German Literature from the 18th to the 21st century

Together, we cover the full spectrum of German Literature from the 18th to the 21st century: from general literature (aesthetic theory, poetics, literary theory, and methodology) to theory of literary genre (autobiography, essays, the novel, the novella, short stories, drama, and theater) and the works of authors from the 18th to the 21st century (Rousseau, Wieland, Herder, Knigge, Moritz, Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel, Novalis, Kleist, Büchner, Hofmannsthal, Schnitzer, Broch, Musil, Benjamin, Brecht, Heiner Müller, Bachmann, Jelinek, Streeruwitz, Kronauer, and others).

We advocate for the integration of (literary) scholarly theory and practice (text analysis). A key focus of our research team is literary modernism from a cultural studies perspective. Guiding paradigms—while maintaining fundamental methodological openness—are metatextuality and performativity, which productively subvert existing concepts of authorship, unity of the work, and historical epoch.

In addition to the two postdoctoral projects and the master’s theses and (post-)doctoral projects we are supervising, a research proposal on multiperspectivity and gender crossing is currently being prepared. Following the International Heiner Müller Symposium, which Till Nitschmann organized in collaboration with Florian Vaßen, Ole Hruschka (Performing Arts), and Schauspiel Hannover in March 2019 at the German Department, Mandy Dröscher-Teille and Birgit Nübel are currently preparing an international Marlene Streeruwitz conference in cooperation with the Literaturhaus Hannover, scheduled for March 26–28, 2020.

In the 2019/20 winter semester, Mandy Dröscher-Teille and Birgit Nübel are leading a research colloquium in preparation for the conference on the topic “Austrian Women Writers between ‘Madness,’ Poetic Art Form, and Subversive Criticism. (Mayröcker – Streeruwitz – Jelinek)” at the German Department at Leibniz University Hannover.