David Wellbery

David E. Wellbery is the LeRoy T. and Margaret Deffenbaugh Carlson University Professor at the University of Chicago, holding appointments in the Department of Germanic Studies, the Committee on Social Thought, and the College. His research focuses on German literary history, Goethe studies, and interdisciplinary literary theory. He has authored seminal works like Lessing’s Laocoön (1984) and The Specular Moment (1996), and edited the landmark A New History of German Literature (2004). His recent projects include studies on Goethe’s Faust and modernity.

Wellbery has received prestigious awards, including the Humboldt Research Prize (2005), the Grimm Prize (2010), and the Golden Goethe Medallion (2019). He has held visiting professorships at institutions like Princeton and the University of Bonn, and is editor of Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte. His work bridges literary analysis with philosophy, history, and cultural studies, emphasizing methodological rigor and interdisciplinary dialogue.

As founding director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on German Literature and Culture, he promotes collaborative scholarship. His teaching excellence was recognized with the 2023 Faculty Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring.