Catherine Sprecher Loverti

Catherine Sprecher Loverti grew up in Zurich, Switzerland, and first came to the United States as an exchange student at UC Berkeley. She later received a PhD from the University of Chicago and has a background in German and English Literature and Linguistics.

In Linguistics, she has focused on speech act theory in relation to the philosophy of language, and language acquisition. She has published an article on children’s understanding of irony in Wilhelm Busch’s Max und Moritz.

In literary studies, she has published on the Jewish-German philosopher Franz Rosenzweig’s concept of neighborly love as it relates to W.G. Sebald’s concept of writing history, particularly the Holocaust. She has also done extensive research in German and English Romanticism with a focus on how Mary Shelley and Bettine von Arnim helped shape the myths around these movements. Currently, she is researching different cultures’ conception of masculinity through fairy tales and their re-imaginings.

She has taught at the University of Zurich, UC Santa Barbara, the University of Portland, and the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik (PSU). She joined the faculty at Lewis & Clark College in 2013, and teaches classes for the Department of World Languages and Literatures, Core, and the Gender Studies Program.

Academic Credentials

PhD University of Chicago

Lic.Phil. I, University of Zurich

Teaching

First- and second year German language and culture sequence. (German 101-202)

German Composition and Conversation: “Der/die/das Fremde [The Strange/r].” (German 301)

Introduction to Literary Studies: “Verbrechen, Recht und Gerechtigkeit [Crime, Law and Justice].”  (German 321/322)

Major Periods in German Literature: “Märchenmotive in der deutschen Kultur und Geschichte [Fairy Tale Themes in German Culture and History].” (German 410)

Special Topics in German: “Der Tod der Autobiographie? [The Death of Autobiography?].” (German 450)

Special Topics in German: “Fantasie und das Fantastische in der deutschsprachigen Kultur [Fantasy and the Fantastic in German-Speaking Culture].” (German 450)

Exploration and Discovery I: “Creation and Responsibility” (Core 106)

Exploration and Discovery II: “Fairy Tales. Then and Now.” (Core 107)

Words: “Knowledge, Power, and Responsibility.” (Core 120)

Topics in World Literatures: “Fairy Tales Across Cultures.” (WLL 140)

Introduction to Linguistics (WLL 240)

Research

German and English Romanticism, Swiss Literature, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Gender Studies, Cultural Studies, Theories of Life Writing and Subjectivity, Psychoanalysis, Critical Theory, Linguistics.