Gerhild Williams

Gerhild Williams holds the Barbara Schaps Thomas & David M. Thomas Professorship in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, where she serves in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures and the Program in Comparative Literature. Her research focuses on Early Modern German and French literature (1100-1700), with specialties in witch theory, translation practices, Volksbuch evolution, and Ottoman cultural impacts. She explores how early modern media like newspapers shaped novel development.

Her academic work bridges textual analysis and cultural history, emphasizing cross-cultural exchanges between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Recent projects examine 17th-century writers like Eberhard Werner Happel and Daniel Speer, analyzing their engagement with Ottoman Eurasian contexts through travel narratives and trade diplomacy. She has published extensively on topics such as Johannes Praetorius' demonological writings and the globalizing influence of Ottoman power.

Williams has translated key historical texts including Pierre de Lancre's witchcraft treatise and co-authored studies on Reformation-era cultural dynamics. Her current research investigates Ottoman imperial ambitions' literary manifestations in German prose, challenging Eurocentric historiographies through transcontinental analysis.