List of Academic Presentations
Keynote: "The Political Ramifications of Big Stories." Big and Small Stories. Narrare, Tampere University (Finland), June 18-19, 2025.
Keynote: "How to Cope with the Limits of Narrative: The Unnatural, the Authorial Audience, and Flesh-and Blood Readers." The Limits of Narrative. University of Groningen (Netherlands), January 30-February 3, 2023.
Keynote: "Becoming Somebody Else: The Concept of the Storywold Possible Self." Storyworld Possible Selves II: Empirical Research in Reader Engagement and Possible Selves. University of Twente (Netherlands), October 31-November 1, 2022.
Keynote: "The Wor(l)ds in Climate Change Fiction: Immersive and Political Effects." International Association of Literary Semantics Conference. Reykjavík (Iceland), April 14-18, 2019.
Keynote: "Narrative and Cognition." LACE Winter School, Tartu (Estonia), January 22-26, 2018.
Keynotes: "Postcolonial Narratology" and "The Ideological Implications of Aboriginal Narratives." Summer Course in Narrative Studies (SINS), Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), August 7-12, 2016.
Keynote: "Narratology Today." Uses of Narrative: New Developments in Narrative Theory. University of Groningen (Netherlands), February 2-5, 2016.
Keynote: "The Unnatural Across the Fiction/Non-Fiction Divide." European Narratology Network (ENN) Conference. Syddansk Universitet, Kolding (Denmark), March 10-11, 2011.
Keynote: "The Search for Other Worlds – And Further Reasons to Study Literature." Why Study Literature? Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), October 2008.
Keynote: "What is Narrativity?" The Study of Ocean Narratives in Digital Humanities. Kiel, July 5-6, 2018.
Keynote: "Towards an Analysis of Ideological Underpinnings: How Narratives Evoke World Views." Literature and Literary Studies in the 21st Century. Schloss Rauischholzhausen, June 25-27, 2018.
Keynote: "Transmedial Narratology and Theatrical Performance." Winter School on Transmedial Narratology. Tübingen, February 23-26, 2016.
Keynote: "What are Unnatrual Narratives? On the Analysis and Interpretation of Physical, Logical and Human Impossibilities." ("Was sind unnatürliche Erzählungen? Zur Analyse und Interpretation von physikalischen, logischen und menschlichen Unmöglichkeiten.") Welten Erzählen: Narrative Evokation des Unmöglichen. 3. Wuppertaler Graduiertenforum Narratologie. Bergische Universität Wuppertal, June 14-16, 2012.
With Alice Bell. "Multimodality and Transmediality in Post-Postmodernist Fictions." Reading between Ruptures: Literature and Reading Cultures in the 21st Century. Gießen, GCSC, December 3-4, 2025.
"The Ideological Underpinnings of Greta Gerwig's Film Barbie (2023)." Masarykova Univerzita Brno, Czech Republic, November 7, 2025.
"Post-Postmodernist Fictions of the Digital: Multimodal and Transmedial Novels of the Twenty-First Century." Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, November 27, 2024.
"The Ethical Implications of Narrative Strategies." Intelligente Systeme? Erzählen und Ethik in der digitalen Transformation. TU Braunschweig, June 14-15, 2024.
"Outward Metalepsis in English Literature." DFG-Network Diachronic Metalepsis. Heidelberg, January 21, 2023. [via Zoom]
"The Aachen Center for Cognitive and Empirical Literary Studies." Meeting of the Paris Centre for Narrative Matters, Université de Paris, October 6-7, 2022.
"Cognitive Narratology, Embodied Cognition, and Empirical Literary Studies." University Leipzig, December 3, 2021. [via Zoom]
"Literature as Identity Laboratory: Storyworld Possible Selves and Boundary Expansions." Workshop: "The Multidisciplinary Foundations of Storyworld Possible Selves", Madrid, November 11-12, 2021. [via Zoom]
"Possible-Worlds Theory, Fictionality, and the Unnatural." Licencorship for Fiction: Modalities of Epistemic, Ethical, and Aesthetic Authorisation Processes (SFB 1385 – Recht und Literatur), Münster, June 30-July 2, 2021. [via Zoom]
"Unnatural Narratives and What to Do with Them." Kyiv National Linguistic University (Research and Educational Center for Multimodal and Translation Studies) & Kherson State University (Foreign Language Education Office), April 22, 2021. [via Zoom]
"Real Readers and Unnatural Narrators." Sheffield Hallam Stylistics Research Group, March 18, 2021. [via Zoom]
"Historical Narratology: Metaleptic Jumps between the Middle Ages and Postmodernism." Novelizations of Scandinavian Prose Literature in the Late Premodern Period, UZH (University of Zurich), December 5-6, 2019.
"Literature as Identity Laboratory: Storyworld Possible Selves and Boundary Expansions." The Value of Literature, Schloss Rauischholzhausen, June 20-22, 2019.
"The Negotiation of Aboriginality in Non-Indigenous Prose." Centre for Australian Studies, Köln, January 22, 2019.
With Judith Eckenhoff. "Absorption and the Belief in Behavioral Consequences: How Climate Fiction Impacts on Actual Readers." Emprirical Ecocriticism, Rachel Carson Center, München, December 14-15, 2018.
"Narrative and Ideology." Gent University, October 18, 2018.
"Ways of Making Sense of the Unnatural." Interdisciplinary Centre for Narrative Studies, University of York, September 19, 2018.
"The Process of Narrativization and the Concept of the Storyworld." University of Antwerp (Belgium), December 14, 2017.
"From Classical Structuralist Narratology to Postclassical Narratologies." Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, August 21, 2017.
"Drama Narratology and the Narrativization of Live Performances." National University of Singapore (NUS), August 15, 2017.
"Networks of Immorality in Eighteenth-Century Circulation Novels." Literarische Netzwerke im achtzehnten Jahrhundert, Literaturwissenschaftliches Kolloquium, University of Bielefeld, February 7, 2017.
"Postmodern Voices from Beyond" ("Postmoderne Stimmen aus dem Jenseits.") Komisch – fantastisch – ambivalent: Das Jenseits in Prosatexten der Gegenwart. Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz, October 14-15, 2016.
"Narrative Techniques and Ideology: Resilience and Humor in Contemporary Aboriginal Cultures." The Ideological Force of Narrative, Narrare, University of Tampere (Finland), September 29-30, 2016.
"Indigenous Australian Identities in Aboriginal Narratives." Lunch Talk Series, Aarhus Universitet, April 13, 2016.
"Resilience and Experimentation in Contemporary Aboriginal Narratives." Universitetet i Oslo (Norway), October 2015.
"The Gothic Novel and Other Types of Experimentalism in the Eighteenth Century." The Many Faces of the Gothic, Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), May 26, 2015.
"Transparent Minds in the Movies." University Trier, February 5, 2015.
"Ideology and Form: The Experimentalism of Recent Australian and Indian-English Prose Narratives." Narrative Research Lab, Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), December 10, 2014.
"How to Analyse a Cinematic Narrative: Concepts of Film Narratology." Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), October 22, 2014.
"Postmodern Literature and Cognitive Literary Studies – Strange Bedfellows?" ("Postmoderne Literatur und kognitive Literaturwissenschaft – Strange Bedfellows?") Lecture Series Kognitive Ansätze in der Literaturwissenschaft, RWTH Aachen, July 11, 2014.
"Inner Lives in Film: Cinematic Versions of Psychonarration, Free Indirect Discourse, and Direct Thought." Literaturwissenschaftliches Kolloquium des Instituts für Englische Philologie (LMU München), January 9, 2014.
"Character Interiority in the Movies." Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, December 2, 2013.
"The Postmodern and the Unnatural." ("Die Postmoderne und das Unnatürliche.") Institut für Medien und Kommunikation, University Hamburg, November 14, 2013.
"Unnatural Spaces and What to Do with Them." EARS-Meeting (Basel), June 7, 2013.
"Unnatural Narration." ("Unnatürliches Erzählen.") Bonner Zentrum für transkulturelle Narratologie, July 13, 2012.
"Unnatural Spaces and Narrative Worlds." Time, Space, and the Unnatural. Project Narrative, Ohio State University, November 16, 2011.
"What is an Unnatural Narrative and Why Should We Deal with It?" Speaker Series, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, November 10, 2011.
"What are Unnatural Narratives?" University of Maryland (College Park), November 7, 2011.
"Unnatural Narratives and What To Do with Them." University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Oktober 26, 2011.
"The History of the Unnatural." Narrative at the Extremes. Helsinki Yliopisto (Finland), October 4, 2010.
"Toward the Limits of Human Cognition: Unnatural Elements in Postmodernist Storyworlds." Workshop, Project Narrative, Ohio State University, April 2008.
"Obsession, Delusion, and the Abuse of Power: Narrative Techniques of Neutralization in Nabokov's Scandalous Lolita" (with Deborah de Muijnck). Narrative, Miami (FL), April 2-6, 2025.
"The Ethical Ramifications of Multimodal and Transmedial Novels of the Twenty-First Century." MLA, New Orleans (LA), January 9-12, 2025.
"The Politics of Ben Lerner's 10:04." Political Narratives: Interdisciplinary and Transmedial Perspectives. Gießen, December 4-6, 2024.
"The Self-Reflexive Ethics of Post-Postmodernist Fictions of the Digital." PALA, Sheffield Hallam University, June 26-29, 2024.
"Disruptive Narratives: Conceptualization and Examples." Narrative, Newcastle (UK), April 17-19, 2024.
"Is QAnon a Disruptive Narrative or a Conspiracy Theory?" Conspiracy Theories: Do We Need a Reframing? RWTH Aachen, June 26-27, 2023.
"Disruptive Narratives and Their Functions" (with Jessica Jumpertz). Narrative Matters, Tampere (Finland), March 15-17, 2023.
"Disruptive Narratives: The Case of QAnon." Narrative, Dallas (TX), March 1-4, 2023.
"Narrative Strategies, Ideologies, and the Climate Change Film The Day after Tomorrow." Narrative, Chichester (UK), June 28-30, 2022.
"Metalepsis from the Middle Ages to Postmodernism." Narrative, Online-Conference, May 19-22, 2021. [via Zoom]
"Identity Modifications, Boundary Expansions, and Storyworld Possible Selves." Narrative, New Orleans, LA, March 5-8, 2020. [via Zoom]
"Towards an Empirical Narratology." Narrative, Pamplona (Spain), May 30-June 1, 2019.
"How Actual Readers Process Unnatural Narratives." MLA, Chicago (IL), January 3-6, 2019.
"Narrative Strategies and Ideology: How Literary Texts Evoke Worldviews." ("Erzählstrategien und Ideologie: Wie literarische Texte Weltbilder evozieren.") Workshop: Politische Theorie und Literaturwissenschaft, RWTH Aachen, June 29, 2018.
"They-Narratives." Narrative, Montréal (Canada), April 19-22, 2018.
"Transcending Poverty and Precarity: The Chooky Dancers." GAPS Conference (Bonn): Representing Poverty and Precarity in a Postcolonial World, May 25-27, 2017.
"What is Post-Postmodernism? The Purposeful Self-Reflexivity of Zorba the Greek Yolngu Style by the Chooky Dancers." Narrative, Lexington (KY), March 23-26, 2017.
With Marco Caracciolo. "Mimesis." Poetics Today Workshop, Stockholm, November 4, 2016.
"Comparison, Inclusiveness, and Non-Hierarchical Incommensurability: Narrative Strategies in New Aboriginal Life Stories." Anglistentag 2016, Hamburg, September 21-24, 2016.
"Towards a New Reading Paradigm: Presence Effects, Composure, and the Capacity of 'Letting Things Be.'" IAUPE Conference, London, July 2016.
"Beyond Invasion and Colonization: Contemporary Aboriginal Narratives." Narrative, Amsterdam, June 16-18, 2016.
"The Material Conditions of Waanyi Existence in Alexis Wright's Carpentaria." The Postcolonial and the Material (Gesellschaft für Anglophone Postkoloniale Studien), Augsburg, May 5-7, 2016.
"Narrating the Impossible." Worlds in Process, TU Darmstadt, January 29-30, 2016.
"Narrating the Orient: The Brief Eastern Episodes in Romantic Poetry." Narratives of Romanticism (Gesellschaft für englische Romantik), Wuppertal, October 8-11, 2015.
"Ideologies and Narrative Strategies: The Narrators of Benang and Midnight's Children." Ideology in Postcolonial Texts and Context (Society for Anglophone Postcolonial Studies), Münster, May 14-16, 2015.
"Transmedial Meets Postcolonial Narratology: An Analysis of Zorba the Greek Yolngu Style by the Aboriginal Chooky Dancers." European Narratology Network (ENN), Ghent (Belgium), April 15-18, 2015.
"A Reading of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children." Ideology and Form, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus (Denmark), March 25-26, 2015.
"Indigeneity in Contemporary Australian Literature and Culture." Fellows' Seminar, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus (Denmark), March 23, 2015.
"Ideology and Form: The Negotiation of Aboriginality in Contemporary Australian Prose." Narrative, Chicago (IL), March 5-8, 2015.
"The Disembodiment of the Narrative Instance in Postmodernist Fiction." Disembodied Voices – Unembodied Narration, Freie Universität Berlin, November 21-22, 2014.
"Innovative Eighteenth-Century Fiction: The Case of the Speaking Objects in Circulation Novels." Sektion "Enlightenment Fictions – Fictions of Enlightenment," Anglistentag 2014, Hannover, September 21-23, 2014.
"The Social Minds in Factual and Fictional We-Narratives of the Twentieth Century: A New Typology." Social Minds, Freiburg, May 21-23, 2014.
"Literary History and Postmodernism from the Perspective of the Unnatural." Narrative, Boston (MA), March 27-29, 2014.
"The Reception of Eighteenth-Century Experimentalism." Panel "Eighteenth Century Literary and Cultural Criticism," ASECS, Williamsburg, VA, March 20-22, 2014.
"Pre-Postmodernist Manifestations of the Unnatural: Instances of Expanded Consciousness in Omniscient Narration and Reflector-Mode Narratives." Narrative: An International Conference, Manchester (UK), June 27-29, 2013.
"Experientiality and the Unnatural." Cognition and Poetics, Osnabrück, April 25-27, 2013.
"The Representation of Character Interiority in Film." European Narratology Network Conference, Paris, March 29-30, 2013.
"Dickens and the Prison." Dickens Day, University of Freiburg, December 17, 2012.
"Impossible Narrators and Storytelling Scenarios." Narrative: An International Conference, Las Vegas (NV), March 15-17, 2012.
"The Unnatural Spaces in House of Leaves and The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman." ASAP 3: The Arts of the Planet, Pittsburgh (PN), October 27-30, 2011.
With Alice Bell. "Ontological Metalepsis and Unnatural Narratology." Chair des Panels "Emotions, Cognition, and Ethics in the Short (Short) Short Fiction of the Americas." Narrative: An International Conference, St. Louis (MO), April 7-10, 2011.
"Unnatural Temporalities: Interfaces between Postmodernism, Science Fiction, and Fantasy." Narrative: An International Conference. Cleveland (OH), April 8-11, 2010.
"Impossible Storyworlds: An Extreme Case of Counterfactuality." Counterfactual Thinking – Counterfactual Writing, Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), September 28-30, 2009.
"Deictic Markers in Unnatural Narrative." Linguistics & Literary Studies. Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS). Freiburg, July 8-10, 2009.
"The Significance of Logical Impossibilities." Narrative: An International Conference. Birmingham, UK, June 2009.
"The Diachronic Development of Unnaturalness." Unnatural Narratives, Unnatürliches Erzählen. Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies. Freiburg, November 2008.
Organization of the panel "Unnatural Narrative, Unnatural Narratology: Beyond Mimetic Models?" (with Brian Richardson). Lecture: "Approximating Impossibility: Unnatural Elements in Postmodernist Narrative." Narrative: An International Conference. Austin, TX, May 2008.
"Narratology as a First Step Towards Interpretation: The Significance of the Metaleptic Jumps and Diverse Styles in At Swim-Two-Birds." Narrative: An International Conference. Washington D.C., March 15-18, 2007.
"Legitimating the Prison, Reproducing Cultural Hegemonies: The Case of the American Prison Movie" and Chair of the panel "Imagology." Legitimating Cultures, Cultures of Legitimacy. Bucharest (Romania), November 2006.
Chair of the seminar "Narrative at the Crossroads: New Developments in Narrative Study" (with Alan Palmer). Lecture: "The Cinematic Narrator and the Narrativity of Film Reconsidered." ESSE 8. London, UK, August/September 2006.
"Film Narratives and Metaphor." Narrative: An International Conference. Ottawa (Canada), April 2006.
Panel Chair and lecture: "Prison, Racism, and Society: The Prison Autobiography I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! and its Film Adaptation." National PCA/ACA Conference. San Diego, CA, March 2005.
"Interpreting the Prison: The State Penitentiary in the Film The Shawshank Redemption." National PCA/ACA Conference. San Antonio, TX, April 2004.
"Bodies Behind Bars: The Disciplining of the Prisoners' Bodies in British and American Prison Films." ESSE 6. Strasbourg (France), August/September 2002.
"Cognitive and Empirical Literary Studies." Department of Psychology Research Colloquium, RWTH Aachen, December 4, 2017.
Presentation of the Festschrift on the occasion of Monika Fludernik’s 60th birthday. Historisches Kaufhaus Freiburg, June 16, 2017.
Address at the Graduation Ceremony of the Department of English, University of Freiburg, November 29, 2013.
"Unnatural Narrative: Impossible Worlds in Fiction and Drama." EARS-Meeting, Freiburg, October 22, 2010.
"Risks and Side Effects of Doctoral Studies." ("Risiken und Nebenwirkungen der Promotion.") Milestones, Freiburg, July 31, 2010.
"Unnatural Narrative: Impossible Worlds in Fiction and Drama." Auto-Tutorial organized by Master Students of the University of Freiburg. Freiburg, June 3, 2010.
Discussant for Henrik Skov Nielsen’s talk "New Ethics, New Formalism." Mind – Narrative – Ethics (organized by the European Narratology Network). Hamburg, January 23-24, 2009.
Workshop on Experimental Writing and Brian Evenson's Short Story "Mudder Tongue" (Project Narrative). Ohio State University, April 2008.
"Shakespeare in the Context of the Renaissance." ("Shakespeare im Kontext der Renaissance.") Ellental Gymnasium (Upper Secondary School) I and II, Bietigheim, March 29, 2007.
Speech by the Doctoral Graduate. Doctoral Graduation Ceremony, University of Freiburg, July 2005.
Organization of the MLA-Panel "The Self-Reflexive Ethics of Post-Postmodernist Fictions of the Digital" for the International Society for the Study of Narrative. Speakers: Denise Wong, Nadia Georgiou, Karl Manis and Jan Alber. MLA, New Orleans (LA), January 9-12, 2025.
Organization of the GCSC/RCSC-Conference "Political Narratives: Interdisciplinary and Transmedial Perspectives" (with Jan Rupp). Gießen, December 4-6, 2024.
Organization of the GCSC/RCSC-Conference "Cognition, Culture, Narrative" (with Ansgar Nünning, Robin Schmieder and Meike Wiegand). Gießen, December 6-8, 2023.
Organization of the GCSC/IPP-Conference "Literary Scandals as Forms of Cultural Transgression" (with Silvia Cassazza, Deborah de Muijnck, David E. Susa and Anna Klishevish). Gießen, November 9-10,2023.
Organization of the ACCELS-Workshop "Interfaces of First- and Second-Generation Approaches in Cognitive Literary Studies" (with Ralf Schneider and Sven Strasen). RWTH Aachen, October 7-8, 2021. [via Zoom]
Organization of the ACCELS-Workshop "The Study of Literature, Reading, and Cognition: Interdisciplinary Approaches, Concepts, and Terms" (with Ralf Schneider and Sven Strasen). RWTH Aachen, October 5-6, 2020. [via Zoom]
Organization of the Lecture Series "Aachen Lectures on Empirical and Cognitive Literary Studies" (with Sven Strasen). Speakers: Catherine Emmott, Joanna Gavins, Mark Turner, Irene Mittelberg, Ansgar and Vera Nünning, Ralph Radach, Elena Semino, Jan-Noël Thon, Julia Vaeßen and Willie van Peer. RWTH Aachen, Summer Term 2018.
Organization of the Lecture Series "Aachen Colloquium on Literature, Emotion, and Cognition" (with Sven Strasen). Speakers: Jan Alber, Peter Stockwell, Gunther Martens, Marco Caracciolo, Marcus Hartner, Moniek Kuijpers, Karin Kukkonen, Merja Polvinen, Ralf Schneider, Alan Palmer, Christian Kohlschein and Sven Strasen. RWTH Aachen, Summer Term 2017.
Organization of a Discussion with Consul General Michael R. Keller on Donald Trump’s Electoral Victory (with Paula Niemitz and Sven Strasen). RWTH Aachen, February 1, 2017.
Organization of the Guest Lecture and Workshop ("From Event to Node: How 'Future Narratives' Impact the Way We Conceive of the Future") by Christoph Bode. Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (Denmark), November 2015.
Organization of the Section "Reading Multiraciality in Anglophone Narratives" (with Miriam Nandi). Speakers: Christoph Ehland, Nicole Falkenhayner, Julia Hoydis, Corinna Lenhardt, Felicitas Meifert-Menhard and Christine Vogt-William. Anglistentag Paderborn, September 2015.
Organization of the Workshop "Ideology and Form in Anglophone Narrative" at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies. Speakers: Jana Gohrisch, Stefan Iversen, Tabish Khair, Henrik Skov Nielsen, David Punter, Roy Sommer and Merle Tönnies. Aarhus (Denmark), March 2015.
Organization of Dickens Day (with Monika Fludernik). Speakers: Jan Alber, Katharina Boehm, Monika Fludernik, Barbara Korte, Norbert Lennartz and Andrea Stiebritz. Freiburg, December 2012.
Organization of the MLA-Panel "Postmodern and Unnatural Narratives" for the International Society for the Study of Narrative. Speakers: Bruce Clark, Chris Kilgore, Karin Kukkonen and Henrik Skov Nielsen. MLA, Philadelphia (PA), December 2009.
Organization of the Conference "Unnatürliches Erzählen – Unnatural Narrative" (with Rüdiger Heinze). Speakers: Jan Alber, Ridvan Askin, Johannes Fehrle, Monika Fludernik, Marina Grishakova, Per Krogh Hansen, Rüdiger Heinze, Martin Hermann, Stefan Iversen, Maria Mäkelä, Andrea Moll, Henrik Skov Nielsen, Brian Richardson and Jeff Thoss. Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), November 2008.
Organization of the Symposium "Law and Literature" (with Monika Fludernik). Speakers: Simon Stern and Hal Gladfelder. Freiburg, October 2006.
Organization of the Symposium "Free Indirect Discourse" (with Monika Fludernik). Speakers: Samuli Hägg, Markku Lehtimäki, Alan Palmer and Elena Semino. Freiburg, January 2005.
Organization of the Symposium "History and Narration" ("Hayden White-Kolloquium") (with Monika Fludernik). Speakers: Hayden White, Uri Margolin and Richard Walsh. Freiburg, February 2003.