Jünger-Khotiwari, Steffi (German: Steffi Jünger-Khotiwari)
Steffi Jünger-Khotiwari (b. March 24, 1952, Leipzig) is a German Kartvelologist, literary scholar, and translator.
She graduated from the Humboldt University of Berlin, specializing in Russian and Tajik languages and literature.
In the 1970s, she studied the Georgian language at the University of Jena under the guidance of the German Kartvelologist G. Pätsch. In 1973, she arrived in Georgia to undergo a research internship at Tbilisi State University (TSU). In 1979, she defended her candidate's dissertation at the University of Berlin, entitled Konstantine Gamsakhurdia and the Early Novels of His Creative Oeuvre (1912–35), and in 1994, she defended her doctoral dissertation at TSU, entitled The Development Paths of the Georgian Historical Novel.
Her initial scholarly study, Konstantine Gamsakhurdia in Germany (1912–13), was published in Georgia in 1978. Her first monograph, The Development of the Georgian Historical Novel (M. Javakhishvili, K. Gamsakhurdia, G. Abashidze, O. Chiladze, Ch. Amirejibi), was published in Berlin in 1993.
Jünger-Khotiwari works alongside her spouse, A. Khotiwari, at the Humboldt University of Berlin, investigating the evolutionary trajectories of modern Georgian literature. She systematically publishes articles and reviews concerning Georgian literature and Georgian writers in the German press, alongside translations of works by Georgian authors, including I. Chavchavadze, Vazha-Pshavela, A. Tsereteli, G. Tabidze, A. Kalandadze, N. Dumbadze, I. Abashidze, and others. Her articles have also been published in Georgian journals such as Kritika and Tsiskari.
In 2005, with the assistance of E. Khintibidze, Jünger-Khotiwari acquired and jointly published in Georgia a German-language translation of The Knight in the Panther's Skin by M. Prittwitz. The same translation was subsequently published in Berlin in 2011. Jünger-Khotiwari teaches the Georgian language to foreign students at Humboldt University. In 2010, she published the volume Georgian Textbook Specially for Foreigners, the presentation of which was hosted in Tbilisi.
From 2005 to 2012, she served as the editor of the German-language Kartvelological journal Georgica alongside M. Lordkipanidze.
Jünger-Khotiwari is considered an ambassador of Georgian culture in Germany.
Literary works: კავკასიის ხალხთა ლიტერატურები, ვისბადენი, 2003; ქართველები ბერლინში. 1999, ბერლინი, თბ., 2001; ქართული ზმნის ტაბულები, ჰამბურგი, 2010 (თანაავტ.: დ. მელიქიშვილი, ი. ვიტკე)
E. Khintibadze
