Erich Auerbach was fired from Penn State in the late 1940s, after having written Mimesis. Per David Damrosch, "Auerbach was suffering from hypertension, and the dean didn’t want to make a long-term commitment to a potential invalid"
"Djelal Kadir has uncovered Auerbach’s personnel file at Penn State, including the letter from the doctor describing him as a bad risk. In “Auerbach’s Scar,” Kadir quotes a letter that Auerbach wrote to his dean after receiving this news:
"'We had a very cordial talk with Dr. Glenn, but, as I expected, he can do nothing in my case. I am extremely grateful to you that you are willing to write to your friends about a possible position for me.
"'I want to mention, in this connection, that there might be possibilities not only in the field of Romance philology and literature, but also in Comparative Literature, or even German. Thank you very much. Yours sincerely, Auerbach.'"
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