Here you can find the News & Events of the GS PoL of the past years

Congratulations to Dr. Boris Hoge-Benteler on publishing his first novel Sonnenstadt (2022) with kul-ja! publishing! Sonnenstadt deals with trauma and fear, the loss of relationships and disorientation as well as the search for beauty and plays with elements of the coming-of-age novel, the road novel and the thriller genre.

At this year's network conference, the GSPoL offers exciting insights into current dissertation projects and career paths for academics with a PhD in literature. Alumni, students, university lecturers and the interested (university) public are cordially invited to attend this event. Further information on the program and registration can be found here.

This summer term, the GSPoL hosts a lecture series which focuses on "Activism & Academia." We invite all students, staff and guests to join us and participate in discussions on this important and timely topic. The program and further information are available on the website of the event. Please note that the lecture on May 2 has been rescheduled to June 13.

The preparation of the exhibit 'Eden? Plants between Science and Fiction,' which will be on display from May 15 to 29, 2022, is in full swing. Information on the current status and progress of the project is available on the homepage of the exhibit as well as on Instagram and Twitter.

The Summer School will open with the Münster Lectures which seek to combine the merits of theoretical and literary insight of renowned scholars, prominent writers, and cultural activists to discuss current debates, both scholastic and social.
The Münster Lectures are open to doctoral candidates, post-doc researchers, humanities students, and the general public. The Münster Lectures aim to strengthen not only the interdisciplinary exchange among members of the university, but also bridges the gap between the university and the city of Münster.

On July 27, the participants of the summer school will be asked to present their work-in progress on the topic. The conferences will be divided in three panels: theory, poetics and politics, which will be moderated by two speakers each.
The call for abstracts is now closed. We are not accepting any paper presentations.
We welcome you to register as a regular participant. (Spaces are limited)

Students of literature who are interested in doing a PhD are cordially invited to take part in our digital information event. External guests are also welcome.

At this year's network conference, the GSPoL offers exciting insights into current dissertation projects and career paths for academics with a PhD in literature. Alumni, students, university lecturers and the interested (university) public are cordially invited to attend this event. Further information on the program and registration can be found here.

The GSPoL's final event of this winter term is an evening lecture with Dr. Anna Poletti (Utrecht University). Building on their research on life writing after the book, Dr. Poletti will outline how affordances and aesthetics of other media forms reshape and reinvent autobiographical narratives. Please register with this link if you are interested in joining the event on Zoom. The lecture will be held in English.

Paper proposals for the conference Vögel aus Federn: Verschriftlichungen des Vogels seit 1800 can be submitted until January 29, 2021 (German only).  The event is organized by GSPoL members Manuel Förderer and Cristine Huck as well as Laura Reiling (German Department/FB 09 Philology, WWU Münster).

The volume Literaturpreise. Geschichte, Theorie und Praxis. has been published with Königshausen & Neumann.
The GSPoL congratulates alumnus Dennis Borghardt and alumna Sarah Maaß on the anthology's publication.

We are looking forward to welcoming the renowned thinker Prof. Dr. em. Jean-Luc Nancy at the GSPoL. Prof. Nancy will teach a PhD workshop and give a public lecture, which focuses on the abyss and its non-negative potentiality - keeping in mind that the death of god, the end of the law of causation have left us with no metaphysical "Grund" (German for "reason" as well as "ground"). Please contact us via email if you are interested in joining the event via Zoom.

The GSPoL congratulates alumna Dr. Franziska Trapp on the publication of her dissertation with de Gruyter. Trapp develops an innovative method to analyse contemporary circus performances by drawing on literary, theatre and dance studies.

We are happy to announce that the Kunstverein Leipzig invited our member and doctoral candidate Martina Kigle to present her dissertation project and to discuss "artistic research" with the Berlin artist Agnes Meyer-Brandis.

We look forward to welcoming Prof. Peter Fenves, who will give a webinar and a guest lecture on "Benjamin and Derrida" at our graduate school. Please contact us by email if you are interested in joining the event via Zoom.

In May 2019 and January 2020, doctoral students of the GSPoL organized a writing retreat. As a joint retreat into nature, the event was intended to promote concentrated writing and intensify the research and personal exchange among participants in different semesters and stages of their PhD research and from different disciplinary and national backgrounds.

On November 20th 2019 the members of the GSPoL went on a field trip to Frankfurt to exchange views on career prospects for graduates of the literary studies with experts for (mediating) literature. The two-day event was initiated and planned with the help of our advisory committee member Dr. Sonja Vandenrath.

In the upcoming winter term, GSPoL once again hosts a lecture series, starting on Oct 07. On Mondays, 6-8 pm, members are invited to attend to this series on "Travelling Concepts". Further information can be found on our website by clicking on this announcement's title.

GSPoL cordially invites yout to Dr. Samuel Heidepriem's guest lecture on "Media and Ideology of the Modern Constitution", which will be held at JO 101 on July, 11 at 4 pm.

On the occasion of our new cooperation with Northwestern University, we would like to cordially invite you to our ceremony on June 19, 2019 at Festsaal (Ceremonial Hall) at 6 pm. Prof. Dr. Jörg Kreienbrock from Northwestern University will open this ceremony by giving a lecture on "Institut für Verbesserung der Weltliteratur. Max Kommerell und Ernst Robert Curtius im Gespräch über Calderón".

The GS PoL is pleased to announce a short workshop, offering a briefing for students considering a PhD in literary studies at the WWU. The event will provide information on where and how to begin your application and planning for a dissertation and gives an introduction on the work of the Graduate School 'Practices of Literature'.

The guest lecture "A World of Translation" by Theo D'haen (KU Leuven) will be held in WWU castle's ceremonial on 6 June at 6 pm. All those interested are cordially invited to attend! (venue: Festsaal, Schlossplatz 5)

The sixteenth issue of Textpraxis. Digital Journal for Philology was released on May 1st. In this issue, Christina Glinik and Elmar Lenhart (Klagenfurt) analyze different writing scenes in Josef Winkler's Domra. Sandra Folie (Vienna) investigates the role of intersectionality in new world literature and Stefan Tomasek (Würzburg) discusses the representation of Nibelungenlied in museums.

This year's lecture series, titled Why Literary Studies Matter Now: Academic Practices in an Anti-Intellectual Climate, opens up an interdisciplinary and international dialogue on the cultural and political role of literature in today's world, addressing issues such as "Realitie(s) in Literary Studies," "Factual Fictions," and "Political Correctness in Academic Discourse."

In cooperation with the DAAD, the Department of Philology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster is offering a scholarship for interested and qualified international doctoral candidates in the area of literary studies starting October 1, 2019.

Die GSPoL congratulates alumna Dr. Ina Batzke on her publication of her dissertation with Routledge.
By reading the self-representations of undocumented migrants in a range of life narratives published from 2001 to 2016 as both a product of America's changing views on citizenship and membership, and an arena where such views can potentially be challenged, the book interrogates the role such self-representations have played not only in constructing undocumented migrant identities, but also in shaping social borders.

The GSPoL congratulates alumna Dr. Caroline Kögler on the publication of her dissertation with Routledge.
Critical Branding: Postcolonial Studies and the Market provides an original answer to what Sarah Brouillette has called postcolonial studies’ ‘longstanding materialist challenge’, illuminating the relationship between what is often broadly called ‘the market’ and the practice and positionality of postcolonial critics and their field, postcolonial studies. Find more information here:

GSPoL Alumna Christina Riesenweber (Open Access consultant FU Berlin, Open-Access-Office Berlin) and ULB representative Elisabeth Sawatzky (Publication Service / Service Point Digitale Dienste) gave an overview of open access options for academics in a GSPoL workshop in June 2018. Find the workshop's summary and further information on publishing services at the University of Münster here:

The tenth anniversary of the Graduate School 'Practices of Literature' was celebrated on June 19, 2018 with a conference. A diverse program including a networking event “Career Development” for PhD students, a guest lecture by advisory board member Dr. Nicholas Shrimpton (University of Oxford), as well as poster and project presentations by PhD students reflected the Graduate School's research activities. The GSPoL is grateful to everyone who participated and made the anniversary conference a special day with thoughtprovoking discussions!

The GSPoL is pleased to welcome Dr. Jan Behrs (Northwestern University) for a public lecture and masterclass on literary innovation.

The GSPoL is pleased to welcome Prof. Patrick Miller from Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago, USA) for an evening lecture and workshop.

To the celebrate the Graduate School's ten-year anniversary, the graduate school has come up with a diverse conference program illustrating the GS PoL's three pillars: literature and theory, literature and society as well as literature and the professional world. Next to PhD poster presentations, it includes academic exchange in the form of a keynote lecture by Dr. Nicholas Shrimpton (University of Oxford) as well as a networking event for PhD students, advisory board members, and alumni.

***Unfortunately, the event had to be cancelled. The lecture will be held on a later date (tba). ***
The GSPoL gives a warm welcome to University of Wuppertal's PD Dr Christoph Jürgensen: On June 5, 2018, he will be giving a guest lecture on forms of self-presentation of authors in digital contexts ("Digital ist besser? Formen der Autorinszenierung im Internet"), 18:15 at Vom-Stein-Haus (Schlossplatz 34), room 17. Everyone interested is welcome to join the talk and discussion.

What shape can science communication take on today next to a traditional press release, a lecture series or a tweet introducing a new publication? Science Communication Today: More Content, More Colour - More Importance? aims to elaborate on these question with a lecture by Philipp Niemann, head of science communication at Karlsruher Institut für Technologie and a following discussion with various experts in science communication and researchers.
This event was inspired by the exhibition and book launch of Traveling Exhibition UpSideDown and its associated academic graphic novel based on Münster's second international circus conference UpSideDown | Circus and Space (June 2017, organized by GSPoL PhD student Franziska Trapp).

The fifteenth issue of Textpraxis. Digital Journal for Philology was released on May 1st. In this issue, Jana Wittenzellner presents different conceptions of authorship with regards to the writings of Hildegart Rodriguez. Julian Ingelmann poses the question why the genre short stories dominates German writing forums, while Verena Meis examines parasitic tendencies in Kathrin Rögglas' works.

Die GSPoL is pleased to announce alumna Janneke Schoene's publication of her dissertation. Find further information here:

The GSPoL is pleased to have held a productive Münster Lectures 2018 exploring the relationship between feminist* theory and activism. Cultural theorist and author Laina Dawes from the Department of Music at Columbia University (USA) and Sonja Eismann, co-founder, co-publisher and editor-in-chief of Missy Magazine: Magazin für Pop, Politik und Feminismus (Berlin, Germany) introduced their work and located it in the field of theory and activism, inviting fruitful discussion with the audience. Find impressions of the event here:

This conference aims to address the role of gender in popular culture, how it is represented and read. The discussion will focus on the political power of such representations and their impact on cultural practices; their critical and subversive potential. In order to do so, we would like to engage with various aspects of popular culture and look forward to discussing gender (re-)presentations and performances in a range of different media, including Film, Music, TV, Literature, Comic, Social Media, and other online media.

The fourteenth issue of Textpraxis. Digital Journal for Philology was released on November 1st! Nicole M. Mueller discusses the posibilities of a digital literature research based on japanese Thomas-Mann-Translations. Silja Wendt shows, how intermediality causes the performative character of the Sherlock series. Ted Underwood interviews Cosima Mettner and talks about the relevance of digital methods in literary analyzes.

This winter term, we cordially invite all PhD students and guests to attend our new lecture series. Five international guests will present and discuss their papers on concepts and developments that have shaped our understanding of literature in the new millennium. 

At a Skulpturprojekte-Tour, new and old members of the GSPoL were invited to come together and get to know each other. The GSPoL would like to give a big thanks to the PhD student's representatives for organizing the event. We are very excited for the start of the winter term with new and old faces and looking forward to productive exchanges! Find here some impressions of the event:

A strategic planning session on women* working in circus and circus studies took place at the conference UpSideDown - Circus and Space at June 30, 2017, organised from Zirkus|Wissenschaft, a project of PhD student Franziska Trapp. Initiater Franziska Trapp and workshop organizer Elisabeth Zimmermann are very happy about the productive exchange and interesting results and would like to address a special thanks to the equal opportunity's office of the WWU.

The colloquium of the GSPoL took place on June 1st and 2nd as a compact workshop. The GSPoL was very pleased to welcome Prof. Dr. Lut Missinne (Dutch Literature) und Prof. Dr. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf (German Literature), and, in addition, various international guests who participated in the discussion of PhD theses and thus enriched the very productive GSPoL colloquium! A big thank you to all participants!

The GSPoL project group Cine Club would like to invite anyone interested in joining them for their new film series " Alternate Realities". Every wednesday the Cine Club meets at the German Department, room VSH18, 20:00, to screen and discuss a movie with the subject "Alternate Realities in Film".

The thirtheenth issue of Textpraxis. Digital Journal for Philology was released on May 1st!

Jennifer Clare tests a synthesis of Stephen Greenblatt and Rüdiger Campe’s text-context approaches to literature in her analysis of Bernward Vesper’s Die Reise, Vanessa Hannesschläger investigates the concrete poetry movement as a ‘European project’, and Hannes Höfer deals with intermediality in literary representations of jazz music.

From your dissertation to your own project: Zirkus|Wissenschaft's coordinator Franziska Trapp speaks of the connection and development between her PhD project and a world-wide unique circensic research concept.

The GSPoL is pleased to receive Prof. Dr. Monika Fludernik (Freiburg University) for an evening lecture and corresponding masterclass on May 12/13, 2017.

The GSPoL is pleased to announce alumna Dr. Zornitsa Dimitrova's publication of her dissertation Literary Worlds and Deleuze. Expression as Mimesis and Event, released Dec 2016 at Rowman & Littlefield.

The GSPoL is pleased to receive Prof. Dr. Anne Fleig (FU Berlin) for an evening lecture and corresponding masterclass on May 4/5, 2017. Guests interested in joing the masterclass can register at julia.langhof@uni-muenster.de. Please note that the lecture and masterclass will be held in German.

The publication "Social Turn? Das Soziale in der gegenwärtigen Literatur(-wissenschaft)" based on the Winter School "Social Turn in der Literatur(wissenschaft)?" is now available!

The GSPoL congratulates alumna and board member Dr. Caren Heuer on her dissertation's publication Im Zeichen der Hermannsschlacht. Texte des Nationalen im 18. Jahrhundert.

TEXTPRAXIS is seeking articles for its thirteenth issue. If you wish to contribute, please submit your abstracts (max. 500 words) by April 1st, 2017.

TEXTPRAXIS publishes articles in literary and cultural studies within the following areas: “Literature and Society,” “Theories of Literary Study,” and “Literary Studies and Praxis.” Articles from any philological discipline are welcome.

All articles published by TEXTPRAXIS are open access and reviewed.

The GS PoL congratulates alumnus Maximilian Häusler on his dissertation's publication. The book The Ethics of Satirical Writing is now available in German at Winter Universitätsverlag.

The 'Cine Club', a GSPoL project group, would like to invite anyone interested in joining them for a film screening on Monday, February 20th, at 8 p.m. in VSH 116, Schlossplatz 34.

After screening and discussing Wong Kar-Wai's melancholy tale of love and loneliness "In the Mood for Love", followed by meta-comedy "Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance" (Alejandro G. Iñárritus), British satire "Four Lions" (2010) by Chris Morris, "Mulholland Dr." by David Lynch (2001) and "La Grande Bellezza" by Paolo Sorrentino (2013), the next movie to be analysed is "Inside Llewyn Davis".

The GS PoL congratulates Alumna and Board Member Christina Riesenweber on her dissertation's publication. The book "Die Ordnungen der Literaturwissenschaft. Selbstbeschreibungen einer Disziplin 1990–2010" is now available via the open access publication of Münster University!

The GSPoL extends a warm welcome to Dr. Tomislav Zelic from Zadar University, Croatia, for a public lecture and following masterclass concering the idea of "Mediterranianism" as a tool for discourse analysis in the tradition of Said's "Orientialism" (1977) and Todorova's "Balkanism" (1997). The Mediterranean Sea as catalyst of European identity formation connecting self-autorization and self-authentification furthers the (self)distinction between the European Self as Other. Dr Zelic asserts that this literary-imaginative process can be seen in German literary history analyzing baroque and German contemporary literature as example.

The GS PoL is pleased to announce a short workshop, offering a briefing for students considering a PhD in literary studies at the WWU. The event will provide information on where and how to begin your application and planning for a dissertation and gives an introduction on the work of the Graduate School 'Practices of Literature'.

The GSPoL is pleased to welcome Prof. Dr. Lars Koch from Dresden to a public lecture and masterclass. The lecture focusses on different art activists fighting against global capitalism: Friedrich von Borries, Milo Rau, and the Centre for Political Beauty, three main figures but with different approaches in the field of aesthetic intervention. Examining the aesthetical self- and external reference, and their different approaches to disrupt and redefine reality conventions as well as cultural perception, the lecture seeks to point out the interrelationship of politics and art.

We would like to cordially congratulate our alumni Seth Berk, Till Huber, Japhet Johnstone, Caroline Kögler, Torsten Leine, Katharina Müller, Markus Nehl, Janneke Schoene and Kerstin Wilhelms on the completion of their doctoral degrees in 2016!

The 'Cine Club', new project group of the GSPoL, would like to invite anyone interested to join them for the first screening on Monday 12th of December at 6 p.m. in VSH, Schlossplatz 34. The first film to be watched and discussed was be Wong Kar-Wai's melancholy tale of love and loneliness from 2002: "In the Mood for Love". This time we will take an analytic look at the meta-comedy "Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance".

The GSPoL was pleased to receive Dr. Kristin Dombek (Princeton University) for a reading from her new book 'The Selfishness of Others' for Münster Lectures 2016. Follow this link for the author's TV-feature in German cultural TV program "Kulturzeit" and further impressions of reading and masterclass.

The GSPoL is pleased to announce Dr. Stefan Tetzlaff's publication 'Heterotopie als Textverfahren. Erzählter Raum in Romantik und Realismus', published by de Gruyter.

The first anthology published at Textpraxis and edited by GSPoL alumnus Innokentij Kreknin and Chantal Marquardt focusses on the question of how digital technologies affect formations of the subject and their daily practices.

Find the special issue here!

The GS PoL is pleased to welcome Dr. Kristin Dombek to a reading for Münster Lectures 2016 on the topic of "The Selfishness of Others" from her recently published book The Selfishness of Others: An Essay on the Fear of Narcissism.

The project Zirkus | Wissenschaft is inviting everyone interested to an exclusive visit to the URBANATIX dress rehearsal show.

The GS PoL is pleased to announce Dr. Till Huber 's publication "Blumfeld und die Hamburger Schule. Sekundarität – Intertextualität – Diskurspop", published by V&R unipress.

In cooperation with the DAAD, the Department of Philology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster is offering two scholarships for interested and qualified international doctoral candidates in the area of literary studies starting October 1st 2017. The Graduate School 'Practices of Literature' offers the opportunity to complete your doctorate degree within three years and to prepare for an academic career in university or non-university professions.

From September 28-30th, the Chair of English, Postcolonial & Media Studies and Open University will be co-hosting a unique collaborative Symposium. Compiling the very first Cambridge History of Black and Asian British Writing, editors Professor Susheila Nasta (Open Univesity) and Professor Mark Stein (Münster) have invited their contributors to a three-day research and cooperation workspace through which the writing process shall be enhanced and productively facilitated.
The Event includes an Evening to Celebrate Black and Asian British Writing on Thursday 29 September with readings from renowned authors, showcasing literature from the UK’s Black and Asian writers. More

The seventh annual conference of the Association for Research in the Fantastic under the title The Fantastic Now: Research in the Fantastic in the 21st Century aims to include the greatest possible number of diverse voices and perspectives to do justice to the multiplicity and interdisciplinarity of the field in order to discuss its societal and cultural implications.
The conference will takeplace at the Westfälische-Wilhelms University of Münster, English Seminar, from the 22nd to 24th of September 2016.

The WWU Graduate Centre cordially invites all doctoral candidates and postdocs to the Day of Junior Scientists in Münster. Its focus will be on the ways and means to support junior scientists in their academic careers.

TEXTPRAXIS is seeking articles for its thirteenth issue. If you wish to contribute, please submit your abstracts (max. 500 words) by September 15, 2016.

TEXTPRAXIS publishes articles in literary and cultural studies within the following areas: “Literature and Society,” “Theories of Literary Study,” and “Literary Studies and Praxis.” Articles from any philological discipline are welcome.

All articles published by TEXTPRAXIS are open access and reviewed.

The GS PoL is pleased to announce Dr. Markus Nehl publication "Transnational Black Dialogues: Re-Imagining Slavery in the Twenty-First Century".

The GS PoL is happy to welcome Dr. Kelemen (Eövös-Loránd-Universität Budapest (ELTE)) as lecturer for a masterclass funded by the smartNETWORK program  Ipid4all. The workshop will focus on objects and exhibits - practices of exhibiting in literature and philology.

Lis Hansen, a member of the GS PoL, is co-organizing a workshop on the topic of literature and material marginalization in Berlin. The workshop will focus on how marginalized objects can be written (about) and analyzed.

On June 22nd 2016, smartNETWORK, the association of the graduate schools of the humanities and social sciences, will host the seventh networking day at Johannerstraße 4. Opportunities provided by the European Union for young researchers will be the day's topic.

For further information, click here

At the second general assembly of all PhD students of the WWU, the ASta representatives for the PhD students will be elected. After that, a film screening of PhD Movie 2 with free snacks and drinks will provide a casual setting for an informal get-together.

The GS PoL is pleased to announce a workshop in cooperation with Dr. Viola Voß and the ULB, which will focus on the optimal publication of a dissertation.

The GS PoL is happy to welcome Prof. Dr. Benthien from Hamburg. She will hold a lecture on cultural theory of shame and guilt.

Thu 09.06.2016, 9 - 10 I Festsaal, Schlossplatz 5

Click here for the photo gallery and the conference report.

The official ending of the research training group Literary Theory as Theory of Society was celebrated on May 3rd. Follow this link to our image gallery:

Textpraxis Issue # 12 was released on May 1st.
In the »Literature and Society« section, Jean Marie Carey (Dunedin) analyzes the polysemic meaning of Franz Marc’s painting in her article »Eyes Be Closed: Franz Marc’s Liegender Hund im Schnee«. In the »Theories of Literary Study« section, Tilmann Köppe and Jan Stühring (Göttingen) expand Genette’s three categories zero focalization, internal and external focalization in their article »Is zero focalization reducible to variable internal and external focalization?«. Köppe and Stühring aim to clearly differentiate those terms. In the »Literary Studies and Praxis« section, Lena Lang (Göttingen) deals with Jelinek’s digital (self-)promotion of ,privacy’ and intimacy as well as publicity and disappearance in her article »Elfriede privat?! Elfriede Jelineks digitale Selbstinszenierung«.

Das Rektorat der WWU lädt Promotionsinteressierte und Promovierende, die am Anfang ihrer Dissertation stehen und sich für eine Förderung durch ein Begabtenförderungswerk interessieren, herzlich zu einer Infoveranstaltung im Schloss ein. Die fächerübergreifenden Fördererinstitutionen werden sowohl durch WWU-interne als auch externe Referentinnen und Referenten vorgestellt. Während eines Infocafés und im Anschluss an die Vorstellungen wird die Gelegenheit zum Austausch und zur Vernetzung geboten.

The GS PoL is happy to welcome Prof. Dr. Markus Kuhn from the University of Southern Denmark to a public lecture on the topic of scenic narration.

The GS PoL congratulates Alumna Beatrix van Dam on her dissertation's publication. The book Geschichte erzählen: Repräsentation von Vergangenheit in deutschen und niederländischen Texten der Gegenwart is now available!

The PhD Research Group (Promotionskolleg) Literary Theory as Theory of Society, which took up work in the summer term 2012, is an independent college of the Graduate School Practices of Literature and it is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation. The official ending of the project will be celebrated with a closing ceremony on May 3rd 2016. Prof. Dr. Eckart Gobel from the Univserity of Tuebingen will hold a lecture on "Paria und Patria. Hannah Arendts 'Gespensterwelt'"at the event.

Further information on the conference which is organised by three GS PoL members is now available on this flyer. Please find the abstract and contact information (in German) here:

The German magazine "Frankfurter Rundschau" interviewed GS PoL doctoral candidate and organizer of the conference Franziska Trapp in their 49th issue. Please find further information on the topic of circus sciences and the interview here.

Within the framework of the Reaserach Training Programme "Literary Form: History and Culture of Aesthetic Modelling"(RTG 1886/1), funded by the German Research Council, the University of Muenster advertises up to 12 doctoral scholarships.

Funding is to commence on 1 October 2016 and lasts at least 30 months. For further information on the application process please click here.

New lectures are available in the online media library LitFlix!
Camilla Damkjaer's lecture in the context of the International Conference "Semiotics of the Circus" in cooperation with Cirque Bouffon and Marjorie Levinson's keynote speach "Lyric: the Idea of This Invention" of the international conference "Literary Form. History and Culture of Aesthetic Modeling" at the WWU are now online at LitFlix, the online media library of the GS PoL and the Research Training Group Literary Form.

The Integrated Graduate School of the Collaborative Research Centre/ SFB 1150 “Cultures of Decision-making”, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) at the University of Muenster since July 1st 2015, is offering four visiting fellowships for postgraduates / doctoral candidates in 2016 for a period of up to six months, starting in April 2016. Please find the announcement here.

Published by two GS PoL members, the publication Crimes of Passion to the corresponding international conference held in Muenster (24 to 26 July 2013) and organised by GS PoL members is now available!

Through the lecture series of the Cluster of Excellence about conversion from Antiquity until the present day, the GS PoL is excited to announce a lecture and masterclass with Prof. Detering on the topic of Dylan's conversions and life paths in pop culture.

Social media is an all-encompassing tool to connect people which is used more and more in academic areas. The term Science 2.0 describes the changes social media introduces in academic research and publishing to more open, and collaborative processes.

In his lecture, Clemens Ruthner will explore the question how the principle of liminality (Victor Turner) is a defining factor of the genre "fantastic literature". Furthermore he will examine if and how fantastic literature and literature in general can overcome liminality through "undead" key figures e.g. the vampire.
Place and Time: Thu, 14.01.2015, 18:15 - 19:45, Senatssaal (Schlossplatz 2)

We would like to cordially congratulate our alumni Zornitsa Dimitrova, Till Huber, Japhet Johnstone, Torsten Leine, Caroline Kögler and Kerstin Wilhelms on the completion of their doctoral degrees in 2015!

The GS PoL is happy to look back on another year's interesting activities.
We would like to invite you to review 2015 with us!

TEXTPRAXIS, the online publication of the Graduate School ‘Practices of Literature’ is seeking articles for its twelfth issue. TEXTPRAXIS publishes articles in literary and cultural studies within the following areas: “Literature and Society,” “Theories of Literary Study,” and “Literary Studies and Praxis.” If you wish to contribute, please submit your article by January 15th, 2016.

The College of Philology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster is looking for interested and qualified international doctoral candidates in the area of Literary Studies starting October 1st 2016. In the Graduate School 'Practices of Literature' you will have the opportunity to complete your doctorate degree within three years and to prepare yourself for an academic career in university or non-university professions. The deadline for application for the winter semester 2016/17 is the 30th of November 2015.

The English Seminar and the Chair of English, Postcolonial and Media Studies are proud to host the fifth African European Studies conference, which is being held in Münster for the first time from 16-19 September.

After the proceedings of the conference „digital. sozial. marginal? Literatur und Computerspiel in der digitalen Gesell­schaft“ have been published online, the keynote lecture held by Dr. Rolf Nohr on "'When you hear the buzzer, stare at the art.' Spielen als Test " is now also available on Litflix, the Youtube-channel of the GS PoL.

Recently the proceedings of the conference „digital. sozial. marginal? Literatur und Computerspiel in der digitalen Gesell­schaft“ have been published online.

On augst 20th Prof. Dr. Jörg Kreienbrock will hold a masterclass on „Parallelpoesie: Zur Relation von Dichtung und Theorie nach deren Ende“.

The Coordinating Office of the GS PoL is actually looking for an undergraduate assistant. The position is to be filled until October 1st 2015. Applications can be submitted until Sunday, 06.09.2015.

The Graduate School Literaturtheorie has recently published the anthology Literatur. Macht. Gesellschaft. Neue Beiträge zur theoretischen Modellierung des Verhältnisses von Literatur und Gesellschaft.

On 26th June NeinQuarterly (Eric Jarosinski) was in Münster for a public lecture. The German media channel WDR and Deutschlandfunk made a report including an interview that is available on their websides.

From 3rd - 4th July 2015 the conference Briefe als Träger und Trigger von Affekten will examine the connection between letter and affect that is often claimed as natural. Download programme here.

In this year the GS PoL is happy to present Eric Jarosinski (Twitter-pseudonym @NeinQuarterly) as lecturer. Everyone interested is cordially invited to attend the Münster Lectures on 26th June.

The ninth issue of Textpraxis appears on 1 November 2014. Articles for this new issue may be submitted until July 15, 2014 in German or Englisch.

Research Training Group Literary Form. History and Culture of Aesthetic Modeling is hosting an internantional conference from 5-7 October 2015. The international conference on ‘Literary Form. History and Culture of Aesthetic Modeling’ will build upon that recent interest in form from a comparative perspective: the perspective of classical and modern languanges, literatures, and media. It will investigate the function of aesthetic modeling for a transdisciplinary discourse on poetic form.

The German media channel WDR currently reported on the conference Semiotics of the Circus that was a cooperation of the GS PoL and the Cirque Buffon. The report is now available on the webside of the WDR - featuring an interview with GS PoL student and conference organizer Franziska Trapp.

The College of Philology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster is looking for interested and qualified doctoral candidates in the area of Literary Studies starting October 1st 2015. In the Graduate School, 'Practices of Literature', you will have the opportunity to complete your doctorate degree within three years and to prepare yourself for an academic career in university or non-university professions.

On 27th and 28th April Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht will hold a lecture and a masterclass at the GS PoL on 'Stimmungen lesen'? Über eine vergessene Dimension des literarischen Erlebens.

The conference Briefe als Träger und Trigger von Affekten (03.-04.07.) will be devoted to the connection between letter and affect, that is often claimed as natural. PhD students that want to apply can apply until 15th April 2015.

A media group consisting of postgraduates from Münster have started their own YouTube-channel to document lectures and events in the area of literary studies. The channel LitFlix is now online!

The Winter Verlag has recently published the conference anthology Case Studies of Coincidence. Epistemologies of the Unforseen in Literature and Theory. The conference was organized by members of the GS PoL in 2013.

The Gesellschaft für Anglophone Postkoloniale Studien accepts proposals for the annual conference Ideology in Postcolonial Texts and Contexts (14th-16th May, WWU Münster) by March 31st.

The aim of the conference is to take the multiple discursive links into account and to ask how the different dimensions of work shape the presentation of one’s (own) life. On the one hand, the conference will take a look at auto/biographies and other auto/biographical media, i.e. on genres that allow an explicit focusing on an individual’s life or on the individual as a foil for more general, epistemological reflection. On the other hand, auto/biographical forms will be taken into account, that serve as a data basis for the science of history, sociology or psychology.

On 19th of February Dr. Gabriele Radecke will hold a lecture on Theodor Fontane's notebooks: "Notizbuch-Editionen. Zu Materialität und Medialität von Theodor Fontanes Notizbüchern und ihrer editorischen Repräsentation". On 20th February there will be an additional masterclass on "Digitale Editionen" with Dr. Radecke and Mathias Göbel, that will give an introduction to edition philology as well as "TextGrid".

Click here to get to the official homepage of the conference 'Semiotics of the Circus'. (Photo: © Max Eicke - maxeicke.com / Design: Friedrich Schäper)

To see the CFP please click here.

The GS PoL is pleased to announce the publication "Poetik des Terrors" of Dr. Michael König.

The GS PoL would like to announce the lecture "viele kleine Kopftuchmädchen … ”: Eine postkolonial -feministische Kritik an neo-kolonialen Diskursen über Muslimische Frauen of Color, held by Ismahan Wayah (GS PoL).

Dr. Matthias Thiele will hold a public lecture on "Ambulantes Aufzeichnen als Verfahren der Welterkundung um 1800 und um 2000: Adelbert von Chamissos Reise um die Welt und Kevin Sites Global Hot Zone" on the 15th of January. There will be an additional masterclass on the 16th of January. 

We would like to cordially congratulate our alumni Maximilian Häusler and Jesper Reddig on completing their PhD in 2014!

On behalf of the Westfälische Wilhems-Universität Münster we would like to invite you to the first German conference dedicated to the topic "circus". The conference will take place from 15th to 17th April 2015 in cooperation with Cirque Bouffon. The conference will be held in English, please submit your contributions by February 15, 2015.

We are pleased to announce the publication "Selbstverortungen. Migration und Identität in der zeitgenössischen deutsch- und englischsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur" of Dr. James Orao, who was the first PhD graduate of the Graduate School in 2012.

We would like to congratulate member of the Graduate School 'Practices of Literature' Dr. Christoph Pflaumbaum on the publication of his PhD thesis entitled "Melancholisches Schreiben nach Auschwitz. Studien zu Wolfgang Hildesheimer, Jean Améry und W. G. Sebald".

The Graduate School is pleased to announce the latest publication by a member of the Graduate School 'Practices of Literature, Dr. Matthias Schaffrick, entitled "In der Gesellschaft des Autors. Religiöse und politische Inszenierungen von Autorschaft".

The GSPoL interview with game designer Kevin Menzt is now online - as well as the Youtube-channel "About:Games", hosted by the project group "Gamestudies", which offers tutorials and "Let's analyze" Videos as an introduction to the theory of computer game analysis.

The Graduate School Practices of Literature proudly presents Kevin Mentz, Gamedesigner working for Daedalic Entertainment, which is currently holding the Studio of the Year Award 2013. He will give a talk on "Story breaking and breaking stories" at Thursday, September 4th 2014.

The College of Philology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster is looking for interested and qualified doctoral candidates in the area of Literary Studies starting April 1st 2015. In the Graduate School, 'Practices of Literature', you will have the opportunity to complete your doctorate degree within three years and to prepare yourself for an academic career in university or non-university professions.

We would like to congratulate Dr. Innokentij Kreknin on the publication of his PhD thesis entitled "Poetiken des Selbst. Identität, Autorschaft und Autofiktion am Beispiel von Rainald Goetz, Joachim Lottmann und Alban Nikolai Herbst".

Special Guests from Kiel at the WWU: The GSPoL will host a special lecture on Rambo and Tatort. The event takes place on wednesday 25th of June, 6 pm, room JO1 (Johannisstraße). Please note that the lectures will be held in German.

In the framework of the Graduate School Scholarship Programme, up to four scholarships are to be awarded to international PhD-students working in the field of literary studies. The official announcement will be published anytime soon.

The College of Philology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University in Münster is looking for interested and qualified international doctoral candidates in the area of Literary Studies starting October 1st 2015. In the Graduate School, 'Practices of Literature', you will have the opportunity to complete your doctorate degree within three years and to prepare yourself for an academic career in university or non-university professions.

The Europakolleg will host a lecture series on literary figurations in europe. The event takes place on wednesdays, 16. pm, room JO1 (Johannisstraße). Please note that the lectures will be held in German.

In April, the Europa Kolleg will host the international conference "Living Europe, Writing Europe: Literary Perceptions of Urbanization and ‹Provincializing› European Identities". The event is is organized by doctoral students of different fields of research and is addressed to young academics.

We would like to cordially congratulate Dr. Maren Conrad on the publication of her PhD thesis entitled "Aufbrüche der Ordnung, Anfänge der Phantastik. Ein Modell zur methodischen Balladenanalyse, entwickelt am Beispiel der phantastischen Kunstballade".

Upon the invitation of Hans Böckler PhD Research Group (Promotionskolleg) Literary Theory as Theory of Society, Dr. Thomas Ernst (Universität Essen/Duisburg) will hold a public lecture on his recent publication Literatur und Subversion. Politisches Schreiben in der Gegenwart.

The Graduate School cordially congratulates Dr. Kirstin Frieden on the publication of her PhD thesis entitled "Neuverhandlungen des Holocaust. Mediale Transformationen des Gedächtnisparadigmas".

We would like to cordially congratulate Kirstin Frieden, Caren Heuer, Christoph Plaumbaum und Anna Thiemann on the completion of their doctoral degrees in 2013.

The lecture on digital humanities will take place in the WWU Festsaal at 6 pm.  Please note that the lecture will be in German.

The lecture will take place in the Senatssaal at 6.15 pm. Please note that the lecture will be in German.

What is our understanding of plagiarism, what are the effects and how can researchers deal with this topic? On the 14th of February 2013 the smartNETWORK invites all members of the participating graduate schools to their 4th Network-Day. The event takes place in the facilities of the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” (Johannisstraße 4).

We are pleased to announce the publication of Dr. Boris Hoge’s book Schreiben über Russland. Die Konstruktion von Raum, Geschichte und kultureller Identität in deutschen Erzähltexten seit 1989 (Writings on Russia: The construction of Space, History and Cultural Identity in German Literature after 1989). Dr. Hoge completed his PhD with Graduate School
Practices of Literature last year. 

The lecture will take place in the Festsaal (Schlossplatz 4) at 6.15 pm. Please note that the lecture will be in German.

80 years ago, book burnings took place all over Germany, also in Münster: National Socialists and right-wing students’ groups literally purged writings they considered to be oppositional to their ideology, even to be degenerate. A local initiative commemorates the book burnings.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Bauer (Arab and Islam Studies) has been awarded the German Research Foundation’s prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz Prize 2013. We would like to congratulate Prof. Dr. Bauer.
The DFG commented: “Thomas Bauer is an Islamic studies scholar who has combined the philological interpretation and editing of texts with an approach that is as broad as it is innovative, taking in historical considerations relating to culture and mentality, making his work potentially unique in the world. Bauer is known for his research into Arabic poetry, including the Onager Episode and the Abbasid Period.”

The Graduate School Practices of Literature and the PK LitG Literary Theory as Theory of Society will host a workshop with Dr. Carrie Smith-Prei (University of Alberta) on the topic “Failures, precarious feminisms and the political potential of the awkward”. The event will take place on the 15th and 16th of January 2013 and includes a public lecture and a workshop for the graduate students of the GS PoL and PK LitG.

The newly-established Europa-Kolleg unites three individual projects from English, German and Slavic studies that are funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The event will last about two hours and takes place at the Festsaal of the University on the 27th November 2012, at 6 pm at the Festsaal (Schlossplatz 5). Everyone interested is kindly invited to join the event.

The Graduate School Practices of Literature and the Promotionskolleg Literary theory as Theory of Society (University of Münster) will host a workshop with Prof. Dr. Klaus-Michael Bogdal (Bielefeld) on the 21st and 22nd of November 2012.

On the 21st of May 2012 KD Wolff will give a lecture on the topic Von der 68er Studentenbewegung zum Klassikerverlag (18.15-20.00, Festsaal of the University). Seminar of the GSPoL and of the PK LitG: 22nd of May 2012 (10.00-12.00 and 13.00-15.00), Alexander-von-Humbold Haus (Hüfferstraße 61), Room 139.

On 11th of April 2012 the official opening ceremony of the PhD Research Group (Promotionskolleg) Literary Theory as Theory of Society took place in the Festsaal of the University.

The members of the Graduate School Practices of Literature would like to cordially congratulate James Orao who successfully defended his doctoral thesis.

The GSPoL organized a graduate conference titled “Anything goes? Literary theory in the 21st Century” at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster (21st and 22nd May 2010).

The Graduate School Practices of Literature organised a five-day field trip to the German Literarature Archive Marbach (7th - 12th February).

The Münster Lectures seek to combine the merits of theoretical and literary insight, inviting both a well-known scholar and prominent a writer to discuss current debates, scholastic and social likewise. Shedding new light on controversial debates functions as a mode of cultural encounter, the lectures and discussions are open for participation to scholars, students, and the interested public. The Münster Lectures strengthen not only the interdisciplinary exchange among members of the university, but also bridges a gap between the university and the city of Münster

This year's lecture series will create an interdisciplinary dialogue by addressing issues such as "Realitie(s) in Literary Studies", "Factual Fictions", as well as "Political Correctness in Academic Discourse", and more. Further information and a detailled schedule coming soon!