News

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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 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 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.

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.

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

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

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!

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.

Click here for the photo gallery and the conference report.

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 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 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 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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!

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).

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 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 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".

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

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.

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".

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.

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. 

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.”

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.

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