Wolf Lepenies

Wolf Lepenies, born in 1941 in Deuthen, Allenstein (now Dajtki Olsztyn, Poland), studied Sociology and Philosophy in Münster and is Professor of Sociology at the FU Berlin. From 1986 to 2001 he was Vice-Chancellor of the Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, for several years he was a member of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton (USA) and in 1991/92 he was Holder of the European Chair at the Collège de France in Paris. In 2006 he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Important publications include: Melancholie und Gesellschaft [Melancholy and Society], Das Ende der Naturgeschichte [The End of Natural History], Saint-Beuve [Saint Beuve].