Eine „Weltsprache der Poesie”? – A “world language of poetry”?
1. Göttingen Graduate Conference on International Poetry since 1960
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
(30.09.-02.10.2010)
CALL FOR PAPERS
Fifty years ago, in June 1960, German poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger published his Museum der modernen Poesie: the author saw his collection of texts, which participated in a world language of poetry, not as an anthology but rather as a chrestomathy, a poetic impulse for his German colleagues. In this effort Enzensberger was far ahead of his time; therefore the Museum and its impact on later generations of poets cannot be appreciated enough. Nevertheless the collection was guided by a naïve eurocentrism, as Enzensberger himself later openly confessed. Later anthologists therefore tried to depict the world language of poetry in a broader view or with a different focus, but still following Enzensberger’s chronological order. Some of them, like Harald Hartung, stick to the idea of a particular modernist world language of poetry; others like Joachim Sartorius call this a mere fiction. In Luftfracht, published in 1991, Harald Hartung addresses the obvious differentiation of the worldwide poetic discourse and observes that the process of modern poetry had moved on during the three decades since Enzensberger’s Museum, that the impulses had not stagnated but rather differentiated and that new authors and new literatures had entered the poetic discourse. In a conclusion he poses the question of how to resume and take stock of this development.
Fifty years after Enzensberger’s Museum, probably the most influential anthology of international poetry of the pre-, inter- and postwar-times of the 20th century in German culture, the graduate conference takes up Harald Hartung’s question to illuminate the status quo from a comparative point of view. The question is if and how a history of international poetry after Enzensberger’s Museum, i.e. after 1960, can be drafted. Thus, the conference wants to take a first step in direction of taking stock of the developments – maybe even in direction of a possible résumé.
Starting from these ideas, we invite proposals for talks with a comparative approach. These may cover, but are not limited to, questions as follows:
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Theoretical aspects: What kind of terminology is capable of grasping a possible world language of poetry after 1960? Which concepts of intertextuality, of translation theories, of literary sociology etc. could be made productive for this purpose? Which poetical terminology should be reviewed, modified or broadened?
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Aspects of literary history: Does it make sense to speak of a world language of poetry nowadays? What kind of arguments support this and how can this kind of literary communication be described adequately, also across cultural and linguistic boundaries? Otherwise, could alternative criteria be useful for the description of the international production of poetry after 1960?
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Aspects of literary sociology and media comparison: What kind of extraliterary factors can influence the distribution of poetic texts across boundaries of languages and cultures (e.g. anthologies, translations, the world wide web, literary awards etc.)? In what ways do these factors have a canonizing impact on the world language of poetry?
The above questions and problems can also be addressed in significant case studies.
The conference is conceived for graduates and post-doctoral researchers from all philologies; advanced students interested in the particular field of research are also welcome. The conference is organized in cooperation with the department of comparative literary studies at the Georg-August-University Göttingen by Alena Diedrich, Anna Fenner, Claudia Hillebrandt and Stefanie Preuß and will take place in Göttingen from September 30th to October 2nd 2010. Keynote talks will be given by Prof. Dr. Heinrich Detering (Göttingen), Prof. Dr. Dieter Lamping (Mainz) and Prof. Dr. Simone Winko (Göttingen).
Proposals (not more than 300 words) for 30-minute-talks in German or English should be sent to one of the following e-mail-addresses by May 31st 2010:
Claudia.hillebrandt@phil.uni-goettingen.de
Stefanie.preuss@phil.uni-goettingen.de
Please also add a short bio-bibliography.
A conference fee of €20 will be imposed to cover expenses; travel and accommodation expenses of participants cannot be covered. The publication of selected conference articles is planned, provided that funding is available.
This CfP is adopted from another source. JLTonline does not take responsibility for the correctness of its content.