Rate My Professor Peter Barton

Barton's research specializations include ecocriticism, German Democratic Republic narratives, and antifascist personal histories. He co-edited Volume 28, Of Rocks, Mushrooms and Animals: Material Ecocriticism in German-speaking Cultures (2017), which explores material agency in literature through essays on authors like Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Peter Handke, W.G. Sebald, and others addressing geological, fungal, and animal themes. In Volume 31 (2023), he edited transcriptions, translations, and commentaries for the Letters of an antifascist series, documenting Marianne Angermann-Beutler's correspondence from 1936, 1938, 1943, and 1945, drawn from Hocken Collections manuscripts. These works reveal personal antifascist resistance during the Spanish Civil War, Nazi era, and post-war period. Additional publications include the chapter East Germany, March 1990: Eine Schubladenreportage in Volume 30, Imperfect Recall: Re-collecting the GDR, and a bibliography in Volume 31. Barton also contributes to the editorial board of the Cultures, Histories and Identities in Visual Studies Research Network, enhancing interdisciplinary dialogues on visual culture and German studies. His meticulous editorial and scholarly efforts underscore his impact on archival recovery and environmental literary criticism within German studies.