Nurturing Transatlantic Ties

For us, John was a friend with whom we shared so many wonderful times in many countries. We miss discussing ideas with him, laughing with him, and exchanging good stories and adventures with him. Many a tale could be told about adventures we had together over the years. It all started with the idea of MELUS-Europe. When Heike returned from the MLA conference in the United States in 1995, she told Dorothea about a MELUS dinner where several people had suggested the idea of forming a new division, MELUS-Europe. Dorothea was rather skeptical that this would work and that US colleagues would wholeheartedly support this new chapter—but they did. John was among this group of visionaries, and from the beginning, he made sure that MELUS-Europe would turn into a serious organization. After a good deal of blood, sweat, and tears, the first MELUS-Europe conference was held in 1998 in Heidelberg, Germany. MELUS organized a stellar lineup of keynote speakers: Juan Bruce-Novoa (University of California, Irvine); Michel Fabre (Sorbonne Université); Elaine Kim (University of California, Berkeley); Nellie McKay (University of Wisconsin, Madison); and Daniel Walden (Pennsylvania State University). Initial and critical financial support came from the US Embassy and subsequently a large grant from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the German Research Foundation. However, just a few weeks before the conference opening, the primary funding had not been approved, and it was uncertain if the DFG would be allocating funds—an absolute cliffhanger. Nevertheless, the decision had been made to hold the founding conference, the energy had been invested, and over 1,500 US dollars had been spent on postage alone to spread print information about the new organization—something hard to imagine today in the era of digital communication. All this invested energy was possible only because we were always aware of the generous support in so many different ways from MELUS across the Atlantic. The funding came through in the end. Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institute (DAI), the German-American Institute, donated the use of its beautiful newly renovated center. The University of Maryland’s European Division, which had its headquarters in Heidelberg at that time, sponsored a romantic boat trip on the Neckar River, complete with an elegant buffet. John opened the conference with MELUS greetings in the historical Alte Aula (Old Lecture Hall) of Ruperto Carola University of Heidelberg (see fig. 1), Germany’s oldest university founded in 1386. It was a magical moment of friendly rapport and scholarly endeavor, and everybody felt that MELUS-Europe was off to a fabulous start!

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