Professor of English at the University of Bonn, Germany. Has taught at the universities of Münster and Leipzig. Main research interests: postcolonial studies (with special emphasis on Australia) and eighteenth-century literature and culture. A founding member of the European Association for Studies on Australia (EASA), and a member of the German Association for Australian Studies (GASt), and the Association for the Study of the New Literatures in English (ASNEL).