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Eighteenth-Century Studies 34.3 (2001) v



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Susanne Zantop (1945-2001), in memoriam


It is with great sadness that we mourn the tragic loss of Susanne Zantop, who so unexpectedly died with her husband Half on January 27 of this year. Susanne Zantop was an active member of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and a highly valued advisory editor of this journal. An internationally acclaimed specialist of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature, colonial theory and cultural politics, since 1982 she has held appointments in Spanish and Portuguese, German Studies, and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College, and, from 1996 until her death, was the Parents' Distinguished Research Professor in the Humanities.

After completing her Vordiplom in Political Science at Berlin's Freie Universität in 1967, Zantop received a Master's degree in that field from Stanford University in 1968. Turning to the study of German and Spanish literature, she received a second M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1979. In 1984 she earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Harvard University.

Susanne was an indefatigable scholar, whose interdisciplinary work forged new paths in Comparative Literature and in German studies. She is the author of Zeitbilder: Geschichtsschreibung und Literatur bei Heinrich Heine und Mariano José de Larra (1988) and Colonial Fantasies: Conquest, Family, and Nation in Precolonial Germany, 1770-1870 (1997), which won the German Studies Association's annual Award for Outstanding Book in German Studies, 1997/1998; her own translation of this work, Kolonialphantasien im vorkolonialen Deutschland (1770-1870), appeared in 1999. She edited and co-edited numerous volumes, including Painting on the Move: Heinrich Heine and the Visual Arts (1989), Bitter Healing: German Women Writers from Pietism to Romanticism (with Jeannine Blackwell, 1990 and 1997), The Imperialist Imagination: German Colonialism and its Legacy (with Sara Friedrichsmeyer and Sara Lennox, 1998), and a number of critical editions of texts written by Friederike Helene Unger. She also published numerous essays on Heine, Unger, and on the culture of colonialism. At the time of her death, she was at work on a range of exciting projects, among which were a groundbreaking volume addressing Germans and Indians (with Colin Calloway and Gerd Gemünden) and, with Jeannine Blackwell, the sequel to Bitter Healing. Her sharp critical sensibility and exacting research guarantees that her work will endure as a resource, model, and inspiration for future readers.

At Dartmouth, Zantop was an active member of the community, serving as the chair of the Department of German Studies, as co-chair of the Women's Studies Program, and on numerous advisory committees. She was a respected and beloved teacher, colleague, and mentor. Beyond Dartmouth, Zantop engaged fully with her colleagues in a variety of disciplines. She spoke regularly at scholarly meetings and offered her time and energy to numerous administrative and editorial projects. Along with her work for Eighteenth-Century Studies as a reader and advisory editor, Susanne was the editor of the Women-in-German Yearbook and served on the editorial board of the German Studies Review. In these roles, Susanne will be remembered for her frank yet generous responses to the work of others.

Susanne Zantop touched the lives of many. She was an open and warm individual, whose intensity and intellectual rigor was inspiring. Those who knew her will not forget how tirelessly she promoted the issues in which she passionately believed, including progressive politics, social justice, and women's rights. Although Susanne's work and life represent a rich legacy, we are all impoverished by her untimely and unjust death.

Memorial donations may be sent to the Zantop Scholarship Fund, Dartmouth College Stewardship Office, 63 South Main St., Suite 6066, Hanover, N.H. 03755.

Angela Rosenthal, Dartmouth College and advisory editor, ECS
Adrian Randolph, Dartmouth College

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