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Please join us for our next research seminar in German Studies at King’s College London on Wednesday 18th March!
Wednesday 18th March: 12.30-2pm (Virginia Woolf Building, Room 6.06)
Voyeurism and Epistolary Novels in the 18th Century
Yulia Marfutova, WWU Münster/King’s College London
Peeking into other people’s private correspondence is usually considered something indecent, even immoral. Yet disregarding the secrecy of correspondence is a fundamental principle of epistolary novels, inasmuch as they present private letters to the public. Although the letters in question are (of course) fictional, the fascination with epistolary novels derives from the way they play with authenticity, notably through their simulation of “real” bundles of letters. This talk (held in German) examines the voyeuristic position imposed on the readership by epistolary novels and links it to aesthetic and philosophical conceptualisations of clandestine observations in the 18th century.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/german/eventrecords/2014-15/researchsem10.aspx
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