Wolfram Schmidgen

Wolfram Schmidgen is a Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and MAs from the Free University Berlin and Binghamton University. His research focuses on 17th- and 18th-century literature, intellectual history, and the interplay between religion and literary innovation. He has authored three major books, including Infinite Variety (2021) and Exquisite Mixture (2012), which explore themes of voluntarism, hybridity, and cultural transformation. His current project critiques contemporary 'object love' in humanities scholarship.

Education: PhD, University of Chicago; MA, Free University Berlin; MA, Binghamton University.

Research Interests: Schmidgen’s work bridges literary analysis with theology, political thought, and scientific history. He examines how religious ideas shaped early modern literary experiments and how concepts like mixture and impurity influenced national identity. His writing challenges narratives of secularization and modernization, offering new frameworks for understanding cultural evolution.

Teaching: Courses include The Secret Life of Things, Species, and literature and Justice. He actively mentors graduate students from diverse academic backgrounds.

Advising: Supervised six students whose work spans early modern studies, including Courtney Weiss-Smith (Wesleyan University) and Lisa Brune (University of Kansas Medical Center).