Dr. Stefan BÖRNCHEN

Stefan Börnchen is a Research Scientist for Humanities and Digitalization. He received his PhD and Habilitation from the University of Cologne. He has held guest lectureships at Freie Universität Berlin, Banaras Hindu University (Varanasi), Williams College (MA), and the University of Tehran. His research and publications focus on literature and cultural theory.

His books focus on Thomas Mann, media theory and Romanticism, Wilhelm Busch’s poetics of the line, transgenerational trauma, and Donald Trump dancing. He is currently working on a book manuscript on ChatGPT.

Monographs

• Kryptenhall. Allegorien von Schrift, Stimme und Musik in Thomas Manns „Doktor Faustus“ (2006, 347 pp.)
• Poetik der Linie. Wilhelm Busch, „Max und Moritz“ und die Tradition (2015, 64 pp.)
• „Alles ist eins.“ Romantische Metaphorologie des Mediums (2021, 761 pp.)
• Stalingrad an der Elbe. Kälte, Krieg und Unbehaustheit in Dörte Hansens Roman „Altes Land“ (2022, 56 pp.)
• Trump tanzt. Warum Sprachkritik den amerikanischen Präsidenten verfehlt und Maske und Musik ihn erklären (2025, 64 pp.)
• Dancing Trump. Why Language Critique Can’t Explain the American President, Whereas Masks and Music Can (2026, forthcoming)

Areas of Interest

• Literature from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century, with a particular focus on Thomas Mann
• Media theory
• Narratives of the digital
• Narratives of artificial intelligence
• Graphic literature (comics and graphic novels)
• Psychoanalysis
• Gender studies
• Postcolonial studies
• Music and literature, with a particular emphasis on Richard Wagner