Dennis McCort
Dennis McCort is an American literary scholar, translator, and novelist, known for his work on German Romanticism, Franz Kafka, and the intersections of literature, religion, and Zen Buddhism. He is professor emeritus of German at Syracuse University, where he taught for nearly four decades.
Early life and education
McCort was born and raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, and graduated from St. Peter's Preparatory School in 1959. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages from St. Peter's College in 1963, followed by a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in German Language and Literature from Johns Hopkins University.Academic career
McCort joined the faculty of Syracuse University in 1968 as an assistant professor of German. He became associate professor in 1979 and was later promoted to full professor in 2001. He held administrative roles, including program coordinator and associate chair within the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. He retired from teaching in 2007.His academic work focused on 19th-century German literature, especially Romanticism, as well as the literary and philosophical traditions of Franz Kafka. He also explored intersections between German literature and Eastern thought, particularly Zen Buddhism, a theme developed in his book Going Beyond the Pairs: The Coincidence of Opposites in German Romanticism, Zen, and Deconstruction.
Research and writing
McCort's scholarship bridges literary analysis, religious studies, and east–west comparative philosophy. His research topics have included the Zen-like qualities of Kafka's fiction, the influence of Rainer Maria Rilke and Zen on J.D. Salinger, and the representation of madness in the works of E. T. A. Hoffmann.He is the author of several novels, including The Man Who Loved Doughnuts, a comic narrative about academic life; Duncan, described by the author as a "thinking man’s thriller"; and The Golden Pot, a modern-day fairy tale.
In 2017, he published A Kafkaesque Memoir: Confessions from the Analytic Couch, a personal reflection on the influence of Kafka on his life and his experiences during a nine-year Jungian psychoanalysis.
His translation of Georg Trakl’s poem Verfall, retitled Rot, reflects his broader interest in German lyric poetry and its philosophical resonances.