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Wilfried Wilms

Wilfried Wilms

Professor, German

wilfried.wilms@du.edu

303-871-2173 (Office)

Sturm Hall, 2000 East Asbury Avenue Denver, CO 80208

What I do

I am a Professor of German Studies and teach German language, literature, film and philosophy in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures. In addition, I teach across the Common Curriculum.

Professional Biography

Professor of German Studies (PhD. Indiana University, 2000). My research focuses on the history, memory and representation of war/conflict in literature and film. I am currently working on a book project that discusses the Weimar "Mountain Film" of the 1920s and early 1930s in the context of World War I and the ensuing affect of defeat. I have published on a range of authors and issues pertaining to German culture from the 18th century to the present.

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., German Studies, Indiana University, 2000

Research

My research focuses on the history, memory and representation of war/conflict in literature and film. I am currently working on a book project that discusses the Weimar "Mountain Film" of the 1920s and early 1930s in the context of World War I and the ensuing affect of defeat.

Areas of Research

18th-21st century German literature; German film; intellectual history

Featured Publications

Wilms, W. (2023). Heimat als Bestand: Luis Trenker's Die heiligen drei Brunnen (1930) und Der verlorene Sohn (1934). In T. Carstensen & O. Kohns (Eds.), Heimat in Literatur und Kultur: Neue Perspektiven (pp. 251-271). Paderborn, Germany: Brill.
Wilms, W. (2020). Eduard Pichl: Climber, Functionary, Anti-Semite. In S. Ireton & C. Schaumann (Eds.), Mountains and the German Mind: Translations from Gessner to Messner, 1541-2009 (pp. 198-217). Camden House.
Wilms, W. (2017). The Alps as Lebensraum: Cinematic Representations of the Alpine War and the South Tyrol Question in 1930s Germany. German Studies Review, 40(1), 61-77.
Wilms, W. (2016). Regaining Mobility: The Aviator in Weimar Mountain Films. In In B. Hales, M. Petrescu & V. Weinstein (Eds.) Continuity and Crisis in German Cinema (1928-1936) (pp. 167-186). Rochester, NY, USA: Camden House.
Wilms, W. (2015). Mountains Ablaze: The Alpine War 1915-1918. Weber - The Contemporary West, 32(1), 16-25.
Wilms, W. (2009). From Bergsteiger to Bergkrieger: Luis Trenker and the Birth of a New Man in Rock and Ice. Colloquia Germanica, 42 (3), 229-244.
Wilms, W. (2012). 'The Essence of the Alpine World is Struggle' - Strategies of Gesundung in Arnold Fanck's Early Mountain Films. In S. Ireton & C. Schaumann (Eds.) Heights of Reflection: Mountains in the German Imagination from the Middle Ages to Present (pp. 267-284). Rochester, NY: Camden House.
Wilms, W. (2012). 18 May 1945: Allied Welt Im Film Newsreels Seek To Reeducate West Germans In Democratic Conduct, End Up Setting Terms For Rubble Film Genre. In J. Kapczynski & M. Richardson (Eds.) A New History of German Cinema (pp. 314-320). Rochester, NY. Camden House.
Wilms, W. (2010). 'Dresden': The Return of History as Soap. In The Collapse of the Conventional. German Film and its Politics at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century (pp. 136-156 ). Detroit, MI. Wayne State University Press .
Wilms, W. (2008). German Postwar Films: Life and Love in the Ruins. (Studies in European Culture and History, eds. Eric D. Weitz and Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota.). (W. Wilms & W. Rasch, Eds.) (p. 244 pages). New York: Palgrave.

Presentations

Wilms, W. (2016). "Narrating the Alpine War - Luis Trenker and 'the Heroes of Narvik'.". German Studies Association, Annual Convention. San Diego, CA.
Wilms, W. (2015). "The Alps as Volkssanatorium for a Defeated Nation: The Changing Nature of Alpinism during and after the War.". Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association. Santa Fe, NM.
Wilms, W. (2015). Mountains as Monuments: The White War in the Publications of the Alpine Club." . Thinking Mountains. Interdisciplinary Mountain Studies Conference. Jasper, Ontario (Canada): University of Alberta.
Wilms, W. (2014). The Alps as German Lebensraum: Cinematic Representations of the Alpine War." . Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association. Boise, Idaho.