EMERGING GERMAN WRITERS
(11-13 May 2001)
(New: PhD Opportunities)
The German Department at the University of Leeds is planning a symposium in May 2001 (11-13), focusing on emerging writers in the German-speaking world. In recent years there has been much talk of 'Neue Lesbarkeit', the 'return' to story-telling, and the 'abandonment' of socially-engaged and socially-critical writing for more purely aesthetic concerns. This symposium will examine the reality of a plurality of different approaches in new German writing, looking at both individual authors and broader trends. The focus is very much on a new generation of writers, rather than on established figures.
Papers will concentrate on a single author/theme; groups of authors taking similar or contrasting approaches to the same subject (the GDR legacy, 'women', postmodernity, etc.); overarching issues of 'Neue Lesbarkeit', aesthetics, political engagement, the influence of the Anglo-American narrative tradition. Click here for provisional programme.
A panel of authors, publishers, editors, translators and reviewers will address the mechanisms of the literary market place that enable new German writers to find a public in the Anglo-American world. Click here for participants.
Dr Dieter Stolz of the Literarisches Colloquium Berlin and Dr Martin Hielscher, commissioning editor for new German literature at the Cologne-based publishers Kiepenheuer & Witsch, have accepted invitations to attend.
The symposium enjoys the generous support of the Goethe Institut, London
(to be returned to Stuart Taberner by April 15 2001)
Organisers: Frank Finlay and Stuart Taberner
Last Updated:07/03/01