This course will explore the interconnections and the mutual influence between literature and the public sphere. The contemporary understanding of these domains is a result of dynamically interlinked historical developments, in which the institutionalization of literature as a mass medium was itself part of broader processes of democratization, and where the thus established institutions influence what kind of literature is being written, made accessible, and read. Broad, theoretical approaches into conceptions of the “public” and literature’s role within it will act as a gateway into studies of more specific iterations and phenomena: We are going to look at ongoing discourses within the contemporary literary market, into literary sub-cultures and counter-publics, and into the impact of literary scandals. In addition, a view into two particular domains of cultural production – public poetry installations and slam poetry – will serve to illuminate the different tensions and discursive potentials of literary forms that foreground and address aspects of direct address, physical co-presence and public visibility. The final part – and part of the Studienleistung – will be the organization of a public literary event within the university (live reading, poetry installation, etc.)
- Dozent/in: Maria Odoevskaja