Research team
Expertise
My expertise lies in the research areas of Modern German Literature and Jewish Studies. I research literary and aesthetic constellations in the period from the Enlightenment to the present day. In my dissertation, I analyzed discourses of remembrance of the Shoah in literature and audiovisual media. I dedicated my habilitation to the significance of friendship for German-language literary history. Accordingly, my methodological expertise lies in the areas of discourse analysis and the study of literature in relation to cultural as well as to sociological contexts. My research also focuses on German-Jewish literary history, the relationship between literature and migration, intersectionality and gender research. Authors that I have worked on intensely include G. E. Lessing, M. Mendelssohn, Rahel Levin Varnhagen, Clemens Brentano, Heinrich Heine, Fanny Lewald, Therese von Bacheracht, Louise Aston, Berthold Auerbach, Gustav Freytag, Karl Wolfskehl, Stefan George, Walter Benjamin, Gertrud Kolmar, Wolfgang Hildesheimer, Alfred Andersch, Hannah Arendt, Jean Améry, Imre Kertész, Primo Levi, Ruth Klüger, Robert Schindel, Doron Rabinovici, Esther Dischereit, Katja Petrowska, Olga Grjasnowa and Sasha Marianna Salzmann.
Scenes of friendship in German and English children's literature
Abstract
Friendship is a central theme in children's literature, with many famous friends populating both classics and contemporary titles. Despite its omnipresence, a systematic exploration of friendship in children's books is currently lacking. Starting in sociology, friendship studies has only recently emerged as a vibrant field in cultural studies, with key publications by historian Barbara Caine (2009), philosopher Alexander Nehamas (2010) and literary scholar Andree Michaelis-König (2023). In times of polarization, the abilities to foster meaningful and reciprocal connections with other human beings, to overcome differences and resolve conflicts get particular pedagogical weight. This doctoral project draws on the field of friendship studies to analyse how friendship is practiced in a selection of English and German children's books. Using narrative analysis, close reading and discourse analysis as its main methods, it seeks answers to the following research questions: How is friendship practiced in children's literature? Who becomes friends with whom? What is the impact of age, gender, race, class and religion on how friendships are practiced? How are differences between friends negotiated and conflicts resolved? What contextual factors (space, role of adults, historical period, national context, genre, age range, etc.) influence how fictional friendships are framed and practiced? What function does friendship have for the characters, the plot and the implied reader? The project's focus on "scenes of friendship" responds to a broader need today to attend more closely to "notions of entanglement, co-dependency, and living networks" (Fuchs & Cosgrove 2024). In doing so, it answers a call to pay more attention to relationality in philosophy, education and literary studies.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Michaelis-König Andree
Research team(s)
Funding
- BOF
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Intersections of Jewish and Working-Class Emancipation in 19th Century German Writing (1830-1860): Affinities and Differences in Revolutionary Times.
Abstract
The project investigates the intersections between Jewish and working-class emancipation in German literature from 1830 to 1860, with a focus on the revolutionary period of 1848/49. Employing an intersectional framework, the research explores literary texts by Jewish and non-Jewish authors, analyzing their portrayals of mutual struggles for social and political equality. It sheds light on how literature served as a medium for empathy, critique, and visionary thought during a period of intense societal transformation. Despite the significant overlap between these movements, their literary dimensions remain underexplored, particularly in the context of 19th-century Jewish writing and its relation to early socialist ideals. This project aims to address these gaps by examining lesser-known authors and works, including those by women. This approach highlights how literature of the time reflected and shaped discourses on emancipation, identity, and belonging. By revisiting this pivotal historical period through an intersectional lens, the study not only contributes to literary and Jewish studies but also offers insights into broader questions of identity and diversity. It expands the canon of 19th-century literature while fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, bridging historical research with contemporary debates on intersectionality and inclusion.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Michaelis-König Andree
- Fellow: Vandeweyer Lorenza
Research team(s)
Funding
- BOF
Project type(s)
- Research Project