Realist Ideologies: Mimesis in Contemporary German Literature

This project examines the ideological dimensions of realism in contemporary German literature since around 2010. It argues that realistic writing practices do not naturally represent reality but rather convey specific naturalized conceptions of reality and assumptions about the real—"realistic ideologies." Building on a structural-linguistic foundation, the study combines semiotic, psychoanalytic, and cultural-theoretical approaches to link an analytical concept of ideology with a structurally precise concept of realism. In explicit engagement with the systemic crises of the present, such as economic inequality or ecological catastrophe, it investigates the emancipatory or consolidating effects of individual texts and categorizes them into stabilizing, destabilizing, and ambivalent forms of realism. Through the combination of semiotic procedural analysis and close-reading methods, exemplary microanalyses aim to reveal the latent structures of meaning in realistic texts and the potential of realistic representation for addressing societal crises. The study contributes both to the understanding of contemporary German literature and to the theory of literary realism. It extends literary theory by introducing a critical-hermeneutic perspective on the relationship between literary representational practices and societal crisis phenomena.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Moritz Baßler

Contact

• Research Interests

  • Literature and Religion

  • Narratology

  • Magical Realism

  • Modernism

  • Cultural History

• Education

  since 10/2025	PhD Studies, German Philology, Graduate School Practices of Literature, University of Münster
  10/2020 - 11/2024	Master of Arts, Comparative Literature, Religious Studies, Ruhr University Bochum
  10/2017 - 09/2020	Bachelor of Arts, German Studies, Communication Research, University of Leipzig
  10/2019 - 06/2020	Study Abroad, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge, England
  10/2016 - 03/2019	Bachelor of Arts, Religious Studies, East Slavic Studies, University of Leipzig

• Projects and Professional Experience

  since 03/2025	Founding and Board Member, netzwerk junge literatur e.V.
  since 02/2024	Co-Editor-in-Chief, Zeitschrift für junge Religionswissenschaft
  since 05/2020	Editor, Literarische Blätter – Plattform für Gegenwartsliteratur (since 02/2023 head of editorial team)

• Publications and Conference Papers

  Publications

  Jueterbock, Felix: „Bedeutungsexzess in Hannes Bajohrs (Berlin, Miami). Literarischer Sinn und Künstliche Intelligenz“. Tagungsband des 14. Studierendenkongresses Komparatistik. Berlin University Press. [forthcoming]

  Jueterbock, Felix: „Die ‚Sympathie mit dem Tode‘. Thomas Manns Zauberberg zwischen Religion und Literatur“. In: Zeitschrift für junge Religionswissenschaft 15 (2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/zjr.1281.

  Jueterbock, Felix. „Review: Ian Cooper und John Walker (Hrsg.), Literature and Religion in the German-Speaking World. From 1200 to the Present Day“. In: Zeitschrift für junge Religionswissenschaft 15 (2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/zjr.1471.

   

  Conference Papers

   

  05/2024	„Bedeutungsexzess in Hannes Bajohrs (Berlin, Miami). Literarischer Sinn und Künstliche Intelligenz“ [Excess of Meaning in Hannes Bajohr’s (Berlin, Miami), 14th Student Conference in Comparative Literature, Free University of Berlin
  05/2024	„Magical Realism and the Everyday”, 29th Student Conference in Religious Studies, Ruhr University Bochum
  10/2022	„Realitätsverdopplung und Reflexionsblockaden. Systemtheorie als Rahmen für einen Vergleich zwischen dem Spiel und dem Heiligen“ [Duplication of reality and reflection stops. Systems theory as framework for a comparison between play and the sacred], Workshop Sacred Games (Research Forum “Literature and Religion”), Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
  01/2020	„Religion, Transzendenz und Moderne“ [Religion, Transcendence, and Modernity], 6th Cambridge Undergraduate Conference in German Studies, University of Cambridge
  06/2019	„Religion im Medium oder Medium von Religion? Literatur und Film in der Religionswissenschaft“ [Religion in a medium or a medium of religion? Literature and film in Religious Studies], 26th Student Conference of Religious Studies. Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg
  05/2018	„Die Sympathie mit dem Tode. Thomas Manns säkulare Zeitdiagnose im Zauberberg“ [Sympathy with death. Thomas Mann’s secular diagnosis of his time in The Magic Mountain], 25. Studierendensymposium der Religionswissenschaft, University of Leipzig

• Scholarships and Awards

  02/2019 - 03/2024

  Scholarship, German Academic Scholarship Foundation

• Committe Work

  10/2020 – 09/2024	Chair, Comparative Literature Student Representatives, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
  01/2022 - 03/2023	Student Representative, Academic Advisory Board for Religious Studies, Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr University Bochum
  01/2021 - 03/2023	Student Representative, Quality Assurance Committee, Center for Religious Studies, Ruhr University Bochum
  10/2018 - 09/2020	Student Representative, Academic Affairs Committee for Religious Studies, Institute of Religious Studies, University of Leipzig
  10/2018 - 09/2019	Chair, German Studies Student Representatives, University of Leipzig