Matthew Königsberg

Prof. Dr. Matthew Königsberg is an Associate Professor at the East Asian Seminar, Japanese Studies department of Freie Universität Berlin, with a focus on premodern and modern Japanese literature, structuralist and comparative literary studies, and language didactics. He holds a doctorate from the University of Tübingen (1988) and a habilitation from the University of Hamburg (2001), supported by a DFG scholarship (1998).

• Doctorate Thesis: Kobayashi Hideo's 'Watakushi shōsetsu ron' (1988)
• Habilitation Thesis: Realism in Japan, the Ken'yūsha School, and the Testing of New Novel Techniques (1998)

His research spans structuralist analysis of Japanese prose, intertextuality in Konjaku monogatari, Meiji period stylistic reforms, and queer themes in Ihara Saikaku's work. He has published extensively on topics including Korean minority literature in Japan, Buddhist themes in Japanese fiction, and the evolution of the Bildungsroman in Japan-Europe comparisons.

Scientific awards include renaturalization as a German citizen under Article 116, No. 2 of the Basic Law (1986) and a DFG habilitation scholarship (1998). He has served as a visiting associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis (2002/2003), a lecturer at Freie Universität Berlin (2004), and provided intercultural training for managers at Bremen University of Applied Sciences (1991).

• Notable Editorial Roles: Consultant for Kindler's Literature Lexicon (2009), Convenor at EAJS Conference literature section (2008)
• Professional Affiliations: Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, European Association for Japanese Studies, Association of Asian Studies, Deutsche Japan-Gesellschaft