George Guțu
George Guțu (born March 16, 1944 in Galați) is a Romanian philologist, teacher in the Department of German Language and Literature of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest. He is also director of the Paul Celan Center for Research and Excellence and the Master programme "Intercultural Literary and Linguistic Communication Strategies" ("Strategii comunicaționale interculturale – literare și lingvistice"), initiated by the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures together with other departments of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures. His academic activity is based on the history of German literature (Age of Enlightenment, Sturm und  Drang, Classicism, Romanticism); German and Austrian contemporary literature; German literature from Romania, cultural inter-referentiality in Central and Southeast Europe, particularly in Bukovina, poetics, literary theory, translation, the history of German studies and guidance for PhD students. His research domains are the history of German literature; comparative literature; German literature from Romania; cultural inter-referentiality; imagology; the history and aesthetics of reception; theory and practice of translation. Studies. George Guțu studied at Mihail Kogălniceanu High School in Galați, where he learned Russian and German as foreign languages. In 1963, he took the baccalaureate exam, followed by the entrance exam at  the Faculty of Romanian Language and Literature, University of Bucharest. Starting in 1963, he studied two semesters at the University of Bucharest, but in 1964 he applied for a scholarship of the Ministry of Education of Romania in socialist countries. He attended two semesters in order to prepare for the baccalaureate exam for higher education in German at the Herder Institute in Leipzig. From 1965 to 1969 he studied German Studies and Cultural Sciences at the University of Leipzig. He wrote his first intermediate paper entitled "Zur Lyrik von Ingeborg Bachmann"("Ingeborg Bachmann's Poetry") and a graduation thesis "Das Problem  der 'Biographie' bei Max Frisch. (Unter gelegentlicher Bezugnahme auf Ingeborg Bachmanns Erzählungen)" ["The Problem of 'Biography' of Max Frisch (with occasional references to Ingeborg Bachmann's work)"]. In 1969, Guțu obtained his diploma in German Studies with "excellent" results, together with Sergio Bertocchi from Italy, he was ranked the best student of the class. In recognition of this, both were offered the opportunity to continue PhD studies at the University of Leipzig. He decided in 1973 to attend extramural PhD studies at the University of Leipzig with professor Walter Dietze and later with professor Walfried Hartinger. On October 14, 1977  he presented his PhD dissertation "Die rumänische Koordinate der Lyrik Paul Celans" ("The Romanian Coordinate of Paul Celan's poetry"). Professional career. In 1978, he began his career on the faculty of the University of Bucharest. He was awarded a Romanian degree as a Doctor of Philology became a lecturer in the Department of German Language and Literature at the University of Bucharest. In 1990, he became an assistant professor of German Language and Literature. Later, he was elected as a member of the Goethe Society in Weimar and received a scholarship from that institution. In January 2004, he was  re-elected as head of the Department of German Language and Literature, University of Bucharest. From October 1, 2004 to July 31, 2005, he served as professor and titular of the Department "Elias Canetti" for Southeast European Intercultural Studies of Viadrina European University in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. He was an academic teacher at the Institute of German Studies and Institute of Romance Studies of the Sapienza University of Rome from October to December 2006. In 2007 he initiated and founded the Paul Celan Centre for Research and Excellence of the Department of German Language and Literature, University of Bucharest. Over  the years 2010 and 2011, he debuted as the initiator and director of the Master programme "Intercultural Literary and Linguistic Communication Strategies", promoted by the Department of German Language and Literature in collaboration with the Departments of Romance, Classical, Slavic and Canadian Studies of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures. In 2012 he was invited for a special seminar, "Interculturalism beyond the Borders of Bukovina", at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Viadrina European University. Guțu is a scholar of the Ministry of Education in Romania, the Goethe Institute, DAAD in Bonn, of Österreich-Kooperation, Vienna, the Austrian Society for  Literature, the Erasmus, Socrates and Leonardo da Vinci programmes. Selection from Released Books. George Guțu has written numerous scientific publications such as books, studies, reviews or reports.