Department ofGermanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures

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Forrest Finch

Forrest Finch

Assistant Teaching Professor

Education:

Ph.D. in German Language & Literature, Georgetown University

Biography:

Forrest Finch received his doctorate degree in German from Georgetown University in August 2021 prior to beginning his position as an Assistant Teaching Professor of German in Pennsylvania State University’s Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures. While living in Washington, DC, Forrest worked with the German Historical Institute and the Goethe Institute in various capacities. For several years, Forrest was a guest speaker at the Goethe’s Institute’s German-language film festival, FilmNeu. Beyond his public-facing engagement, Forrest’s dissertation in 18th century German studies is titled The Tableau Effect in German Narrative Prose around 1800. Through close readings of Die Wahlverwandschaften by Johann von Goethe, Der Findling by Heinrich von Kleist, Das Marmorbild by Joseph von Eichendorff, and Die Flucht nach der Hauptstadt by Sophie Mereau-Brentano, Forrest develops a theoretical framework using insights from cinema theory, feminist studies, and socio-anthropological approaches to literature, which he deploys in order to discuss gendered subject formation around 1800 as an effect of mimoplastic performances.