Dr. Jan D. Kucharzewski is an Assistant Professor for American Studies at the University of Hamburg. He received his doctoral degree at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf in 2009 for a thesis titled Propositions about Life: Reengaging Literature and Science (to be published in American Studies - A Monograph Series). He has published papers on the novels of Richard Powers, the relationship between literature and science, the writings of Gertrude Stein, and on contemporary American literature. Together with Stefanie Schäfer and Lutz Schowalter he edited the volume Hello, I Say, It's Me: Contemporary Reconstructions of Self and Subjectivity (WVT, 2009). His current research interests include the construction of masculinity and the representation of crisis in 19th century American literature and 20th century American film.