Kurt Mueller-Vollmer

Kurt Mueller-Vollmer
Kurt Mueller-Vollmer, c. 2010
Born	(1928-06-28)June 28, 1928 Hamburg, Germany
Education	Brown University (M.A. 1955) Stanford University (PhD, 1962)
School	Phenomenology Continental philosophy Hermeneutics Ontological hermeneutics
Main interests	Humboldt Hermeneutics Epistemology Philology History Language Ontology Aesthetics

Kurt Mueller-Vollmer (born June 28, 1928 in Hamburg) is an American philosopher and professor of German Studies & Humanities at Stanford University. Mueller-Vollmer studied in Germany, France, Spain and the United States. He holds a Master’s degree in American Studies from Brown University, Providence (USA) and a doctorate in German Studies and Humanities from Stanford University where he taught for over 40 years. His major publications concentrate in the areas of Hermeneutics, Comparative Literature and the work of Wilhelm von Humboldt.

Mueller-Vollmer was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2000. He also was awarded with the Wilhelm-von-Humboldt-Foundation Award presented in a public ceremony at the Humboldt University in Berlin on June 22, 2007.

Work & Research

Mueller-Vollmer has made noteworthy scholarly contributions elucidating the philosophical and linguistic work of Wilhelm von Humboldt including the discovery of numerous manuscripts, previously thought lost or otherwise unknown, relating to Humboldt’s empirical studies of some 400 languages from around the world. Mueller-Vollmer has written and edited numerous books and essays on hermeneutics, the theory of language and literature, and translation theory.

Awards

• 2014: Honorary Membership of the AATG, American Association of Teachers of German,Inc, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
• 2007: Wilhelm-von-Humboldt-Foundation Award (Wilhelm-von-Humboldt-Stiftungspreis 2007) Award presented in a public ceremony at the Humboldt University in Berlin on June 22.
• 2000: Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse).
• 1998: Corresponding foreign member of the Interdisciplinary Studies Institute (Sonderforschungsbereich) 529: "Die Internationalität Nationaler Literaturen" at the University of Göttingen.
• 1997: Fulbright senior scholar for research and graduate teaching at the University of Göttingen for spring and summer:
• 1996: Appointed member of the Humboldt Commission of the Berlin- Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften in 1996; in September 1997 elected "Projekt Leiter" in charge of the on going Humboldt edition. (See editorial work, below).
• 1988-1990: Project Grant and senior fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C.
• 1989: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation research fellowship
• 1988: Festschrift: Poetik-Humboldt-Hermeneutik. Studien für Kurt Mueller-Vollmer zum 60.Geburtstag.Hrsg. von H. Mueller-Sievers und J. Trabant, Tübingen, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, 231pp.(Special Issue of Kodikas/Code Ars Semiotica. Vol.11, No. Jan/June 1988)
• 1979-1980: Senior Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities
• 1976: Bicentennial Guest Professorship at the University of Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany, for the Summer Semester (See visiting professorships, above)
• 1975: American Philosophical Society Research Grant
• 1972-1973: Senior Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities For research stay in Paris, France
• 1968: Junior Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities
• 1965-1966: American Philosophical Society Research grant
• 1956-1958: Ford Foundation fellowship for graduate Ph. D. program in Humanities Stanford University.
• 1953- 1954: Fulbright Fellowship Brown University
• 1952: University of Cologne Summer fellowship for Spanish language and literature program at Colegio Santa Cruz, Valladolid, Spain
• 1949: Scheffel Prize for best Abitur (High School –Gymnasium) -final comprehensive exam) essay in the city of Cologne,Germany.

Publications

Books by Mueller-Vollmer

• 1963. Toward a Phenomenological Theory of Literature:v A Study of Wilhelm Dilthey's Poetik The Hague (Mouton).
• 1967. Poesie und Einbildungskraft: Zur Dichtungstheorie Wilhelm von Humboldts. Mit der zweisprachigen Ausgabe eines Aufsatzes Humboldts für Frau von Stael. Stuttgart (Metzler).
• 1970. Humboldt Studienausgabe, Band 1: Aesthetik und Literatur. (With Preface, Introduction, Critical Commentary) Frankfurt (Fischer).
• 1970. Return from Italy. Goethe's Notebook 1788. A bilingual presentation of J.W. Goethe's notebook which he kept during his return from Italy in 1788, with an introductory poem, notes, and commentary. Los Altos, California (Guido Press).
• 1971. Humboldt Studienausgabe, Band 2: Politik und Geschichte. (With Preface, an Essay on Humboldt's philosophy of man and the historical world, Critical Notes and Com- mentary). Frankfurt (Fischer).
• 1976. Wilhelm von Humboldt und der Anfang der amerikanischen Sprachwissenschaft: Die Briefe an John Pickering"" Frankfurt (Klostermann).
• 1985. The Hermeneutics Reader. Texts of the German Tradition from the Enlightenment to the Present. Edit., with an Introduction and Notes. New York (Continuum/Crossroad).
• 1986. The Hermeneutics Reader. English edition Oxford (Blackwell).
• 1988. The Hermeneutics Reader. American paper back edition, New York.
• 1990. Herder Today. Contributions from the International Herder Conference, Nov.5-8,1987 Stanford, California Berlin and New York (Walter de Gruyter).
• 1993. Wilhelm von Humboldts Sprachwissenschaft. Ein kommentiertes Verzeichnis des sprachwissenschaftlichen Nachlasses. Mit einer Einleitung und zwei Anhängen Paderborn, München, Wien, Zürich, (F. Schöning Verlag).
• 1994. Wilhelm von Humboldt und die amerikanischen Sprachen, ed. (together with K. Zimmermann and J. Trabant)."" Paderborn, München, Wien, Zürich (F. Schöningh Verlag).
• 1998. Translating Literatures, Translating Cultures. New Vistas and Approaches in Literary Studies, ed. ( with Michael Irmscher). Berlin (E. Schmidt Verlag).
• 1999. Same: Stanford, Ca. (Stanford University Press).
• 2000. The Internationality of National Literatures in either America: British America and the United States, 1770s-1850s. Göttingen, (Wallstein Verlag). Jointly with Armin Paul Frank.