Jan L. Hagens

Mr. Hagens’s research focuses on German and comparative drama (1550 to the present), drama theory, and philosophical and theological approaches to literature. He has published articles on seventeenth-century Jesuit drama, dramatic genre theory, theater semiotics, German film, Nietzsche, Freud, and language pedagogy. His current research project, “The Wounded Embrace: An Essay on the Drama of Reconciliation,” examines potentially tragic plays that achieve productive resolution. Mr. Hagens’s teaching interests include general linguistics, German language, literature, film, intellectual history, comparative drama, as well as forgiveness and reconciliation. He taught at Carleton College, Eckerd College, and the University of Notre Dame before joining YDS in 2010. He has won fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Templeton Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Max Kade Foundation; in 2007 he won the University of Notre Dame’s first Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He serves on the editorial board of Text and Presentation and the conference board of the Comparative Drama Conference.