From March 19-21, Susanne Bayerlipp (Munich), Ralf Haekel (Göttingen / Darmstadt), and Johannes Schlegel (Potsdam) are hosting the conference “Literature and Media Theory” at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Speakers and participants will explore the medial dimensions of literary texts from a variety of theoretical and historical angles, as outlined in the conference abstract:
It is the aim of this conference to critically investigate literature as a medium in the light of cultural techniques: How can the mediality of literature be explored without reducing it to textuality? What are the benefits in using theoretical concepts such as cultural technique and mediality when interpreting a given literary text? How is the field of literary studies supposed to respond to the described theoretical circumstances? Fundamentally relying on its material and technical nature – writing, print, text, etc. – literature is also constitutively not reducible to them. We believe that the dialogue between literary and cultural studies, on the one hand, and media studies, on the other, promises to open up new perspectives and opportunities. We are particularly interested in contributions combining advanced theoretically informed thought with a historical perspective on concrete literary texts. We invite proposals that combine theoretical rationale with readings from Anglophone literatures spanning from the Early Modern period to the present.
In addition to various panel sessions, the conference features two keynote lectures by Christoph Reinfandt (Tübingen)
Laurence Rickels (Saas-Fee/Karlsruhe). Please visit the conference website for more information, including the detailed program. The conference fee is 40,- EUR; registration is now open.
Book History and Print Culture Network 