Newsletter –Spring 2009 – Issue 111
Transcription
Newsletter –Spring 2009 – Issue 111
Newsletter –Spring 2009 – Issue 111 In this Issu e: New C onf erence Sit e Guest Speaker D ragica Raji Book Reviews Filmogra phy Eu ropea n News And more… Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 1 Women i n German Newsletter Spri ng 2009 ~~~~~ Table of Contents ~~~~~ About WiG 3 About the WiG Newsletter 4 Dear Readers 5 WiG Dissertation Prize 6 WiG Best Article Prize 7 News on the Zantop Travel Fund 8 Zantop Travel Award 9 WiG 2009 Conference Site 10 WiG 2009 Guest Dragica Raji 11 Conference Reports 12 Book Reviews 14 Books by Members 21 WiG Filmography 22 Calls for Papers of Interest to WiG 28 European News 31 Women in German Newsletter 111 (Spring 2009): 2 Women i n German Newsletter Spri ng 2009 ~~~~About WiG~~~~ The Coalition of Women in German is an allied organization of the MLA. Students, teachers, and all others interested in feminism and German studies are welcome! Subscription and membership information is on the last page of this issue. Mission Statement of the Coalition of Women in German Women in German (WiG) provides a democratic forum for all people interested in feminist approaches to German literature and culture or in the intersection of gender with other categories of analysis such as sexuality, class, race, and ethnicity. Through its annual conference, panels at national professional meetings, and the publication of the Women in German Yearbook, the organization promotes feminist scholarship of outstanding quality. Women in German is committed to making school and college curricula inclusive and seeks to create bridges, cross boundaries, nurture aspirations, and challenge assumptions while exercising critical self–awareness. Women in German is dedicated to eradicating discrimination in the classroom and in the teaching profession at all levels. Women in German President: Nora M. Alter, University of Florida, [email protected] Vice-President and President-Elect: Barbara Kosta, [email protected] Women in German Steering Committee: [email protected] Mareike Herrmann, College of Wooster (2007-2009), [email protected] Allie Merley Hill, Williams College (2007-2009), [email protected] Rick McCormick, University of Minnesota (2008-2010), [email protected] Denise Della Rossa, University of Notre Dame (2008-2010), [email protected] Lisa Hock, Wayne State University (2009-2011), [email protected] Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger, Lafayette College (2009-2011), [email protected] Treasurer: Waltraud Maierhofer, University of Iowa, [email protected] Yearbook Editors: Katharina Gerstenberger, University of Cincinnati, and Patricia Simpson, Montana State University – Bozeman, [email protected] Conference Organizers (2006-2008): Liz Mittman, Michigan State University (lead organizer, site and transportation), Denise Della Rossa, Notre Dame University (online conference registration), Jennifer Redmann, Kalamazoo College (conference program), [email protected] Membership Coordinator: Helga Thorson, University of Victoria, [email protected] Webeditors: Beverly Weber, University of Colorado at Boulder; Kyle Frackman, University of Massachusetts Amherst, webeditor(AT)womeningerman.org Return to ToC Women in German Newsletter 111 (Spring 2009): 3 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~About the WiG Newsletter~~~~ The WiG Newsletter, published online three times a year, contains information about the organization, announcements of upcoming conferences, plans for conferences, news from abroad, personal news about members, conference reports, a bibliography, reviews of online resources, and selected items culled from the WiG-L list. Periodically a list of members is published. Reviews from past issues of the WiG Newsletter are available on the “Publications” page of the Women in German Website, www.womeningerman.org Subscription: The WiG Newsletter is automatically part of WiG membership. All issues are e-publications and each new issue is available on a password-protected area of the Women in German website. Members receive notification by email (which includes access information and passwords) when a new issue is out. Submissions: Students, teachers, and all others interested in feminism and German studies are encouraged to submit relevant material to the WiG Newsletter. Please email your submission to the appropriate section editor (see list below). General questions should be addressed to the co-editors. Submission Deadlines: for the winter (January) issue, December 15; for the spring (March) issue, February 15; for the summer (June) issue, May 30. Co-Editors: Rachel Freudenburg, Boston College, and Maria Stehle, University of Tennessee Knoxville [email protected] Section Editors: Calls for Papers: Elizabeth Mittman, Michigan State University, [email protected] Conference Reports: Michelle Stott James, Brigham Young University, [email protected] European News: Tanja Nusser, Universität Bielefeld, [email protected] and Carrie Smith-Prei, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, [email protected] Personal News: Karen R. Achberger, St. Olaf College, [email protected] Fascinating Clicks: Jennifer Askey, Kansas State University, [email protected] Bibliography: Jennifer Hosek, Queens University, [email protected], and Sarah McGaughey, Dickinson College, [email protected] Book Reviews: Laurie Taylor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, [email protected] Newsletter Editorial Assistants: Zsuzsanna Rothne Zadori, University of Tennessee Knoxville, [email protected], Patricia Pernes, Boston College, [email protected] Note: Rachel Freudenburg and Maria Stehle are the co-editors for the WiG Newsletter. Do not send them texts or materials which should be sent to a section editor as listed above. To join WiG and subscribe to the WiG Newsletter, visit us at: http://womeningerman.org Return to ToC Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 4 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ Dear Readers! ~~~~ We are very pleased to introduce this Spring issue of the Newsletter, which contains information on fast-approaching deadlines for the WiG Dissertation Prize and Best Article Prize! Jeanette Clausen gives us an update on her continued efforts to raise money for the endowment of the Zantop Travel Award. We hope you will all consider attending this year’s conference. A description of the new conference site in beautiful Augusta Michigan, and an introduction to WiG’s guest author for 2009, Dragica Raji, are included to assist you in making your plans for the fall. The summer issue will contain the conference program and registration information. Summaries of papers presented within the context of one WiG-sponsored panels at the MLA are found on page 12. We are, of course, eager to report on papers presented for other WiG-sponsored panels! If your talk has not yet been included in the WiG Newsletter, please send a summary to Michelle James, or to us. It is with great pride that we present, for the second year in a row, WiG Book Reviews—books by Wiggies, evaluated by Wiggies! In order to make them available to a broader readership, the reviews will also be published on the website and links to them will be sent out via the H-German listserve. A list of additional books available for review is included on page 14 as well as in the “Books by Members” column on page 21. Please let Laurie Taylor (Book Review Editor) know if you are interested in reviewing one of these works; and please don’t forget to send Sarah McGauhey (editor of “Books by Members”) information on your new book publications! Sarah McGauhey has supplied us with an extensive list of films released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the past 12 months—a truly fabulous resource for those of us trying to keep abreast of film trends in German-speaking Europe while also tending to many other things. Finally, Liz Mittman has supplied a list of Calls for Papers that are sure to be of interest to WiG members and Carrie Smith-Prei informs us of many important conferences, new graduate programs, publication projects, and scholarship opportunities in Europe. As always, please feel free to contact us with any suggestions or questions you might have. In the meantime, we wish you a pleasant spring! Rachel Freudenburg, Boston College Maria Stehle, University of Tennessee Knoxville [email protected] Return to ToC Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 5 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ WiG Dissertation Prize ~~~~ Deadline Exte nde d!! A pply or Nominate Now!! The Award Every year Women in German issues a call for dissertations by WIG members to be considered for the Women in German Dissertation Prize of $500. The 2008 award will be conferred at the 2009 WiG conference. The recipient's name will be published in the Women of German Newsletter and on the web site. Who Is Eligible We invite submission of dissertations by WiG members filed during the calendar year beginning January 1, 2008 and ending December 31, 2008. For information on how to join WiG, and for a list of previous winners, visit our home page: http://www.womeningerman.org. Criteria for Selection We are looking for dissertations that • reflect the values of the Women in German Mission Statement; • make a substantial contribution to the current dialogue in the given area; • demonstrate solid and innovative scholarship. How to Apply You may either apply yourself, or be nominated. The application package must include: • a cover letter (either by the author or by a nominator) describing the strengths of the dissertation and any other reasons why it deserves consideration for the award; • three hard copies of the dissertation, each with an abstract, plus an electronic version (in both Microsoft Word and as pdf on a CD-Rom); • the applicant's mailing and email addresses and phone numbers. Mission Statement Women in German provides a democratic forum for all people interested in feminist approaches to German literature and culture or in the intersection of gender with other categories of analysis such as sexuality, class, race, and ethnicity. Through its annual conference, panels at national professional meetings, and through the publication of the Women in German Yearbook, the organization promotes feminist scholarship of outstanding quality. Women in German is committed to making school and college curricula inclusive and seeks to create bridges, cross boundaries, nurture aspiration, and challenge assumptions while exercising critical self-awareness. Women in German is dedicated to eradicating discrimination in the classroom and in the teaching profession at all levels. Send the application to the Chair of the Dissertation Prize Selection Committee: Birgit Tautz Department of German 7700 College Station, Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME 04011-8477 Postmark Deadline: May 6, 2009 Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 6 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ WiG Best Article Prize ~~~~ Women in German invites nominations for our Best Article award. The purpose of this award is to recognize excellent research and scholarship in the field of feminist German studies. The prize is conferred anually and was awarded for the first time in 2004. For a list of past winners, see the Women in German Website. The author of the article selected will receive a $500 cash award and a certificate of recognition. Eligibility: • • • The article must be published in a journal issue or collection with a 2008 publication date. The work must present original new research that makes a significant contribution to the field of feminist German studies. The author must be a current WiG member. Articles may be written in either German or English. Send 3 copies of the article to: Prof. Barbara Mennel Department of English 4008 Turlington Hall University of Florida P.O. Box 117310 Gainesville, FL 32611-7310 Deadline: May 1, 2009 The award will be formally announced at the 2009 WiG Conference. Questions may be addressed to Barbara Mennel (mennel AT ufl EDU) or to the WiG President, Nora Alter (president AT womeningerman ORG). Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 7 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~ News on the Zantop Travel Fund ~~~ Zantop Travel Endowment Campaign – Update, 15 April 2009 In the fall of 2008, the Coalition of Women in German launched a campaign to endow the Zantop Travel Fund and appointed Jeanette Clausen as fundraising coordinator. Plan Overview Goal: To raise $25,000 in gifts and pledges over a period of three years, the sum that will make WiG eligible to receive $25,000 in matching funds from a private donor. Year one: $10,000 Year two: $ 7,500 Year three: $ 7,500 The funds collected, along with the donor’s match, will be invested at the best interest rate we can find, in order to grow an endowment. The amount of $3,000 annually will be set aside for graduate student travel grants. At this time, the Campaign is both ahead of schedule and slightly behind schedule. Ahead: we already have $10,000 in the bank from gifts from WIG members and their supporters. Thus, our fundraising goal for the first year, which began in September 2008, has already been reached. Behind: The fundraising coordinator is behind on making contacts with potential donors during spring 2009. However, spring 2009 isn’t over yet. Bottom line: we are ahead of where we said we’d be at this point and we are moving in the right direction. YOUR gift to the Zantop Travel Endowment Campaign is welcome at any time! Jeanette Clausen ZTEC coordinator [email protected] Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 8 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ Zantop Travel Award ~~~~ Zantop Travel Award for Graduate Students: New Procedures and Award Amounts Inspired by the work of Susanne Zantop, Women in German established an award in her honor to help nurture and sustain research and publication in feminist cultural studies. The Zantop Travel Award has supported work on more than a dozen dissertations since it was established in 2002. We are happy to announce that progress on WiG's current campaign to endow this fund makes it possible to establish new award amounts, beginning in 2009: Each year WiG will now grant up to two awards, each in the amount of $1500. Eligibility: Graduate students who have not yet completed the Ph.D. Applicants must be WiG members with a dissertation project approved by a faculty advisor for research on a topic in feminist German cultural studies that requires travel to consult specific archives, libraries, cultural centers, or authors. Criteria: 1. We seek proposals that address a significant topic with demonstrated relevance to German Studies from an approach informed by feminist cultural studies, that is, an approach that engages the intersections of gender with other relevant categories such as sexuality, class, race, citizenship, and ethnicity. In addition, we encourage proposals that further the project of rethinking German Studies along transnational lines. 2. The proposed research travel must be for the purpose of obtaining access to materials or information not accessible by other means. 3. The materials or information sought must be central to the success of the dissertation project. 4. The research plan must be feasible within the proposed time period. 5. The request for funding must be supported by a letter from a major professor (dissertation advisor or committee member). Proposal Guidelines: To the student: In a statement of no more than 750 words, describe your dissertation project and explain why travel to the specified site(s) is necessary. In addition, please include the following information (required): • a timetable • contact information for the people or institutions you will be working with • a one-page budget statement listing the projected cost of travel to the site • the amount requested from WiG, and support anticipated from other sources (if any). To the faculty member: Please address the quality and significance of the project, the importance of the research travel, and the applicant’s ability to see the project the project through to completion. Deadline: February 1st of each year. The Zantop Award Committee, consisting of the WiG president and two other WiG members, will consider applications and send notifications in March. Recipient Responsibility: As soon as is feasible after implementing the award, recipients are to present a report on research results at the poster session of the WiG annual conference. Acknowledgment of the award in the dissertation would be appreciated. Submit all materials electronically to: Nora Alter, WiG President president(AT)womeningerman(DOT)org Return to ToC Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 9 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ Wi G 2 009 Conference Site ~~~~ Brook Lodge Hotel and Conference Resort Augusta, Michigan Conference dates for 2009: October 22-25 Site: Brook Lodge is located on the former summer of estate of Upjohn founder, Dr. W. E. Upjohn. Affiliated with Michigan State University, it occupies an elegant site with extensive gardens in a woodsy retreat setting, and serves primarily as a corporate retreat and conference center. Amenities include jogging and nature trails, tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts, driving range and putting green. A paddle boat, rowboat, fishing equipment (!) and bicycles are readily available. For more details on amenities and a photo gallery, go to: http://www.hfs.msu.edu/brooklodge/index.html Location/transportation: Brook Lodge is located about 20-25 minutes northeast of the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO). Four major airlines serve AZO: Northwest, Comair/Delta Connection, American Eagle, and United Express, with frequent flights to/from Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis and Cincinnati. Conference participants who prefer to fly to Detroit and rent a car can drive to the conference site in under 2 hours. Shuttle service will be provided to and from Kalamazoo/Battle Creek airport. This part of Michigan has much natural beauty (of the rolling hills and forest variety), and there are nature centers, bird sanctuaries, and the like in the immediate vicinity. For a group outing, possibilities include tours of area wineries (approx. hour’s drive) or even Lake Michigan (approx. 1 hour away). Housing and conference fees: Conferees will have the choice of housing either in cottages at Brook Lodge or rooms at Gull Lake Inn (http://www.gulllakeinn.com/new/), which is a threeminute drive from Brook Lodge. For those staying at Gull Lake Inn, shuttles will run at regular intervals in the morning and evening between the two sites. Rooms at both sites cost $79-$89; Gull Lake Inn rooms are doubles that allow for sharing; those at Brook Lodge are mostly singles (one queen bed). Per person conference fees will be approximately $200, and thus slightly less expensive than Snowbird. Conference Organizers: Liz Mittman, Michigan State University: lead organizer, site and transportation ([email protected]) Denise Della Rossa, Notre Dame University: online conference registration ([email protected]) Jennifer Redmann, Kalamazoo College: conference program ([email protected]) Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 10 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~WiG 2009 Guest: Dragica R aji~~ Dragica Raji has emerged as an innovative female voice in Swiss-German transnational literature. The Croatianborn author, a resident of Switzerland since fleeing war in her homeland in 1991, has received numerous awards for her poetry, including the Adelbert von Chamisso Prize and the Meran Poetry Prize in 1994. In addition to writing poetry, Raji founded the journal "Glas Kastela" and has written short prose works, essays, and plays. She is currently working on a novel focusing on the life and work of Hermann Broch. Praised for its sharp irony and cutting insight, Raji's poetry artfully deconstructs the reality it circumscribes. Heimat, she claims, is in language, not any place defined by geographical boundaries, and her breakthrough style in poetic experimentation, epitomized by its "broken German," exemplifies her artistic credo. Defiant of the linguistic rules of grammar prescribed by High German, Raji's German revels in its foreignness, in its ability to comment and critique, precisely because it stands outside the realm of the familiar and expected. Aesthetically, Raji's poetry resists the social, political, and personal absurdities and injustices faced by those at the margin. Raji's position is therefore that of the oppositionist: as a woman in patriarchy, both in Croatia and in Switzerland; as an antiwar activist horrified by territorial aggression; and as a so-called migrant writer of a minor and minority literature. This contemporary writer emerges as a singular voice in Germanlanguage transnational literature and as a champion of poetic expression against limitations. Dragica Raji's works include: The Plays: Ein Stück Sauberkeit (1993) Auf Liebeseen (2000) The Poetry Collections: Halbgedichte einer Gastfrau, St. Gallen (1986) Lebendigkeit Ihre zurück, Zürich (1992) Nur Gute kommt ins Himmel, Zürich (1994) Post bellum, Zürich (2000) Buch von Glück, Zürich (2004) Dragica Raji’s appearance at WiG is being coordinated by Karin Baumgartner, University of Utah, ([email protected]). Both Karin Baumgartner and Erika Nelson contributed to this biographical sketch. WiG 2010 Conference Guest: Ulrike Ottinger Ulrike Ottinger’s trip to the 2010 Women in German Conference will be organized by Nora Alter, University of Florida ([email protected]) Return to ToC Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 11 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ Conference Re ports ~~~~ Women in German Panel, MLA 2008, San Francisco GETTING (BACK) INTO PLACE: LITERARY EMBODIMENTS OF LANDSCAPE AND THE NATURAL WORLD Co-organizers: Julie Klassen, Carleton College and Caroline Schaumann, Emory University For this panel we sought contributions that explore the relationship of language, place, nature and culture. We welcomed a range of topics, including literary representations of natural phenomena and/or environmental issues, the interrelationship of wilderness or natural history to cultivated nature, or other aspects of the ways humans perceive, interact with, and represent the non-human world. We were pleased that the three presentations complemented each other in their intercultural and interdisciplinary approaches. Three Rivers and the American West: German Visions of Landscape Barton Byg, University of Massachusetts Amherst American painter Thomas Moran (Green River Cliffs, 1874), American filmmaker John Ford (The Searchers, 1956) and German filmmaker Wim Wenders (Don't Come Knocking, 2005) all depict the same subject as a background for their metaphoric confrontations with "the West." The three rivers of the title, the Rhine (JMW Turner, Hoelderlin, Heine), the Connecticut (Thomas Cole), and the Hudson (Frederic Edwin Church) trace the biographical and cultural influence of German visions on the framework through which we still view the North American landscape. Background to the paper are philosophical considerations of landscape and the otherness of Nature, leading to the thesis that concepts of landscape of the Hudson River School, which these artists and their heirs quickly and influentially transferred to the American West, derived directly and indirectly from the cultural history of depictions of the Rhine. Ultimately, the contemporary and environmental implications of this cultural history arise from the question of the "otherness" of nature – whether perceived in the presence or absence of God(s) or in the role attributed to indigenous people for whom the supposed "wilderness" was a cultivated home. And contemporary artists such as Straub/Huillet (Cezanne) or Marine Hugonnier (Ariane) underscore the otherness of Nature by subverting the conventions of the landscape image itself. “Die Deutschen im brasilianischen Urwald”: Nineteenth-Century Cultivations of German Identity Gabi Kathöfer, University of Denver This paper examines discussions of German settlements in Brazil in nineteenth-century newspaper articles, novels, and autobiographical reports; more precisely, it analyzes the idea of Brazilian wilderness envisioned by German conquerors, cultivators, or victims as a political, educational, and aesthetic manifestation of the German struggle for identity. Using approaches derived from studies in nationalism, cultural studies and postcolonial theory, it then interpreted the Brazilian Urwald as an important imaginary breeding ground for the invention of German cultural roots in the nineteenth century. Nineteenth-century German mass emigration to Brazil was the consequence of a) the enormous political and economic crisis in the German states, and b) Brazil’s need to populate uninhabited regions; the Brazilian government tried to attract European settlers by promising free land and better living-conditions in their country. Soon, the Brazilian wilderness became not only a desired travel destination, but also a popular political and literary subject; poets, politicians, economists, journalists, and emigrants wrote about (un-)successful endeavors to transform the Brazilian Urwald into a new German Heimat. But Is There Hope? Climate Change and the Quest for a Democratic Future Peter Morris-Keitel, Bucknell University During the last third of the 20th century, many authors in Germany, as well as in a number of other countries, have made environmental issues a central idea in their works. While such narratives first concerned themselves with pollution, degradation, and deforestation, authors influenced by the accelerating process of globalization and the increase in scientific warnings about climate change since the late 1980s, have also addressed such topics in their novels. The result has been a sharp shift in aesthetics. While authors in the 1970s and 1980s mostly concerned themselves in their works with positive aspects in regard to economic, social, and political change, such visions have almost exclusively been replaced by dystopian visions of the future. Nonetheless, these authors have not simply joined the growing number of cynics in their false assumption that it is too late to act, but instead Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 12 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 have renewed their quest for a democratic future, based on the enlightenment principles of liberty, fraternity, and equality. In my paper, I discuss the importance of such concepts in the works, “Werdet arm!” (1991) by Gudrun Pausewang; Der Planet schlägt zurück. Ein Tagebuch aus der Zukunft (1993) and Der Mann von IDEA. Berlin 33 Jahre nach der Klimakatastrophe (1995) by Karl-Heinz Tuschel; and Tödliches Klima (2000) by Till Bastian. I addressed the following questions: How do the authors address the problem of globalization and climate change? Do these works, directly or indirectly, offer solutions to environmental problems? What political consequences can be drawn from these works? Is there hope for a just and democratic society in the future? Response: Caroline Schaumann, Emory University Barton Byg’s paper “Three Rivers and the American West: German Visions of Landscape” illustrates quite beautifully how rivers in the past and present, both in Germany and the United States, have inspired art and philosophical traditions from Romanticism to American transcendentalism. Gabi Kathoefer in her intriguing paper “Die deutschen im brasilianischen Urwald: Nineteenth-Century Cultivations of German Identity” elucidates how Germans came to Brazil in order to create a better Germany. And Peter Morris-Keitel’s provocative paper, “Is there Hope? Climate Change and the Quest for a Democratic Future,” contrasts the relative innocence of the ecological movement in the 1970s and 80s with the bleak attitudes of the 1990s and 2000s. The collective thread between these papers seems to revolve around notions of romanticized nature, and indeed the ideals of Romanticism itself: Byg connects Rhine Romanticism and the Hudson River school using JMW Turner as a link. Kathoefer depicts the Brazilian jungle as a site for a German representation of nature, imagination of the nation, and colonial fantasy. Morris-Keitel, finally, locates a more hopeful (or romantic) attitude towards nature in the somewhat recent past, with the early environmental movement in the 1980s, a movement that first attacked the Waldsterben with romanticized notions of the German forest. Yet he is more concerned with the disillusionment that follows when hope cannot be sustained, a grim yet perhaps fitting progression and culmination of the ideals expressed in the early 1800s. In an attempt to honor the sponsor of our session, Women in German, I invited our panelists to address the role of gender. Questions of gender figure into each paper: Water and in particular rivers are often denoted as a female space; the Brazilian jungle, as Kathoefer recognizes, becomes feminized; and finally, the question arises as to whether male and female authors represent climate change differently through genre, topic, or perspective. Conference Reports are collected and edited by Michelle Stott James, [email protected] Return to ToC Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 13 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ Book Re views ~~~~ We are proud to include these reviews, which showcase the outstanding, feminist research conducted by our members in the WiG Newsletter. Each year, we publish lists of books by WiG members in the Newsletter and solicit appropriate reviewers for them at our annual conference. Reviews are published once a year in the Spring issue of the WiG Newsletter and are also available on our website. A link to the online reviews is sent out to the H-German mailing list. A few volumes up for review this year are still awaiting evaluators: Allert, Beate. Comparative Cinema. How American University Students View Foreign Films. The Edwin Mellen Press, 2008. Durão, Fabio A. and Dominic Williams, eds. Modernist Group Dynamics. The Politics and Poetics of Friendship. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008. Hammerstein, Katharina von, and Katrin Horn, eds. Sophie Mereau. Verbindungslinien in Zeit und Raum. Heidelberg: Winter Universitätsverlag, 2008. Mathäs, Alexander. Narcissism and Paranoia in the Age of Goethe. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2008. If you are interested in reviewing one of these books, please contact us at [email protected]. For more information please contact the WiG Book Review Editor, Laurie Taylor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, [email protected]. Schaumann, Caroline. Memory Matters: Generational Responses to Germany’s Nazi Past in Recent Women’s Literature. (Interdisciplinary German Cultural Studies Vol. 4.) Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2008. 346 pp. ISBN: 3110202433 hardcover, $98.00. The recent explosion of autobiographical, semi-autobiographical, and fictional works that look back at and remember the Nazi past has garnered much attention in the German feuilletons, on television talk shows, and in recent scholarship. Schaumann’s book, in which insightful close readings of literary texts and broad cultural analysis converge, adds much depth and a new angle to the debate on memory. It brings familiar works and newer pieces in dialogue, juxtaposes unusual perspectives of both victims and co-perpetrators and their descendants, and grounds the readings in a thoroughly researched discussion of a variety of theories of memory. In the process, Schaumann offers a comprehensive, feminist reading of the evolution of the discourse on Vergangenheitsbewältigung in post-war and post-unification Germany, bringing women’s voices into the foreground of the often male-dominated debate. At the center of her study are the questions, how do memories of survivors and perpetrators intersect, how are personal/cultural memory of Nazism and the Holocaust transmitted to succeeding generations of women, and how do intergenerational conflict, silence, as well as the creative, imaginative process, shape memory and the production of texts? Making an important contribution to the fields of feminist studies, memory studies, autobiography studies, German literary studies, and Holocaust studies, Schaumann’s book bridges the divide between victim and (co)perpetrator literature without smoothing over differences. It juxtaposes texts by six women who, because of their different designations as East or West German, Austrian, Jew, non-Jew, or generational belonging, have not been read together or against one another. By bringing the different perspectives into dialogue with each other, Schaumann succeeds in her goal of pointing out “their relatedness” (5) while emphasizing the distinct features of their experiences, as well as unique narrative strategies. She points out common gendered attributes of these texts, e.g., a focus on everyday details, the interweaving of past and present, of “reconstruction and reflection” (315), and investigations of mother-daughter/granddaughter or father-daughter/granddaughter relationships. The three sections of the volume are organized around the distinct generational (or, as Schaumann calls it, genealogical) status of the writers, beginning with two writers who crafted innovative forms to narrate their own experiences of the Nazi era, the one, Ruth Klüger (born 1931), as a victim, the other, Christa Wolf (born 1929), as a young girl whose family profited from and participated in National Socialism. The close reading of Kindheitsmuster (1976) and weiter leben (1992) reveals common narrative strategies, particularly the interruption of the reconstruction of the past with present reflections and the ensuing refusal to ‘fix’ the past in a neat, rigid frame, and appeals to the readers’ active engagement with their own pasts, but it also points to differences, e.g., the genres of the texts – Klüger’s an unabashed autobiographical testimony, the other an autobiographical novel. In the discussion, Schaumann also points out how certain images that have recently been used to denote the impossibility of keeping down the past in autobiographical writings by well-known male German authors, such as Günter Grass, appeared much earlier in Wolf’s deliberations on the same topic. Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 14 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 The second section deals with the writings of daughters who work through their parents’ past, as well as their own present identities. Reading them through the lens of Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory, Schaumann examines different texts by the writer Barbara Honigmann (born 1949), who grew up in East Germany with assimilated Jewish parents who were committed to the socialist state, and journalist/writer Wibke Bruhns (born 1938), the West German daughter of a once committed Nazi who was later executed as a co-conspirator/confidant in the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler. Both of these writers are in a way prompted by their families’ silence about their past. Honigmann, whose earlier texts (Roman von einem Kinde, 1986, and Eine Liebe aus Nichts, 1991) deal with the narrator’s construction of an independent, German-Jewish identity for herself in France, eventually writes herself into her family’s past by reconstructing her father’s and grandfather’s pasts and investigating the secrets of her mother’s and grandmother’s pasts. In her narrative, she uses ideals and images from German Romanticism, filling in the missing pieces with her own subjective reflections. Bruhns, in a similar act of simultaneous preservation of family history and “replacement of the patriarchal perspective with a female one” (178), deals with her father’s legacy by emphasizing contradictions while staying away from judgment, seeking to find understanding for her father’s life. The third section brings together the post-unification writings of two women whose narratives represent granddaughters’ investigations of their grandparents’ experiences under National Socialism, Monika Maron’s Pawels Briefe (1999) and Tanja Dückers’s Himmelskörper (2003). She situates this discussion in the changing postunification discourse on the Nazi past, which tends to represent Germans as both perpetrators and victims of war. As was true for the daughters in the previous section, both of these writers appropriate their family histories by reframing them, as happens literally in Maron’s use of photographs that complement and often contradict the written text. The writing of family history for her is not an act of reconstruction, but rather, in the absence of remembered or passed-on knowledge, a creative, imaginative act. While Maron replaces the idea of accessing “memory” with a claim to what is “memorable” to her, Dückers, the youngest of the authors (born 1968), develops what she calls “sensual historiography” to tell pieces of her own and her grandparents’ stories in fictional form. Highlighting the intangible, fragmented nature of the family memories her characters try to uncover, the text represents a desire for intergenerational dialogue and, at the same time, an acknowledgment of the elusiveness of its fulfillment. The changes Schaumann highlights between the different generations of writers include a move away from investigations into the reasons for and origins of the Nazis’ coming to power towards a preoccupation with how memories of this past are dealt with, or contained, in the decades following the demise of the NS regime. Although each writer is ultimately preoccupied with distinct motivations and approaches in telling the past, Schaumann notes that all of them “acknowledge the ambiguity of ‘gray zones’” (318). The author ends her study with a fascinating retelling of the blurry lines between suffering and opportunism in her own family’s history. There, as in the texts she examines, we are reminded of how much and why memory matters to subsequent generations. Mareike Herrmann, The College of Wooster Bergmann, Franziska, Jennifer Moos, and Claudia Münzing. queere (t)ex(t)perimente. Freiburg: Fördergemeinschaft Wissenschaftlicher Publikationen von Frauen, 2008. 167 pp. ISBN: 978-3-939348-13-9 paperback, 19.90. In her essay “Sex mit un/an/geeigneten Anderen: Wer fickt hier eigentlich wen?” published in the collection queere (t)ex(t)perimente, Caroline Günther states: “Dieser Text ruft zu Widerstand und Reflexionen auf” (93). Undeniably, this collection of essays, poetry, collages, position papers, definitions, and academic analyses inspires contention and reflection and poses many questions without offering any simple “answers.” It is neither coherent nor consistent, neither academically rigorous, nor theoretically sound while at the same time it is all of the above and more; it contains articles that offer cutting-edge theoretical and academic interventions, it includes art and poetry, contains “self help” as well as political slogans; it is queer. To foster further thinking and research about how to live queer politics and make political interventions in the 21st century, this review reads queere (t)ex(t)perimente with a “queer eye.” As various texts in the volume point out, queer defines itself against and in constant negotiation with the “norm” as a political and strategic intervention that sometimes requires the (re)construction of a binary that it set out to dissolve. Therefore, it is important to consider the consequences of this intervention, even if that means to struggle with contention, contingencies, and one’s own social, historical, and political positioning. Some of the articles and art pieces published in queere (t)ex(t)perimente allude to the connections between (queer) sexualities, economies, class, and race, but the collection as a whole fails to address any “queer” intervention concerning the racialized body, global economic change, or class transgressions in greater detail. The first article defines queer politics in the tradition of the feminist slogan that “the personal is political.” Claudia Münzing’s Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 15 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 thought-provoking essay ties theoretical positions to a personal search for meaning, identity, and vision. She stresses the need to emphasize individual difference as a basis for queer politics. This leads Münzing to call for a “systematische Wiederbelebung der Sorge um sich selbst” (15), without exploring the centrality of the construction of the “self” in heteronormative Enlightenment discourses and philosophies. From Münzing’s perspective, deconstruction produces multiple truths (19) and while she values Foucault’s interventions, she also deems them problematic since they fail to offer a vision or a positive message (22). Münzing’s definition of queer politics and theory does not remain uncontested in the collection. Quite the contrary, other articles not only offer a different interpretation of what “queer” means but deconstruct the idea that “queer politics” could and should have a “vision” and produce any “truths.” The collection is theoretically and politically most productive when it emphasizes the disruptive, political, and subversive agenda of queer politics, for example Nora Filipp’s discussion of pregnant men in literature and Kathrin Tordasi’s essay “Walking Barefoot: Women’s Sexuality on the Liminal Beach.” This subversive positioning of queer politics becomes evident in Laurie Taylor’s reading of Elfriede Jelinek’s play “Krankheit oder Moderne Frauen.” Taylor uses Lee Edelman’s text No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive to emphasize the threat to conventional social orders that queerness poses. She argues convincingly that the play’s queerness is not found in its depiction of lesbianism, but in its disruption of the gendered reproductive order by featuring “sick” and deadly female vampires that merge into a child-eating “Doppelgeschöpf.” Along similar lines, Kyle Frackman uses Judith Halberstam’s In a Queer Time and Place to read the German film Zurück auf Los (2000). His reading places emphasis on the transient and contingent character of “queer” lives and life stories and constitutes this queer temporality and spatiality as an intervention against heteronormative assumptions. Franziska Bergmann’s article “‘Mann was sind wir hart’ – eine queer feministische ANALyse geschlechtsdifferenzierter Körpergrenzen” also aims to initiate a rethinking of binary gendered “Körpergrenzen” (63). Her discussion of the politics surrounding an essay published in the German paper die taz that advocated the pleasures of anal penetration for straight men is playful, provocative, and funny. Bergmann mentions that the more conservative paper DIE ZEIT refused to publish the essay due to its “pornographic” content without pursuing this reasoning further; but this side note poses an interesting question: how does this discourse around pornography produce and/or silence queer voices and interventions? This question becomes even more pertinent in Susanne Jung’s discussion of the “postpornographic.” In her analysis of the film Shortbus and of sexually explicit “fanfiction” she fails to historicize the discussion of pornography, pleasure, and the “obscene” and their histories of political (queer?) intervention. At the end of the article she defines the postpornographic as the “privileging of pleasure and of bodily and somatic forms of knowledge”(84) and as rendering “visible what has culturally been abjected or cloaked by past and present regimes of reglementation policing the boundaries of the decent and the indecent: the myriad forms human desire can and does take” (84). Jung’s definitions, however, not only describe what she defines as postpornographic but also “political” pornography, a genre that constitutes the origins of modern-day pornography starting with Marquise De Sade and Sacher-Masoch. What precisely makes the narratives and representations Jung discusses “postpornographic”? Do they escape the commercialism of the pornography market or do they fill a niche within it? How does the marketability of a certain kind of “queerness” play a role in these discussions? In connection with Bergmann’s discussion, who can and wants to publish, sell, and buy what kind of “queerness” and why? The final essay by Jim Baker “Ausschluss der Richtigen—Überlegungen zu einem noch immer aktuellen Thema” calls for a less divisive politics within the “queer” communities and struggles with questions of difference and sameness in minority cultures. Again, should a queer analysis not include a critical discussion of where division and difference comes from in the first place? What role does technology, marketing, mobility, class structure, race, religion, and education play in producing difference and sameness? Caroline Günther’s essay raises similar questions when she defines queer theory “neben ihrer akademischen Fundierung vorallem auch als Lebens(abschnitts)führungskonzept” (95) and contends that “die wissenschaftliche Theorie hinkt weit hinter den Szenendiskursen her” (96). Does it not become easy, then, to “fit” queerness into a heteronormative development schema when it might be considered a life-phase? Who is this “scene” and where do its “discourses” come from if not from theoretical considerations? Queer positionings and politics set out to question the binaries between practice and theory, between difference and sameness, between lives and “life-phases.” In the global marketplace that has found a way to target a “queer” audience and market a certain kind of “queerness,” for some people, for a certain time and in a certain place, queer theory and practice can only offer political interventions by insisting on the de(con)structive potential and the radical negation that identifies it as “queer.” Maria Stehle, University of Tennessee Knoxville Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 16 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Pusch, Luise F. Die Eier des Staatsoberhaupts und andere Glossen. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2008. 144 pp. ISBN 978-3-8353-0280-8. Paperback, 9.90. Luise Pusch, who has been writing about women and language for some 25 years now, has not lost her edge. Die Eier des Staatsoberhaupts und andere Glossen contains a selection of her work produced between 1999 and 2007. Most of the Glossen—brief critiques usually inspired by a striking usage, statement, or event—treat the erasure or misrepresentation of women in everyday language, still an issue worthy of our attention despite progress over the years (some of us remember when German textbooks did not include activities to practice feminine pronouns or teach the formation of feminine nouns—I am not making this up). In the book’s foreword, Pusch recalls her debut publication of this genre in the feminist magazine Courage in 1982, with a Glosse titled “Die Menstruation ist bei jedem ein bißchen anders,” an incisive and hilarious analysis of the supposedly generic masculine pronoun (jedem) in the text of a tampon package insert. That piece, together with essays and other Glossen from the Courage years, can be found in her book Das Deutsche als Männersprache (Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 1984). One might think that such startling examples of incongruence between grammatical and biological gender would be few and far between, but one would be mistaken—see, for example, Pusch’s discussion of “Jeder, der selbst ein Kind bekommen hat” (p. 21— the quoted phrase is from a book review). Anyone who doubts that nouns not overtly marked for gender are assumed to be masculine should read “Jüngere Geliebte” (pp. 86-87), which explores the unintended consequences of a personal ad (“Frau sucht jüngere Geliebte”)—quite a few men answered the woman’s ad, to her consternation. Gender-specific assumptions are embedded in electronic search engines too: read “Der Duft von Männern—nicht gefragt” (pp. 100-102) to learn what caused ads for “Getragene Unterwäsche” to pop up in Pusch’s e-mail (hint: she uses gmail). The subject of the piece that gave the collection its title, “Die Eier des Staatsoberhaupts,” is not what you are thinking—unless you’ve guessed that the Staatsoberhaupt in this instance is a woman and the issue is the terminology for non-identical twins. The Glossen are grounded in Pusch the linguist’s knowledge of how languages work (and can change!) and infused with humor, making them both convincing and memorable. She has a scholar’s flair for tracking down littleknown facts to support her theories, as in “Ärztinhelfer und Garderobenmann” (pp. 13-14). Here, a talk-show host’s question about traditional roles in professions (“Warum gibt es eigentlich keine Arzthelfer?”) has prompted the author to ask instead “Warum gibt es eigentlich keine Ärztinhelfer?” I leave it to you to find out why she concludes that “’Traditionelle Frauenberufe’ orientieren sich . . . an einem Übersetzungsfehler [Martin] Luthers” (p. 14). More seriously, she delves into the history of the term “Kinderfreunde” used by organizations or clubs for educators in the early decades of the twentieth century. Photographs of the predominantly female club members and accompanying captions that identify only the male club members give a pretty clear picture of what the term signified. Pusch also has an unerring eye for projects that are passed off as woman-friendly but are in fact a means of once more marginalizing, co-opting, or overlooking women—see, for example, “Doch nicht so alternativ? 10 Jahre Alternative Bank Schweiz (ABS)—ein feministischer Kommentar” (pp. 47-51). She is equally compelling when writing about attitudes toward differences among women, as in the pieces on aging, especially “In alter Frische” (pp. 55-58) or exploring the question of who is deemed worthy of being commemorated on a postage stamp (“Goethes Christiane und Luthers Käthe: Noch ein Beitrag zum Goethe-Jahr,” pp. 115-117). This is not a book to read from beginning to end, but to browse and savor the pieces that interest you. The table of contents is organized by topic (e.g., Beruf, Familie, Gesundheit, Heim und Herd, Paare, etc.) and there is an alphabetical list of the titles of the individual Glossen at the end of the book. A few more of my favorites are “Die Männer der Brentanos,” a reaction to the publication of “Die Frauen der Brentanos” in 2006 (pp. 19-21); “Damen auf der documenta,” a humorous meditation on a curated exhibit in which a significant number of the artists represented are women—and nobody mentions that fact (pp. 82-85); “Heidi und Klara im Heu,” a lesbian rereading of the “Heidi” books on the 100th anniversary of Johanna Spyri’s death (pp. 117-121); and “Hillary and Barack,” an analysis of the media’s differential treatment of male and female candidates for office (pp. 123-126). I intend to share some of these Glossen with my German classes and encourage you to do the same. They are fun, erudite, and great conversation-starters. Jeanette Clausen, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 17 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Becker-Cantarino, Barbara. Meine Liebe zu Büchern. Sophie von La Roche als professionelle Schriftstellerin. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2008. 251 pp. ISBN: 978-3-8253-5382-7 hardcover, 35.00. In this 2008 book, preeminent scholar of the social and cultural significance of German women writers, Barbara Becker-Cantarino turns her attention to Sophie von La Roche (1730-1807), the celebrated author of Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim, as well as numerous other works. As Becker-Cantarino makes clear in her introduction, she does not want to engage in theoretical debates about how La Roche’s texts relate to the aesthetics of Classicism and Romanticism, but rather wishes to employ an historically accurate approach that will reveal the true cultural significance of La Roche’s oeuvre. Her book, as she writes, ”beleuchtet La Roches wichtige Stellung im literarischen Feld ihrer Zeit” (7). After the introduction follow five chapters that focus chronologically on La Roche’s development as a woman writer in a society that was careful to differentiate what was deemed acceptable or unacceptable for women. In chapter one Becker-Cantarino describes how societal suspicions during the 18th century concerning women as readers, as well as women’s education, led to the ideal of a well-educated woman becoming eclipsed by the ideal of an emotional, sensitive woman. She shows how La Roche, who at an early age had been given free access to her father’s extensive library, was implicated in these debates yet navigated them successfully in the sense that, while she never lost sight of her own desire for knowledge and love of reading, she always framed these proclivities in a way that was deemed acceptable by 18th century society. The second chapter traces in great detail the fascinating and at times confounding relationship Sophie von La Roche had with the famous Enlightenment author Christoph Martin Wieland. Becker-Cantarino offers an insightful analysis of the life-long correspondence between the two writers, who early on were even engaged for a short time. The image of Wieland that emerges is decidedly unflattering—while early on in the relationship he used the heightened emotional language of their correspondence as inspiration for his own poetry without ever really being serious about their relationship (Becker-Cantarino calls it his “empfindsames Liebesspiel” p. 46), after Sophie’s marriage to George La Roche, Wieland’s own self-centeredness emerges as he writes to her about his erotic feelings for other women. Becker-Cantarino outlines Wieland’s overbearing and condescending editorial practices as he oversaw the publication of La Roche’s first novel, Die Geschichte des Fräulein von Sternheim, as well as the growing distance between the two, mainly on his part, as La Roche became more autonomous as a writer, while simultaneously suffering social decline. During the 1790s he even refused her plea to be taken in just as Frankfurt was about to be occupied by the French, and when she did finally visit him much later on in Weimar, he became infatuated with her daughter, Sophie Brentano, and was irritated by her presence. Becker-Cantarino also addresses how La Roche’s relationship to her writing changed as her social standing became less stable. On the one hand, La Roche realized that she needed to write in order to make money, yet she had to be careful not to publicly acknowledge that fact, since to do so would have meant violating the parameters within which most women lived their lives during the last decade of the 18th century. Chapter three begins with a detailed and nuanced analysis of La Roche’s Sternheim novel, and suggests that at the end of that novel patriarchal society has dissolved into a quasi-utopian world inhabited mainly by women. (“Die feudale, patriarchale Gesellschaft ist wie traumhaft aufgeweicht und durchdrungen von der in Sophie Sternheim verkörperten ‚weiblichen‘ Welt“ 103). Becker-Cantarino proceeds to describe the content and cultural significance of Sophie von La Roche’s later works in an informative and entertaining manner. She traces the subtle changes in La Roche’s work that indicate her growing dissatisfaction with the fact that women were naturally expected to find fulfillment and contentment in making others (predominantly men and their own families) happy: “La Roche kritisierte den übersteigerten Tugendanspruch der Zeit, dass Frauen das eigene Glück im Glücklichmachen anderer suchen sollten und hinterfragte nun diesen Anspruch” (119). Becker-Cantarino does an excellent job of making it clear how much more there is to La Roche’s oeuvre than the Sternheim novel. Her works proved to be exceptionally popular with her predominantly female readership, in part because of an eighteenth-century predilection for identificatory reading. La Roche took advantage of her popularity when she began publishing her own literary journal in 1783: Pomona (für Teutschlands Töchter). La Roche’s own interest in pursuing knowledge and educating women was at the heart of this project, as BeckerCantarino makes clear. Even after she stopped publishing Pomona La Roche continued writing and her works became more openly advice-driven and less purely fictional. These later works (including Briefe an Lina and the sequel Briefe an Lina als Mutter) were full of practical knowledge concerning the running of a household, but they also emphasized reading and the acquisition of knowledge as desirable pursuits for women. The second half of the fourth chapter describes Sophie von La Roche’s travels through Europe as well as her collected writings about these travels. Becker-Cantarino offers lively descriptions of these works, which still seemed to find a wide readership among the cultural elites of German-speaking Europe. Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 18 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 The final chapter offers insight into the financially more modest living situation of the older, widowed La Roche in Offenbach, where she still managed to write and correspond until her death in 1807. Becker-Cantarino describes how La Roche was able to keep her fictional work fresh by remaining interested in the literary productions of a younger generation of relatives and friends. Karoline von Günderrode had her Geschichte eines Brahminen published in La Roche’s penultimate work Herbsttage and, as Becker-Cantarino points out there are a number of parallels in the work and personality of La Roche and her granddaughter Bettina Brentano von Arnim. This easy to read and informative work represents an important contribution to previous scholarly work on La Roche in that it adds nuance to what seems to be still a rather one-sided and clichéd understanding of this colorful and complex eighteenth-century personality. The book will be of interest to anyone desiring to learn more about the significant cultural contributions of one of the earliest best-selling female authors in German-speaking Europe. Catherine Grimm, Albion College Seghers, Anna. “Ich erwarte Eure Briefe wie den Besuch der besten Freunde:” Briefe 1924–1952 (Werkausgabe, V/1.) Edited by Christiane Zehl Romero and Almut Giesecke. Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 2008. 747 pp. ISBN: 9783351034733 hardcover, 36.00. This beautiful and sophisticated volume is the first major edition of Seghers’s letters, presented as the first of two volumes of correspondence within the highly acclaimed critical edition of works by the German-Jewish writer Anna Seghers. Finally the multifaceted letters by Seghers become accessible, although a large number of them has not been preserved, and the correspondence with family members is still closed to publication (except for very few early exceptions). With a highly readable concise introductory essay, meticulous commentary (that often takes into account letters which are not included), an annotated index of names and works, as well as translations of letters originally in English, French, and Spanish, and a detailed timeline, the volume lives up to the highest standards of scholarly editing. The letters are important documents about this quarter century, even if direct commentary about political and other events is rare. They are a fascinating and engaging read, both on their own or supplementing primary works and biography; and the two volumes will prove invaluable for scholarship on Seghers and the complex publishing conditions for exile writers. Among Seghers’s correspondents are Hans Henny Jahnn, Stephan Hermlin, Johannes R. Becher, Georg Lukács, Helene Weigel, Bertolt Brecht and many other prominent figures, although there is no regular exchange with other authors on aesthetic issues; publishing her ideas and thoughts was much more important and pressing for Seghers. Christiane Zehl Romero (Tufts University) is a pre-eminent Seghers scholar who has written a comprehensive two-volume account of Seghers’s life (Berlin: Aufbau, 2000 and 2003) as well as an introduction to her life and works (Reinbek: Rowohlt, 2001), and has edited Seghers’s 1924/5 diary (Berlin: Aufbau, 2003). In the edition of the letters she was assisted by Almut Giesecke, main editor for Seghers’s works with Aufbau-Verlag. (Seghers was one of this publisher’s flagship anti-Fascist authors from its founding in East Berlin in 1945.) For this volume they selected 251 letters (out of more than 600 extant ones; the selection criteria are explicated, 733): the first one in the collection was written by Seghers to her husband-to-be László Radványi in July 1924; the last one, to Brecht in November 1952, is an important document about the Berliner Ensemble adaptation of her radio play Jeanne d'Arc zu Rouen 1431. Few letters are from the early years; the bulk is from the time when Seghers lived in exile in Paris and Mexico City and the years in between when she was desperately waiting for her visa to leave Europe, living in uncertainty. Much of the urgency, worry and despair she suffered during this era entered her famous novel Transit. Her impressions of “kaputte Menschen” and a “verhexte[s] Land” (247) upon her return to the Eastern part of Germany in 1947 are well represented, as is her growing socialist conviction and appropriation of SED politics during the next several years. “Ich erwarte Eure Briefe wie früher den Besuch der besten Freunde,” she wrote in 1940 to the Prague-born fellow writer and èmigrè Franz Carl Weiskopf (435). Staying in contact with her friends through letters was an urgent need, not a literary exercise or idle pastime for Seghers. Through the “Rettungsseil” (665) of pleading letters she had been able to bring herself and her family to a safe place overseas and also arrange for help for others. The writer’s changing living situations and her various ways of relating to others are always immediately apparent in her correspondence. She readily adapted her style to the addressee. She is most vivid when writing to her best friends— on occasion with the coffeemaker nearby, chatting as if sitting in a café, as she writes to Weiskopf in May 1940 (441)— or arguing. She sounds very professional contacting other authors, writes encouragingly to young writers such as Brigitte Reimann, comforts readers who seek her advice, is level-headed and diplomatic in the extensive selection of correspondence with publishers and literary agents. She skillfully organizes projects and conferences with other writers. She is often concerned about her writing and placing her works with publishers and translators, Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 19 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 making them known. In her highly readable introductory essay, Romero outlines major differences and groups in Seghers’s correspondence over the course of time and the major stations of her life. She takes a non-challenging, moderately feminist approach and summarizes: “ Sie schrieb als Betroffene, die als Frau, Mutter, Autorin, Freundin und politisch engagierte deutsche Jüdin in der ersten Hälfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts überleben und ihren Weg machen musste. Und sie [die Briefe] erlauben Einblicke in die Persönlichkeit einer komplexen, widersprüchlichen Frau und Autorin, die zugleich phantasievoll und praktisch war, verletzlich und zäh, die Kinder und Mann liebevoll umsorgte und ihr Talent sehr ernst nahm. Schreiben war ihr Verpflichtung und Halt” (675-6). In evaluating Seghers’s place in the early years of the GDR, Romero is careful, emphasizing the returned èmigrèe’s interest in new directions and initial non-identification with the Germans (668). Seghers was elected president of the Deutscher Schriftstellerverband in May 1952. Her role in rebuilding Germany as expressed in many letters to party officials could, however, also be read as the almost uncanny taming of a free spirit into an uncritical member of the SED party who supported censorship and criticized the Berliner Ensemble adaptation of her work for its sympathy with the executioner of Joan of Arc. On January 29, 1951 Seghers wrote to Maxim Lieber: “Es ist erstaunlich, was hier ueberhaupt fuer ungeheure [sic] grosse Ausgaben moeglich geworden sind. Die Menschen saugen Buecher auf wie trockener Boden das Wasser” (382; Seghers wrote with a typewriter that had no Umlaute). Similarly, this impressive, meticulous edition of her letters, supported by Berlin’s Archiv der Akademie der Künste and universities in Germany and the U.S., might have amazed Anna Seghers as well. This reviewer wishes it many eager readers. Waltraud Maierhofer, University of Iowa Hertz, Deborah. How Jews Became Germans: The History of Conversion and Assimilation in Berlin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. 288 pp. ISBN: 9780300110944, $38.00 cloth. This cultural and social history by Deborah Hertz investigates the motivations, incentives, and difficulties encountered by the Berlin Jewish social elite from 1645-1833, focusing on the Napoleonic era. It is an outgrowth of her first book: Jewish High Society in Old Regime Berlin, in which she portrayed salon life and intermarriages, relying on the evidence provided by the Judenkartei compiled during the Third Reich. This book also made use of the Judenkartei, as well as numerous published resources. Hertz consciously avoids reading the history of this period through the lens of the Holocaust. Her narrative explains why individuals and families decided to convert to Protestantism or to remain Jewish. The biographical portraits show sympathy, pity, and compassion for the difficult situation of the social elite in Berlin before legal emancipation. Hertz, however, does not equate conversion with emancipation, but through her examination of individuals’ lives and choices, she explains how complicated these decisions were, rather than just relying of pat assertions of conversion in order to marry or to secure a job. Her analysis centers on the desire to integrate culturally and nationally into an emerging German identity that was itself defined in terms of ethnicity rather than geography. Hertz also considers how some who remained Jewish tried to reform religious practice and were thwarted by the Prussian authorities, devoting considerable space to the reform synagogue at the home of Amalie Beer. The book is organized chronologically and uses the life of Rahel Varnhagen as a narrative thread. The stories of prominent Berlin Jewish families and their most famous members are told: the Mendelssohns (from Moses to Felix), Liebmanns, Itzigs, Ephraims, Isaacs, Friedländers, and Beers. The later chapters include famous figures such as Ascher, Börne, Gans, and Heine. Larger historical developments are framed by their personal histories, sometimes at the expense of a more detailed historical analysis. This is true of her presentation of the March 1812 Edict that granted Jews a limited civil emancipation. Portions of this were rescinded very quickly. Hertz overestimates the positive impact it had on Jewish life in Prussia by stressing the psychological boost it offered. In combining both social and cultural history, this short book relies more on biographical portraits than detailed analysis of specific policies and philosophies. This format also excludes considerations of the vast majority of Jews who were poor. By concentrating on a limited number of prominent families, Hertz gives due consideration to women and to their influence as hostesses and salonnières–women such as Henriette Herz, Sara Levy, and especially Amalie Beer. Her book always distinguishes between opportunities available to men and those closed to women. The musical talents of the Beers, Mendelssohns, and Sara Levy are highlighted. The book’s style indicates that Hertz is interested in appealing to general readers as well as specialists. The introduction to the book is quite personal and Hertz discusses how she came to undertake this project and the difficulties she encountered. Her frank assessment of the project is a welcome breath of fresh air in historical studies. The epilogue is more than just a conclusion, but is rather a reflection upon how we might incorporate the history of the Berlin Jews into our post-Holocaust assessment of German history. While the personal note is Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 20 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 welcome, the book’s sometimes chatty style can seem a bit forced. The reader is too often included in the narrator’s “we.” Most infelicitous and sometimes confusing is her tendency to refer to individuals by their first names. While Rahel Varnhagen is generally known as Rahel, her husband Karl August Varnhagen was never referred to as Karl. The numerous Friedrichs also cause confusion. She refers to Börne as Ludwig, but Heine remains Heine. There is a good index, but it does not include secondary literature. Statistical charts are provided in an appendix. Overall, this relatively short book provides a lively history of the Berlin Jewish elite from 1645-1833. It will appeal to students and to all readers interested in the cultural history of Berlin and German Jews. Marjanne E. Goozé, The University of Georgia Published with the Permission of The German Quarterly ~~~~ Books by Members ~~~~ “Books by members” is a list of recent publications edited or authored by WiG members. WiG members create this list! Please submit your title with MLA bibliographic information to Sarah McGaughey ([email protected]) to be included in the next WiG Newsletter. Leonhard, Sigi. STIMMEN. Cadolzburg: ars vivendi verlag, 2009. Mahlendorf, Ursula. The Shame of Survival: Working through a Nazi Childhood. Pennsylvania State UP: University Park, PA, 2009. Mennel, Barbara. Cities and Cinema. London: Routledge, 2008. Pusch, Luise F. Der Kaiser sagt Ja und andere Glossen. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2009. Sieg, Katrin. Choreographing the Global in European Cinema and Theater. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Return to ToC Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 21 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ WiG Filmography ~~~~ This is a list of Austrian, German, and Swiss films produced and/or released from 2008 to date. Some films produced and released in 2008 are not included here, because they were in the previous list of films in the Spring 2008 WiG Newsletter. For this edition of the filmography, I have made some changes. The films are listed alphabetically by German-language title. Each title is linked to its database entry, or if unavailable, then to the official film site. If possible, I provide English International Title or note that the title is a TV production. To the extent that I can identify the original language of the film, this list is only of German-language films, unless otherwise noted. Director(s) and country of origin/production are also included. To generate this filmography, I used three primary sources: http://www.afc.at/ http://www.german-films.de/ http://www.swissfilms.ch/ I compiled this list, and the omissions, repetitions, and mistakes are my own. Jennifer Hosek remains responsible for the bibliography on secondary literature in subjects of importance to members. The Summer newsletter will contain a bibliography of primary fiction in German. My thanks to many WiGgies, notably Beverly Weber, Lisabeth Hock, Carrie Smith-Prei, and our fearless instigator, Sara Lennox. Sarah McGaughey, Dickinson College Title 1 km Zürich Hardbrücke 7 More Minutes 7 oder Warum ich auf der Welt bin 9to5 – Days in Porn 10 Sekunden (10 Seconds) 12 Meter Ohne Kopf (13 Paces Without a Head) 13 Semester (13 Semesters) 24 h Berlin – Ein Tag im Leben (24 h Berlin – A Day in the Life) (TV) 24 Stunden Schlesisches Tor 66/67 88 – pilgern auf japanisch (88 – pilgrimage in japanese) 510 Meter über dem Meer Abnegation Adems Sohn (Adem’s Son) Ai-Mei Alle Anderen (Everyone Else) Alter und Schönheit (Age and Beauty) Am Galgen (TV) Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin (A Woman in Berlin) Architekt, Der (The Architect) Auge in Auge – Eine deutsche Filmgeschichte (Eye to Eye – All About German Film) Augenblick Freiheit, Ein (For a Moment, Freedom) Ayla Baader Meinhof Komplex, Der (The Baader Meinhof Complex) bachab (TV) Bahrtalo! Good Luck! bärenstarke Liebe, Eine (TV) Berlin Calling Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 22 Director Luc Gut Izabela Plucinska Antje Starost Hans-Helmut Grotjahn Jens Hoffmann Nicolai Rohde Sven Taddicken Frieder Wittich Volker Heise Eva Lia Reinegger Anna de Paoli Carsten Ludwig Jan-Christoph Glaser Gerald Koll Kerstin Polte, Anina Gmür Elias Amari Hakan Savas Mican Monika Treut Maren Ade Michael Klier Pascal Beramin Max Faerberboeck Ina Weisse Michael Althen Hans Helmut Prinzler Arash T. Riahi Su Turhan Uli Edel Ulrich Schaffner Robert Lakatos Mike Eschmann Hannes Stoehr Country Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Austria Germany Germany Switzerland Austria Switzerland Germany Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Besuch der alten Dame, Der (TV) Besucherin, Die (Days In Between) Beyond Farewell (TV) Bienen, Die – Tödliche Bedrohung (Killerbees) (TV) bill – das absolute augenmass (TV) Nikolaus Lola Randl Susanna Hübscher Michael Karen Erich Schmid Bonzenkarren (Yuppy Cars) Buddenbrooks (Buddenbrooks – The Decline of a Family) Cash & Marry Champions von Morgen (TV) Chandani – Die Tochter des Elefantenflüsterers (Chandani – The Daughter of the Elephant Whisperer) Chantal Michel – Körper als Inszenierung und Irritation Cheeese…hope dies last Chrigi (TV) Daniel Käfer: Die Schattenuhr (TV) Deutschland 09 (Germany 09) Lothar Herzog Heinrich Breloer Atanas Georgiev Theo Stich Arne Birkenstock Defamation (Defamation) Dem kühlen Morgen entgegen (Into the Cold Dawn) Desert Flower Deutschland nervt (Made in Deutschland) Distanz (Distance) Domaine Dorfpunks DWK 5 - Die Wilden Kerle 5 (The Wild Soccer Bunch 5) Echte Wiener Effi Briest Eine von acht Endsieg (Everything Changes In One Shot) Endstation der Sehnsüchte Entdeckung der Currywurst, Die (The Invention of Currywurst) Entsorgte Väter (Firewalled Fathers) Erbe der Napola, Das (The Heritage Of The Napola) erste Tag, Der (TV) Es kommt der Tag (The Day Will Come) Europolis – Die Stadt des Deltas (Europolis – The Town of the Delta (in Romanian) Exitus (TV) Fall des Lemming, Der (Lemming’s First Case) Farbtest.6 (Colour Test.6) Finnischer Tango (Finnish Tango) Flowerpots Fräulein Stinnes fährt um die Welt (Fräulein Stinnes Travels the World) Fräuleinwunder, Das (TV) Freche Mädchen (Cheeky Girls) Fremde, Die (The Stranger) Fremde in mir, Das (Stranger in Me, The) Friedliche Zeiten (Peaceful Times) Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 23 Austria Germany Switzerland Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Austria Switzerland Germany Alain Godet Hüseyin Tabak Anja Kofmel Julian R. Pölsler Fatih Akin Wolfgang Becker Sylke Enders Dominik Graf et al. Yoav Schamir Oliver Becker Katharina Bruner Sherry Hormann Hans-Erich Viet Thomas Sieben Patric Chiha Lars Jessen Joachim Masannek Kurt Ockermüller Hermine Huntgeburth Sabine Derflinger Niccolò Castelli Daniel Casparis Sung-Hyung Cho Ulla Wagner Douglas Wolfsperger Eduard Erne Andreas Prochaska Susanne Schneider Kostadin Bonev Switzerland Austria Switzerland Austria Germany Germany Germany Germany Austria Austria Germany Austria Thomas Roth Nikolaus Leytner Gerd Conradt Buket Alakus Rafael Sommerhalder Erica von Moeller Austria Austria Germany Germany Switzerland Germany Sabine Boss Ute Wieland Feo Aladag Emily Atef Neele Leana Vollmar Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Germany Austria Germany Austria Germany Germany Austria Germany Germany Austria Germany Austria Switzerland Women i n German Newsletter Friendship! From Somewhere to Nowhere – On the Road in China with Photographer Andreas Seibert (TV) Gangs Gangster Girls Ganz nah bei Dir Geduldeten, Die (We Came, We Stayed, We Got Deported) Gegenschuss - Aufbruch der Filmemacher (Reverse Shot Rebellion of the Filmmakers) Geheimnis von Murk, Das (TV) Gehrig kommt! Geliebte Clara (Clara) Geschichte mit Hummer, Eine Geschichte von Brandner Kaspar, Die Gestern in Eden (The Other Day in Eden) Giardino, Il Giù le mani (TV) Gladys Reise – Im Herzen waren wir Indonesier (TV) Going against Fate -- -- David Zinman und das TonhalleOrchester Zürich zur Einspielung von Gustav Mahlers 6. Sinfonie (TV) Granit (TV) große Glück sozusagen, Das große Kater, Der Grozny Dreaming (TV) Gurbet – In der Fremde (Gurbet – Away from Home) Handwerker Gottes, Die (God’s Craftsmen) Hangtime Happy New Year (TV) Hard(ys) Life – Blicke ins Leben eines MundHandwerkers (TV) Harlan – Im Schatten von Jud Süss (Harlan – In the Shadow of the Jew Suess) Haus und Kind (House and Child) (TV) Heilerin 2, Die (TV) Heldin der Lüfte (TV) Henri Vier (Henry of Navarre) Herzausreisser – Neues vom Wienerlied (Tearing your Heart Apart) Hilde Himmel und mehr - Dorothea Buck auf der Spur (Sky and Beyond, The - On the Trail of Dorothea Buck) Hinter Kaifeck (Kaifeck Murder) Hitler vor Gericht (TV) Hot Spot House, The Hunkeler macht Sachen (TV) Ich träume nicht auf Deutsch (in Bosnian) Ich will da sein – Jenny Gröllmann (The Ballad of Jenny G.) Im Bazar der Geschlechter (In the Bazaar of the Sexes) Im Jahr des Hundes (In the Year of the Dog) Im Winter ein Jahr (A Year Ago in Winter) In 3 Tagen bist du tot 2 (Dead in 3 Days – The Sequel) Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 24 Spring 2 009 Markus Goller Villi Hermann Germany Switzerland Rainer Matsutani Tina Leisch Almut Getto Natascha Breuers, Ralf Jesse Laurens Straub Dominik Wessely Sabine Boss Marc Schippert Helma Sanders-Brahms Simon Nagel Joseph Vilsmaier Jan Speckenbach Michael Ester Danilo Catti Stéphane Kleeb Christa Miranda Viviane Blumenschein Germany Austria Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Fabian Eder Alexander Stecher Wolfgang Panzer Fulvio Mariani Mario Casella Kenan Kiliç Siegmar Warnecke Wolfgang Groos Christoph Schaub Rolf Lyssy Felix Moeller Austria Austria Germany Switzerland Andreas Kleinert Holger Barthel Mike Huber Jo Baier Karin Berger Germany Austria Switzerland Germany Austria Kai Wessel Alexandra Pohlmeier Germany Germany Esther Gronenborn Bernd Fischerauer Michael Seeber Milan Hofstetter Markus Fischer Ivana Lalovic Petra Weisenburger Sudabeh Mortezai Ursula Scheid Caroline Link Andreas Prochaska Germany Germany Austria Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Germany Austria Germany Germany Austria Austria Germany Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Women i n German Newsletter In Berlin In die Welt (Into the World) In jeder Sekunde (At Any Second) In Limbo Isa Hesse-Rabinovitch – Das grosse Spiel Film (TV) Jack V. Koby Jerichow Jimmie (TV) John Rabe Kenan (TV) Kiesler Projektionen (Kiesler Projections) Kindersuche (TV) Kleine Fische (Small Fish) Knochenmann, Der (The Bone Man) Krabat Kronos La Bohème Lauf um Dein Leben - Vom Junkie zum Ironman (Run for Your Life - From Junkie to Ironman) Laura Let’s make MONEY Liebe ein Traum, Die (TV) Liebeslied Lila, Lila Lippels Traum (Lippel’s Dream) Little Alien Loos Ornamental Lourdes Love, Peace & Beatbox Luftbusiness (TV) Mädchen mit den gelben Strümpfen, Das (The Girl with the Yellow Stockings) Madonnen (TV) Magie aus der Dunkelkammer – Der Fotograf René Groebli (TV) Manfred Männersache (A Man’s World) Maria, ihm schmeckt’s nicht! (Maria, He Doesn’t Like It) Marianne von Werefkin - Ich lebe nur durch das Auge (Marianne von Werefkin - I Live What I See) Ma’rib Maurus, Nadia, Flurina – (Ün on al convict) (TV) Mein halbes Leben Mein Robodad (My Robodad) Memory Books Mich Gerber – Klangmagier mit Kontrabass (TV) Michelle – zwischen Wunden und Wunder (TV) Mikado Mister Karl. Karlheinz Böhm. Wut und Liebe Mitte Ende August (Sometime in August) Mond und andere Liebhaber, Der (Moon and Other Lovers, The) Morphus-Geheimnis, Das (Mystery of Morphus) Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 25 Spring 2 009 Michael Ballhaus Ciro Cappellari Constantin Wulff Jan Fehse Michelle Ettlin Anka Schmid Anita Blumer Christian Petzold Tobias Ineichen Florian Gallenberger Eric Andreae Heinz Emigholz Miguel Alexandre Marco Antoniazzi Wolfgang Murnberger Marco Kreuzpaintner Olav F. Wehling Robert Dornhelm Germany Adnan G. Koese Austria Germany Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland Germany Switzerland Germany Switzerland Austria Germany Austria Austria Germany Germany Austria Germany Germany Ben Verbong Erwin Wagenhofer Xaver Schwarzenberger Anne Høegh Krohn Alain Gsponer Lars Buechel Nina Kusturica Heinz Emigholz Jessica Hausner Volker Meyer-Dabisch Dominique de Rivaz Grzegorz Muskala Germany Austria Austria Germany Germany Germany Austria Austria Austria Germany Switzerland Germany Maria Speth Phil Dänzer Daniel Zwimpfer Gernot Roll, Mario Barth Neele Leana Vollmar Stella Tinbergen Switzerland Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Rainer Komers Ivo Zen Marko Doringer Markus Dietrich Christa Graf Annina Furrer Gabrielle Antosiewicz Silvia Zeitlinger Kurt Mayer Sebastian Schipper Bernd Boehlich Karola Hattop Germany Switzerland Austria Germany Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Austria Germany Germany Germany Women i n German Newsletter Music Machines Mutig in die neuen Zeiten. Alles anders (TV) Nachgift (TV) Nachglühen (TV) Nacht vor Augen (A Hero’s Welcome) (TV) Narrenspiel (Fool’s Game) No More Smoke Signals (TV) NoBody’s Perfect Novemberkind (November Child) Oifn Weg – Ein Portrait über Cioma Schönhaus Palermo Shooting Parkour Pausenlos (TV) Peace Mission pereSTROIKA - umBAU einer Wohnung (pereSTROIKA reCONSTRUCTION of a flat) Perlmutterfarbe, Die Pfad des Kriegers, Der (The Way of a Warrior) Phantomschmerz (Phantom Pain) Pink Taxi Planet Carlos Polar (TV) Poll Prison and The Priest, The – Peter Meienberger In Nairobi (TV) Remarque – Sein Weg zum Ruhm (Erich Maria Remarque) Résiste - Aufstand der Praktikanten (Resist - Rebellion of the Trainees) Retouches (TV) Rimini Robert Zimmermann wundert sich ueber die Liebe (Robert Zimmermann Is Tangled Up In Love) Rodakis Romy (TV) Rote Punkt, Der (Red Spot, The) Sankt Pauli! Rausgehen - Warmmachen - Weghauen (Sankt Pauli! Run Out - Warm Up - Score Off) Schattenmenschen Schattenwelt (Long Shadows) schiefe Bahn, Die (Rat Train Robbery, The) Schläft ein Lied in allen Dingen (Sleeping Songs) Schönheiten des Alpsteins Schottentor Schwerkraft (Gravity) Second Me Seemannstreue (Sea Dog’s Devotion) Sex Toys Stories (TV) Schimmelreiter, Die (Sheep and Chips) Short Cut to Hollywood Signalis (TV) Sneaker Stories Sommer (Summer) Sommersonntag (Summer Sunday) Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 26 Spring 2 009 Jonas Meier Harald Sicheritz Remo Legnazzi Lisa Blatter Brigitte Maria Bertele Markus F. Adrian Fanny Bräuning Niko von Glasow Christian Schwochow Sarah Horst Wim Wenders Marc Rensing Dieter Gränicher Dorothee Wenner Christiane Buechner Switzerland Austria Switzerland Switzerland Germany Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Marcus H. Rosenmueller Andreas Pichler Matthias Emcke Uli Gaulke Andreas Kannengiesser Michael Koch Chris Kraus Armin Menzi, Ivo Kummer Hanno Bruehl Jonas Grosch Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Georges Schwizgebel Peter Jaitz Leander Haussmann Switzerland Austria Germany Olaf Nicolai Torsten C. Fischer Marie Miyayama Joachim Bornemann Germany Germany Germany Germany Darioush Shirvani Connie Walther Jim Lacy, Kathrin Albers Andreas Struck Thomas Rickenmann Caspar Pfaundler Maximilian Erlenwein Anna Thommen Anna Kalus Anne Deluz, Béatrice Guelpa Lars Jessen Marcus Mittermeier Jan Henrik Stahlberg Adrian Flückiger Katharina Weingartner Mike Marzuk Sigi Kamml Fred Breinersdorfer Germany Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Austria Germany Switzerland Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Switzerland Austria Germany Germany Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Soul Kitchen Sound of Insects, The – Record of a Mummy (TV) Standesbeamtin, Die (TV) Standesgemäß (Noble Commitments) Station Staub (TV) Fatih Akin Peter Liechti Micha Lewinsky Julia von Heinz Christina Benz Hartmut Bitomsky Sturm (Storm) Summertime Blues Tag am Meer (TV) Tandoori Love (TV) Tangerine Tannöd Hans-Christian Schmid Marie Reich Moritz Gerber Oliver Paulus Irene von Alberti Bettina Oberli Tausend Ozeane (TV) Teil von mir, Ein (Piece of Me, A) This is Love Tränen meiner Mutter, Die (My Mother's Tears) Transfer Trip to Asia - Die Suche nach dem Einklang (Trip to Asia - The Quest for Harmony) Trouble - Teatime in Heiligendamm Tür, Die U-900 UmDeinLeben (LifeTimeShort) Unter Bauern (Among Farmers) Unter Strom (Live Wire) Upstream Battle Vandalen (TV) Vaterspiel, Das (Kill Daddy Good Night) Vergissmeinnicht – ne m’oubliez pas (TV) Luki Frieden Christoph Roehl Matthias Glasner Alejandro Cardenas-Amelio Damir Lukacevic Thomas Grube Vorstadtkrokodile (Suburban ’Gators) Waffenstillstand (Ceasefire) weiße Band, Das Welle, Die (The Wave) Werther (TV) wilden Hühner 3, Die (Wild Chicks 3) Wo ist Max? Wolke 9 (Cloud 9) wundersame Welt der Waschkraft, Die (The Wondrous World of Laundry) Ya Sharr Mout (TV) Zara Zarte Parasiten (Tender Parasites) Zimmer (Rooms) Zum Auftakt Rossini Zum Dritten Pol (To the Third Pole) Mind Pirates Anno Saul Sven Unterwaldt Gesine Danckwart Ludi Boeken Zoltan Paul Ben Kempas Simon Steuri Michael Glawogger Jean-François Amiguet Willy Rohrbach Christian Ditter Lancelot von Naso Michael Haneke Dennis Gansel Uwe Janson Vivian Naefe Juri Steinhart Andreas Dresen Hans-Christian Schmid Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Austria Switzerland Sabine Gisiger Ayten Mutlu Saray Switzerland Austria Switzerland Germany Germany Switzerland Germany Zum Vergleich Field Recordings Michael Dreher Christian Labhart Andreas Nickel Jürgen Czwienk Harun Farocki Zweier ohne (Coxless Pair) Zwerg Nase (TV) Jobst Christian Oetzmann Felicitas Darschin Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 27 Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Germany Switzerland Switzerland Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Austria Germany Germany Germany Switzerland Germany Germany Austria Germany Germany Germany Return to ToC Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~ Calls for Papers of Interest to Wi G ~~~ Gesundheit! Medicine in German Literature South Atlantic MLA (SAMLA) 2009 Convention; 6-8 November 2009 in Atlanta, GA This session welcomes paper proposals on any aspect of medicine in German literature in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Possible topics might include literary representations of physicians, patients, or diseases; narratives of illness or recovery; representations of medical technologies, remedies, or therapies; ancient and modern medical theories in literature; the construction of disease as metaphor; the pathologization of behaviors, groups, or individuals; literary and medical intertextuality; or writers and disease. Other topics dealing with medicine in literature are also welcome. By May 1, 2009, please send one-page abstracts by email to [email protected] or via post to Edward T. Potter, Department of Foreign Languages, Mississippi State University, P. O. Box FL, 300 Lee Hall, Mississippi State, MS 39762. For more information on the SAMLA Convention, please visit http://samla.gsu.edu/index.htm Northeast Modern Language Association / 2010 Annual Convention Montreal, Quebec; 7-11 April 2010 Experience the lively and intimate exchange that NeMLA offers at its 41st annual convention in downtown Montreal, sponsored by McGill University. Sessions on any aspect of German-language culture, literature, and film are encouraged; we also welcome cross-disciplinary and comparative panels. Sessions can be proposed electronically through NEMLA’s website: http://www.nemla.org. Deadline for panel proposals: April 15, 2009 The full Call for Papers will be available online in June 2009. The abstract deadline for most sessions will be September 30, 2009. Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal (EMWJ) invites submission of essays related to women and gender covering the years 1400 to 1700. EMWJ is the only journal devoted solely to the interdisciplinary and global study of women and gender during the years 1400 to 1700. The editors encourage submissions that appeal to readers across disciplinary boundaries. Essays may cover but are not limited to such topics as literature, history, art history, history of science, music, politics, religion, theater, cultural studies, and any global region. Editors will accept submissions on a continuous basis, and are now soliciting submissions for Volume 4. For manuscript submissions, please send an electronic copy to [email protected] and five paper copies addressed to: Editors, Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal Center for Renaissance & Baroque Studies Taliaferro Hall 0139 University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742-7727 All manuscripts must be printed double-spaced (including documentation), on one side of letter-size paper, and should not exceed 35 pages (8750 words) including notes. Documentation should appear as endnotes without bibliography upon first submission, and MUST follow Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (2003), chapters 16 and 17 (NOT author-date style). For a brief guide to the appropriate notation style for EMWJ manuscript submissions, please visit our website. www.emwjournal.umd.edu. All manuscripts are subject to editorial modification. Bearing Witness to Our Lives as Mothers in Academia Mari Castañeda and Kirsten Isgro, Editors. As more women enter academia as students and intellectual workers, universities are being challenged to rethink policies in order to ensure a greater balance between family life and academic life as well as recognize the ways in which women are reshaping the cultural and intellectual dynamics of higher education. Despite emerging changes, mothers continue to struggle for a voice in an academic landscape that privileges students and scholars who are able to commit countless hours to their areas of study. This volume aims to give voice to women who are or have been mothers as undergraduates, graduate students, administrators, and professors in order to bare witness to their success and the strategies they employed in their efforts to grapple with motherhood while in academia. In addition to testimonios (testimonial accounts) of Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 28 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 women's lives as mothers in academia at various stages, the book will also include chapters that discuss theoretically and empirically the material conditions of working mothers in a moment when higher education is becoming more laborious. As the political economy of academic institutions shifts towards corporate-based models of teaching, in both blatant and subtle ways, it's critical to ascertain how women's lives in the academy, and by extension by their families, will be affected these structural-cultural changes. We welcome essay proposals that address one of the following areas: • Being a Mom as a traditional or non-traditional Undergraduate Student • Balancing Graduate School and Motherhood • Parenting While on the Higher Education Administrator and/or Professorial Track • Policies that Support Mothers in Academia Please send a 300-word ABSTRACT by April 15, 2009 to [email protected] and [email protected]. Complete manuscripts will be solicited after abstracts are fully reviewed. Please don't hesitate to contact us for further information: EDITORS: Dr. Mari Castañeda, Associate Professor, Dept. of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 413-545-1307 Dr. Kirsten Isgro, Visiting Assistant Professor, Dept. of Communication, State University of New York Plattsburgh, 518-564-2407 AATG-German Quarterly Graduate Student Paper Award The American Association of Teachers of German announces an award for the best research paper by a graduate student on any topic related to German Studies. A selection committee (including members of the German Quarterly editorial board) will choose the winning paper, which will be published in the German Quarterly. The award recipient will be announced at the 2009 AATG Annual Meeting in San Diego. Eligibility: Any student enrolled in an M.A. or Ph.D. program at the time of submission is eligible to submit one previously unpublished paper, either in English or in German. Papers should be between 3,500 and 9,000 words in length (including endnotes). Submission procedures: An electronic version of the paper should be submitted to James Rolleston, editor of German Quarterly, as an e-mail attachment ([email protected]). Deadline for submissions is August 15, 2009. Please include a cover sheet with author's name, institutional affiliation, contact information, title of the paper, and word count. A faculty endorsement of the paper submission must also be submitted via e-mail. Call for participation: “Audre Lorde in Berlin - On and Off Stage” (working title) Dagmar Schulz thought newsletter readers might be interested in her work on the following project. In many ways the project chronicles Audre Lorde's last years, seeking to celebrate Audre Lorde's energy and enthusiasm as well as the special connection she had to the feminist community in Berlin. Dagmar is still seeking additional funding - please contact her at the address at the bottom of this project description for more information or if you have ideas for her. A film based on videos taken in Berlin in 1991/92 combined with photos, some video material of earlier years and present-day interviews (ca. 60 minutes, English language, PAL and NTSC DVD). Examples of scenes for “Audre Lorde in Berlin - On and Off Stage”: - reading at the America House in Berlin in 1984 - reading at Orlanda Publishing’s 15th anniversary in 1989 - Audre Lorde's last reading in the apartment of Ika Hügel-Marshall and Dagmar Schultz, where she was staying for several months each in 1991 and 1992. Lorde devoted the reading to the South African women. - Audre's last dance party (with Gloria Joseph and with Black German women of several generations) in the same apartment. - Audre shopping in the city, talking with street vendors; on the market talking about her childhood; enjoying sausage and ice cream at a lake... - Audre macromeing; cutting beets and talking about her mother, about other authors...; arranging flowers on the balcony while talking about older women/lesbians - discussions with the women of Orlanda Publishers about her books, the process of revising poems, and about a new book of poetry. (Lorde selected 42 poems during her last summer in Berlin which Orlanda published posthumously as a bilingual edition). - talks with Black German women and men - interview with Dagmar Schultz Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 29 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 - encounters/personal and political conversations with women (authors) from other countries (Ellen Kuzwayo from South Africa; Gloria Wekker and Tania Leon from Amsterdam; Cathy Dunsford, author from Aoteora; Lisette Lobato Mendonca from Brazil) - talk with Lorde’s naturopath Manfred Kuno about test results The scenes include lots of laughter, sensual experiences, political insights. In addition I will use photos of which I have many. In parts where the sound is not good, we will use voiceover of poetry and some subtitles. Dagmar Schultz [email protected] “Reading Female Happiness in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century German Literature: Texts and Contexts” Call for a Special Theme Issue of Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies. Guest Editors: Alan Corkhill (The University of Queensland, Australia) and Katharina von Hammerstein (University of Connecticut, USA). Submissions are sought for a special theme issue of Seminar focusing on representations of female happiness in German fiction, drama, poetry, and autobiographical writings from the Enlightenment to the Fin de Siècle. The aim of this collection of essays is to contribute to a cultural and intellectual history of happiness and add fresh perspectives to the existing body of literary scholarship on German-speaking authors and their work during the period under review. Contributions are particularly welcome that address one or more of the following topics: -the extent to which historical and current philosophical/theological, sociological, political/ideological, and pedagogical theories/models of female happiness are reflected in literary texts; -the role of happiness in constructions of femininity; happiness and sexual politics; happiness and women’s education and/or profession; -the particular emphasis given to issues of female happiness and well-being (e.g., domestic/conjugal ‘bliss’ and philanthropy) in the popular subgenres Frauenroman and Eheroman; -the female creative process as self-fulfillment and/or a catalyst for self-determination. Additional topics on happiness discourse and various theoretical approaches will be taken into consideration. Contributors might wish to consider whether there is such a thing as gendered felicity, and, if so, how male/female happiness is variously defined, differentiated, and culturally mediated by writers of both sexes. The Editors ask that manuscripts not exceed 6000 words including Works Cited. They may be submitted in German or English and must conform to the Seminar guidelines (www.humanities.ualberta.ca/Seminar/submissions.htm or consult the Editor: [email protected]). Enquiries should be directed to the Guest Editors, Alan Corkhill (The University of Queensland; [email protected]) and/or Katharina von Hammerstein (University of Connecticut; [email protected]). Submission due date: December 1, 2009. Earlier submissions are welcome. Submissions Policy: Calls for Papers welcomes announcements that are of interest to WiG members. Liz Mittman Michigan State University, [email protected]. Return to ToC Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 30 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 ~~~~ European News ~~~~ Call for Articles: Disability in German Literature, Film and Theatre The editors of the fourth volume of the Edinburgh German Yearbook (2010) would like to invite contributions on the subject of 'Disability in German Literature, Film and Theatre'. Like Gender Studies, Postcolonialism and Queer Theory, Disability Studies is part of the broader discussion of difference and 'otherness,' and is largely situated within debates about the politics of identity, social processes, human rights, ethics and discrimination. As a critical resistance strategy, Disability Studies has sought to retrieve the silenced voices of disabled figures from their cultural locations in literature, film and theatre, and discuss their position in relation to the counterpoint of normalcy. During the last decade, Disability Studies has explored the binary construction of 'able' and 'disabled,' exclusion strategies, and the ways in which the disabled body has been decentred, marginalized, and has suffered under the surveillance of controlling social and medical structures and mechanisms that practice power over the individual. Disability Studies in now entering a phase of positive (self-) reflection and is starting to address the ontological politics of disability. In the light of this turning point, this volume sets aside the division between 'able' and 'disabled' bodies, and moves away from the politics of the social and medical models of reaction to disability, and from viewing the disabled subject as representative of the postmodern condition of fragmentation. It focuses instead on cultural (re-)presentations of disabilities that raise questions about 'the humane gaze,' and seeks to establish disability as a condition that historically has been at the heart of the discussion of humanity, modernity, and the issues of social and moral behaviour in literature, film and theatre in the German Language. Suggested points of focus include the humanizing and (de-)humanizing gazes; the experience of the modern condition and the discourse of disability; the construction, performance and (re-)presentations of the dis/abled body; the ableist and disabled gazes; the effects of inclusion and exclusion strategies; and present and future heterotopias of disability. Abstracts for proposed contributions should be submitted to both editors by email in English or German (100-200 words) by 30th March 2009*: Dr Eleoma Joshua [email protected] and Dr Michael Schillmeier [email protected]. Publication will be in the autumn of 2010, and the deadline for finished contributions will be 30 January 2010. The papers must be in English or German. EGY is an annual publication in German Studies, published by Camden House. It intends to encourage lively and open discussions of themes pertinent to German Studies, viewed from a wide variety of perspectives inside and outside the conventional boundaries of the discipline. Contact: Dr. Eleoma Joshua, German Section, School of Literatures, Languages, and Cultures, University of Edinburgh, David Hume Tower, Room 10.09, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX, Tel:0131 650 3627 Call for Articles: AUSTRIAN STUDIES 18 (2010) Austria and the Alps: Landscape, Culture and National Identity For scholars with an interest in Austria, the capital, Vienna, has tended to occupy centre stage. Whilst this is entirely understandable, it is slightly at odds with a widespread perception of Modern Austria as an 'Alpine' country, shaped both geographically and culturally by her mountainous landscapes. Although the Alps, stretching west and east of Austria's modern borders, transcend and resist all 'national' claims, Austria's relationship to the mountains is in many ways unique. With the dissolution of the Austrian-Hungarian empire and the reduction of Austria to its German-speaking 'rump', a mountain range that had enjoyed only regional significance in the context of a much larger state came to occupy a more significant, symbolic position in the redrawn 'Austria', comparable in some ways to neighbouring Switzerland's close identification with the Western Alps. As such, the rich cultural history of the Alpine region took on new significance for Austria, which, even in its much reduced form, remained a diverse and in some respects contradictory state. For many citizens the blurring of regional and national identities remains problematic, as do tensions between overlapping practical, political, scientific and aesthetic conceptions of the Alps, and ongoing perceptions of the cultural distance between the capital and rest of the country. For Volume 18 of Austrian Studies (2010) we invite proposals for articles on the resultant multi-faceted cultural responses to the Austrian Alps, on their historical and cultural (re)constructions, and on the complex discourses of identity, aesthetics, nature, and nationhood in which the mountains continue to play a role. Interdisciplinary contributions are very welcome, as are papers focused on specific historical periods. Proposals relating to any of the following thematic areas would be particularly welcome: Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 31 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 1. Cultural responses to and representations of the Austrian Alps in, for example, prose fiction, poetry, autobiography, visual arts, film 2. The mountain as topos, symbol and motif in Austrian culture and society 3. Romantic conceptions of nature and of 'space' 4. The Alpine between tradition and modernity 5. Conceptions of 'Heimat' and the Austrian Alps 6. The Alps and 'Austrianness' 7. Urban versus regional culture(s) and identities; Vienna and the Alps 8. The Alps as borderland; transnational Alpine identities 9. The Alps as site for tourism, sport and leisure 10. The Alps in the context of discourses of health and the 'natural' 11. Winter sports and national identity 12. The Alps and youth culture 13. Gender identities and the Alps 14. Alpinism and heroic configurations of the mountaineer 15. Claiming the Alps: Alpine Exploration and Imperialism; the history of the Alpenvereine 16. Rationalist agendas and the Austrian Alps 17. Mountains, kitsch and popular culture 18. Science and the Alps Brief proposals should be sent to Dr Jon Hughes ([email protected]) by 1 May 2009. It is anticipated that the deadline for completed articles will be January 2010. Dr Jon Hughes, Senior Lecturer in German, School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, Tel. +44 (0)1784 443200 Call for Articles: A Critical Guide to Bauhaus Theatre and Performance Edited by Birgit Haas (Drama Dept, Exeter) This collection of essays seeks to close a significant gap in the research field, as the Bauhaus hosted one of the most innovative and artistically significant artistic groupings before its closure by the Nazis in 1933. Research on the Bauhaus published in English focuses mainly on the visual arts. In contrast to these approaches, this collection of essays will shed light on the practical performance work at the Bauhaus. Furthermore, it will provide an insight on the self-reflexive practice through looking at the theoretical writings by practioners. This book wants to bring together scholars from Drama, Performing Arts, German, and Visual Arts in order to revise and re-examine the theatre and performance at the Bauhaus (e.g. Oskar Schlemmer, Walter Gropius, Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Johannes Itten, and Vassily Kandinsky). The main objective of this book is to present an overview of both the practical and theoretical implications of the Bauhaus. Looking at both practice and theory of major artists that worked at the Bauhaus, this book’s aim is to provide a critical approach to their work. Contributions to the following areas are invited: Part I. Context, Places and Lives Part II. Practitioners and Practices (e.g. Gropius, Hirschfeld-Mack, Itten, Moholy-Nagy, Kandinsky, Schlemmer, Schreyer, Weininger) Part III. Theoretical Writings Deadline for abstracts (300 words): 30 May 2009. Deadline for chapters (in English) (6-7000 words): 30 October 2009. Email submissions to: [email protected], Dr Birgit Haas, Dept of Drama, Director of UG Studies, Thornlea, New North Rd, Exeter EX4 4LA, Tel 0044 1392 262426. CfP: Phono-Graphien. Akustische Wahrnehmung in der deutschsprachigen Literatur 24. – 26. September 2010, Germanistisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg Seit Platon steht die europäische Kultur unter dem Primat des Auges. Doch schon die alltägliche Erfahrung zeigt, dass neben dem Sehen in besonderer Weise der Hörsinn zu den Grundkonstituenten von Wahrnehmung gehört. Der Mensch als „lautproduzierendes Wesen“ (Plessner) partizipert an der ‚polyphonen Partitur‘ der Welt ebenso wie Schallphänomene zur Erschließung von Welt als präzisem „Bewandtnis-zusammenhang“ (Heidegger) beitragen. Insofern Literatur Welt abbildet, deutet oder schafft, rekurriert auch sie auf akustische Phänomene. Sie verschriftlicht sie und verleiht ihnen – nun als Grundkonstituenten ihrerTextwelten – Zeichencharakter. Damit wird Literatur zur „Phono-Graphie“, der Leser zum ‚Tonabnehmer‘. Die Germanistik hat Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 32 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 die akustische Dimension von Texten aber bislang nicht systematisch untersucht. Der Tagung geht es daher darum, phonographische Phänomene deutschsprachiger Epik, Dramatik und Lyrik mit Schwerpunkt auf der Zeit ab 1800 in ihren Traditionen und Paradigmen zu beschreiben. Dabei sollen Historizität, Kul-turalität und Poetizität des Auditiven erfasst, seine narrative, lyrische bzw. symbolische Relevanz profiliert und literarische LautSchriften decodiert werden. Themen bzw. Leitfragen können sein: Was sind historische, anthropologische, philosophische, begriffsund kulturgeschichtliche Implikationen akustischer Wahrnehmung (etwa: Hierarchien der Sinne, Geräusche des technischen Fortschritts, des Films und Hörspiels, Philosophie akustischer Wahrnehmung, der Schrift, der Stimme und der Musik)? Was ist ihre jeweilige Relevanz für eine phonographische Poetik der Moderne? Ferner sind Beiträge zur ästhetisch-akustischen bzw. musikalischen Qualität von Dichtung (Metrik, Rhythmus, Reim, Onomatopoiesis) sowie zum Gegensatz von Oralität und Literalität (Derrida, Kittler) und von Natur- und Kunstpoesie wünschenswert. Insofern die Phono-Graphie außenweltliche oder innersubjektive Geräusche in einen Text transponiert, können außerdem literarische Schall-Räume (z. B. Stadt, Land, belebte/unbelebte Natur, Technik, Musik, Körper und Krieg) untersucht werden. Was sind ihre Stereotypen und Kategorien (kurioser/komischer, phantastisch-satirischer, grotesker, unheimlicher, halluzinativ-visionärer, mythischer sowie erotischer Raum), welches die auf ihnen beruhende Psychologie der akustischen Wahrnehmung? Welche phonographischen Epochenprofile, welche Diachronie der einzelnen Schall-Räume lassen sich beobachten, welche Schallprofile handelnder Figuren sich als Mittel – auch gendertypologischer Charakterschilderung erkennen? Ebenso gilt es in anderer Hinsicht, der Relevanz des Hörsinns im Spannungsfeld von Immanenz und Transzendenz nachzugehen. Anhand der Themen von Stimme, Sprechen und Schweigen können in phonographischer Perspektive einerseits Paradigmen und Bruchstellen selbstbezüglicher und sozialer Beziehungen aufgezeigt werden (z. B. Aporien der Identität, Gehorchen und Hörigkeit als autoritäre Strukturen). Andererseits wäre das Hören auf eine jenseitige Kunde als Grenzüberschreitung zu explizieren, anhand dessen die Grundlinien einer phonographischen Poetik des Heiligen und der Transzendenz sowie akustische Epiphanien in der säkularen Moderne ausgewiesen werden können. Abschließend soll Raum für Einzelinterpretationen phonographischer Leittexte zur Verfügung stehen. Ein Text wird zu diesem Zweck als Leittext definiert, wenn er in Handlungsverlauf, Figurencharakter, Setting, Symbolik, Selbstreferentialität oder Poetizität von mindestens einem akustischen Phänomen abhängt. Aus der Perspektive von Literatur als Phono-Graphie kann hier vor allem der symbolischen Relevanz des Auditiven Rechnung getragen werden. Die Tagung richtet sich an Germanisten, Komparatisten, Kulturwissenschaftler, Anthropologen, Philosophen und Medienwissenschaftler, explizit auch an Nachwuchswissenschaftler. Sie wird vom 24. – 26. September 2010 im Germanistischen Seminar der Universität Heidelberg stattfinden. Eine finanzielle Förderung ist angestrebt. Beiträge sollen eine Länge von 25 Minuten nicht überschreiten, ausreichend Zeit für eine Diskussion wird eingeplant. Tagungssprache ist Deutsch. Bitte senden Sie Ihre Exposés (max. 400 Worte) sowie eine biobibliographische Skizze bis zum 31. März 2009 an [email protected] Kontakt: Dr. Marcel Krings, Germanistisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg, Hauptstr. 207-209, 69177 Heidelberg, Tel.: +49 (0)6221-543228, Web: http://www.gs.uni-heidelberg.de CfP: At the Crossroads between Magic and Positivism: Walter Benjamin and Anthropology An International Symposium at the University of Oxford, 1-3 September 2009 ‘Der unmittelbare Rückschluss von der Weinsteuer auf [Baudelaires] “L'Ame du vin” schiebt den Phänomenen eben jene Art von Spontaneität, Handgreiflichkeit und Dichte zu, deren sie im Kapitalismus sich begeben haben. In dieser Art des unmittelbaren, fast möchte ich wiederum sagen, des anthropologischen Materialismus steckt ein tief romantisches Element […]. [S]o könnte man sagen, die Arbeit sei am Kreuzweg von Magie und Positivismus angesiedelt.’ (Adorno, Benjamin, Briefwechsel, 368) ‘The direct connection drawn between the wine tax and [Baudelaire’s] “L’Ame du vin” ascribes to phenomena the very spontaneity, tangibility, and density that capitalism has stripped from them. In this kind of unmediated – I would almost say anthropological – materialism lurks a deeply Romantic element […]. [O]ne might say that [your] work has situated itself at the cross roads of magic and positivism.’ (Benjamin, Selected Works, Vol. 4, 101-2) As Theodor Adorno’s response to Walter Benjamin’s Paris of the Second Empire in Baudelaire implies, anthropology plays a complex role in Benjamin’s writings, where it is situated between such divergent forces as materialism and romanticism, positivism and magic. This anthropological dimension of Benjamin’s approach is frequently cited or evoked; ‘What is the effect of industrial- capitalist technology on the organization of the human senses, and how does it affect the Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 33 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 conditions of experience and agency, the ability to see connections and contradictions, remember the past, and imagine a (different) future?’ (Miriam Hansen). However, the possible roots and implications of this method still merit more detailed attention. To what extent was Benjamin (as a reviewer and researcher) familiar with current anthropological debates? What was the focus of his engagement, and how did it influence his own writings and methodology? Does Benjamin’s interest in the discipline change in line with his increasing focus on political questions, or does anthropology, on the contrary, provide a sense of continuity between the ‘early’ Benjamin and his later works? What role did anthropology play in contemporary political and intellectual debates, and to what extend did Benjamin participate in and contribute to such discussions? The symposium, part of the Oxford-Princeton Research Partnership BENJAMIN ENCOUNTERS, will pursue the links between Benjamin and anthropology from three connected points of view: in addition to the function and development of anthropology in Benjamin’s own writings, it will also enquire into the impact of anthropological research on Benjamin’s wider context (e.g., the Frankfurt School), as well as into Benjamin’s own contributions to ongoing anthropological debates. To enable a broad and interdisciplinary discussion, we invite proposals from researchers working in literary studies, philosophy and anthropology, but also in fields such as history, politics, art history, cultural and media studies. Possible questions to be addressed include: - Benjamin’s anthropological materialism - anthropology and collecting: in search of the object - Benjamin as a commentator on the history of anthropology - anthropology at the crossroads of magic and positivism - the anthropological foundations of language - the child, toys and education - the roots of civilisation - an anthropology of literature, arts and the media - political anthropology: Benjamin’s Marxism - anthropology and religion. The deadline for proposal is April 27, 2009. Proposals for 30-minute papers (in English) should be sent to Carolin Duttlinger ([email protected]) or Tony Phelan ([email protected]), who can also provide further information. 7th Landau-Paris Symposium on the Eighteenth Century: Touch and Taste (and Smell) 22-24 October 2009 in Landau As an interdisciplinary venture, the Landau-Paris-Symposia of the past years have focused on the exploration of the relations between TASTE and the senses. The 5th annual meeting, held in Landau in 2007, was dedicated to the study of sight, while last year’s 6th meeting in Paris tackled smell and hearing and their impact on taste in literature, music and art, with an occasional glance at philosophical dimensions. The third meeting on taste and the senses, to be held in Landau this year, will continue the three-year series on this fascinating topic with papers on the last two senses of touch and taste. As the papers proposed on smell in 2008 were very stimulating but few, the organizers will also consider new proposals on that sense. We therefore invite proposals for papers (English or French) on important aspects of the relations between touch, smell and taste, and TASTE in the long eighteenth century (European literatures, art, philosophy, music, and drama). Interdisciplinary papers are especially welcome. Please send your abstracts (about 100 words) to both Frèdèric Ogèe [email protected] AND Peter Wagner: [email protected] The deadline is April 30, 2009. The organizers are hoping to host a final, concluding meeting in 2010, which will gather all the participants in the programme and aim at drawing conclusions and bringing forward new questionings that will open new ground for further research. The best papers from all the symposia will be published by WVT in volume 3 of the LAPASEC series (see the website: http://www.uni-landau.de/anglistik/LAPASEC/index.htm). CfP: Die Figur des Zeugen. Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven auf eine soziale Institution des Wissens Internationale Graduiertentagung des Instituts für Philosophie der FU Berlin. Prof. Sybille Krämer am Institut für Philosophie der Freien Universität Berlin, 09.07.2009-11.07.2009, Clubhaus der FU Berlin. Deadline: 30.04.2009. Ein Großteil dessen, was wir wissen, basiert auf Information durch Worte anderer. Die Figur des Zeugen, der von einem vergangenen Ereignis berichtet und es damit anderen zugänglich macht, verkörpert eine für die menschliche Lebenswelt fundamentale Wissenspraxis - sei es der Mittler von Alltagswissen, der Augenzeuge vor Gericht, der Zeit- bzw. Überlebenszeuge in der Historiographie, der wissenschaftliche Experte und schließlich auch der Glaubenszeuge, der durch sein Leben oder seinen Tod für seine Religion zeugt und sie tradiert. Umso erstaunlicher, dass Philosophen dieses Thema lange Zeit sehr eindimensional erörtert haben: Das Phänomen der Zeugenschaft wurde lediglich unter der erkenntnistheoretischen Frage diskutiert, ob das Wissen durch Zeugen überhaupt wirkliches Wissen sei. Doch ist das Problem des Zeugnisablegens damit erschöpft? Das Ziel der internationalen Graduiertentagung ist, die Figur des Zeugen als soziale Institution des Wissens zu Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 34 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 untersuchen und dabei nicht nur den Informationscharakter, sondern auch ethische, politische und kulturelle Dimensionen in den Blick zu nehmen. Eine rechtshistorische und phänomenologische Analyse des Gerichtszeugen, der als Prototyp dieser Wissensinstitution betrachtet werden kann, soll als Ausgangspunkt dienen, um weitere Spielarten des Phänomens Zeugenschaft in Religionswissenschaft, Geschichtsschreibung, Philosophie, Naturwissenschaft, Literatur und Kunst zu untersuchen. Zu unterscheiden wird dabei sein, wovon hier jeweils Zeugnis abgelegt wird, und ob es um den Transfer eines positiven Wissens geht oder um das Zeugnisablegen selbst als ethisch-politischen Akt. Die Praxis des Zeugnisablegens hat mannigfaltige Erscheinungsformen und, so kann man mit Renaud Dulong sagen, ist ein universales Element menschlicher Kultur. Zeugenschaft ist eine soziale Praxis, sie findet stets zwischen Sprecher und Publikum statt - als Zeuge gilt nur jemand, der als solcher von einer Zuhörerschaft akkreditiert wird, der als glaubwürdig gilt. Allerdings zeigen schon ältere Rechtsordnungen, dass der Zeuge stets einer gewissen Skepsis ausgesetzt ist - bevor seine Aussage als Beweis gelten kann, muss seine Glaubwürdigkeit und persönliche Integrität auf den Prüfstand. Es gehört zum charakteristischen Dilemma des Zeugen, dass er seine eigene Vertrauenswürdigkeit nicht bezeugen kann. "Durch zweier Zeugen Mund/ wird allewegs die Wahrheit kund" schreibt Goethe im "Faust" (I, Vers 3013) und zitiert damit eine klassische juridische Regel, die in älteren Rechtsordnungen bestimmend für den Umgang mit Zeugen war: Eine Zeugenaussage musste von mindestens einem weiteren Zeugen bestätigt werden, um als voller Beweis zu gelten. Heute ist die Beweiskraft von Zeugen vor Gericht zusätzlich in Frage gestellt: Studien der experimentellen Aussagepsychologie belegen, dass die Aussage eines Zeugen - selbst wenn dieser nach bestem Wissen und Gewissen aussagt - ungenau, unzuverlässig und folglich kaum beweiskräftig sind. "Konkurrenz" bekommt der Augenzeuge auch durch den verbreiteten Gebrauch von Videokameras, deren Objektive dem Paradigma des objektiven Sehens besser entsprechen. Während der Zeuge sich immer zuerst als integre Person bewähren muss, vermitteln technische Aufnahmen sofort eine gewisse Evidenz, wie Susan Sontag und Roland Barthes in ihren Essays zur Fotografie geschrieben haben (Roland Barthes: Die helle Kammer. Frankfurt a.M. 1985; Susan Sontag: Über Fotografie. Frankfurt a. M. 1980). Sprache verfügt nicht über diese Evidenz: Der, der sie benutzt, kann immer auch lügen. Darin, so schreibt Barthes, "liegt das Übel (vielleicht aber auch die Wonne) der Sprache: dass sie für sich selbst nicht bürgen kann" (Barthes 1985, S. 96). Dieses von der Experimentalpsychologie konstatierte Defizit des Zeugen lässt sich aber positiv zu der Frage wenden: Was macht die Singularität des Zeugnisses im Gegensatz zur Aufnahme eines technischen Registriergeräts aus? Worin besteht die spezifische Wahrheit des Zeugnisses und seine Bedeutung für die Vermittlung und Erzeugung von Wissen? Mögliche Fragestellungen sind - Welche Rolle spielen Zeugen vor Gericht und für die rechtliche Verfassung einer Gesellschaft? Ist der Gerichtszeuge paradigmatisch für andere Phänomene der Zeugenschaft - Welche Bedeutung haben Zeugen im religiösen Kontext - wie wird ihre Rolle im Judentum, Christentum oder Islam bestimmt? - Welchen Status haben Zeugen bei der Aufarbeitung von Geschichte? Der Historiker Herodot bezeichnete sich selbst als histor, was auch Zeuge bedeutet. Zugleich scheint aber eine klare Trennung zwischen Historiker und Zeitzeuge notwendig für eine sachliche Aufarbeitung der Geschichte. - Ist das Zeitzeugnis Wissensquelle, Indiz, Spur der Vergangenheit? Was ist mit Zeugnissen, die von einem traumatischen Erlebnis berichten und singuläre Bedeutung haben, wie etwa Überlebendenzeugnisse der Shoah? - Ist Zeugenschaft ein ethisches Problem? - Welche Funktion tragen Zeugen für die politische und kulturelle Identität einer Gemeinschaft? Haben Zeugen politische Macht - oder sind "Tatsachensprecher" nicht vielmehr dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass sie außerhalb des politischen Diskurses stehen? (vgl. Hannah Arendt) - Welche Rolle spielen Zeugen im Spannungsfeld von Wissenschaft, Wahrheit und politischer Öffentlichkeit? - Welche Rolle spielen Zeugen in der Wissenschaft? In den empirischen Wissenschaften der Neuzeit tauchen Zeugen immer wieder als Boten und Bürgen des Wissens auf - seien es die Zeugen in der Geschichte, in der Geographie, und die "Zeugen" physikalischer Experimente (vgl. Shapin und Schaffer) - sie sind Mittler von Wissen, das man nicht selbst in Erfahrung bringen kann. Welche Rolle spielen Wissen durch Worte anderer und Vertrauen im heutigen wissenschaftlichen Diskurs? - Inwiefern sind Kunst und Literatur Zeugnisse? Sind Dichter Zeugen? Was bezeugen sie? Vermitteln sie Evidenz? Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 35 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Schließlich: Wie verändern die technischen Medien unser Verständnis von Zeugenschaft? Machen allgegenwärtige Videokameras den Augenzeugen überflüssig? Machen Live-Sendungen im Fernsehen uns zu Zeugen eines entfernten Ereignisses? Die Graduiertenvorträge sollten jeweils nicht länger 20 bis 30 Minuten dauern. Offizielle Tagungssprachen sind Deutsch und Englisch. Bitte schicken Sie uns Ihr Abstract (etwa 500 Wörter) und ein kurzes CV bis zum 30. April an Barbara Janisch: [email protected] oder Sibylle Schmidt: [email protected]. Unsere Internetseite finden Sie unter http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/babascha. - CFP: Figuren der Konversion, 2. Tagung der Friedrich Schlegel-Gesellschaft 8.-10. April 2010 Am 16. April 1808 konvertierte Friedrich Schlegel mit seiner Frau Dorothea in Köln zum katholischen Glauben. Das Ereignis, das bei den Zeitgenossen, die im Verfasser der Lucinde vor allem den Freigeist und Ironiker gesehen hatten, eine Art Schock auslöste, markiert eine Wende, die sich im Denken Schlegels bereits seit der Jahrhundertwende mit zunehmender Deutlichkeit abgezeichnet hatte. Auch wenn für das genaue Datum dieser Wende in der Forschung verschiedene Vorschläge gemacht worden sind, ist man sich weitgehend darüber einig, dass durch sie ein ,früher‘ von einem ,späten‘ Schlegel unterscheidbar wird. So werden der Pantheist im Gefolge Spinozas und der Gott, Mensch und Natur trennende Theist; der Bewunderer der französischen Revolution und der Verfechter eines hierarchischen Ständestaats; der Autor und Mitherausgeber des Athenaeums, der literarische Formen wie das Fragment, die Ironie oder die Polemik favorisiert, und der Verfasser erbaulicher Vorträge sowie gelehrter philosophie- und literarhistorischer Vorlesungen, die literarische Kommunikation nur mehr von außen beobachten statt selbst an ihr teilzunehmen, einander gegenüber gestellt. Die Germanistik hat dabei bis heute ihre Aufmerksamkeit und Wertschätzung ganz überwiegend dem Frühwerk Schlegels entgegen gebracht, ungeachtet der wiederholt – vor allem von Editorenseite – vertretenen Auffassung, dass die Beschäftigung auch mit einzelnen Werkteilen ein Verständnis des ,ganzen‘ Schlegel voraussetzt. Die Logik der Schlegelschen Konversion, sofern sie sich in seinen Texten reflektiert, muss deshalb, trotz einiger Ansätze vor allem in der geistesgeschichtlichen Forschung der 1920er Jahre, bis heute als unzureichend erforscht gelten. Ob die Entwicklung dieses Denkens einem Bruch unterlag oder doch kontinuierlich verlief, ist umstritten. Die Tagung möchte zur Klärung der hiermit verbundenen Fragen beitragen. Worin genau bestehen die Veränderungen in Schlegels Werk, in seinen Ansichten ebenso wie seinem Denk- und Schreibstil? Gibt es vom Frühwerk bis ins Spätwerk sich durchhaltende Konstanten? Erlaubt es die Figur der Konversion, das Schlegelsche Werk in seiner Ganzheit zu konstruieren? Sind die Gründe für die Wende eher interner, in der Konsequenz des Denkens selbst liegender, oder externer Art? Lassen sich die Transformationen beschreiben, ohne zwangsläufig entweder für den frühen oder den späten Schlegel Partei zu ergreifen? Der engen Interdependenz von Fragen der Literatur und der Kunst, der Philosophie, der Religion, aber auch der Politik und Geschichte bei Friedrich Schlegel soll von der Tagung Rechnung getragen werden. Liegt so der Schwerpunkt auf dem Werk Schlegels, soll der Horizont allerdings nicht auf es beschränkt bleiben. So kann in einer über diesen Autor hinausgehenden Perspektive gefragt werden, inwiefern die Schlegelsche Wende für die Selbstbegründungsproblematik des philosophischen Idealismus und den Übergang von der Früh- zur Spätromantik insgesamt signifikant ist. Zu diesem Zweck sind vergleichende Referate zu den Konversionen eines Adam Müller oder Zacharias Werner, zur Bedeutung des Katholizismus bei Wackenroder, Tieck, Novalis, Brentano, Görres, Eichendorff u. a., aber auch zum Übergang von der negativen zur positiven Philosophie (der Mythologie und der Offenbarung) bei F. W. J. Schelling wünschenswert. In einer zweiten Erweiterung der Perspektive kann gefragt werden, welche Beziehungen zwischen den romantischen Konversionen, insbesondere derjenigen Schlegels, und anderen Konversionen bestehen, wie sie später vor allem im Umkreis des europäischen Ästhetizismus zu beobachten sind und die von dem Versuch einer radikalen Selbstbegründung und Verabsolutierung der Kunst zur (Wieder-)Entdeckung der Religion, aber auch der Tradition oder des Nationalen führen. Hier bieten sich Autoren wie Stefan George, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Ernst Robert Curtius, Hugo Ball, Joris-Karl Huysmans, Maurice Barrès, Gerard Manley Hopkins, W. B. Yeats oder T. S. Eliot für komparatistische Studien an. Nicht zuletzt: Figuren der Konversion können auch in der Gegenwart untersucht werden. Erwünscht sind stärker verallgemeinernde Fallgeschichten zur Konversion als eine insbesondere von der Rhetorik (conversio, Antimetabole) wie dem Ökonomischen (convertieren, umtauschen) ausgehende Denk- und Diskurstechnik von Intellektuellen. Neben literaturwissenschaftlichen und philosophischen Ansätzen sind auch soziologische, ideengeschichtliche und religionswissenschaftliche Untersuchungen willkommen. Interessenten werden gebeten, ihren Themenvorschlag zusammen mit einem Abstract von ca. 400-500 Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 36 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Wörtern bis zum 31. Juli 2009 an die Organisatoren der Tagung, Winfried Eckel ([email protected]) und Nikolaus Wegmann ([email protected]), zu schicken. Bewerbungen von Nachwuchswissenschaftlern sind erwünscht. Eine Publikation der Tagungsbeiträge ist vorgesehen. CfP Summer-Course: Raumkonzepte - Raumwahrnehmungen – Raumnutzungen Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris / Institut historique allemand Paris; Université Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris 14.06.2009-17.06.2009, DHI Paris, 8 rue du Parc-Royal, 75003 Paris Projektbeschreibung: Räume, mit denen wir auch im Alltag auf verschiedenen Ebenen (vom konkreten Wohnraum bis zum virtuellen Internet, Facebook oder Second Life) konfrontiert werden, sind in den letzten Jahren ins Zentrum des Interesses der historischen Wissenschaften gerückt. In der kantischen Tradition oft als vorsubjektive Gegebenheit (miss-)verstanden, wurde Raum auf Dreidimensionalität reduziert und insbesondere bei Historikern lange als natürliche Gegebenheit oder Behältnis betrachtet. Doch Räume sind nicht einfach nur die Orte, an denen Ereignisse stattfinden. Sie werden vielmehr imaginiert, konstruiert, auf unterschiedliche Weise wahrgenommen und vielfältig genutzt. Auch beeinflussen sie die Ereignisse und Ereignisverläufe in nicht unerheblicher Weise und sind ein entscheidender Faktor zur Strukturierung der Gesellschaft. Anders als früher die politische Geographie, die ältere Landesgeschichte oder auch nach wie vor existierende ,territorial' konzipierte Raum-Ansätze schlagen wir vor, ,Raum' in erster Linie als analytische Kategorie zu fassen. Dies eröffnet die Chance, verschiedene Ebenen von Räumlichkeiten zu unterscheiden und die Prozesse ihrer Konstruktion zu verfolgen. Erst so wird die Möglichkeit der Gleichzeitigkeit mehrerer Räume an einem Ort erfassbar: nahe und ferne, konkrete und imaginäre Welten, parallele und teils völlig unterschiedliche oder unvorhergesehene Nutzungen derselben Lokalität. Dies ist das analytische Potential einer Auffassung des Raumes als Produkt der Wahrnehmungen und Handlungen der Akteure. Um diese Akteursperspektive zu stärken, muss schließlich auch nach den Kenntnissen der Zeitgenossen, jedenfalls nach deren Möglichkeiten des Wissens über Raum und nach deren Raumvorstellungen gefragt werden. Der Sommerkurs soll vor allem Doktoranden und Doktorandinnen, die mit raumbezogenen Fragestellungen arbeiten, die Möglichkeit geben, ihre laufenden Projekte vorzustellen und sie mit senior scholars und anderen Doktoranden und Doktorandinnen im interdisziplinären, internationalen Kontext des DHIP, der Universität Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) und eingeladener Expertinnen und Experten aus verschiedenen Fachgebieten zu diskutieren. Senior Scholars: Wolfgang Kaiser (Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales): Historiker. Forschungsschwerpunkte: Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit, Mobilität und interkultureller Austausch im Mittelmeerraum, Stadtgeschichte, Geschichte und soziale Praktiken der Grenze Christine Lebeau (Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne): Historikerin. Forschungsschwerpunkte: Politik-, Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte des Heiligen Römischen Reiches deutscher Nation, insbesondere des österreichischen Habsburg, Geschichte der öffentlichen Finanzen, Wissensgeschichte Jacques Lévy (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne): Geograph. Forschungsschwerpunkte: Epistemologie des Raumes, Kartographie, politischer Raum, Stadt/Stadtplanung, Europa, Welt, Globalisierung Jean-Marie Moeglin (Université Paris XII-Val de Marne, École Pratique des Hautes Études): Historiker. Forschungsschwerpunkte: Geschichte des Mittelalters, politische Strukturen und Mentalitäten, Konstruktionen von Staat und Nation in Frankreich und in Deutschland, Diplomatiegeschichte, Ritualgeschichte, Geschichte der Geschichtsschreibung vom Mittelalter bis in die Neuzeit Susanne Rau (Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris): Historikerin. Forschungsschwerpunkte: Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit, Geschichte und Kulturen der Räume, Stadtgeschichte, Soziabilität, Historiographie, Erinnerungskultur, Reformation und religiöse Gruppenbildungen in der Frühen Neuzeit Elisabeth Tiller (Technische Universität Dresden): Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaftlerin. Forschungsschwerpunkte: diskursanalytische Kulturgeschichte, Stadtdiskurse der frühen Neuzeit, Stadtutopien und imaginäre Städte, Raumtheorie, Wissensgeschichte Zielgruppe: Doktoranden und Doktorandinnen (in Ausnahmefällen auch angehende Doktoranden und PostDoktoranden) der Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften; auch der Naturwissenschaften, wenn das Projekt historisch angelegt ist. Konferenzsprachen: Deutsch, Französisch, Englisch Bewerbungen enthalten: tabellarischer Lebenslauf, ggf. Verzeichnis der Publikationen, Exposé des eigenen Projekts (max. 2 Seiten, ca. 10 000 Zeichen) und kurze Begründung der Bewerbung, 1 akademisches Empfehlungsschreiben, Nachweis über gute Kenntnisse in mind. 2 der 3 Konferenzsprachen, Kostenvoranschlag Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 37 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 oder Einschätzung der Reisekosten. Bitte versehen Sie den Umschlag oder Ihr Anschreiben bzw. die Betreffzeile der Email mit dem Stichwort "Sommerkurs 2009". Kostenübernahme: Reisekosten (bis max. 300.- EUR) werden erstattet, Kosten für Übernachtung, Frühstück und gemeinsame Verpflegungen werden übernommen. Bewerbungen bitte bis zum 15. März 2009 an die Direktorin des DHIP: Prof. Dr. Gudrun Gersmann, Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris, 8 rue du Parc-Royal, 75003 Paris, Frankreich. Bewerbungen sind vorab auch per Email möglich: [email protected] Auswahlverfahren: Unter den Bewerbern und Bewerberinnen werden 20 Personen unter Berücksichtigung ihrer Projekte und der Diskutanten ausgewählt. Sie erhalten bis spätestens zum 15. April 2009 eine Zu- oder Absage. Bis zum 15. Mai 2009 werden Sie um Einsendung einer ausführlichen Darstellung Ihres Projekts (ca. 10 Seiten, 5060 000 Zeichen) gebeten, die für die anderen Teilnehmer und Teilnehmerinnen auf der Internetseite des DHIP in einem kennwortgeschützten Bereich zum Download bereitgestellt wird. Ablauf des Kurses: Einführung in neuere Forschungen und Ansätze zum Thema Raum in disziplinär vergleichender Perspektive. Mündliche Vorstellung der Projekte, die von einem senior scholar und einem anderen Doktoranden kommentiert und im Plenum diskutiert werden. Jede/r Teilnehmer/in stellt somit sein/ihr eigenes Projekt vor und kommentiert ein anderes kritisch. Zusätzlich wird eine individuelle Beratung mit den seniors angeboten. Nach Ende der Sommerschule besteht die Möglichkeit, die Projektpapiere zu überarbeiten und sie auf Perspectivia.net, der Publikationsplattform der deutschen geisteswissenschaftlichen Auslandinstitute (www.perspectivia.net), zu veröffentlichen. Für Rückfragen (zur Bewerbung, zum Ablauf oder zu anderen inhaltlichen oder organisatorischen Fragen) wenden Sie sich bitte an Susanne Rau: [email protected]. Susanne Rau, Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris, 8 rue du Parc-Royal, 75003 Paris, +33 1 44 54 23 80 [email protected] CfP Summer-Course: IFK, Wien 23.08.2009-29.08.2009, Maria Taferl (NÖ) Deadline: 15.03.2009 Von 23.-29. August bietet das IFK NachwuchswissenschafterInnen die Möglichkeit, sich mit den diversen Formen des "Bösen" auseinanderzusetzen: Kriminologie, die Bösen von Hollywood, Spuren des Bösen in Literatur und Film oder der Physiognomie des Bösen sind die Themen der IFK_Akademie 2009. Dem IFK ist die Nachwuchsförderung ein besonderes Anliegen. Es bietet mit der Akademie die Möglichkeit zur intensiven Auseinandersetzung zwischen jungen und namhaften WissenschafterInnen. Das Stipendium beinhaltet Unterkunft, Verpflegung und die Bereitstellung von Arbeitsunterlagen. 23.-29. August 2009, Maria Taferl (Niederösterreich). IFK faculty: Leitung: Helmut Lethen (IFK, Wien) Weitere Mitglieder: Peter Becker (Johannes Kepler Universität Linz), Elisabeth Bronfen (Universität Zürich), Michael Hagner (ETH Zürich), Eva Horn (Universitäten Basel und Wien) Rahmenthema: Spuren und Archive des "Bösen". Die historische Spannbreite der Akademie erstreckt sich von der Physiognomik, frühen Kriminologie und Kriminalanthropologie im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert (Lavater, Lombroso, Gross u. a.), den Rassen- und Dekadenztheorien des Fin de Siècle und den ersten Verbrecherdateien (Fotos, Fingerabdrücke) bis hin zur Gegenwart. Archäologisch sollen die Vorgänger der modernen Kriminalistik, Rasterfahndung und biometrischen Verfahren zur Personenfeststellung analysiert werden, die gegenwärtig im "Kampf gegen den Terror" und gegen das Verbrechen eingesetzt werden. Ziel der Akademie ist es, die Diskurse über Normalität, soziale Devianz und Verbrechen und die Verfahren der Datenerhebung bzw. -speicherung von der Daktyloskopie und Fotografie bis hin zum so genannten "genetischen Fingerabdruck" und der elektronischen Iriserkennung nachzuzeichnen und in ihren jeweiligen historischen Kontexten zu verorten. Dabei soll das enge Wechselspiel von Wissenschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft in der kulturellen Festlegung, der sozialen Definition und der polizeilichen wie juristisch-institutionellen Einhegung, Kontrolle und Verfolgung des "Bösen" untersucht werden. Subthemen: Spuren der Bösen: Kriminologie, Kriminalpolitik und Kriminalistik aus dispositivanalytischer Sicht (Peter Becker); Hollywood und Krieg (Elisabeth Bronfen); Der Körper des "Bösen" (Michael Hagner); Spuren lesen - das Indizien-Paradigma (Eva Horn); Die Physiognomie des "Bösen" in Literatur, Grafik und Fotografie (Helmut Lethen) TeilnehmerInnen: Vorzugsweise DoktorandInnen und PostdoktorandInnen, die zum Stichtag 15.03.2009 nicht älter als 35 Jahre sind und ein zentrales Interesse am Projekt der Kulturwissenschaften und Cultural Studies haben. Österreichische BewerberInnen oder solche, die an österreichischen Wissenschaftseinrichtungen arbeiten, werden besonders zur Antragsstellung ermutigt. Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 38 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Auswahl der TeilnehmerInnen: Die Verständigung über die erfolgreiche Bewerbung zur IFK_Akademie erfolgt Anfang Mai 2009. Anschließend nehmen die Mitglieder der IFK_faculty mit den StipendiatInnen Kontakt auf, um die einzelnen Beiträge für die Akademie sowie die weitere Vorgangsweise zu vereinbaren. Stipendienumfang: Alle ausgewählten BewerberInnen, insgesamt maximal 20 Personen, erhalten vom IFK ein Stipendium, das die Unterbringung im Einzelzimmer und Verpflegung sowie die Bereitstellung der Arbeitsunterlagen beinhaltet. Die Reisekosten sind selbst zu tragen. Im Anschluss an die Verständigung über die erfolgreiche Bewerbung werden auch die organisatorischen Details bekannt gegeben. Anmeldeschluss 15. März 2009. Die IFK_Akademie 2009 wird finanziert durch das Sonderprogramm "Exzellenzinitiative Kulturwissenschaften" aus Finanzmitteln der Forschungsoffensive III des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung. Edith Wildmann, IFK, Reichsratsstraße 17, 1010 Wien, Österreich, 0043-1-5041126, 0043-1-5041132, [email protected], Homepage www.ifk.ac.at 13th annual Summer Institute on Sexuality, Amsterdam 2009 http://www.ishss.uva.nl/SummerInstitute/ We are proud to announce the 13th annual Summer Institute on Sexuality, Culture and Society to be held at the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Universiteit van Amsterdam from July 5 - July 30th, 2009. Students and professionals are invited to participate in courses, seminars and dialogues in Amsterdam on the cultural and social dimensions of human sexuality. The Summer Institute is an intensive four-week summer programme, which focuses on the study of sexuality across cultures and is taught by an international faculty team. We are proud to introduce our new 2009 faculty: The summer institute Research Seminar is led by Diane di Mauro. Examples of other courses are Sexuality in Muslim Societies taught by Pinar Ilkkaracan, Young Sexualities taught by Deevia Bhana and Heterosexualities taught by Katherine Frank. Topics addressed during the course on the Netherlands led by Laurens Buijs include: sexwork, the city as former gay capital, adolescent sexuality and the campaigns for safe sex. This course will include site visits. The Prostitution Information Center and the Gender Team are just two examples of the many places the programme visits. We are updating our website on a regular basis, since many more guest lecturers are lined up. This highly specialised programme is for advanced students, primarily Ph.D. and MA students in the sociocultural sciences and professionals working for NGO's. The institute was founded in 1995, and since then, students from more than 40 countries have participated in our courses. Nearly a quarter of the participants have been professionals working for NGO's. The other participants came from such diverse educational backgrounds as the social sciences (anthropology, sociology), psychology, women's studies, history, public health and human sexuality studies. Statements of former students can be found on the website. On the site under the link 'application' you will find the official application form. You can print this out, fill it in and send it back to us. The application deadline is April 15, 2009. [email protected] http://www.ishss.uva.nl/SummerInstitute/ Conference Announcement: Expressionism and Gender Conference Thursday, 19 and Friday, 20 March 2009, Programme (abbreviated) Co-ordinator: Frank Krause (Goldmiths, University of London),Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies Senate House, Malet Street, GB- London WC1E 7HU Thursday, 19 March 2009 10.45 Katharina Sykora (Brunswick): 'XXY. The Sex of the City. Structuring and Gesturing Gender in Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's Berlin Street Scenes' 11.30 Andreas Kramer (London): 'The Traffic of Gender in Expressionist Prose' 14.15 Elza Adamowicz (London): 'Dada's Masks: Beyond Gender?' 15.00 Richard Murphy (Sussex): 'Expressionist Film and Gender' 16.30 Christiane Schönfeld (Galway): 'The Prostitute in Expressionist Literature and Visual Arts' Friday, 20 March 2009 10.45 Ulrike Zitzlsperger (Exeter): 'Die (Ohn-)Macht der Frauen: Heinrich Manns "Der Untertan" und "Professor Unrat"' 11.30 Christine Kanz (Los Angeles/Marburg): 'Gebärphantasien von Männern in Kunst, Literatur und Film Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 39 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 zur Zeit des Expressionismus' 14.15 Günter Rinke (Flensburg): 'Geschlechtersymbolik in Ernst Tollers Revolutionsdramen' 15.00 Frank Krause (London): 'Gerettete Mütterlichkeit: Ambivalente Geschlechter-Inszenierungen bei von Unruh, Brenck-Kalischer, Kaiser und Kokoschka' To obtain full programme, further information and register, contact Jane Lewin (tel: 020 7862 8966; email: [email protected]). Registration form: http://igrs.sas.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/events/conference/Expressionism_GenderRegistrationForm_01.pdf Conference Announcement: A New College Symposium: Figuring Lateness A one day interdisciplinary Symposium organized by Professor Karen Leeder, to be held in the McGregor Matthews Room at New College, Oxford on Monday, 30 March 2009 from 10:00 am to 6:15 pm. Further details and registration form can be obtained by contacting Maggie Davies (email [email protected]) or tel. 01865 279552. Professor Anne Fuchs, University College, Dublin: “Defending Lateness: or what is the ‘right time’ in cultural memory?” Professor Ann Jefferson, New College, Oxford: “Too late for genius” Professor Gordon McMullan, Kings College London: “The invention of late style: Shakespeare in the discourse of Lateness” Professor Sam Smiles, University of Plymouth: “Recapitulation and Recension: J.M.W.Turner’s Liber Studiorum in the 1840s” Dr Peter Thompson, University of Sheffield: “Lateness and the Philosophy of Being and Time” This New College Symposium will examine issues related to the idea of ‘Lateness’. Our contemporary fascination with ‘lateness’ stems from the fact that the self- exploration prompted by aging, illness or the proximity to death is often as deeply human as it is surprising. The privileged place that late work occupies in the critical imagination does not only rest on its biographical force, however, but rather on a more complex relationship between the artist or thinker and his or her era. Equally, late thoughts do not necessarily conform to the expectations that have developed around the myth of ‘late style’ (or ‘Spätstil’), to borrow Adorno’s term. Edward Said’s On Late Style (2006), while challenging conventional understandings of late work, also offers a very particular vision and leaves open many questions such as those of gender, genius, illness, and old-age-style. Gordon McMullan’s Shakespeare and the Idea of Late Writing. Authorship in the Proximity of Death (2007) interrogates society’s investment in a constructed ‘discourse of lateness’ as a transhistrical, transcultural phenomenon over time and usefully brings the idea of art in the ‘proximity of death’ into play. This symposium will draw on these pivotal approaches to the question of lateness but also attempt to open up debate in new ways beyond the question of an individual’s ‘late-style’: by exploring, for example, the relationship between the idea of lateness and genius; lateness and gender; lateness and early death, lateness and philosophies of time or constructions of cultural memory and the link between biographical and epochal lateness or belatedness. Conference Announcement: CUTG Meeting Conference of University Teachers of German in Great Britain and Ireland. The seventy-second Meeting will take place 6-8 April 2009 and will be held at: The University of Ulster This year, to mark the upcoming sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the German Democratic Republic and the twentieth anniversary of the Wende, the lead panel will focus on the GDR and will comprise three sessions, plus a reading by Volker Braun and a plenary session with live music from David Robb. Other panels will be Critical Theory, Linguistics, History and Remembrance, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 18th Century, 19th Century and 20th Century Studies, Language Learning and Technology, and Gender and German Studies. To register for the conference, please visit the Conference Website at http://www.cutg.ac.uk/cutg2009.htm DRAFT PROGRAMME (abbreviated) Monday 6 April 14.00-14.30 Opening business (Conor Lecture Theatre) 14.30-16.00 (parallel sessions) Lead Panel 1 (Pól Ó Dochartaigh) (82A02) Andrew Evans (Sheffield), ‘The Last Gasp of Socialism: Economics and Culture in 1960s East Germany’ Laura Bradley (Edinburgh), ‘GDR Theatre Censorship: the role of the audience’ Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 4 0 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Matthias Uecker (Nottingham), ‘Between Conformism and Subversion: The GDR as Performance Society?’ 19th Century Studies (Peter Davies) (82A01) Susanne Kord (UCL), ‘Why is Friederike Kempner Funny? On Laughter Communities, Literary Hierarchies, and the Rules of Fiction’ Elystan Griffiths (Birmingham), “‘Ach, nur einen Tropfen Vergessenheit, und mit Wollust würde ich katholisch werden”: Religious Performances in the Work of Heinrich von Kleist’ Anja Peters (RHUL), ‘“Eine reine Geldangelegenheit”? 19th-century writers’ correspondences with the Morgenblatt für gebildete Stände 16.30-18.00 (parallel sessions) History and Remembrance 1 (Anna Saunders) (82A02) Rachel MagShamhráin (University College Cork), ‘Guido Knopp’s Die Deutschen (2008): The Creation of New National Identity through Historical Event Television’ Anna Saunders; Debbie Pinfold; Silke Arnold de Simine; Owen Evans (AHRC Network): ‘After the Wall: Reconstructing and Representing the GDR’ 20th century and contemporary studies 1 (Debbie Pinfold) (82A01) Julian Preece (Swansea), ‘Expectation and Disappointment in Writing: Herzzeit: Ingeborg Bachmann–Paul Celan. Der Briefwechsel (2008)’ Beate Müller (Newcastle), ‘Agency Lost and Found: Child Figures as Catalysts in Holocaust Fiction’ Sarah Colvin (Edinburgh), ‘Distance and Empathy? What Writing by Prisoners Might Tell Us about Writing, Prisoners, and the Capacity for Change’ 18.00-19.00 Reading by Volker Braun (Conor Lecture Theatre) Tuesday 7 April 9.00-10.00 Plenary (Conor Lecture Theatre) Susanne Kalina-McMahon (Ulster), ‘“... zerfurcht, durchpflügt, zerrissen!” – Joseph Roth und Deutsch-Österreich’ Manya Elrick (Ulster), ‘...und Deutschland und Österreich und Israel und...’ 10.00-10.30 Reports (Conor Lecture Theatre), Report by DAAD, Reports from other organisations 11.00-12.30 (parallel sessions) Linguistics (Nils Langer) 82A02 Martin Durrell, Richard J. Whitt, Paul Bennett, Silke Scheible, ‘The GerManC Project: A Representative Corpus of Early Modern German (1650-1800)’ Clive Earls (Limerick), ‘Setting the Catherine Wheel in Motion: “Englishisation” of the German Higher Education System and a Further Decline in the Status of German Internationally?’ Melani Schröter (Reading), ‘Silence in the Heart of Political Scandal: “Waterkantgate” and “Schubladenaffäre”’ Critical theory (Angus Nicholls) (82A01) Panel on the work of Hans Blumenberg 13.45-15.15 (parallel sessions) Language Learning and Technology (Michael Maerlein) (82A02) Eimear Kelly (Athlone), ‘Vorsprung durch Technik? Using an Iteractive Witeboard to Enhance the Teaching and Learning of German Grammar’ Helen O’Sullivan, Gillian Martin, Breffni O’Rourke (TCD), ‘Telecollaborative Learning in Critical Cultural Awareness: The Example of SpEakWise’ Berit Carmesin, Doris Devilly, Michelle Tooher (NUI Galway), ‘WikiLingua.ie: Using Web 2.0 Technologies in Language Learning and Teaching’ Elizabeth Andersen, Eva Knopp , Sonja Altmüller, ‘Ensuring the future of German in the UK’ Medieval and Early Modern Studies (Sabine Rolle) (82A01) Kenneth Fockele (Cambridge), ‘Minnesang and Taboo’ Sarah Bowden (Cambridge), ‘Rother-Dietrich: Names and Disguise in König Rother’ Timothy Jackson (TCD), ‘The Resurrection of the Body in German Medieval Literature’ Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 4 1 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 15.45-17.15 (parallel sessions) Lead panel 2 (Ian Connor) (82A02) Katja Warchold (Galway), ‘“Ich wollte eine Distel im sozialistischen Rosengarten sein”: autobiographische Texte von zwei DDR-Jugendgenerationen’ Gerrit-Jan Berendse (Cardiff), ‘Freundschaftsbund Sächsische Dichterschule? Eine literatursoziologische Fallstudie’ Karen Leeder (Oxford), ‘“Nachleben”: The Death and Afterlife of the GDR’ 20th century and contemporary studies 2 (Debbie Pinfold) (82A01) Rebecca Braun (Liverpool), ‘Authorship and Literary Celebrity in the Context of the Nobel Prize’ Allyson Fiddler (Lancaster), ‘A Novel Form of Resistance: Recent Austrian Protest Writing’ Helen O’Sullivan (Dublin), ‘The Pursuit of ‘Mündigkeit’ and the Production of Language Learner Narrative in Contemporary German Literature’ 17.15-18.15 Business meeting (Conor Lecture Theatre) 20.30 Plenary (Nick’s Warehouse) David Robb (QUB), ‘1848 Ballads in the GDR’ (with live music) Wednesday 8 April 9.00-10.30 (parallel sessions) Gender and German Studies (Renate Rechtien) (82A02) Annie Ring (Cambridge), ‘The Stasi as Father: Daughterly Rage, Daughterly Love?’ Kim Richmond (Edinburgh), ‘The GDR Prison Narrative: Authenticity, Character Development and Incorrigibility in Elisabeth Graul's Die Farce’ Áine McMurtry (Oxford), ‘Writing the Body: Ingeborg Bachmann's poetic drafts of the 1960s’ History and remembrance 2 (Anna Saunders) (82A01) Andrew Liston (Justus Liebig Universität, Gießen): ‘Swiss-Style Vergangenheitsbewältigung’ Ines Brunhart (University of Limerick): ‘The Return of the Counter-Memories: Erich Hackl’s Memorial Literature’ Helen Finch (University of Liverpool): ‘Hugo Hamilton’s Disguise and W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz: Constructed Memories, Imagined Identities’ 11.00-12.30 (parallel sessions) Lead panel 3 (Gerrit-Jan Berendse) (82A02) Holger Briel (Nicosia), ‘Divided We Write: Recent Texts on Divided Countries’ Pól Ó Dochartaigh (Ulster), ‘Language of Denial: The Terminology of Partition in Ireland and Germany’ Peter Thompson (Sheffield), ‘Wir sind das Volk! The GDR and the Universalism of the Definite Article’ 18th century studies (Dan Wilson) (82A01) Hilary Brown (Swansea), ‘The Gottscheds and English Literature’ Kevin Hilliard (Oxford), ‘The Problem of Satire: Wieland, Wezel and Schiller’ Stefan Hajduk (Limerick), ‘Exzentrik und Doppelmord: Zur Poetik der Stimmung in Ludwig Tiecks Der Abschied’ 12.30-13.00 Closing Business (Conor Lecture Theatre) Conference Announcement: The Tradition of the German Bestseller (1848–1910) Jesus College, Cambridge, UK, April 17-18, 2009. Supported by the Tiarks Fund, Department of German, University of Cambridge We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the conference “The Tradition of the German Bestseller (1848-1910)” to be held at Jesus College, Cambridge, UK, from the 17-18 April 2009. Please find below the Conference Programme and details of how to register for the event. Should you have any further queries, please contact: Benedict Schofield [email protected], Charlotte Woodford [email protected] Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 42 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Conference Programme (abbreviated): Friday 17 April Session 1: 2.30pm: Michael Minden (Cambridge): ‘Introduction: The Tradition of the Bestseller’ followed by a brief discussion. 3pm: Todd Kontje (University of California, San Diego), ‘History as Melodrama in Felix Dahn’s Ein Kampf um Rom’ Session 2: 4.30-6.30 pm: - Elizabeth Boa, ‘Taking Sex to Market: Josefine Mutzenbacher, Lebensgeschichte einer Wiener Dirne and Margarete Böhme, Tagebuch einer Verlorenen’ - Nicholas Saul (Durham), ‘Wilhelm Jensen: Literary Value, Evolutionary Aesthetics, and Competition in the Marketplace’ - Peter Pfeiffer (Georgetown), ‘Balduin Möllhausen’s Travel Writing and Popular Novels’ Saturday 18 April: Session 3: 9am: - Anita Bunyan (Cambridge), ‘The Battle for Readers: Political and Religious Contexts of the NineteenthCentury Bestseller’ - Barbara Burns (Glasgow), ‘Morality, Gender and Politics in the Historical Fiction of Louise von François’ - Caroline Bland (Sheffield), ‘Clara Viebig between Heimatkunst and Grossstadtroman’ Session 4: 11.15: - Martin Swales, ‘Heimatliteratur for Children: The Case of Stifter’s Bergkristall’ - Christiane Arndt (Queen’s University, Canada), ‘“Einen tüchtigen Kerl zum Nachtgespenst machen”: Schauerrealismus in Der Schimmelreiter’ Session 5: 2 pm: - Katrin Kohl (Oxford), ‘E. Marlitt [Eugenie John] and the Poetics of Popular Romantic Fiction in the Age of German Realism’ - Charlotte Woodford (Cambridge), ‘“Alles Asche. Und doch gebunden”: The sentimental double bind in Irrungen Wirrungen’ - Ernest Schonfield, ‘Buddenbrooks as Bestseller’ Session 6: 4.15–5.45pm - Christine Achinger (Warwick), ‘Realism, Antisemitism and Reconciled Modernit in Gustav Freytag’s Soll und Haben’ - Benedict Schofield (King’s College London), ‘Politics, Aesthetics and the Literary Market: Conflicting Tendencies in Gustav Freytag’s Soll und Haben’ Conference Fees: £40 Conference Fee for the two days (including lunch on the Saturday), £30 for the Conference Dinner on Friday night. A limited number of rooms are available at Jesus College for an overnight stay on the Friday night priced at £59.50. Could those wishing to stay at Jesus College please register an interest as soon as possible to secure accommodation. To register for the conference or for further information please contact: Benedict Schofield [email protected] and Charlotte Woodford [email protected] Conference Announcement: Die 10. Silser Hesse-Tage (25.6.2009-28.6.2009) Sie stehen unter dem Titel 'Politik des Gewissens'. Sie setzen sich mit verschiedenen Formen des Engagements eines Schriftstellers und Intellektuellen im 20. Jahrhundert auseinander. 'Mir liegt alles Politische nicht, sonst wäre ich längst Revolutionär', sagte Hermann Hesse einmal. Was das im wilhelminischen Deutschland, in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus und des Kalten Kriegs bedeutete, wird von prominenten Fachleuten aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln beleuchtet. Ausserdem werden Vergleiche mit zwei ganz gegensätzlichen Autoren angestellt, nämlich Ernst Jünger und Peter Weiss. Den Eröffnungsvortrag hält der Theologe Eugen Drewermann, und die Tagung wird mit einem Referat des Autors und Literaturwissenschaftlers Adolf Muschg beschlossen. Donnerstag, 25.6.2009 17.00 Eröffnungsvortrag: Eugen Drewermann 21.00: Helga Abret: Literatur und Politik: Der Dialog Hermann Hesse – Conrad Haußmann in der Endphase des Deutschen Kaiserreichs Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 43 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 Freitag, 26.6.2009 10.00 Beat Mazenauer: Von Montagnola nach Lusitanien – Peter Weiss’ politische Bewusstwerdung 14.00-16.00 Gruppengespräche unter Einbezug junger Forschender, Moderation Henriette Herwig. 17.00 Andreas Solbach: Hesses „Glasperlenspiel“: Utopie, Geschichte und Verstehen 21.00 Ingo Cornils: Hermann Hesses Verhältnis zu den Medien Samstag, 27.6.2009 10.00 Volker Michels: Zwischen Duldung und Sabotage: Hermann Hesse und der Nationalsozialismus. 14.00-16.00 Gruppengespräche über die Referate 17.00 Thomas Feitknecht: Krieg und Frieden: Hesse, die Schweizer Flüchtlingspolitik und der Kalte Krieg 21.00 Abendprogramm: Helmut Vogel und Graziella Rossi: Hermann Hesse und die Politik Sonntag, 28.6.2009 10.00 Schlussvortrag: Adolf Muschg Kontakt und Anmeldung: Sils Tourist Information, 7514 Sils-Maria, Tel.: +41 81 838 50 50, E-mail: [email protected], http://www.engadin.stmoritz.ch/region/sils/news_events/topevents/rm2.topevents/id.12/ Graduate Program: Masterstudiengang „Germanistik“ Der Masterstudiengang „Germanistik“ an der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg ist ein zweijähriger Masterstudiengang, der – je nach Schwerpunktsetzung – vertiefte Kenntnisse in den Fachgebieten Germanistische Linguistik, Neuere deutsche Literaturwissenschaft bzw. Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit vermittelt. Eingebunden in den Kontext eines traditionsreichen, exzellent vernetzten Forschungsumfelds, gilt der Masterstudiengang der Auseinandersetzung mit zentralen Fragen aktueller germanistischer Forschung in einer interdisziplinären und internationalen Perspektive. Zugangsvoraussetzungen sind ein abgeschlossenes BA-Studium oder ein anderer gleichwertiger germanistischer Hochschulabschluss mit einem Studienanteil von mindestens 50 Prozent. Bewerbungsschluss: 15.07.09 Kontakt: Dr. Sandra Kluwe, Germanistisches Seminar Heidelberg, E-Mail: [email protected] Graduate Program: Internationales Masterprogramm Deutsche Gegenwartsliteratur. Rezeption Vermittlung – Kontext (H2TLK) Universität Göteborg. Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen / Deutsch, Institut für deutsche Gegenwartsliteratur und Deutschlandstudien (DGD). Leitung und Information: Prof. Dr. Edgar Platen ([email protected]). Bewerbungsschluss: 31.3.2009. Beginn des Programms: September 2009. 1. Profil. Im Zentrum des internationalen Göteborger Masterprogramms Deutsche Gegenwartsliteratur. Rezeption - Vermittlung - Kontext steht die deutsche Gegenwartsliteratur, die - dies bestimmt das Profil des Studienganges - in ihrem internationalen und intermedialen Zusammenhang gesehen wird. Anhand des Arbeitsfeldes der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur werden literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliches Wissen sowie eine praxisorientierte Vermittlungskompetenz erworben, die sich auf einen internationalen Dialograum richtet. Das Programm fokussiert also nicht die deutsche Gegenwartsliteratur isoliert, sondern zielgerichtet in Hinblick auf ihre Rezeption, Vermittlung und ihren internationalen Kontext. Neben fachlichen Qualifikationen bietet sich den Studierenden die Möglichkeit, ihr Wissen und ihre Fähigkeiten in internationalen Konstellationen zu erproben und zu erweitern. Durch diese Kompetenz sind die Studierenden auf unterschiedlichste Berufsfelder im Bildungs-, Kultur- Literatur- und Wissenschaftssektor innerhalb eines sich ständig verändernden internationalen Arbeitsmarktes vorbereitet. Das Programm richtet sich an Studierende mit einem besonderen Interesse an der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur und an literatur- sowie kulturtheoretischen Fragestellungen. Angesprochen sind damit Studierende aus den deutschsprachigen Ländern und Schweden, aber auch aus anderen Ländern (siehe "Zulassungsvoraussetzungen"). Entsprechend dem Profil des Programms erwerben die Studierenden Fachwissen in den Bereichen: - Literatur- und Kulturtheorie, - Ästhetik und Medientheorie, - Angewandte Literaturwissenschaft. Dabei qualifizieren sich die Studierenden durch folgende literatur- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Kompetenzen: Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 4 4 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 - problemorientiertes Analysevermögen in Hinblick sowohl auf konkrete Texte als auch auf inter- bzw. transkulturelle Zusammenhänge, - schriftliche und mündliche Vermittlung literarischer Texte und kultureller Phänomene, - Kommunikations- und Kooperationsfähigkeiten in interkulturellen und transnationalen Zusammenhängen. Alle Lehrveranstaltungen innerhalb des Programms (nicht notwendigerweise die wahlfreien Bereiche) finden in deutscher Sprache statt. 2. Zulassungsvoraussetzungen. Voraussetzung für die Studienzulassung ist ein abgeschlossenes BAStudium oder ein gleichwertiges innerhalb der Geisteswissenschaften, wobei mindestens 60 ECTS im Bereich der Germanistik erworben sein müssen. Die Sprachkenntnisse des Deutschen müssen mindestens der Stufe C1 des europäischen Referenzrahmens entsprechen und sind gegebenenfalls über eine schriftliche und mündliche Prüfung nachzuweisen. Über Ausnahmen im Zulassungsverfahren entscheidet die Zulassungskommission. 3. Akademischer Abschluss. Nach erfolgreich bestandenem Studium des gesamten Programms (120 ECTS) kann auf Antrag des Studierenden ein Zeugnis über die Erlangung des Master-Grades ausgestellt werden: Master phil. in germanistischer Literaturwissenschaft (Degree of Master (Two Years) in German Literary Studies) innerhalb des Programmes Deutsche Gegenwartsliteratur. Rezeption - Vermittlung – Kontext an der Universität Göteborg. 4. Studienverlaufsplan. Die in den jeweiligen Bereichen angebotenen Lehrveranstaltungen (Seminare, Vorlesungen, Gruppenübungen, Selbststudien) werden mitsamt ihren "Kursplänen" spätestens zwei Monate vor dem jeweiligen Semesterbeginn bekannt gegeben. Auslandsstudien und Praktika im In- und Ausland können (bei vorheriger Absprache) angerechnet werden und sind ausdrücklich erwünscht. Bei der Vermittlung und Finanzierung kann das Programm unterstützend mithelfen. 5. Sonstiges. Der Studiengang ist für die Studierenden gebührenfrei Es können maximal 25 Studierende aufgenommen werden. Die Programmleitung behält sich vor, bei einer zu geringen Anzahl von Bewerbungen den Programmbeginn zu verschieben. Nach Absprache besteht die Möglichkeit, das Programm nach zwei Studiensemestern mit einem schwedischen "fil. Magister" abzuschließen. Kontakt: Prof. Dr. Edgar Platen - [email protected], Universität Göteborg, Institutionen för språk och litteraturer – tyska, Lundgrensgatan 7, 40530 Göteborg, ++ 31 7864595 Graduate Program: University of St Andrews, Four PhD studentships for fees and maintenance in modern languages The School of Modern Languages at the University of St Andrews is pleased to announce that four School scholarships will be available for four students beginning their PhDs in 2009/10. Three scholarships cover home fees for a UK or EU student, or a contribution of around £3,315 per annum towards overseas fees. A fourth scholarship will cover living expenses of £6,000 per annum. Candidates are expected to apply for funding to the AHRC, ORSAS or other appropriate bodies, too. There is no separate application form for these scholarships. All new School of Modern Languages PhD applicants who have firmly accepted a place at St Andrews by 30 April 2009 (by returning the required firm acceptance form to PG Admissions) will be considered for an award. St Andrews is a top-rated but friendly university, with excellent results in the Research Assessment Exercise 2008. It offers PhD supervision in French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, as well as a number of interdisciplinary areas. PhD dissertations can be written in English or in the language studied. For further information see www.standrews.ac.uk/modlangs/postgraduate_study.php Dr Bettina Bildhauer, Department of German, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9PH, 0044 1334 463663. Founding member, St Andrews Institute of Mediaeval Studies www.st-andrews.ac.uk/saims. The University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland : No SC013532 Graduate Program: University of Sussex, MA Gender Studies The Sussex MA in Gender Studies is designed to provide students with advanced grounding in feminist theories and methodologies and the opportunity to specialise through a range of options and individually chosen dissertation topics. The programme is intrinsically interdisciplinary: contributing colleagues come from departments such as Sociology, Media & Film, Anthropology, Law, English Literature and International Relations. The student cohort is diverse, including women and men seconded from international NGOs, recent home and international graduates, and mature students keen to return to academic study. A large number of Sussex faculty are engaged in Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 4 5 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 research on a variety of gender-related topics, including sexualities and sexual violence, nationalism and citizenship, women's history and literature, education and work, and reproductive politics. This gives the programme broad optionality and expert supervision for student dissertations. Part-time study is available for home and EU students, and applications from candidates with varied qualifications and backgrounds are strongly encouraged. Sussex University is a top teaching and research institution located in the vibrant and cosmopolitan coastal city of Brighton. It has a reputation for political radicalism and innovative teaching and learning, and as such is an ideal environment in which to study gender. The campus is located in the South Downs, an area of outstanding natural beauty, and London is just an hour away. For more information on the MA in Gender Studies, please visit www.sussex.ac.uk/gender/postgrad or Email Dr Alison Phipps, Director of Gender Studies, at [email protected]. Dr Alison Phipps, Director of Gender Studies, Lecturer in Sociology, Arts D322, Falmer Campus, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9SN, t: +44 (0)1273-877689, f: +44 (0)1273-673563, w: www.sussex.ac.uk/gender Graduate Program: Kunsthistorisches Institut der Universität Zürich, MA History of Art and Photography with Technical Studies Bewerbungsschluss: 31.03.2009. Spezialisierter Masterstudiengang Geschichte der Kunst und Fotografie mit technischen Studien. (Master of Arts in History of Art and Photography with Technical Studies) Der neue spezialisierte Masterstudiengang am Kunsthistorischen Institut der Universität Zürich bietet eine forschungs- und praxisorientierte Ausbildung zum Erwerb einer doppelten Kompetenz im Bereich der Kunst- und Fotografiegeschichte. Das Programm fördert Exzellenz im Studium und in den Abschlüssen für besonders begabte und motivierte Studierende. - Zu den Ausbildungszielen zählen insbesondere: - Vertiefte Kenntnisse von Kunst und Fotografie in ihren ästhetischen, technischen, historischen und inhaltlichen Wechselwirkungen - Kritische Analyse des Verhältnisses von Technik-, Material- und Ideengeschichte des Bildes. - Fähigkeit kritischer und komparativer Analyse künstlerischer, wissenschaftlicher und dokumentarischer Bildmedien im Verhältnis zu sozialen und politischen Diskursen sowie Praktiken der Distribution (Ausstellung, Museum, Kunsthandel, öffentliche Medien). Das Studienprogramm bietet spezifische Lehr- und Forschungskooperationen am Standort Zürich sowie internationale Kooperationen mit Partnerinstitutionen. Neben einer spezialisierten Lehre werden Sommerschulen, Workshops und Mobilitätsprogramme für Studierende und Dozierende angeboten. Zulassungsregelungen (Vorbehaltlich): Zugelassen werden Studierende, die mit einem nachweislichen Schwerpunkt in der Technik- und Mediengeschichte der Künste oder visuellen Kultur im Umfang von mindestens 12 ECTS ein B.A.-Studium in den Fächern Kunstgeschichte, Fotografiegeschichte, Geschichte, Filmwissenschaft, Ethnologie, Populäre Kulturen, Literaturwissenschaften, Publizistikwissenschaft oder in vergleichbaren Disziplinen an einer Universität oder an einer Kunsthochschule bzw. Fachhochschule absolviert haben. In begründeten Fällen können auch Absolventen mit Diplomabschluss oder vergleichbaren Abschlüssen künstlerischer, museologischer oder kunsttechnologischer Ausbildungsgänge zugelassen werden. Zusätzlich werden ein Praktikum im Technikund/oder Kulturbereich im Umfang von mindestens 2 ECTS sowie in der Regel eine Seminararbeit im Teilgebiet Kunstgeschichte oder Fotografiegeschichte, im Umfang von mindestens 6 ECTS mit der Mindestnote 5,5, verlangt. Darüber hinaus sind Sprachkenntnisse in Englisch (über Maturaniveau B2) und einer weiteren lebenden Sprache (über Maturaniveau B2) nachzuweisen. Ausserdem wird ein Motivationsschreiben gewünscht. Die Auswahl erfolgt durch die Programmdirektoren, die "sur dossier" entscheiden und mit den Bewerbern der engeren Auswahl Gespräche führen. Bewerbung mit Lebenslauf und Motivationsschreiben (ca. 3000 Zeichen) werden erbeten bis zum 31. März 2009, per Email oder in Papierform, an: Universität Zürich, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Rämistr. 73, CH-8006 Zürich Email: [email protected] Bei Rückfragen kontaktieren Sie bitte den Studienberater des Kunsthistorischen Instituts, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kersten ([email protected]), Rämistr. 73, 8006 Zürich, +41446342829, +41446344914. Weitere Informationen über Lehre und Forschung am Institut finden Sie unter: http://www.khist.uzh.ch/Studium.html. Graduate Program: Newcastle University, PhD and Master Scholarships in German Studies For the coming academic session (2009-10), the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University invites applications for Masters and PhD awards http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/postgrad/. Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 4 6 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 A variety of bursaries http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/postgrad/funding/ are available for UK, EU and overseas candidates. In addition to AHRC funding and Newcastle Faculty funding, the School is offering 8 bursaries (6 at Masters level and 2 at PhD level). One 3-year PhD studentship offered by the School is reserved exclusively for German Studies, and all the general funding opportunities of the School of Modern Languages are also open to candidates wishing to pursue German Studies. This can be either in one of the taught MA programmes or in a research degree (MLitt or PhD). The following MA-programmes can be studied with a focus on German: MA in Professional Translating for European Languages (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/postgrad/european/) MA in International Film (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/postgrad/film/) MA in Linguistics and Language acquisition (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/postgrad/linguist/index.htm) MA in Linguistics of European Languages (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/postgrad/linguistics_euro/index.htm) For research degrees (MLitt and PhD) we are happy to supervise in the following areas German Linguistics http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/german/#German4 Medieval German Studies http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/german/#German4 Modern German Literature http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/german/#German4 Bursary applications should include: 1. A letter of application stating the programme for which the bursary is sought and outlining how this relates to your previous academic work. 2. A curriculum vitae 3. The names and contact details of two referees who can comment on your academic performance. 4. Applications for research programmes should include a copy of the candidate's research proposal. Proposals should be written according to the University's guidelines available at www.ncl.ac.uk/hss/postgrad/studentships. The closing date for completed applications that wish to be considered for AHRC-funding is 27 February 2009. The School bursaries' deadline is 30 June 2009. Informal enquiries may be directed to Prof. Henrike Lähnemann: [email protected], (Director of Postgraduate Studies), Chair of German Studies http://ncl.ac.uk/sml/german, School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University, GB - NE1 7RU Newcastle upon Tyne, Tel.: 0044 191 2227513, email: [email protected], Website http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/henrike.laehnemann/ * Medingen http://research.ncl.ac.uk/medingen/ project * Medieval and Early Modern Studies, http://research.ncl.ac.uk/mems Graduate Stipends: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. 20 Research Fellowships open to all disciplines Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München awards 20 Research Fellowships as of 1 July 2009. These fellowships are open to excellent postdocs in all disciplines. Applicants must have completed their doctoral studies in any field, having graduated no more than three years ago with outstanding results. Candidates must be able to design a research project and successfully carry it through to completion. The project must be supported by a professor of LMU Munich. The fellows will also be associated with the Center for Advanced Studies and be able to make use of its services. The fellowships come with an attractive award (of up to 60,000 per year). For carrying out a research project at LMU Munich, an additional 25,000 may be applied for as start-up funding, as well as up to 10,000 per year as material and travel expenses. Also, in the first two years following completion of their research stay, the fellows may be provided with up to 5,000 for continuation of cooperative efforts with LMU Munich. The fellowships are initially limited to two years. An extension of two years may be granted upon a positive academic evaluation. You will find all information about the conditions of application at: www.lmu.de/excellent/researchfellowships. Closing date for applications is April 15, 2009. Contact Info: Prof. Dr. Bernd Huber, President of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 Munich, Germany. email: [email protected] Website: http://www.lmu.de/excellent/research-fellowships Gisela Shaw Conference Bursary 2009 The Gisela Shaw Conference Bursary is an annual award made to postgraduate students working in the field of German studies instituted by the Association for Modern German Studies in honour of Professor Gisela Shaw on her retirement and in gratitude for her valuable contribution to the work of the Association over many years. Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 4 7 Women i n German Newsletter Spring 2 009 1. The Association for Modern German Studies (AMGS) is offering 2 bursaries of up to £250 to postgraduate students in the field of German studies who wish to present a paper at a national or international conference. The panel will decide which applicants should reserve the award based on the submission of an abstract and a costed set of conference and travel arrangements. The key criterion will be the quality of the abstract but value for money will also be a consideration. 2. All inquiries relating to this competition are to be addressed to Dr Carol Tully, School of Modern Languages, Bangor University ([email protected]). The deadline for receipt of entries is 31 March 2009. Entries must be submitted electronically to Dr Tully. 3. Entries are invited from all students registered for a Higher Degree in the UK at the deadline, including students on PGCE courses in German. (Evidence of status is required, e.g. written confirmation from supervisor). The topic of the paper/conference can emanate from any aspect of German studies, including teaching methodology. 4. Papers may be written and delivered in any language. 5. The winner of the Gisela Shaw Conference Bursary will be selected by a jury which will consist of AMGS members. The jury will be appointed annually by the Convenor of the Association, and will normally consist of four members. The composition of the jury will reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the Association's activities and its intended bridging function between the school and the further and higher educations sectors. 6. The winner will be selected by 1 May 2009 and will be notified as soon as possible thereafter. 7. The judges' decision is final. The Association reserves the right to withhold the prize if no papers of sufficient quality are submitted. Doktorandenkolloquium der Lessing-Akademie (Herbst 2009) Die Lessing-Akademie Wolfenbüttel veranstaltet vom 2. bis 4. Oktober ein Doktorandenkolloquium für junge Wissenschaftler, die an einer Dissertation zu Lessing oder zu einem übergreifenden, in enger Verbindung mit Lessing stehenden Thema arbeiten. Sie sollen unter der Leitung der Lessing-Forscher Prof. Hugh Barr Nisbet (Cambridge) und Dr. Thomas Martinec (Regensburg) die Möglichkeit zur Diskussion ihrer Arbeiten erhalten. Das Kolloquium möchte junge Lessing- und Aufklärungsforscher zusammenbringen, den wissenschaftlichen Austausch fördern sowie durch den Austausch von Literaturempfehlungen, Hilfsmitteln der Forschung, spezifischen Bibliographien, Registern usf. Arbeitserleichterungen schaffen. Ein weiterer Ertrag könnte die deutlichere Profilierung des eigenen Forschungsvorhabens sein. Interessenten wenden sich bitte bis zum 31. Juli 2009 an die Lessing-Akademie: c/o Herzog August Bibliothek, Schloßplatz 2, 38304 Wolfenbüttel, e-mail: [email protected] Erbeten werden: 1. Ein Exposé des Dissertationsvorhabens (1 bis max. 1 Seiten); 2. ein kurzgefaßter Lebenslauf; 3. ein Empfehlungsschreiben des Betreuers der Dissertation. Das Kolloquium soll zwei Arbeitstage umfassen; die Vorstellung der Einzelvorhaben ist auf 30 Minuten begrenzt. Zwei Übernachtungen sowie Reisekosten bis max. 200 werden von der Lessing-Akademie gezahlt. Bei Interesse mehrerer Teilnehmer kann eine gemeinsame Führung durch die Herzog August Bibliothek organisiert werden. Submissions Policy: European News welcomes announcements of events in the fields of German and Women’s studies taking place in Europe. Tanja Nusser, Universität Bielefeld, [email protected] and Dr. Carrie Smith-Prei, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, [email protected]. Return to ToC Wome n in Ge rma n Ne wsle tte r 111 ( Sp ring 20 09 ): 4 8