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Graduate Student

• About

  Simon Walsh, an Australian, came to Michigan with a B.A. (Hons.) from the University of Adelaide, Australia, and a MSc. in Theoretical and Historical Psychology from the University of Calgary, Canada. His Master's thesis on the reception of Gestalt Theory in the United States made the transition from Psychology to German Studies possible. At Michigan Simon has pursued a different research trajectory, one guided by a lifelong passion for music and newfound fascination for Austrian culture. He is currently completing a dissertation on the role of music in post WW-II Austrian literature, and his key authors for that project are Thomas Bernhard, Ingeborg Bachmann, Elfriede Jelinek, Gert Jonke, and Lilian Faschinger. The persistent recourse to music in their collective work is interpreted as a critical response to contemporary Austria’s understanding of itself as the "Land der Musik." Simon has recently presented at conferences in the United States, Slovenia, Austria, and Australia, and has taken advantage of research grants to spend substantial portions of the last few years in Berlin, Vienna, and other parts of Austria. Among his extracurricular interests are euchre, bike riding, and Eastern Michigan University football.