简介

PhD Stanford University Susan Gustafson’s areas of research include 18th–20th-century German literature, aesthetic theory, family configurations, gender studies, psychoanalysis, and feminism. In her book on Lessing, she explored the representation of absent mothers and orphaned fathers in his dramas to illustrate the fundamental deep structures informing his aesthetic and dramatic production and to demonstrate that the missing mother is actually not absent, but plays a central role in Lessing’s literary work. Her book-length study of German Classicism demonstrates, in contrast to Foucault’s theories, how 18th-century poets—and particularly Goethe—were establishing their own poetry of same-sex identity and desire. Her third book, Goethe’s Families of the Heart, outlines Goethe’s representations of families based on love, including families with two fathers, two mothers, and adopted children as a counter discourse to the aristocratic and civil notions of father-dominated and economically determined families that prevailed during his time period. Gustafson’s fourth book, which is in progress, is a translation of Goethe’s plays, Stella: A Play for Lovers, and Stella: A Tragedy.