German Professor Wins National Book Prize

German Studies Association

Associate professor Brett Sterling receives the Radomír Luža book prize.

Brett E. Sterling, associate professor of German and a U of A alum, has won the Radomír Luža Prize for his first book, Hermann Broch and Mass Hysteria: Theory and Representation in the Age of Extremes (Camden House, 2022).

The prize recognizes an outstanding manuscript in Austrian/Czechoslovak studies in the World War II era and carries a $1,000 cash award.

Sterling's work, praised by the jury as stylistically brilliant, was selected unanimously as an "innovative volume on the work of Austrian writer Hermann Broch" that sheds light on a neglected Broch manuscript and contextualizes its significance, then and now.

Reflecting on the honor of winning the 2023 Radomír Luža Prize, Sterling remarked: "Hermann Broch was one of the brilliant minds of the 20th century, dedicated to the protection of human rights and determined to use his literary and theoretical work to halt the spread of National Socialism. I am hopeful that my book will help bring Broch to the attention of new audiences and that his ethical mission will carry on in the future."

Sterling was recognized at the annual banquet of the national German Studies Association conference on Oct. 6 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.