Since the 1980s, the focus of cultural and social sciences internationally has increasingly turned to the topic of space. The geographer Edward Soja provided the intuitively understandable label for this development: the spatial turn. However, the question of what space is and how it can be studied has given rise to a whole landscape of specialist answers over the last 40 years.
The German workshop “Literature and Space” invites all interested parties to explore this landscape in the field of literary studies. We will focus in particular on the diversity of methods between close and distant reading, between qualitative and quantitative approaches, analog and computer-aided methods. What concepts of space are there in connection with literature? What can we learn about literature when we examine space in and around literature? Which approach brings which horizon of knowledge with it?
In the third workshop in our series, we will examine these questions using 20th-century German-language literature. We look forward to contributions on individual authors of this period: Presentations are planned by Magdalena Höft (University of Rostock) on space in the texts of Uwe Johnson, by Dr. Stephan Lesker (University of Rostock) on space in Walter Kempowski, and by Korbinian Lindel (University of Koblenz) on geopolitical space in Stefan Zweig. The contributions will be supplemented by an overview of various 20th-century novels and their spatiality from the CANSpiN project, presented by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Ulrike Henny-Krahmer, Nils Kellner, and Marc Lemke (University of Rostock).
The event is organized and sponsored by the “CANSpiN” project, including Ulrike Henny-Krahmer, Nils Kellner, and Marc Lemke, and the Institute of German Studies at the University of Rostock.
Location:
The workshop will take place as a hybrid event on October 17, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the counseling room of the Central University Administration (ground floor, Schwaansche Straße 2, 18055 Rostock). Please register using the online form (https://tinyurl.com/literatur-raum-III).
Contact: nils.kellneruni-rostockde