Bio


My research focuses on the long nineteenth century, in particular questions of gender in literature, music and philosophy. My first book, "Zwillingshafte Gebärden": Zur kulturellen Wahrnehmung des vierhändigen Klavierspiels im neunzehnten Jahrhundert (Königshausen & Neumann, 2009), traces four-hand piano playing as both a cultural practice and a motif in literature, art and philosophy (an English edition of the book recently appeared as Four-Handed Monsters: Four-Hand Piano Playing and Nineteenth-Century Culture (Oxford University Press, 2014)). My second book Uncivil Unions - The Metaphysics of Marriage in German Idealism and Romanticism (University of Chicago Press, 2012), explored German philosophical theories of marriage from Kant to Nietzsche. Tristan's Shadow - Sexuality and the Total Work of Art (University of Chicago Press, 2013), deals with eroticism in German opera after Wagner. My most recent academic book, The Dynastic Imagination (University of Chicago Press, 2020) traces the fate of the dynasty in the age of the nuclear family. A comparative and intermedial study of the ballad-form in nineteenth century Europe will appear in 2022 with Oxford University Press. In addition, I have published articles on topics such as fin-de-siècle German opera, women composers in the 19th century, the history of feminist philosophy, the films of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, film music, literature and scandal, the legacies of Richard Wagner, the cultural use of ballads in the nineteenth century, and writers like Novalis, Stefan George, Walter Benjamin, Sophie Mereau, Theodor Adorno and W.G. Sebald. I also write on popular culture and politics: in this capacity I co-wrote The James Bond Songs: Pop Anthems of Late Capitalism (with Charles Kronengold) and published a German-language essay collection Pop Up Nation (Hanser, 2016). My book What Tech Calls Thinking (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2020) has been translated into five languages. I write articles for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany), Die Zeit (Germany), The Guardian (UK), The Nation, The New Republic, n+1, Longreads and the LA Review of Books. More information can be found on my personal website adriandaub.com.

I am the Director of the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research, and the Andrew W. Mellon Program for Postdoctoral Studies in the Humanities. I have previously directed the Program in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies (FGSS) and the Department of German Studies.

Academic Appointments


  • Professor, German Studies
  • Professor, Comparative Literature

Administrative Appointments


  • Director, Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research (2019 - Present)
  • Professor, Stanford University (2016 - Present)
  • Director, Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies (FGSS) (2016 - 2020)
  • Associate Professor, Stanford University (2013 - Present)
  • Assistant Professor, Stanford University (2008 - 2013)

Honors & Awards


  • Max Kade Award for Best Article in the German Quarterly, The Max Kade Foundation (2013)
  • Fellow, Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft, Berlin (2013)
  • Stanford Humanities Center Faculty Fellowship, Stanford Humanities Center (2012-2013)
  • Annenberg Faculty Fellowship, Stanford University (2009-2010)
  • Annenberg Faculty Fellowship, Stanford University (2010-2011)
  • William Penn Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania (2003-2008)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations


  • Co-Editor, The Goethe Yearbook (2012 - 2013)
  • General Editor, Republics of Letters – A Journal for the Study of Knowledge, Politics, and the Arts (2009 - Present)
  • Peer Reviewer, Oxford University Press (2009 - 2010)
  • Peer Reviewer, Modernism/Modernity, German Quarterly, Republics of Letters (2008 - 2009)
  • Peer Reviewer, Modernism/Modernity, German Quarterly, Republics of Letters (2009 - 2010)
  • Editorial Advisor, Schocken Books (Random House) (2006 - 2006)
  • Chair of Undergraduate Studies, Department of German Studies, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
  • Member, Executive Committee, Division of Literatures, Cultures and Languages, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
  • Member, Undergraduate Affairs Committee, Division of Literatures, Cultures and Languages, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
  • Member, Committee for Humanities Education, Teagle Grant, Stanford University (2009 - 2011)
  • Member, Search Committee, Open Field Search, Department of German Studies, Stanford University (2010 - 2010)
  • Member, Search Committee, Eighteenth Century Poetry Search, Department of English, Stanford University (2010 - 2010)
  • Member, Program in Writing and Rhetoric Governance Board, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
  • Member, Faculty Advisory Board, Introductory Seminar Program, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
  • Member, Dissertation Fellowship Selection Committee, Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University (2010 - Present)
  • Member, Ad-Hoc Committee, Division of Literature, Cultures and Languages (DLCL) Website Redesign, Stanford University (2010 - 2011)
  • Outside Honors Examiner, Swarthmore College Honors Program (2009 - 2009)
  • Member, Graduate Affairs Committee, Division of Literatures, Cultures and Languages, Stanford University (2008 - 2009)
  • Member, MLA – Modern Language Association
  • Member, GSA – German Studies Association
  • Member, IAPL – International Association for Philosophy and Literature
  • Member, SCMS – Society for Cinema and Media Studies
  • Member, GSNA – Goethe Society of North America

Program Affiliations


  • Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • Modern Thought and Literature

Professional Education


  • Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Comparative Literature and Literary Theory (2008)
  • M.A., University of Pennsylvania, Comparative Literature and Literary Theory (2004)
  • B.A., Comparative Literature, Swarthmore College (2003)

2024-25 Courses


Stanford Advisees


All Publications


  • The Ring in Cinematic and Popular Culture CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO WAGNER'S DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN Daub, A., Berry, M., Vazsonyi, N. 2020: 317-336
  • Thus Spoke Kubrick: "Guide Pieces," Modes of Citation and the Rise of the Temp Track AFTER KUBRICK Daub, A., Szaniawski, J. 2020: 165-178
  • The Ob-Scene of the Total Work of Art: Frank Wedekind, Richard Strauss, and the Spectacle of Dance NINETEENTH CENTURY MUSIC Daub, A. 2016; 39 (3): 272-289
  • "Ein Blitz, Fur Uns": Stefan George's Queer Dynasty DEUTSCHE VIERTELJAHRSSCHRIFT FUR LITERATURWISSENSCHAFT UND GEISTESGESCHICHTE Daub, A. 2016; 90 (1): 135-159
  • Wagner after Freud: Stages of Analysis OPERA QUARTERLY Grey, T., Daub, A. 2015; 31 (1-2): 116-133

    View details for DOI 10.1093/oq/kbv005

    View details for Web of Science ID 000356181600006

  • HERMANN NITSCH - AUSTRIA IN THE AGE OF POST-SCANDALOUS CULTURE GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS Daub, A. 2014; 67 (2): 260-278

    View details for DOI 10.1111/glal.12042

    View details for Web of Science ID 000332328300007

  • "An All-Too-Secret Wagner": Ernst Bloch the Wagnerian OPERA QUARTERLY Daub, A. 2014; 30 (2-3): 188-204

    View details for DOI 10.1093/oq/kbu019

    View details for Web of Science ID 000345776700003

  • Neukantianismus Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur Daub, A. edited by Diner, D. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler. 2014
  • Four-Handed Monsters: Four-Hand Piano Playing and the Making of Nineteenth Century Domestic Culture Daub, A. Oxford University Press. 2014
  • The Politics of Longevity: Hans-Jurgen Syberberg's Essayism and the Art of Outliving Oneself NEW GERMAN CRITIQUE Daub, A. 2013: 137-170
  • Erotische Akustik: Walter Benjamin geht (nicht) zur Oper Klang und Musik im Werk Walter Benjamins Daub, A. edited by Klien, T., Traut, A. Munich: Fink. 2013: 105–116
  • Pacific Palisades Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur Diner, A. edited by Diner, D. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler. 2013
  • Die Familie als Geste - Das Käthchen von Heilbronn und die Ästhetik des Als Ob Heinrich von Kleist Daub, A. edited by Gumbrecht, H., Knüpling, F. Munich: Fink. 2013: 243–353
  • Broomhilda Unchained: Tarantino’s Wagner Jump Cut Daub, A., Bronfen, E. 2013; 55
  • Ein allzu geheim gebliebener Wagner’ – Ernst Bloch als Wagnerianer Wagnerspectrum Daub, A. 2013; 9 (1): 159-176
  • Tristan’s Shadow – Sexuality and the Total Work of Art after Wagner Daub, A. Chicago: Chicago University Press. 2013
  • Sphinxes Without Secrets – W. G. Sebald’s Albums and the Aesthetics of Photographic Exchange On Writing with Photography Daub, A. edited by Weissberg, L., Beckman, K. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. 2013: 254–296
  • Hermann Nitsch – Austria in the Age of Post-Scandalous Culture German Life and Letters Daub, A. 2013; 66 (3)
  • Platen's Retreat: On the Poetics and Ethics of Memorizing Ballads GERMAN QUARTERLY Daub, A. 2012; 85 (2): 137-155
  • From Maximin to Stonewall: Sexuality and the Afterlives of the George Circle GERMANIC REVIEW Daub, A. 2012; 87 (1): 19-34
  • Holocaust Enzyklopädie jüdischer Geschichte und Kultur Daub, A. edited by Diner, D. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler. 2012
  • Uncivil Unions – The Metaphysics of Marriage in German Idealism and Romanticism Daub, A. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2012
  • "All Evil is the Cancellation of Unity”: Joseph de Maistre in late German Romanticism Joseph de Maistre and his European Readers: Receiving Early Conservatism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Daub, A. edited by Armenteros, C., Lebrun, R. Leiden/Netherlands: Brill Publishers. 2012: 113–140
  • The State a Family: German Romanticism and French Counter-Revolutionary Thought on Paternity and Sovereignty Republics of Letters Daub, A. 2011; 2 (2): 127-157
  • The Opera and the Opera: Hermann Nitsch Stages Olivier Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise Opera Quarterly Daub, A. 2011; 4 (4): 496-502
  • The Power of the "Verfluchte Lohe": (Post-) Wagnerian Redheads and the Coherence of the Gesamtkunstwerk in Das Rheingold, Fredigundis, and Irrelohe OPERA QUARTERLY Daub, A. 2010; 26 (4): 526-551

    View details for DOI 10.1093/oq/kbq046

    View details for Web of Science ID 000292231100003

  • After Jena: Goethe’s Elective Affinities and the End of the Old Regime Goethe Yearbook Daub, A. 2010; 18: 308-309
  • 'The Abyss of the Scream’ – On the Music of Hermann Nitsch The Theatre of Performance Daub, A. edited by Echer, D. Turin: Umberto Allemandi. 2010: 65–106
  • "Taceat Mulier in Theatro": Guntram, Schopenhauer, and the Female Voice OPERA QUARTERLY Daub, A. 2009; 25 (3-4): 230-246

    View details for DOI 10.1093/oq/kbp041

    View details for Web of Science ID 000274992200004

  • "HANNAH, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" - CHAPLIN'S GREAT DICTATOR, "SCHTONK," AND THE VICISSITUDES OF VOICE CRITICISM-A QUARTERLY FOR LITERATURE AND THE ARTS Daub, A. 2009; 51 (3): 451-482
  • Zwillingshafte Gebärden – Zur kulturellen Wahrnehmung des vierhändigen Klavierspiels im neunzehnten Jahrhundert Daub, A. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann. 2009
  • Sonic Dreamworlds: Benjamin, Adorno and the Phantasmagoria of the Opera House A Companion to the Works of Walter Benjamin Daub, A. edited by Goebel, R. New York: Camden House. 2009: 273–293
  • Mother Mime: Siegfried, the Fairy Tale, and the Metaphysics of Sexual Difference NINETEENTH CENTURY MUSIC Daub, A. 2008; 32 (2): 160-177
  • Hermann Nitsch – On the Aesthetics of the Photography of Actionism Blood Orgies: Hermann Nitsch in America Ronte, D., Translated by Daub, A. edited by Levy, A. Philadelphia: Slought Books. 2008: 15–26
  • 'The Abyss of the Scream’ – On the Music of Hermann Nitsch Blood Orgies: Hermann Nitsch in America Daub, A. edited by Levy, A. Philadelphia: Slought Books. 2008: 34–75
  • Blood Orgies: Hermann Nitsch in America Blood Orgies: Hermann Nitsch in America Daub, A. edited by Levy, A. Philadelphia: Slought Books. 2008: 34–75
  • Donner à voir – The Logic of the Caption in W.G. Sebald’s Rings of Saturn and Alexander Kluge’s Devil’s Blind Spot Searching for Sebald – Photography after W.G. Sebald Daub, A. edited by Patt, L., Dillbohner, C. Los Angeles: ICI Press. 2007: 306–330
  • Hitler’s Face – The Biography of an Image Schmölders, C., Translated by Daub, A. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2006
  • Adorno’s Schreker: Charting the Self-Dissolution of the Distant Sound Cambridge Opera Journal Daub, A. 2006; 18 (3): 247-271
  • Half Necessity, Half Accident – Thinking the Abolition of Good Health Through Adorno’s Concept of Natural Histor Rethinking Marxism Daub, A. 2006; 18 (1): 141-151
  • L’Homme Enfantée par l’ésprit de la violence – Frantz Fanon comme Revolutionnaire Les Temps Modernes Améry, J., Translated by Daub, A. and Kruidinier, J.F. 2005: 175-189
  • Biographical Note on Jean Améry Wasafiri Daub, A. 2005; 48: 17-19
  • The Birth of Man from the Spirit of Violence: Frantz Fanon the Revolutionary Wasafiri Jean, A., Translated by Daub, A. 2005: 11-17