George Guțu

George Guțu (born March 16, 1944) 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"). Founding member of the Institute for Germans' Culture and History in Southeast Europe University LMU Munich; President of the Society of Romanian Germanists (S.R.G.); President of "Goethe" Society from Romania; Since 2007: Member of the scientific board of the magazine "Annals of the University of Bucharest – Foreign Languages and Literatures Series" ; Since 2008: Member of the scientific board of the periodical "Futark. Revista de Investigacion y Cultura" from Seville (Spain) ; Scientific reviewer of the magazine "Annals of the "Spiru Haret" University – Philology Series"; Since 2009: Member of the board of scientific reviewers (peer review) of the publication "Germanistische Beiträge" in Sibiu ; Since 2010: Member of the scientific board of the publication "Kronstädter germanistischen Beiträge zur Forschung " in Brasov; 2009–2010: Member of the International Scientific Council for organizing and conducting the Biennial and Festival of Translation Europa Spazio di Traduzione, organized by the Naples Eastern University, with the participation of the Centre for Research and Excellence "Paul Celan", University of Bucharest; Organizer and moderator of the Round Table "Vita e vitalità delle 'lingue minori'"; Since 2011: Member of the Board "Institut zur Erforschung und Förderung regionaler und transnationaler Kulturprozesse" (INST, Vienna); Honorary Member of the Society "Simion C. Mândrescu" in Romania;

Prizes and awards October 2006: Diploma of Honor "Virtue et Sapientia " of the University of Bucharest "for excellent performance om researching during the year 2005"; July 2011: Awarded with the Order of Cultural Merit – Knight of the Romanian Presidency; March 2012: Awarded with the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art.

Other Cultural Activities 1990:The initiative of establishing the "Society of Romanian Germanists" ("S.G.R.; Gesellschaft der Germanisten Rumäniens") as a continuation of the tradition from the interwar period; 1997:The initiative of establishing and creation of S.G.R. web page (among the first in Europe in the field) and its constantly update; 1998: The initiative of establishing the "Goethe" Society in România ("Goethe-Gesellschaft in Rumänien"), election as its president; 1999: The initiative of organizing the International Symposium dedicated to the celebration of 250 years since the birth of Johann Wolfgang Goethe by the "Goethe" Society in Romania, in cooperation with the Romanian Academy, S.G.R., Ministry of Culture of Romania and "Goethe" Society in Weimar; 2002: The initiative of organizing the International Symposium "Rose Ausländer" at Bucharest; December 2006: Co-organizer of the jubilee celebrations dedicated to the 15th anniversary of establishing Libraries "Austria" from Romania and Bulgaria in Vienna, in collaboration with the Romanian Embassy in Vienna and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; 2008–2010: Co-initiator and coordinator from the Centre for Research and Excellence "Paul Celan" of the international project European Partnership of Intercultural Communications "Leonardo da Vinci", approved and funded by the European Union, with the participation of universities in Bucharest, Munich, Debrecen and Veliko Tarnovo.

Political career 1969 (autumn) – 1970 (summer): Reviewer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on his own initiative; 1994: The organization of the III International Congress of Romanian Germanists (May 16–19, 1994, Neptun) after a break of 62 years of tradition started in the interwar period of these congresses; 1997: The organization of the IV International Congress of Romanian Germanists (May 2–5, 1997, Sinaia); 2000: The organization of the V International Congress of Romanian Germanists (May 22–25, 2000, Iași); 2003: The organization of the VI International Congress of Romanian Germanists (May 26–29, 2003, Sibiu); 2006: The organization of the VII International Congress of Romanian Germanists (May 22–25, 2006, Timișoara); 2009: The organization of the VIII International Congress of Romanian Germanists (May 25–28, 2009, Cluj-Napoca); 2012: The organization of the VIII International Congress of Romanian Germanists (Juni 4-7, 2012, Bucharest)