This collection contains professional and private correspondence, papers presented at conferences, course reading and lecture notes, videorecordings, and unpublished and published writings documenting the work of literary theorist Wolfgang Iser as a teacher and scholar. The papers reflect Iser's main interests as a professor of English literature. The bulk of the material dates from after his appointment in 1967 as a professor at the University of Konstanz, in Germany. Some material documents his teaching at the University of California, Irvine from 1978 to 1998.

Wolfgang Iser was born on July 22, 1926, in Marienberg (Saxony), Germany, the son of Paul and Else (Steinbach) Iser. From 1933 to 1944 he attended elementary and high school. He was drafted into the German army in 1944, and released from a prisoner of war camp in 1945. At the age of 19, he enrolled as a student of English, Philosophy, and German at the University of Leipzig, after the "Vorsemester" required for enrollment of students who graduated from high school in the later war years. At the end of his first year he transferred to the University of Tübingen and later to the University of Heidelberg, where he earned his Ph.D. in Anglistik (English philology and literature) in 1950 and joined the first generation of West German postwar graduates. From that point onward Iser's academic career took a straight and very successful course, which in many ways was typical for a young scholar of his generation. After his graduation and a short teaching appointment in Heidelberg, he became an assistant lecturer in 1952 in Glasgow, Scotland, teaching German for the next three years. Just before his departure he married Lore Reichert, who continued to assist Iser in his academic endeavors.The following chronology of courses taught by Wolfgang Iser at the University of Konstanz and at the University of California, Irvine was assembled with the assistance of Dr. Rolf Eichler and Christa Schellhammer (Konstanz) and Arielle Read (Irvine). Although every effort has been made to list every course taught by Iser at these institutions, this chronology is not definitive. Course titles frequently do not exactly match the titles supplied by Iser for the course materials in Series 2 of this finding aid. At Konstanz, courses are offered during Winter (Oct.-March) and Summer (April-Sept.) semesters. Also at Konstanz, Iser frequently taught Doktorandenkolloquium (doctoral colloquia), for which individual titles were not available for this chronology. At Irvine courses are offered during Fall (Oct.-Dec.), Winter (Jan.-March), and Spring (April-June) quarters.

12.2 Linear Feet (32 boxes) and 0.25 unprocessed linear feet

Property rights reside with the University of California. Copyrights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.

The collection is open for research.