The Knowledge of Literature
August 5th, 2010
Dr. Michael Basseler: The Knowledge of Literature: Approaches, Methods, Applications
Even though the term Literaturwissenschaft inherently implies that literature and knowledge are somehow related, this connection is by no means an undisputed one. Does literature really know something? Or isn’t it rather that literature is exempt from the obligation of producing and/or transmitting (some kind of) knowledge? How does literature relate to other discourses of knowledge, e.g. the sciences and philosophy most notably, but also to more informal areas such as commonsensical world- or life-knowledge? And what’s the upshot of all these questions for our self-conception as scholars and students of literature?
The aim of this lecture is to provide students with a fairly broad survey of theories within literary and cultural studies that attend to the multifaceted relations of literature and knowledge, a topic that is arguably becoming increasingly important in our contemporary Wissensgesellschaft. The lecture will cover a wide range of theories, reaching from philosophically oriented approaches to the question of truth and knowledge in literature to cultural-historical approaches such as new historicism/poetics of culture and more recent trends, e.g. the idea of “literary studies as life-sciences” (Ottmar Ette).
Michael Basseler was awarded his PhD from JLU Giessen in 2008. He is an associate member of the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC) and assistant professor in Giessen’s English department. His main research interests are African American literature, cultural studies, and literary and cultural theory. His publications include Kulturelle Erinnerung und Trauma im zeitgenössischen afroamerikanischen Roman (Trier: 2008). He is also co-editor with Ansgar Nünning of a forthcoming handbook on the history of the American short story. His current research project deals with the question of how the short story in English reflects on, generates and disseminates forms of life and life-knowledge.