Dr Simon Ryan teaches courses in German language, literature, European Studies, German cinema and digital culture. He studied German language and literature at the universities of Auckland, Tübingen, Graz and Cambridge. His recent publications include two books on the contemporary Austrian author and photographer Gerhard Roth, and articles on the spatiality and political economy of computer games; on neoliberalism and the fate of collectives in recent German cinema; assimilation in Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis' and on the international reception of 'The Metamorphosis'. He is currently investigating the aesthetic, intellectual, cultural and historical concepts and assumptions that constitute the organising principles of Roth's second narrative cycle Orkus.
Current/Recent Postgraduate Supervision
PhD
Peter Barton (Languages and Cultures – German: co-supervision) Vocal texts: voice as productive obstruction in the early prose of Thomas Bernhard (2015)
Jeannie Carey (Languages and Cultures – German and Art History: co-supervision) Animal Images - Franz Marc
Alexandra Dumitrescu (Languages and Cultures – French) Towards A Metamodern Literature (completed 2014)
Lin Zeng (Languages and Cultures – Chinese: co-supervision) Rewriting in Literary Translation (completed 2014)
Anita Perkins (Languages and Cultures - German) Travel Texts and Moving Cultures (completed 2013)
Margi MacMurdo-Reading (Languages and Cultures - German) Surveillance in Visual Culture (completed 2013)
Garth Cartwright (co-supervision with Media, Film and Communication) The Films of David Lynch (completed 2012)
MA
Tama Braithewaite-Westoby (Languages and Cultures - German) The Grimms' Kinder- und Hausmärchen and the Discourse of Modernity (2015)
Natasha Stillman (Languages and Cultures, German) The Leipziger Notenspur as a UNESCO World Heritage Project (2015)
Kevin Fletcher (Languages and Cultures - German) Neoliberalism and Border Crossings in Recent German Cinema (2013) MSciComm thesis
Max Segal (Master of Science Communication) Werner Herzog's Science Films (2011)
Research Proposals Welcome in
c20th and c21st German and Austrian literature
German cinema
Digital and screen culture
Comparative literature
Publications
Ryan, S. (2019). Cosmopolitanism, gnosis and longue durée in Gerhard Roth’s Egyptian novel Der Strom (2002). In A. Lewis, K. Sutton & C. Weller (Eds.), Kosmopolitische Gedankenwelten / Cosmopolitan Imaginings. (pp. 209-221). Würzburg, Germany: Königshausen & Neumann.
Chapter in Book - Research
Ryan, S. (2018). Gerhard Roth’s Fotonotizen: The early years, 1972–1980. Seminar, 54(1), 40-65. doi: 10.3138/seminar.54.1.3
Journal - Research Article
Ryan, S. (2016). Locura, sentido y búsqueda del paraíso: Reflejos hispanos en el El laberinto (2005) de Gerhard Roth. In R. Guedea (Ed.), Países en tránsito: Estudios de literatura comparada. (pp. 103-121). Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang.
Chapter in Book - Research
Ryan, S. (2015). «Damals im Kino ...»: Re-reading Peter Handke's cinephilia. Cinéphilie: Augenblick: Konstanzer Hefte zur Medienwissenschaft, 64, 61-71.
Journal - Research Article
Ryan, S. (2014). Writing a counter-history: Velázquez, Pessoa and the Habsburg world in Gerhard Roth's Das Labyrinth (2005). In A. Corkhill & A. Lewis (Eds.), Intercultural encounters in German studies. (pp. 139-156). St. Ingbert, Germany: Röhrig Universitätsverlag.
Chapter in Book - Research
Ryan, S. (2010). Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung: Transformation, metaphor and the perils of assimilation. In H. Bloom (Ed.), Franz Kafka. (New ed.) (pp. 197-216). New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism.
Chapter in Book - Other
Ryan, S. (2016, November-December). Cosmopolitanism and the Iongue duree in Gerhard Roth's 'Egyptian' novel Der Strom (2002). Verbal presentation at the German Studies Association of Australia (GSAA) Conference: Cosmopolitan Imaginings in the German-Speaking World, Canberra, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. (2016, September). The new "battle for intelligence": The enabling conditions of a literate world in the hypermedia environment. Verbal presentation at the Matariki Humanities Colloquium: Literatures, Durham, UK.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. (2014). The threatened end of digital sharing: A dissociated milieu? MEDIANZ, 14(2), 73-84. doi: 10.11157/medianz-vol14iss2id99
Journal - Research Article
Ryan, S. (2012). Nachrichten aus der filmästhetischen Antike: Alexander Kluges Vermittlungsversuch zwischen Begriff und Anschauung. In F. von Franciszek Grucza & J. Zhu (Eds.), Akten des XII. Germanistenkongresses der IVG Warschau 2010: Vielheit und Einheit der Germanistik weltweit (Publikationen der Internationalen Vereiningung für Germanistik [IVG] ), Band 10. (pp. 149-154). Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang. [Full Paper]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Ryan, S. (2014, November). Austria-Yugoslavia-Germany: ‘der Muttermund’ and the quest for originary language in the work of Peter Handke. Verbal presentation at the German Studies Association of Australia (GSAA) Conference: Das Fremde und das Eigene/The Self and the Other Program, Sydney, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. (2012). A selective survey of the reception of The Metamorphosis. In J. Whitlark (Ed.), Critical insight The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. (pp. 99-116). Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Ryan, S. (2011). Mission, reservation and recognition in the work of W.A. Collis. In A. Wanhalla & E. Wolf (Eds.), Early New Zealand photography: Images and essays. (pp. 53-59). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.
Chapter in Book - Research
Ryan, S. (2011). Kluge, Eisenstein and Marx: Filming Das Kapital. In E. Todd, C. Da Gama, E. Pullar & H. Radner (Eds.), Creative Imitations and Appropriations: From Cinematic Adaptations to Re-makes Research Colloquium: Selected Refereed Papers. (pp. 59-67). Dunedin, New Zealand: Centre for Research on National Identity. [Full Paper]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Ryan, S. (2010). Transl(oc)ating the player: Are some computer- and video-game players also unpaid workers in the information economy? In C. Prentice, V. Devadas & H. Johnson (Eds.), Cultural transformations: Perspectives on translocation in a global age. (pp. 307-320). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Chapter in Book - Research
Ryan, S. (2009). Gespräche mit Gerhard Roth: Das Frühwerk bis zum Landläufigen Tod/A Dialogue with Gerhard Roth: From the early works to Landläufiger Tod [Otago German Studies 24]. Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago, 231p. doi: 10.11157/ogs-vol24id316
Authored Book - Research
Ryan, S. C. (2003). Gerhard Roth and the Graz literary revival: The emergence of an Austrian author. Dunedin: University of Otago, 217p.
Authored Book - Research
Ryan, S. (2012). Mobility, memory and dwelling in the photo-notebooks of Gerhard Roth. Proceedings of the Inaugural Travel Research Network Conference: Travel Ideals: Engaging with Spaces of Mobility. Retrieved from http://www.travelresearchnetwork.com/program.html
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Ryan, S. (2012, December). ‘Falada, Falada’: The screen life of a broken contract. Verbal presentation at the 16th Biennial Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand (FHAANZ) Conference, Melbourne, Australia.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. (2010). „Nachrichten aus der filmästhetischen Antike“: Alexander Kluges Vermittlungsversuch zwischen Begriff und Anschauung. In E. Bartoszewicz, M. Płużyczka & J. Zając (Eds.), Internationale Vereinigung für Germanistik (IVG) XII Congress: Vielheit und Einheit der Germanistik Weltweit. (pp. 156). Warsaw, Poland: University of Warsaw. [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Ryan, S. (2009). Neoliberalism and the fate of the collective in recent German cinema. In H. Radner & P. Fossen (Eds.), Remapping Cinema, Remaking History: Proceedings of the XIVth Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand (Vol. 2: Selected Refereed Papers). (pp. 118-131). Dunedin, New Zealand: Centre for Research on National Identity, University of Otago. [Full Paper]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Full paper
Ryan, S. (2008). The fate of the collective in recent German cinema. In C. Fowler & R. Simmons (Eds.), Proceedings of the XIVth Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand (Vol. 1: Refereed Abstracts). (pp. 65). Dunedin, New Zealand: Department of Film, Media and Communication, University of Otago. [Abstract]
Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract
Ryan, S. (2008, October). "No way out of the supermarket...": Neoliberalism, neoconservatism, and the fate of collectives in recent German cinema. Verbal presentation at the 32nd Annual Conference of the German Studies Association (GSA), Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Nicholls, B., & Ryan, S. (2008). Gameplay as thirdspace. In M. Swalwell & J. Wilson (Eds.), The pleasures of computer gaming: Essays on cultural history, theory and aesthetics. (pp. 167-190). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Chapter in Book - Research
Ryan, S. (2007). Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung: Transformation, metaphor, and the perils of assimilation. Seminar, 43(1), 1-18.
Journal - Research Article
Ryan, S. (2007, December). Mission, reservation and the programme of photography in the work of W. A. Collis (1853-1920). Verbal presentation at the Rise of New Zealand Photography Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. (2007, February). Sighting the cyberwhale: An approach to new-media literacy. Verbal presentation at the MediaNZ Conference, Wellington, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. (2007, November). The frame and the future: The programme of photography in the work of Taranaki photographer W. A. Collis. Verbal presentation at the Cultural Transformations Research Network Annual Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. (2006). Literacy and the 'cybertextual machine'. Analele Universitatii Stefan cel Mare Suceava, 12(1), 9-18.
Journal - Research Article
Ryan, S. (2006, June). City space and 'molecular civil war': Reconceptualising the boundaries of the state. Plenary presentation at the On Space Conference, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. (2006, June). Gameplay as thirdspace. Verbal presentation at the 56th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Dresden, Germany.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Ryan, S. C. (1998). 'Justiz' and 'Verbrechen' in Gerhard Roth's Am Abgrund and Der Untersuchungsrichter. Seminar, 34(4), 388-409.
Journal - Research Article
Ryan, S. (2017). The Slovenian 'Muttermund' and the quest for an originary language in the work of Peter Handke. In A. Bandhauer, T. Lay, Y. Lü & P. Morgan (Eds.), Die Welt auf Deutsch: Fremdenbilder und Selbstentwürfe in der deutschsprachigen Literatur und Kultur. (pp. 235-251). Sankt Ingebert, Germany: Röhrig Universitätsverlag.
Chapter in Book - Research
