Levan Tsagareli, Georgia

1. Curriculum Vitae

Levan Tsagareli, PhD, is a Professor at the School of Arts and Sciences at Ilia State University (Tbilisi, Georgia). He teaches European Literature and Literary Theory. His research interests are: German and Austrian Literature in the twentieth century, Poetics of Postmodernist Novel, Narratology, Metafiction, Literary and Cultural Analysis (Deconstruction), Intercultural and Comparative Literary Studies (Imagology), Memory Studies. Since 2017 Levan Tsagareli has been Expert of Higher Educational Program Accreditation and Higher Education Institution Authorization.

Levan studied German Philology at Ivane Javakhishvili State University of Tbilisi (TSU, 1998-2004) as well as Comparative Literature and Scandinavian Studies at the Universities of Hamburg (2001), Vienna (2002, 2009) and Stockholm (2005). In 2006-2009, he worked as Assistant Professor and manager of studies at the Faculty of Humanities of TSU before he moved to Ilia State University (ISU). He did his PhD about Arno Schmidt’s Late Prose as Metafiction (2008). In 2010-2011 he was dean of College of Arts and Sciences at ISU. He made short-term research visits at the Universities of Saarbrücken (2008) and Düsseldorf (2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019), Humboldt University in Berlin (2014, 2017), University of Vienna (2009, 2015, 2021) and University of Freiburg (2016). He was a visiting lecturer at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Humboldt University in Berlin and University of Uppsala.

Levan has been in charge of collaboration with Robert Bosch Foundation and the Catholic Academic Exchange Service (KAAD). Within the scope of Go East program of German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) he organized the annual summer school Fascination Caucasus for German students (2013-2014). In 2016-2018, he participated in the research project Georgian Cultural Heritage in Germany, funded by the Shota Rustaveli National Scientific Foundation. In various years he was a jury member of ISU Award for Literature (The Best Novel of the Year, The Best Literary Translation of the Year) and Annual Literary Award “Litera”. He regularly facilitates the Student’s Book Club meetings at ISU.

2. Reflection

When I came to Austria for the first time, I was 22. Since then, I have visited Austria for four times. The opportunity to have direct access to local libraries and attend relevant courses at the University of Vienna has been crucial for my academic development in many different ways. For instance, I wrote my MA thesis on an Austrian writer Leo Perutz. Later on, I published some of my most cited articles on the famous novel of another Austrian writer, Christoph Ransmayr. Currently, I am considering to introduce Austrian Studies at the MA level at my home institution. Furthermore, I made some friends at my very first visit in Vienna and we still keep in touch during all these 20 years. And it should not be underestimated, that it was in Vienna I got acquainted with Opera music and the art of Klimt, Schiele and Mucha. For these reasons, Vienna remains a place of unlimited scientific and cultural possibilities for me, a place where you can never get bored and always find new things to discover and learn.