Körber European Science’s Post

The "Sturm und Drang" literary period in Germany occurred during the late 18th century and is characterized by a rebellion against the constraints of society and a focus on individual expression and emotion. This movement emphasized passion, instinct, and the natural world, often rejecting rationalism and Enlightenment ideals. Two prominent figures of the Sturm und Drang movement were Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Both Schiller and Goethe were influential writers of the time, producing works that are still widely studied and admired today. Goethe's Faust, a tragic play that explores themes of ambition, knowledge, and the human experience, is perhaps his most famous work and a classic of German literature. Schiller's plays, such as "The Robbers" and "Wallenstein," also reflect the intense emotions and turbulent nature of the Sturm und Drang period. As a student of German Literature, I found the works of Goethe and Schiller to be particularly compelling. Their exploration of human passion, rebellion against societal norms, and the power of the individual spirit resonated deeply with me. I conducted research on this period during my Master’s studies and found the complexity and depth of their writing to be truly fascinating. In conclusion, the Sturm und Drang period, with its emphasis on emotion, spontaneity, and individualism, produced some of the most captivating and enduring literary works of the German tradition, with Goethe and Schiller standing out as shining examples of this extraordinary era. #germanlanguage #Germanliterature #frommyresearchwork #StrumUndDrang #Epoche #literaryworld

Interesting read -

It makes me proud that Bulgarian literature, and in particular Georgi Gospodinov's, is getting international recognition more and more. I can't say it better than the opening line of this article: The UK (and the world) is late to the Georgi Gospodinov party. Read the article, and more importantly, read the books, if you seek an alternative perspective on the elements that compose our lives. https://lnkd.in/dv8E46px

An exciting new edited volume in our East and West series (brill.com/ewcd) is in production and will be published this summer! (Link: https://lnkd.in/eMys_8Xk) I was very happy to work with Daniel M. Greenberg (University of Minnesota) and Mari Yoko Hara (Notre Dame), the volume editors of "From Rome to Beijing: Sacred Spaces in Dialogue," and we’re greatly appreciate of the work of our series editor, George Wei, on this volume as well. Dr. Greenberg and Dr. Hara begin by asking a perennial question: What does it mean to be a global citizen? They and their contributors examine a wide range of objects, practices, and spaces in Rome and Beijing that shows the global citizenry of the Jesuits and Chinese in early modern times. In their Introduction, the volume editors elaborate: “From Rome to Beijing: Sacred Spaces in Dialogue uses the paradigm of space—imagined, constructed, communicated, and experienced—to explore cross-cultural dialogue in the early-modern period. Beyond mere “contact” or “influence,” we are interested in analyzing the negotiations among people of diverse backgrounds that occurred in different types of spaces and in nuancing the ill-defined binary of “China” and “Europe” that has tended to overshadow early-modern Sino-Jesuit scholarship… Focusing on Sino-Jesuit exchange from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, we consider how divergent traditions, worldviews, and values sought common ground, not through weapons or commerce but through the production of paintings, prints, scientific instruments, spiritual texts, buildings, and cities. In their essays, historians of art, science, and religion examine the cross-cultural communication and miscommunication that defined these encounters, exploring how spatial constructs were deployed to navigate the tension between local needs and global aspirations. Together, the essays in this book highlight some of the most central themes that shaped postcolonial studies of the history of globalization: multiple modernities, hybridity, and empire.” (The cover is a mark-up, but we’ll have an official one soon.) 

Cannibal Angels : Transatlantic Modernism and the Brazilian Avant-Garde by  Kenneth David Jackson (Author)  Amazon Format : Kindle Edition In the first three decades of the twentieth century, #artists, #writers, #musicians, and #architects from both sides of the Atlantic interacted to create a #modern style for Brazil. Their works shaped Brazilian national expression and self-definition for the twentieth century and into the present, with renewed relevance as #Brazil plays an increasingly important role in global affairs. #Artists such as #Tarsila do Amaral and Roberto Burle-Marx are appearing for the first time in #museums in the #USA and #Europe, along with the concept of antropofagia from the «Cannibal Manifesto», a theory of #cultural autonomy and a model for fusion, hybridity, and assimilation. This book offers a cultural history and interpretation of #Brazilian #modernism in the #arts and letters, exploring how modernism depends on transatlantic negotiation and develops through interchanges between Brazilians and Europeans : https://lnkd.in/eQcpmTdj : #art #Brazil #Brazillian #avantgarde #tarsila #tarsiladoamaral #culture #modernism #arteducation : Contemporary Art Management : Art Sales Online : artsales.online

Vient de paraître : Jean-Louis Haquette et Helga Meise (dir.), "From #Press to Readers: Studies in the #Materiality Of #Print Culture" The seven articles in this volume, written by French and German specialists in book history, address various aspects of the materiality of print culture, examining both the processes of book production and the paths of book circulation. They explore notions of composition, collection and circulation of texts and images, from manuscript to books designed for specific readers. They are based on a variety of sources from archive documents to the study of specific manuscript or printed copies. The perspective is transnational, taking at Gutenberg's Europe as a space for the circulation of print, and concerns early modernity, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. https://lnkd.in/dMvgAY6P

More on https://ift.tt/ADHblM0 The Nobel Prize Daily #Literature #year2009 who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, Some literature reveals its deep qualities slowly, step by step. Other literature captures the reader immediately by its resolute address. Herta Müller’s work belongs in the latter category. Her prose has a linguistic energy that we bond with from the first sentence. Something concerning life or death is at stake. We sense this quickly through the temperature, the hurried breathing, the sharp detail, and everything implied but left unsaid. This energy springs from a refusal to accept what is. Herta Müller chooses opposition as method, making common cause with the Austrian author, Thomas Bernhard. But, even more strongly than Bernhard’s, her work is anchored in her own experience. She has said that her subjects have chosen her, not the other way around. Almost everything she writes is about life under Ceauşescu’s Romanian dictatorship, its fear and betrayal and constant surveillance. But Herta Müller has also portrayed a kind of dictatorship within a dictatorship: the small, German-speaking rural society in western Romania where she grew up. We enter it in her first book *Niederungen,* 1983 (*Nadirs,* 1999) a suite as cruel as luminous images to a child’s gaping senses. Out steps an alien ego, its alienation also self-induced through a transformative, critical gaze. In the visionary short prose of *Barfüssiger Februar* from 1987, a dream image such as the black axis deep down at the bottom of the well captures, with hallucinatory strength, the way a village existence orbits life and death. Quickly, the exposition of alienation widens into the Romanian dictatorship in general. This happens especially after Herta Müller is forced into exile in Germany in 1987 after years of censorship, interrogation and harassment. It can be said that in her case, exile serves to sharpen the confrontation with dictatorship. This occurs in novels such as: *Der Fuchs war damals schon der Jäger* from 1992, with its shining series of images of everyday terror; *Herztier,* 1994 (*The Land of Green Plums,* 1996) a masterful account of the flight of a group of youths from the terror regime; or *Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet,* 1997 (*The Appointment,* 2001) a fractured, chilling thriller in the shadow of imminent interrogation. Herta Müller’s experience of oppression leaves her no peace. But central to her art are figures of opposition. In a famous essay, Claudio Guillén coined the word ‘counter-exile’ for writers not defeated by exile through nostalgia. For Herta Müller, doubly rootless, return is an impossibility. The nostalgia is unconscious, flickering through only in the shape of a lone apricot tree on an embankment, so foreign in Berlin’s northern latitudes. As so often, objects...

Sunday thoughts. Is there something creeping up on us? Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Revenge of the Tipping Point, reveals the rise of the troubling form of social engineering happening in our digitally super-connected environment. Are our thoughts our own? He is trying to help make sense of the contagions of the modern world. Kirsi Piha, a Finnish author in her new book Muukalaisia (translates into ’strangers’), reveals mechanisms tearing us apart, dividing humans into ’us’ and ’them’. How are our opinions and perceptions formed and again - are they really ours? Why is it so hard to have un-polarized discussions? One could easily become depressed when reading these books. We are being manipulated in so many ways that it takes great effort to stay cool-headed and critically minded. What I find hope-inducing, however, is that such books now emerge. Collective wake-up is much needed for us each not to fall into our individual rabbit holes. PS. The painting is a self portrait from 1872 by a Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin. There is an intriguing exhibition called Gothic Modern at the Finnish National Gallery Ateneum in Helsinki - go visit if you can!

I’m glad to share that my essay “How Russia’s Gen Z Body Tattoos Reveal the Trauma of Imprisonment in an Authoritarian State” is available to read in the CEE Affairs Review Issue 2: Borders and Boundaries.

Beowulf: The Epic’s Enduring Legacy in Modern Literature Beowulf, an ancient epic, profoundly influences modern literature. Its themes of heroism, legacy, and the battle between good and evil resonate today, inspiring works across genres. From Tolkien's fantasy realms to superhero narratives and contemporary adaptations, Beowulf's timeless narrative continues to shape and enrich modern storytelling.