Textpraxis # 10

1.2015

In the tenth issue Mirjam Bitter analyses the German-Jewish dialogue in Bernhard Schlink’s Die Beschneidung, Theresa Schmidtke explores pop literature storytelling in writers’ blogs and Gerrit Lembke and Ingo Irsigler present their innovative project Vorlesung mal anders.

Theories of Literary Study

TheresaSchmidtke

»Das blogg ich ab.«

Popliterarisches Erzählen in Blogs, analysiert am Beispiel von Sven Regeners ›Logbüchern‹ »Meine Jahre mit Hamburg-Heiner«

The article examines the possibilities and limits of pop literature storytelling in writers’ blogs. Through the example of Sven Regener’s blog projects (now published in book form under the title Logbücher. Meine Jahre mit Hamburg-Heiner) it investigates, how and how far two characteristics that are considered typical for pop literature, author staging and timeliness, have been adapted or renewed according to specific media. This article argues that Regener’s blogs indeed contain features of pop literature, which are implemented in them in an innovative way, specifically in the space of the Internet, but which still fall short from utilizing the many potentials of online-based storytelling.

Literature and Society

MirjamBitter

Differenz als Belastungsprobe

Verhandlungen des deutsch-jüdischen Gesprächs in Bernhard Schlinks Erzählung »Die Beschneidung«

Schlink’s novella depicts the failure of a German-Jewish dialogue through the private scenes of two lovers and explores the number of differences that a relationship can bear. The title, Die Beschneidung, on the one hand refers to the plot, since the German protagonist hopes to overcome his cultural differences with his Jewish-American girlfriend by converting to Judaism, which, for him, would involve circumcision. On the other hand, the literary text expounds the problem of circumcision on a metaphorical level by recounting how the protagonist ›cuts off‹ many topics, because he is afraid of being criticized for his thoughts by Jewish characters. As a victim of anti-German prejudices, he invokes several anti-Semitic stereotypes. This article explores how and if the novella sensitizes against such stereotypical thinking and thus subtly criticizes an anti-Semitic and revisionist discourse, or if, on the contrary, the text engrains itself in such a discourse.

Literary Studies and Praxis

IngoIrsiglerGerritLembke

Smart Science

Die Vortragsreihe »Vorlesung mal anders«

Innovative research requires cutting-edge formats for mediating information that take place beyond traditional teaching. The Vorlesung mal anders / A different lecture for once, organized by Ingo Irsigler and Gerrit Lembke in Kiel, tries to give students an idea of what cultural studies are all about, but in a different way – ›mal anders‹. That is, a lecture without tests, attendance lists, or even credit points, but with young lecturers and numerous motivated students.

Editorial

We proudly present you the now 10th edition of our digital journal of Philology. With its three new contributions, this anniversary edition covers a wide range of topics: In the »Literature and Society« section, Mirjam Bitter (Berlin) analyzes the German-Jewish dialogue in Bernhard Schlink's story Beschneidung. In the »Theories of Literary Study« section, Theresa Schmidtke (Rostock) is concerned with the possibilities and limitations of pop-literary narrations in blogs of writers. In the »Literary Studies and Praxis« section, Gerrit Lembke and Ingo Irsigler (Kiel) present their innovative lecture project Vorlesung mal anders.

The Textpraxis team has also grown again. With Constanze Bartsch, Julia Langhof and Irene Husser we welcome three new editorial staff members of the Graduate School Practices of Literature to our team. At the same time, we say goodbye to our long-time editorial staff members Japhet Johnstone and Christoph Pflaumbaum and thank both for their tireless commitment to Textpraxis.

Another thanks goes to the authors and the reviewers who have ensured instructive and worthy contributions by working in close collaboration. Following the principles of Open Access, Textpraxis aims to establish a dialogue between text producer and text recipients. We therefore hope that readers will once again enjoy reading our new issue and invite you to reply to the contributions with comments or detailed replicas.

Your Textpraxis editorial team

Imprint

Textpraxis # 10 (1.2015) has been published on May 1 2015.

Editorial Team:
Constanze Bartsch,
Ina Batzke,
Seth Berk,
Nikolas Buck,
Dominic Büker,
Katharina Fürholzer,
Nina Gawe,
Lena Hoffmann,
Irene Husser,
Ana Ilic,
Julia Langhof,
Martin Stobbe,
Kerstin Wilhelms

Reviewers:
Prof. Dr. Cornelia Blasberg (Münster)
Dr. Innokentij Kreknin (Passau)
Dr. Dominik Orth (Oldenburg)

Cover image: Kerstin Wilhelms