معرفی
Joseph Metz is an Associate Professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures within the College of Humanities at the University of Utah, where he has held continuous faculty appointments since 1999. He earned his PhD in Germanic Languages and Literatures from Harvard University in 1999, progressing from Instructor (1999) to Assistant Professor (1999-2006) before attaining his current rank in 2006.
His research centers on German literary theory with emphases on postcolonial discourse, Jewish studies, and aesthetics. Metz examines colonial dynamics within Habsburg and German contexts, Jewish identity formation in Central European literature, and gendered constructions of the body in canonical authors like Rilke, Stifter, and Kafka. His methodology frequently intersects Marxist theory, semiotics, and critical race studies to dissect power structures embedded in 19th-20th century Germanic texts.
Metz's publications reveal consistent engagement with literary form as political expression. His monograph The Feeling of the Form (2025) synthesizes empathy studies with aesthetic philosophy across Büchner to Rilke, while earlier articles demonstrate how texts like Stifter's Die Narrenburg expose 'inner colonialism' in the Habsburg Empire and how Kafka's Der Verschollene navigates cultural Zionism through diasporic doubles. His work consistently reveals how literary form mediates historical trauma and identity politics.
- Post-Tenure Research Assignment (College of Humanities, 2013)
Metz actively contributes to institutional service including organizing the Faculty Learning Community on Empathy (2014), which brought together University of Utah and Salt Lake City community members to develop empathy-focused projects. His teaching portfolio demonstrates deep engagement with German studies, regularly offering courses including German language instruction, Literary Theory, Great Books, and Special Topics seminars focused on comparative thinking and contemporary criticism. His scholarly trajectory reflects sustained commitment to uncovering how Germanic literature negotiates cultural trauma, colonial legacies, and identity formation.
