Walled In Literature: An Architectural Inquiry

Authors

  • Nikolaus Wegmann

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/konturen.4.0.3186

Abstract

The Berlin Wall is – in spite of its obvious function and its supposedly simple form (Gestalt) – an object that must be read carefully. Countless attempts have been made to analyze the significance of the Berlin Wall. The present analysis does not make use of statistics, mass media representations, or historical moralities in its attempt to arrive at a new understanding of the Wall. Instead, the focus is on the Wall as a complex architectural form and its function for a second German national literature after 1961.

Author Biography

Nikolaus Wegmann

Nikolaus Wegmann, a Germanist and literary historian with a strong interest in media culture, received his intellectual training at Bielefeld (Promotion 1984), Cornell University, and Köln (Habilitation 1998). He has taught German literature at Bielefeld and Köln and media studies at Potsdam, the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen München, and at the Institut für Theater, Film und Fernsehwissenschaft Köln. He has also held positions as a visiting professor at the University of Iowa and the University of Washington. His research is focused on basic philological and cultural techniques such as (re‑)reading, collective reading, note‑taking, or searching and finding. Nikolaus Wegmann is vice president of the Friedrich-Schlegel‑Gesellschaft in Mainz, Germany. Together with Prof. Ulrich Breuer, he has edited Athenäum. Jahrbuch der Friedrich‑Schlegel‑Gesellschaft since 2008. He is a founding member of the American Friends of Marbach (AFM), and a co-founder of the Princeton-Weimar-Summer School for Media Studies.

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Published

2013-04-05

How to Cite

Wegmann, N. (2013). Walled In Literature: An Architectural Inquiry. Konturen, 4, 146–166. https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/konturen.4.0.3186

Issue

Vol. 4 (2013): Up Against the Wall

Section

Articles