PhDnet Conference: The Cultural Work of Fictions: Trajectories of Literary Studies in the 21st Century
- https://www.uni-giessen.de/en/faculties/ggkgcsc/events/semester-overview/previous/archive/Winter%20Term%201920/conferences-symposia/phdnet-conference
- PhDnet Conference: The Cultural Work of Fictions: Trajectories of Literary Studies in the 21st Century
- 2019-10-23T14:45:00+02:00
- 2019-10-25T15:00:00+02:00
Oct 23, 2019 02:45 to Oct 25, 2019 03:00 (Europe/Berlin / UTC200)
Schloss Rauischholzhausen
Discussing fictions in the plurivalent sense of literary fiction and socio-cultural fictions that societies live by, this conference engages in debates on the value of fictions and discusses the trajectories of literary and cultural studies in the 21st century. Literary as well as socio-cultural fictions engage in important cultural work. As Yuval Noah Harari diagnoses, fiction(s) might be the “most potent force” in our time and age (2016: 151). In the face of ongoing financial, ecological, political and ideological crises, in which individuals and societies at large seek orientation, the world-making, empathy-building, as well as attention-training functions of fictions (cf. Nünning 2018) serve as resources on individual and collective levels. Beyond acting as a seismograph of society that records the social, political, and ethical movements of cultural communities, fictions are also “spirited and energetic participant[s] in an exchange” (Felski 2015: 182), communicating with other texts and discourses. Accordingly, fictions – including and exceeding the literary – are at the “center of cultures”, offering a specific repertoire of metaphors, images and plot structures (McAdams 2013: 284) that mediate experience and reveal cultural norms, categorizations and values.
Moreover, in this current climate, the humanities and specifically literary studies increasingly face the need to justify their value and impact. Distancing itself from an apologetic position in the “legitimation crisis” of literary studies that merely defends fictions in the face of attacks and criticisms against the humanities (Felski 2015: 5), this conference seeks to direct attention to the “affordances” (Levine 2015) of fictions as well as literary studies and its trajectories. Focusing on the work of fictions provides a productive lense for a conceptual discussion of 1) fictions as ways of worldmaking (Goodman 1978), in which the scenario function (Elgin 2007) of fictions will especially be addressed; 2) the knowledge (Locatelli 2002) and singularity (Attridge 2015) of literary fictions that reveals how they can promote truth because it generates particular knowledge. Fictions may thus work against current trends of reality construction, e.g. in fake news; 3) fictions as ways of cultural self-reflexivity in which values are conveyed and tested and empathy and perspective-taking are enabled by “entering imaginatively into the lives of distant others” (Nussbaum 1995: xvi); 4) fictions as ways of community-building through social fictions, narrative repertoires and metaphors.
If you are interested in participating in the conference, please register via phdnet@uni-giessen.de
Programme
Wednesday, October 23
| 14.45 Uhr | Check-in and Coffee |
| 15.15 Uhr | Welcome by the Steering Committee |
| 15.45 Uhr |
Keynote: Bo Pettersson (University of Helsinki): Fictions to Live and Die By: The Other Side of the American Dream Moderator: Heta Pyrhönen |
| 16.45 Uhr |
Short Break |
| 17.00 - 18.30 Uhr |
Panel 1: The Cultural Work of Fictions in 19th and 20th Century German Literature Moderator: Alena Heinritz
Peter Hanenberg: Re-reading Weiss’ “Aesthetics of Resistance”: The Fuzzy Lines of Fiction Markus Huss: Stasi as Literary Muse: Fiction-Making of Self and Society in Wolfgang Hilbig’s “Ich” |
| 18.30 Uhr |
Dinner |
| 20.00 Uhr |
Get together in Wine Cellar (voluntary) |
Thursday, October 24
| 9.00 - 10.30 Uhr |
Panel 2: Affordances of Literary and Cultural Texts for Disentangling Fact/Fiction Dynamics Moderator: Imke Polland
Silke Braselmann: Observations of Reciprocity: Theorizing the Fictional Dimension of Contemporary Discourse Dynamics Vera Herold: Memory and Remembering: Fact? Fiction? Truth? Alena Heinritz: Textual Work as Practice of Evidence Production in Novels by Guzel’ Yakhina and Aleksandr Ilichevski |
|
10.30 Uhr |
Coffee Break |
| 11.00 - 12.30 Uhr |
Panel 3: The Cultural Work of Sonic, Spatial, and Experimental Elements in Narrative Fiction Moderator: Daria Steiner
Sarianna Kankkunen: Ways of Homemaking: The Creation of Homescapes in Maarit Verronen’s Contemporary Fiction Dimitri Smirnov: Sonic Imagination: The Work of Literary Fiction within Sound Culture Iida Turpeinen: Knowledge without Language? Functions of Narration in Ben Marcus’ The Flame Alphabet |
|
12.30 Uhr |
Lunch Break |
| 14.30 - 16.00 Uhr |
Panel 4: The Cultural Work of Fictions: Worldmaking and Narrative Communities Moderator: Mareike Glier
Daria Steiner: World Hunger and Hunger Worlds: The Worldmaking Capacities of Famine Fiction Eleonora Rapisardi: Beyond the Exclusivity of Cuban Nationalism: Narratives of Community Making in Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban Imke Polland: The Values of ‘BrexLit’ in Post-Referendum Britain: A Case Study of Anthony Cartwright’s The Cut (2017) and Jonathan Coe’s Middle England (2018) |
|
16.00 Uhr |
Coffee Break |
| 16.30 Uhr |
Business Meeting for PhDnet Professors |
| 17.30 - 18.30 Uhr |
Joint Walk in the Park (voluntary) |
|
18:30 Uhr |
Dinner |
Friday, October 25
| Check-Out | |
| 9.30 - 10.30 Uhr |
Keynote: Angela Locatelli (University of Bergamo): Fiction as Play: Theoretical and Literary Perspectives on Simulation (Embodied or Not) Moderator: Ansgar Nünning |
| 10.30 Uhr | Coffee Break |
| 11.30 - 12.30 Uhr |
Panel 5: The Cultural Work of Fictions for Negotiating Perspectives of Self and Other Moderator: Dimitri Smirnov
Mareike Glier: Fiction as a Platform for the Negotiation of Cultural Models in the Essay
Susanne Christ: “There’s No Need to Get Agitated, Mrs Horsham” – Diagnostic Testing Scenes in Contemporary Dementia Fictions |
|
12.30 Uhr |
Lunch Break |
| 14.00 Uhr | Closing Remarks, Group Photo, and Certificates |
| 15:00 Uhr | Departure |