Professor Matthew Bell
Professor of German and Comparative Literature
Tel + 44 (0)20 7848 2131
Email matthew.bell@kcl.ac.uk
Address Department of German
King's College London
Room C8B, East Wing
Strand Campus
London WC2R 2LS
Areas of interest
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German literature and thought 1700-1850
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Goethe
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History of the human sciences, especially psychology
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Literature and mental illness melancholia
Biography
Professor Bell first studied Ancient Greek, Latin and German at Balliol College, Oxford before taking a DPhil in German under the supervision of Professor T. J. Reed (1991). He joined the German Department at King’s in 1993, becoming Professor of German and Comparative Literature in 2007. Since 1997 he has been an officer of the English Goethe Society (founded 1888) of which he is currently Joint Honorary Secretary. In 2002 with Professor David Ricks he founded the King’s Comparative Literature Programme, since when he has been its Director. His current projects include a short introduction to the history of melancholia and a large-scale study of the works and thought of Goethe (for Princeton University Press).