The Department of Languages remembers Helene Kastinger Riley, Distinguished Professor Emerita of German, who passed away in April.
Born in 1939 in Vienna, Austria, Riley attended business college in Vienna in the early 1950s. After coming to the US, she received her B.A. from the University of North Texas in 1970 and later earned her Ph.D. from Rice University.
After several years teaching at Yale University, Riley joined the Clemson University faculty in 1985 as a Professor of German and served as chair of the Department of Languages from 1985-1986. She was named an Alumni Distinguished Professor in 1995.
An active scholar, specializing in, among other subjects, the important 19th-century Romantic poet Ludwig von Arnim, Riley’s published writings in German Studies include Idee und Gestaltung. Das konfigurative Strukturprinzip in der Kurzprosa Achim von Arnims (Lang, 1977); Ludwig Achim von Arnims Jugend-und-Reisejahre. Ein Beitrag zur Biographie (Bouvier, 1978); Achim von Arnim in Selbstzeugnissen und Bilddokumenten (Rowohlt, 1979; revised, 1995); Michael Kalteisen: Ein Deutscher in South Carolina, (M. Fink, 1995); and Hildegard von Bingen (Rowohlt, 1997). Outside of German Studies, she also authored works on Virginia Wolf and Romain Rolland.
In 2002, she published a brief history of Clemson University, illustrated with numerous historical photos of the Clemson campus: Clemson University (Arcadia Publishing).
The Department extends its condolences to Dr. Riley’s family, to her fellow scholars and colleagues, and to the generations of alumni whose lives she impacted through her teaching.
