In Conversation

‘Life Writing Has Moved from the Periphery to the Center’: In Conversation With Alfred Hornung

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21827/ejlw.15.43831

Keywords:

interview

Abstract

Alfred Hornung is well known for his work in American Studies, Life Writing, and intercultural connections with China. He has been a guest professor at many different Asian, American, Canadian, and European universities. Alfred is one of the co-founders of the International Auto/Biography Association (IABA) and IABA-Europe. He has been a professor for American Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany, since 1988 and established the Obama Institute there. His publications include Obama and Transnational American Studies, Ecology and Life Writing, and “Chinese Antecedents of Life Writing and the Western Genre.” This interview is from August 2026, just as Alfred was finishing his co-edited publication Handbook of Life Writing and discovers what Alfred thinks of the future of life writing scholarship, how life writing has changed with modern technology, and what kind of research he would like to work on in the future.

Author Biographies

Katrin Bingham

Katrin Bingham is Associate Editor of the European Journal of Life-Writing.

Alfred Hornung

Alfred Hornung is a professor for American Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität 
Mainz, Germany.

Published

2026-09-28

Issue

Section

In Conversation