Medieval and Early Modern English Studies in Switzerland
Medieval and early modern English studies have traditionally played an important role in the curricula and scholarship of most English departments. Distinguished medievalists and early modern scholars who have taught in this country in the recent and distant past include Basel's Rudolf Stamm and Balz Engler, Berne's Otto Funke and Gustav Ungerer, Fribourg's Anthony Mortimer, Geneva's Paul Beekman Taylor, George Steiner and Richard Waswo, Neuchâtel's Adrien Bonjour and Zürich's Brian Gibbons and Ernst Leisi, as well as the ETH's Brian Vickers - to name only them. A comprehensive listing of 'Swiss' scholars in the field will hopefully become available soon, and will no doubt provide grounds for admiration and nostalgia.
Medieval and early modern English studies have for the most part not just 'survived' the so-called Bologna reforms, but can even be said to have gained renewed momentum as a result of recent professorial appointments. With these appointments comes the promise of a new generation of medieval and early modern English scholars in the form a lively community of doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers.
The following English departments in Switzerland offer students possibilities of specializing in our fields: Berne (MA in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature), Basel, Fribourg and Geneva (specialization in medieval and/or early modern possible within English MA), Neuchâtel (specialization in medieval and/or early modern possible within Literature MA), Lausanne and Zürich (interdisciplinary MA in medieval studies or specialization possible within English MA). For more information, please consult the home pages of the relevant departments.