The prominent scholar-contributors to this volume share their experiences developing the field of US German Studies and their thoughts on literature and interdisciplinarity, pluralism and diversity, and transatlantic dialogue.The decisive contribution of the exile generation of the 1930s and '40s to German Studies in the United States is well known. The present volume carries the story forward to the next generation(s), giving voice to scholars from the US and overseas, many of them mentored by the exile generation. The exiles knew vividly the value of the Humanities; the following generations, though spared the experience of historical catastrophe, have found formidable challenges in building and maintaining the field in a time increasingly dismissive of that value. The scholar-contributors to this volume, prominent members of the profession, share their experiences of finding their way in the field and helping to develop it to its present state as well as their thoughts on its present challenges, including the question of the role of literature and of interdisciplinarity, pluralism, and diversity. Of particular interest is therole of transatlantic dialogue. Contributors: Leslie A. Adelson, Hans Adler, Russell A. Berman, Jane K. Brown, Walter Hinderer, Robert C. Holub, Leroy Hopkins, Andreas Huyssen, Claire Kramsch, Wilhelm Krull, Paul Michael Lützeler, Mark W. Roche, Judith Ryan, Azade Seyhan, Lynne Tatlock, Liliane Weissberg. Paul Michael Lützeler is Rosa May Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities at Washington University, St. Louis. PeterHöyng is Associate Professor of German at Emory University.

Introduction - Paul Michael Lützeler and Peter HöyngFrom Erfahrungshunger to Realitätshunger: Futurity, Migration, and Difference - Leslie A. AdelsonIn-between: The Participant as Observer-The Observer as Participant - Hans AdlerTransatlantic Space and My Own History of Globalization - Russell A. BermanDeplazierte Personen: Why Would an American Become a Germanist? - Jane K. BrownMetamorphoses and Meanderings of a Wanderer between Worlds - Walter HindererGerman Studies as Vocation: My Path into It, Out of It, and Back into It - Robert C. HolubMy Long Way from Germanistik to Afro German Studies - Leroy HopkinsMustang Red: My American Road to Critical Theory - Andreas HuyssenThird Place. How a French Germanist Became an Applied Linguist in America - Claire KramschTransatlantic Exchanges: German Studies - European and American Style - Paul Michael LützelerBeing at Home in the Other: Thoughts and Tales from a Typically Atypical Germanist - Mark RocheAfter Australia: Triangulating an Intellectual Journey - Judith RyanA Tale in Translation: An Academic Itinerary from Istanbul to Bryn Mawr - Azade SeyhanBeyond Passing: Transculturation in "Contact Zones" - Lynne TatlockFar from Where? Germanistik between the Continents - Liliane WeissbergEpilogue: The Usefulness of Useless Studies - Wilhelm KrullIndex