***Call for Papers***
Postgraduate Workshop on Wolfgang Hildesheimer
Department of German and Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations
Queen Mary, University of London
Organiser: Isabel Wagner
June 2009
Wolfgang Hildesheimer (1916-1991), author of Tynset (1965), Mozart (1977)
and Marbot (1981), maker of collages, Joyce translator, German
representative of the Theatre of the Absurd and known for his decision to
cease writing in 1983, is nowadays almost forgotten among students of German
literature and has mainly disappeared from university reading lists. This is
despite the fact that he won the Büchner-Preis in 1966, corresponded with
numerous contemporary intellectuals (his letters were published by Suhrkamp
in 1999) and was represented in Reich-Ranicki’s canonical selection of short
stories in 2003.
Nevertheless, his work is today as topical as ever, still challenging
literary theory with its unique combining of socio-historical and
experimental qualities. Especially the nowadays widely discussed research
areas of ‘literarische Erinnerungsräume’ (in so-called ‘fictions of memory’)
and ‘intermediality’ (taking into account Hildesheimer’s ‘Trippelbegabung’)
could contribute considerably to a revaluation of Hildesheimer’s work.
In this context the workshop aims to bring together postgraduates working on
any aspect of Wolfgang Hildesheimer’s writing in order to facilitate
intellectual exchange and dialogue.
Topics might include but are by no means limited to Wolfgang Hildesheimer and
- England, English Literature
- NS-Germany, Judaism
- History, Historiographic Metafiction
- Biography
- Memory
- Space
- The Absurd
- Fine Art, Music
- Intertextuality
- ‘Monologische Prosa’
- Experimental Literature
- Radio Play
- Other National Literatures
Please indicate whether you are interested in writing a position paper by
20th March 2009. Abstracts of no more than 500 words for a 20 minute paper
should be sent by 20th April 2009.
The workshop is envisaged for one day in the second half of June. However,
final arrangements will depend on responses.
Contact:
Isabel Wagner, M.A.
Email: [log in to unmask]
School of Languages, Linguistics and Film
Queen Mary, University of London
London E1 4NS
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