. Ó Cuilleanáin (eds) Dublin: Four Courts Press 2003, 93-111
Aspects of the Irish reception of German culture: Goethe Schubert et al. In: Goethe and Schubert: Across the Divide. L. Byrne and D. Farrelly (eds) Dublin: Carysford Press 2003, 37-50
Kenny Dodd goes mad: or, Charles Lever’s unsentimental journey through Germany. In: Denkbilder – Festschrift für Eoin Bourke. H. Rasche and C. Schönfeld (eds). Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2004, 90-107
„… und notiere, während ich den Motor anlasse: C., county C., Ireland“: Anmerkungen zum Bild der Stadt Cork in der deutschsprachigen Irlandliteratur. In: Language – Text – Bildung: Essays in Honour of Beate Dreike. A. Stuhlmann and P. Studer (eds), Frankfurt etc.: Peter Lang, 2005, 317-331
Fischer, J., Das Wasserkraftwerk Ardnacrusha und die Elektrifizierung Irlands. Industrie-kultur. 2/2005, 8-9
Book Reviews
Review of D. Dohmen, Das deutsche Irlandbild. Amsterdam: Rodopi . In: Arbitrium. Zeitschrift für Rezensionen zur germanistischen Literaturwissenschaft. 3/1998, p. 269-271
Review of C. Molohan, Ireland and Germany 1945-1955: Two nations friendship. In: Irish Studies Review 9(2). 2001, 264-266
Review of Pól Ó Dochartaigh, Julius Pokorny, 1888-1970. In: European History Quarterly 36(2). 2006, 325-327
Review of Mervyn O’Driscoll, Ireland, Germany and the Nazis. Dublin: Four Courts Press. In: English Historical Review CXXI (June 2006), 879-881.
Published translations
1. English to German
B. Nunan, An Ghaeilge: Landessprache oder tote Sprache. In: H.-C. Oeser 1987, p. 82-88
2. German to English
Martin Alioth, ‘salted Meet, Beer, Viagra’ in J. Fischer and G. Neville (eds), As Others See Us: Cork through European Eyes. Cork: Collins Press 2005, 424-427
3. Irish to German
N. Ní Dhomhnaill, Verdammt sind wir, Schwestern; Die Shannon-Mündung erwartet den Fisch; L. Ó Muirthile, Der Norden; M. Davitt, Lippenbekenntnis; Der Spiegel; Oh, meine zwei Palästinenser; C. Ó Searcaigh, Für Jack Kerouac. In: die horen 33. 1988, No. 151, p. 73-81. partly republished in: Ad libitum Sammlung Zerstreuung 21. Berlin: Volk und Welt 1991, p. 131-132.
B. Jenkinson, Die Harfe des Dubhrois. Cruit Dhubhrois. [Poster for Dublin 1991, European City of Culture]. Killiney, Co. Dublin: Irish Translators’ Association 1991.
P. Sayers, [various poems] In: P. Sayers, Peig [in German]. Tr. by H.-C. Oeser. Köln: Lamuv 1996.
L. MacCóil, An Dochtúir Áthas [extracts] for readings at the Frankfurt Bookfair, October 1996 [This translation was commissioned by the Arts Council of Ireland.]
Organisation of conferences
Deutsch-Irische Verbindungen –Irish-German Connections (1st Limerick Conference in Irish-German Studies). University of Limerick, September 1997 (with G. Holfter, UL)
IASIL 1998. Annual Conference of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures. University of Limerick, July 1998 (with P. Lynch, B. Coates, T. Ó hIfearnáin, all UL)
Ireland and Germany 50 Years on (2nd Limerick Conference in Irish-German Studies). University of Limerick, September 1999 in co-operation with the Centre for European Studies and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (with G. Holfter, J. Lerchenmueller, M Krajenbrink, E Moxon-Browne, all UL)
Wagner and Wagnerism: Contexts – Connections – Controversies, University of Limerick, 9-10 August 2002 (Organisers: M Krajenbrink, J Fischer, G Cox, MIC, C Morris, UCC – in co-operation with MIC, UCC and the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland)
Ardnacrusha 75: An interdisciplinary conference. (5th Limerick Conference in Irish-German Studies) Limerick, 15-17 April 2004. Organised jointly with ESB, Siemens Ireland and the Hunt Museum
Is the European Labour Market Over-Regulated. (8th Limerick Conference in Irish-German Studies), University of Limerick, 31 August – 1 September 2006. Organised jointly with German-Irish Lawyers Association.
Current supervision of postgraduates
Cáit Uí Chiobháin, BA, MA (Limerick)
Distant familiarity: Travel writing in Irish from 1900 to the present day
PhD (J. Fischer / R. Ní Fhrighil)
Deirdre Ní Chuanacháin, MA (UCC)
Irish utopian thought in the 18th century.
PhD (T. Moylan / J. Fischer / M Griffin)
External activities / Membership of professional bodies
- External Examiner for German in ITs Letterkenny, Sligo, Dundalk, Athlone, Tallaght and IT Blanchardstown 1995-2003
- Course evaluator for Bachelor of Arts, IT Athlone 1998 and for Bachelor of Arts in European Studies and Applied Languages, IT Tallaght 2000
- Treasurer, International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures (IASIL) from September 2006
- Member, Conference of University Teachers of German of Great Britain and Ireland (CUTG)
- Member, Association for Third Level Teachers of German in Ireland (Chair 2002-2004)
- Member, Classical Association of Ireland
- Member, Irish Translators’ Association
- Member, Irish Palatine Association