Biography
A graduate of the University of Washington, Dr. Asher Z. Milbauer, Ph.D., is Professor of English and the founding director of the Exile Studies Certificate Program at Florida International University. While at FIU, he held several administrative positions in the Department of English: Chairperson; Director of Graduate Studies in Literature; and Head Advisor. His academic offerings include courses on XXth Century American and English Literature; Law and Literature; Literature and Exile; Literature, Society, and Language; Holocaust Literature; and Jewish-American Literature. Among his publications is a book on literary transplantation, Transcending Exile: Conrad, Nabokov, I. B. Singer; a study on exile and return, “Eastern Europe in American-Jewish Literature;” and two co-edited collections of original essays, Reading Philip Roth (with Donald Watson) and Exile in Global Literature and Culture: Homes Found and Lost (with James Sutton). Professor Milbauer’s continuous interest in the writings of second and third generation descendants of Holocaust survivors is reflected in his articles on Nicole Krauss, Andrew Grof, Elie Wiesel and Vasily Grossman. His experiential-scholarly essay, “In Search of a Doorpost: Meditations on Exile and Literature,” won the Sarah Russo Prize for an Essay on Exile. Twice the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award, Professor Milbauer has recently been recognized as an “FIU Top Scholar.” Since the establishment of the Exile Studies Program, he has organized and curated many special events pertaining to exile, its consequences and legacies.