Spring 2009 Series
Friday, January 30, 2009
2:00 p.m.
"Udohla – Plattform für Karoline von Günderrodes philosophische Gedanken"
Silke Lipinski, Doctoral Student, Department of German Studies
Location: German Studies Conference Room
Learning Services Building (1st/Vine)
Für Karoline von Günderrode wie für Kleist bedeutet Schreiben, den in der Realität nicht erfüllbaren Wünschen und Träumen literarisch zur Existenz zu verhelfen. Dennoch werden Günderrodes Werke bis heute entweder allein unter dem Vorzeichen der alleinigen Widerspiegelung der philosophischen Gedanken-strömungen ihrer Zeit oder der Widerspiegelung ihrer psychischen Realität gelesen. Dabei wird jedoch übersehen, dass Karoline von Günderrode durchaus nicht nur den zeitgenössischen philosophischen Diskurs widerspiegelt, sondern ihre eigenen, explizit vom Gedankengut der Aufklärung und der Romantik unabhängigen, philosophischen Gedanken äußert. Sie macht sich zum Ausdruck ihrer eigenen Philosophie die Hardenbergsche Poetologie zunutze, in der ein selbst nicht greifbares tertium comparationis als Mittel dient, auf das Absolute mittels Analogiebildung zu verweisen. Eine aussagekräftige Analogiebildung, die die eigenen Ansätze Günderrodes darstellt, kann in ihrem Drama Udohla, welches in der Rezeption ihrer Werke nahezu vollständig übergangen wurde und hier im Mittelpunkt der Betrachtungen steht, gefunden werden.
Friday, February 20, 2009
2:00 p.m.
"Die Wannseekonferenz (1984)"
Shlomo Aronson, Visiting Professor, Department of Judaic Studies
Location: German Studies Conference Room
Learning Services Building (1st/Vine)
Professor Aronson will show select clips from the 1984 Fernsehfilm Die Wannseekonferenz, a real time recreation of the 1942 Wannsee Conference, in which leading SS and Nazi Party officials gathered to discuss the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.” Led by SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the Wannsee Conference was the starting point of the Holocaust. Professor Aronson will discuss the making of the film and his role as historical adviser. He also will discuss the opening of archives worldwide, which made possible his research for the publication of Hitler, the Allies, and the Jews (paper edition 2006).
Friday, March 27, 2009
2:00 p.m.
"A Turkish Tale: Genre, Subjectivity, and Controversy around Feridun Zaimoglu's Leyla"
Dr. Chantelle Warner, Department of German Studies
Location: German Studies Conference Room
Learning Services Building (1st/Vine)
In 2006 an anonymous German scholar leveled the accusation that large portions of Feridun Zaimoglu’s newest novel Leyla (2006) had been plagiarized from Emine Sevgi Özdamar’s likewise critically acclaimed work Das Leben ist eine Karawanserei (1992). These charges were immediately picked up by the literary critics of the feuilletons, who parsed out the parallel aspects of the two books and grappled with the potential import of the similarities. Had Zaimoglu borrowed material or his novel from Özdamar’s story of a Anatolian girl from the village who seeks her fortune in Germany, or, as many critics argued, were these coincidences attributable to shared Turkish cultural experiences? This talk focuses on the reception of Leyla pre- and post-scandal, in the context of Zaimoglu’s previous works, and argues that the controversy surrounding Zaimoglu’s Leyla is revealing of a larger tendency to understand life stories – especially those of marginalized figures – in terms of the culturally genericized identities that they invoke.
Friday, April 17, 2009
2:00 p.m.
"Dis-(?) united Germany and the Elections of 2009"
Prof. Gerald Kleinfeld, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University, Founding Executive Director, German Studies Association
Location: Learning Services Building (1st/Vine), Room 107
(enter through the East Asian Studies Department, Room 102)
This talk will provide insight into contemporary Germany’s political culture, focus on the upcoming election, and look at the impact of the election on the USA and Europe.
TBA
2:00 p.m.
Roundtable Discussion on the MLA Report
"Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World"
Location: German Studies Conference Room
Learning Services Building (1st/Vine) |
