Kristina Rzehak, M. A.

Institute of German Studies

Curriculum Vitae:

Function within the Cluster

• Member of the study group Authorhip
• Coordinator of the study group Inbetween Facts and Fiction

Ph.D. project:

Cultural peaks in times of political transition. Literary production and politics under Timurides and Habsburgs in the second half of the 15th century and at the beginning of the 16th century
The lifetime achievement of Central Asian conqueror Amir Timur, who is also known in Europe by the name of ‘Tamerlan’, was no less than the subjugation of almost the entire Islamic world. His empire extended from Russia to India, from Asia Minor to China. Timur founded the Timurid dynasty, which lasted from c. 1370 to 1507.
While the Timurid arts, particularly literature, and science flourished in, above all, Herat in present Afghanistan, Timur’s former world empire gradually fell apart due to the domestic conflicts of his successors, who were not able to maintain the unity of the empire.
One of these successors was Bābur (*1483-†1530), who later founded a great Mogul empire in India but who also stayed at the court of Sultān Husain Baiqara in Herat for a certain period. With the Bābur-Name, he wrote a distinguished ruler’s autobiography.

Among German courts at the end of the 15th century, the emperor’s court in Vienna under the rule of Maximilian I (*1459-†1519) enjoyed the reputation of being a “muses’ court”.
Maximilian employed a large group of artists (apart from men of letters such as Konrad Celtis, also, for example, painters of miniatures and musicians) and was regarded as a promoter of humanism. His activities, however, were not restricted to patronage; the emperor acted as a writer and controlled the artistic production at his court. Under Maximilian I, the arts and science experienced a heyday in the midst of political transition. Maximilian’s reign was characterised in particular by estate disputes and by tensions of both domestic and external nature.

The study will investigate the role that literature played in the seats of power of the Timurides and the Habsburgs. Attention will be concentrated in particular on the interlacing of literature and politics. The political dimension of the two literatures will be revealed by means of panegyrical, didactic and allegorical text types. At the centre of the comparison are the two (auto-)biographies of Bābur and Maximilian I and their political functions. The propagandistic aims that the rulers pursued will be described and compared.

In the dissertation project, the assumption will be followed that a cross-cultural potential to staging authority and, thus, to stabilising and legitimising authority − the different shapes of which are to be elaborated − is inherent in literature in politically uncertain times.
As a space opens up with literature and arts in which development potentialities can be simulated, their innovative nature will also be considered.
It will remain to be shown that on both sides during this period, novel currents are to be found in the fields of, above all, politics, religion, science and arts, that can be placed in parallel and that formed a diversity of interests which eventually prefigured totally different trends on the verge of the modern age.

Research Interests:

• Literature of the early modern period
• Literature and politics
• Central Asia (focus: Uzbekistan)
• Comparison of cultures
• Bilingual lexicography

Organisation:

• International conference: „4. usbekisch-deutsche Tagung. Sprache – Kultur –Literatur – Didaktik“, November 23^th-25^th 2009, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.
• Interdisciplinary workshop: „Zwischen Fakten und Fiktionen. Literatur und Geschichtsschreibung in der Vormoderne“, Münster, February 16^th-17^th, 2011 (together with Daniel Lizius and Merle Schütte).

courses (in german):

• September 2006: Tutorial "German civilisation, culture and conversation" at the National Mirzo-Ulugbek University of Uzbekistan/Tashkent
• Winter semester 2007-2008: Preparatory course in literary studies at the Institute of German Studies of the University of Münster
• November/December 2008: Lingusitic compact course "German-Uzbek lexicography at the National Mirzo-Ulugbek University of Uzbekistan/Tashkent
• Winter term 2010/11 (together with Daniel Lizius and Merle Schütte): „Zwischen Fakten und Fiktionen. Literatur und Geschichtsschreibung in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit“, University of Münster, Institute of German Studies / History Department

Publications:

Anthologies:

• Daniel Lizius, Kristina Rzehak, Merle Marie Schütte (eds.): Zwischen Fakten und Fiktionen. Literatur und Geschichtsschreibung in der Vormoderne. Würzburg 2012 (forthcoming).
• Usbekisch-deutsche Studien III. Sprache – Literatur – Kultur – Didaktik, ed. by Rudolf Suntrup, Kordula Schulze, Jane Brückner, Kristina Rzehak, Tomas Tomasek, Khalida Madjitova, Iraida Borisova, Abduzukhur Abduazizov (= Deutsch-usbekische Studien, volume 3,1 and 3,2), Münster 2010.
• Band 1: Begegnung von Orient und Okzident in der Literatur – Linguistik und Varietäten, ed. by Rudolf Suntrup, Kristina Rzehak, Iraida Borisova (= Deutsch-usbekische Studien, volume 3,1), Münster 2010.

Articles:

• Baburs Selbststilisierung als (mystisch) Liebender im Baburnama. In: Daniel Lizius, Kristina Rzehak, Merle Marie Schütte (eds.): Zwischen Fakten und Fiktionen. Literatur und Geschichtsschreibung in der Vormoderne. Würzburg 2012 (forthcoming).
• „Wer Ime in seinem leben kain gedachtnus macht ...“ – Die Herrscher Maximilian I. und Bābur und ihre Rolle für die Literatur. In: Begegnung von Orient und Okzident in der Literatur – Linguistik und Varietäten, ed. by Rudolf Suntrup, Kristina Rzehak, Iraida Borisova (= Deutsch-usbekische Studien, volume 3,1), Münster 2010, pp. 173-199.
• Zur Benutzung und Lexik eines deutsch-usbekischen Wörterbuchs. In: Fachdidaktik – Deutsch als Fremdsprache – Lexikographie, ed. by Kordula Schulze, Jane Brückner, Khalida Madjitova (= Deutsch-usbekische Studien, volume 3,2), Münster 2010, pp. 313-338.

Conference proceedings:

• (with Daniel Lizius and Merle Schütte): Zwischen Fakten und Fiktionen. Literatur und Geschichtsschreibung in der Vormoderne, Münster, 16./17.02.2011, in: AHF-Information 128, 21.07.2011.

Review:

• Oesterle, Jenny Rahel: Kalifat und Königtum. Herrschaftsrepräsentation der Fatimiden, Ottonen und frühen Salier an religiösen Hochfesten. Darmstadt 2009. In: Mitteilungen der Residenzen-Kommission der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 20, No. 2, 2010, pp. 108-110.

Conference contributions (in german):

• 10.02.2012: Dichter und Lenker. Die Literatur der Staatsmänner, Päpste und Despoten vom 16. Jahrhundert bis in die Gegenwart (Augsburg); contribution: Die Literatur Baburs und Maximilians I. als Reaktion auf die Abhängigkeiten und Gefährdungen ihrer Herrschaft.
• 25.11.2009: 4. usbekisch-deutsche Tagung. Sprache, Literatur, Kultur, Didaktik (Münster); contribution: Zur Lexik eines usbekisch-deutschen Wörterbuchs
• 24.11.2009: 4. usbekisch-deutsche Tagung. Sprache, Literatur, Kultur, Didaktik (Münster); contribution: Babur und Maximilian I. und ihre Rolle für die Literatur
• 08.04.2008: Workshop on the German-Uzbek dictionary in Tashkent/Uzbekistan; contribution: "On the concept of an Uzbek-German dictionary"
• 25.05.2007: Opening conference in Münster on the German-Uzbek dictionary; contribution: "On the concept of an Uzbek-German dictionary"

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