Dear colleagues,

Germania Remembered 1600-2009
International Symposium, University of Nottingham, November 20-21, 2009

Please find attached a call for papers for a conference to be hosted by Dr 
Christina Lee and myself at the University of Nottingham. Please do 
distribute this to colleagues in other disciplines (languages, history, art 
history ...) who might be interested.

I also paste in the text of the CFP here below. Apologies for cross-
postings!

Best wishes,

Nicola McLelland

 
	Institute for Medieval Research
Germania Remembered 1600-2009
International Symposium, University of Nottingham, November 20-21, 2009

First Call for Papers
2009 marks the 2000th anniversary of the Battle of the Teutoburger Wald 
(Hermannsschlacht) when ‘Hermann’ (Arminius) and the Germanic tribe of the 
Cherusci defeated the Roman forces. This event is widely remembered in post-
medieval sources, where it has served as a template for a proud tradition 
of ‘free Germania’ for writers and scholars in Germany and beyond. Ever 
since the rediscovery of sources like Tacitus’s Germania in the 15th 
century, not just remembrance of the Teutoburger Wald, but also subsequent 
rediscoveries and re-creations of the Germanic inheritance have been 
incorporated into the self-images of Germany and of other countries. Such 
remembrances and reinventions have taken many different forms, from 
uncritical praise (as 17th-century cultural patriots’ praise for the 
ancient Germanic language), to Romantic medievalism, to biting satire (such 
as Heine’s Nordsee 1825) and Nazi mythologizing.

The tradition of Germania in German and other literatures and cultures will 
be explored at a Symposium in 2009 at the University of Nottingham. How is 
Germania – the peoples, customs and morals, language and literature, of 
ancient northern Europe – remembered and reinvented from 1600-2009? How do 
such remembrances and re-creations help construct national or trans-
national identities, in Europe and beyond? We particularly invite 
comparative approaches, whether exploring continuities and discontinuities 
over time, or examining similarities and differences between individual 
writers, between discourse traditions, and/or in different countries. 

Professor Roberta Frank will present a plenary lecture at the Symposium. 
Professor Frank has published widely on medievalism, and is Marie Borroff 
Professor of English at Yale University. 

Conference strands: 
1. Urtext, Ursprache? The Germanic inheritance in language history and 
philology
2. Re-inventing traditions: The recreated Germanic past in literature and 
culture
3. Germania Historia: The Germanic past in history and philosophy
4. Stage and Screen: The Germanic past in theatre and film

Submission of Abstracts: Abstracts of 350 words should be emailed 
(preferably as Word attachments) to the organizers (email below) by May 
15th, 2009, indicating under which panel you wish to be considered. 

For all enquiries, please contact the organizers:
Dr Christina Lee (School of English Studies, University of Nottingham) 
[log in to unmask]
Dr Nicola McLelland (School of Modern Languages, University of Nottingham) 
[log in to unmask]

Sponsors: Institute for Medieval Research at the University of Nottingham 
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medieval/index.php