Literature as textual practice

At the centre of this fundamental research area lie the comparative analysis and further development of approaches in literary theory and interpretive practices, as well as the historical reconstruction and systematic clarification of key concepts in literary studies. After decades of intensive theoretical development and sustained methodological debate, literary studies today are characterised by a pragmatic pluralism of methods that allows for diverse hybrid forms. In seminars, current theories are examined with regard to their internal consistency, implicit assumptions, potential, scope of interpretation, and limitations. Some dissertations address this foundational level directly and explore the interpretive potential or sustainability of conceptual elements within specific theoretical approaches. Other projects interrogate the discursive processes and philosophical premises of modern literary theory, develop alternative conceptual frameworks, or test specific theoretical approaches on literary case studies.

Intertextuality research, another key focus of this area—understood as a deliberately antiteleological and non-intentional play of textual references—highlights the accessibility and productivity of literary production. It examines the use of genre conventions within texts, forms of parody and satire, the reconstruction of discursive patterns, the deconstruction or defamiliarisation of models, and the repertoire of metatextual strategies that enable literary reflection. Intertextuality research fosters dialogue between national literatures as well as between literary and cultural studies. It foregrounds the dynamic relationship between texts and other media without neglecting historical perspectives.

Literature as textual practice also encompasses rhetoric and aesthetics, fields whose transdisciplinary and comparative dimensions have received increasing scholarly attention in recent years.

Literature from a transnational perspective

This area was reoriented in 2012, extending the previous focus on Postcolonial Studies by incorporating additional non-European perspectives. It provides a framework for comparative work beyond European literatures. The central focus lies on methods and theories of transculturality, translation, and a “global philology,” whose foundations and challenges remain to be further explored. Today, this area represents a theoretical core of the Graduate School, bringing together the comparative and transnational interests of all its members.

The Graduate School’s comparative orientation requires the study of literary texts within their cultural contexts, as well as of their intercultural and transcultural relations. Literary studies thereby make an important contribution to negotiating cultural ambiguities and examining hybrid phenomena, while also reflecting differences between academic traditions inside and outside Europe. This entails a critical engagement with hegemonic Eurocentric modes of thought and with processes of canon formation.

From a literary studies perspective, translation plays a central role in cultural negotiation. Translation studies have challenged the idea of translation as a mere transfer of authentic meaning: translations necessarily involve the mediation of cultural contexts, positioning the translator as an intermediary between cultures who must consider questions of equivalence, authenticity, intention, and power asymmetries. While there is often an assumption of the de-hierarchisation of literary production, the complex interplay of power relations that shape shifting attributions and emerging identities remains a highly relevant and contested issue.

The FSGS’s transnational comparative approach has gained nationwide visibility through the publication series WeltLiteraturen / World Literatures.

Literature and knowledge

In the tension between the reception and production of knowledge, this research area examines the epistemological functions of literature. Literature engages with objects of knowledge, records bodies of knowledge, and circulates knowledge. It processes and popularises academic knowledge, refers to specific knowledge systems that emerge within it, and further develops them.

Since literature is neither confined to a fixed object of knowledge nor limited to a clearly defined field, literary knowledge is characterised by its linguistic and genre-specific forms. It is not systematically constructed in a strict sense; rather, it combines heterogeneous and often conflicting discourses and develops models of reality with a degree of relative autonomy.

Doctoral candidates conduct their research in the context of self-differentiating knowledge cultures and in relation to discourses in both the natural and human sciences.

Literature, (inter-)mediality and the arts

The continued interest in the mediality of oral and written “literary” practices, as well as their dependence on cultural techniques and technologies, is reflected in the dissertations within this research area. The focus lies on contemporary or reactivated practices such as salon culture, poetry slams, graphic novels, blogs, and cross-media forms of art.

Interactions between literary texts and other media or art forms constitute a subfield of this research area. It addresses phenomena that have been primarily explored in intermediality studies in recent years—for example, the description of a work of art in another medium (ekphrasis), or the evocation or imitation of other art forms and media, such as cinematic writing or the translation of fiction into music.