Hans J. Rindisbacher

Professor of German and Russian; On leave Fall 2024
hans.rindisbacher@pomona.edu
Office:
Mason Hall
109

(909) 621-8942

With Pomona Since: 1995
Hans Rindisbacher
Download High-Res Image
  • Expertise

    Expertise

    Hans Rindisbacher鈥檚 principal field of scholarship is German Studies, but his research interests have also drawn him to the topic of perception, particularly olfactory perception. His 1992 book, The Smell of Books: A Cultural-Historical Study of Olfactory Perception in Literature, examines the role that the sense of smell has played throughout the history of European literature.

    The book was the winner of the Modern Language Association鈥檚 1992 Independent Scholar Prize. In a review, the Sewanee Review said: 鈥淩indisbacher's undertaking is timely鈥攊n the age of pheromones, when film makers experiment with techniques to infuse appropriately stimulating aromas into theaters and when you cannot open a magazine without being assaulted by the latest fragrances. 鈥︹

    Research Interests

    • Literary, cultural, historical and social aspects of the German-speaking world, specifically the emergence of a new Europe
    • German-Russian relations
    • Swiss literature, culture and politics
    • The intersection of linguistic representation and neuroscience
    • Perception
    • Olfactory perception
    • History of perfumery
    • Style and fashion

    Areas of Expertise

    GERMAN

    • German Language
    • German Literature
    • German Culture
    • Cultural Studies
    • Interdisciplinary Studies

    PERCEPTION

    • Olfactory Perception

    ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

    • Environmental Issues
  • Work

    Work

    The Smell of Books: A Cultural-Historical Study of Olfactory Perception in Literature (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992).

    Writing Switzerland: Culture, History, and Politics in the Work of Peter von Matt, edited by Peter C. Meilaender and Hans J. Rindisbacher (Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Vienna: Peter Lang, 2019).

    鈥淪mells of Switzerland鈥 in: From Multiculturalism to Cultural Hybridity: New Approaches to Teaching Modern Switzerland, ed. Margrit Zinggeler and Karin Baumgartner (Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2010), p. 229-252.

    鈥淗ermann Burgers Die k眉nstliche Mutter und der thermo-emotionale Zustand schweizerischer M盲nnlichkeit鈥 in: Nach Feierabend. Z眉rcher Jahrbuch f眉r Wissensgeschichte (2017). Der kalte Krieg. K盲ltegrade eines globalen Konflikts. Hrsg. Silvia Berger Ziauddin, David Eugster, Christa Wirth (October 2017), S. 175-197.

    (鈥溞椥靶盒把 褝褉褘 鈥樞拘葱笛徯叫秆忊? 袧邪芯斜芯褉芯褌 袞.-袣. 袚褞懈褋屑邪薪褋邪 懈 袩芯泻芯褉薪芯褋褌褜 袦. 校褝谢褜斜械泻邪鈥). 孝械芯褉懈褟 袦芯写褘, 14:1. Spring 2018.

    Review Essay: Exhibition Catalog of the eponymous exhibition, September 22, 2018 鈥 January 6, 2019, de Young Museum, San Francisco, curated by Jill d鈥橝lessandro, Reina Lewis, and Laura L. Camerlengo, (Munich, DelMonico Books, Prestel, 2018). 

    Review Essay.  Karl Schl枚gel, Das sowjetische Jahrhundert: Arch盲ologie einer untergegangenen Welt (M眉nchen: C.H. Beck, 2017), The European Legacy, 25:3, 354-359, June 3, 2019.

    Book review:  (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017). Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, 2:22, August 2019.

    Book review: Transnationalization of Public Spheres; Hartmut Wessler, Bernhard Peters, Michael Br眉ggemann, Katharina Kleinen-von K枚nigsl枚w, and Stefanie Sifft (Basingstoke, UK, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)

  • Education

    Education

    Ph.D.
    Stanford University

    Master of Arts
    University of Bern, Switzerland

    Recent Courses Taught

    Comprehensive Examinations in German

    Directed Studies in German

    Elementary German

    Modern German Poetry

    Culture of Nature: German Roots of Green

    German Culture Through Film

    Critical Inquiry Seminar

  • Awards & Honors

    Awards & Honors

    DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Research Visit grant to Germany, summer 2011.

    Hirsch Research Initiation Grant, 麻豆影视, 2010

    麻豆影视, Yale Griffith Faculty Grant, 1998

    Harvey Mudd College, Mellon Grant for Technology Development, 1996

    National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Seminar, University of Washington, 1992

    MLA Book Prize for Independent Scholar, 1992

Mailing Address

333 N. College Way
Claremont, CA 91711

Get in touch

Connect

Give back to
Pomona

Support Pomona

Part of