6 - 7 May 2004
'Wenn die Rosenhimmel tanzen'
Oriental Motifs in 19th- and 20th-Century German Literature and Thought
CONFERENCE AT THE INSTITUTE OF GERMANIC STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
Co-Ordinators:
Professor Rüdiger Görner (London/Aston) and Dr Nima Mina (London)
Discourses on orientalism are riddled with stereotypes. Ever since Edward
Said attacked this cultural phenomenon ('Orientalism', 1978) as an
expression of western hypocrisy that had prevented a genuine understanding
of the Orient, critics have focused on the way in which artists and
intellectuals construct their image of the East. W. Montgomery Watt, for
instance, examined the influence of Islam on the Middle Ages in Europe
(1988) and concluded that Christian culture had used its dominance to deny
the huge impact of the Arabic world on the scientifically and poetically
based rise of early modernism.
The controversies accompanying the 'fatwa' against Salman Rushdie and the
award of the 'Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels' to Annemarie Schimmel
epitomise the mistrust between eastern and western intellectuals. However,
Austrian, German and Swiss literati and scholars have a strong tradition of
working towards a mutual understanding between the Orient and Occident. From
Hammer-Purgstall to Rudolf Gelpke's acclaimed translations and legendary
study 'Vom Rausch im Orient und Okzident' (1966), from Goethe and the
Romantics to Nietzsche, Ludwig II, Hofmannsthal, Lasker-Schüler and Ernst
Jünger, the German-language cultures of the 19th and 20th centuries provide
countless examples of their preoccupation with the Orient.
Taking its title from a poem by Else Lasker-Schüler, this conference will
examine the strengths and weaknesses of the German contribution to what was
chiefly a literary and intellectual orientalism and one comparatively
unencumbered by imperialistic ambition. It will discuss the significance of
poetic imagery for the development of a multicultural community strongly
influenced, in contemporary Germany, by the presence of 'oriental' writers.
In the context of this conference, 'oriental' refers to the Arabic, Hebrew,
Persian and Turkish languages. Our aim is to reach out to the research
community exploring Austrian, German and Swiss orientalism in literature and
academia and its legacy. Papers should not exceed 30 minutes.
SUBMISSIONS
Abstracts, of between 200 and 300 words, should be submitted to both
Co-Ordinators no later than 30 September 2003: Professor Rüdiger Görner,
Institute of Germanic Studies, School of Advanced Study, 29 Russell Square,
GB-London WC1B 5DP, <[log in to unmask]>and Dr Nima Mina, Near and
Middle East Languages, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh
Street, GB-London WC1H 0XG <[log in to unmask]>.
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INSTITUTE OF GERMANIC STUDIES
University of London School of Advanced Study
29 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DP
Tel: +44 (0)20- 7862 8965/6
Fax: +44 (0)20- 7862 8970
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: http://www.sas.ac.uk/igs/
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