Mit dem Verhältnis von Literatur, Philosophie und Rhetorik im Zeichen der Unsichtbarkeit setzt sich ein neuer Aufsatz auseinander: “Compound Invisible Objects”: Moralischer Charakter, literarische Figur und die Gyges-Problematik bei Adam Smith und Eliza Haywood. Herausgegeben ist er von Wolfgang G. Müller und Rainer Thiel als Teil von Band 5 (2022) der Internationalen Zeitschrift Kulturkomparatistik mit dem Themenschwerpunkt „Literatur – Philosophie – Ästhetik“. Der Volltext ist verfügbar unter: https://izfk.uni-trier.de/index.php/izfk/article/view/IZFK-5-08-Compound-Invisible-Objects/66
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New book chapter on Poe
BlogThe chapter is on Poe’s “The Devil in the Belfry” and “William Wilson” in particular, and it’s part of a great handbook of The American Short Story, edited by Erik Redling and Oliver Scheiding: please click here for the abstract
New article on Surveillance
BlogThis article by Isabel Kalous and me on the visualisation of surveillance on scholarly book covers has just come out with On_Culture: https://www.on-culture.org/journal/perspectives/covering-surveillance/
Paper on „The Invisible Author, Then and Now“ this Thursday
BlogAs part of the international lecture series on „Invisible Lives, Silent Voices“, I’m very happy to be speaking about „The Invisible Author, Then and Now“ in the session on „Invisible Writers“ this Thursday on 9 December, 6pm. In the same session, Christine Reynier will be speaking about „Invisible Novels of the Interwar Period: The Case of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes (1926)“. For access to the Zoom meeting, please contact the organizers at invisibilitysilence@gmail.com or drop me a line.
The international seminar „Invisible Lives, Silent Voices“ is organised by Alice Borrego, Guillaume Le Blanc, and Héloïse Lecomte. You can find out about the other sessions here: https://invisibilitysilence.wordpress.com/programme/
Visiting Scholarship at UC Berkeley in 2022
BlogGreat news: I have been granted LMUexcellent funding to go to UC Berkeley as a Visiting Scholar as part of the LMU-UCB exchange programme, thanks to the fantastic support of Professor Dorothy Hale. Covid-permitting, I’ll be spending one month at UCB in the fall semester 2022 to present and continue my work on invisible characters and the novel.
Looking for proposals for „The Agency of Invisibility“ at ESSE 2022
BlogAlice Borrego, Héloïse Lecomte and I are looking for proposals for a seminar on „The Agency of Invisibility in Contemporary Fiction and Theory“. The deadline for proposals of 250 words plus short CV is 31 January, 2022. Please see the description of the panel and a link to the general Call for Papers below. ESSE 2022 will take place in Mainz from 29 August to 2 September 2022.
„The Agency of Invisibility in Contemporary Fiction and Theory“
Alice Borrego (Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier 3, France, alice.borrego@univ-montp3.fr)
Gero Guttzeit (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, gero.guttzeit@lmu.de)
Héloïse Lecomte (ENS de Lyon, France, heloise.lecomte@ens-lyon.fr)
Invisibility is a prominent conceptual metaphor of social marginalisation, encompassing ideas of death, reification, and disregard (Le Blanc, L’invisibilité sociale, 2009). Yet, Esther Peeren argues, there is also an empowering “agency of invisibility” (2014), which becomes apparent in the contemporary figure of the living ghost. In order to contribute to the emerging field of invisibility studies from the perspective of literary studies, our seminar asks the following questions: To what extent does (the agency of) invisibility inform contemporary novels and short stories? What is the significance of literary narratives for aesthetic, social, political, and ethical concepts of invisibility? What uses can we make of concepts and metaphors of invisibility in our critical readings?
Article out: „Unseeing People“
BlogMy article on „Unseeing People: Towards a Clear View of Invisible Characters in Narrative Fiction“ has just come out in Études britanniques contemporaines: https://doi.org/10.4000/ebc.11098.
The article is connected to an ongoing conversation about invisibility and silence: check out the programme for the international seminar „Invisible Lives, Silent Voices“, organised by Alice Borrego, Guillaume Le Blanc, and Héloïse Lecomte: https://invisibilitysilence.wordpress.com/programme/
As part of this seminar, I’m very happy to be speaking about „The Invisible Author, Then and Now“ in the session on „Invisible Writers“ on 9 December, 6pm. For access to the online meeting, please contact the organizers at invisibilitysilence@gmail.com
LMU CAS lunchtime talk with response by Jim Phelan, 18 November
BlogIf you like to view a recording of this event, please get in touch with me!
I’m very glad that Jim Phelan will be responding to my lunchtime talk at CAS on 18 November, titled „On Narrative Invisibility“. The event will be held online via Zoom on Thursday, 18 November at 11 a.m. EST / 5 p.m. CET. Please drop me an email or write to CAS to join us:
„On Narrative Invisibility“ – Join us for the lunch time talk by @CASResearcher in Residence Gero Guttzeit @LMU_Muenchen in conversation with James Phelan @OhioState
👉 Livestream, Thursday, 18 November, 5 p.m. (CET)
👉 register at: info@cas.lmu.de pic.twitter.com/10gzl9M4KE— CAS_LMU (@cas_lmu) November 12, 2021
Review of Transatlantic Rhetoric in Rhetorica
BlogMy review of Tom F. Wright’s highly recommendable collection Transatlantic Rhetoric: Speeches from the American Revolution to the Suffragettes has just come out with Rhetorica. You can read it here.
“Poe in the Maelstrom of Nineteenth-Century Science” panels, Boston April 7-10, 2022
BlogA series of four panels I’ve co-organized with Dana Medoro, Sean Moreland, Cristina Pérez, and John Tresch on “Poe in the Maelstrom of Nineteenth-Century Science” has been accepted for inclusion in the programme of the 5th International Edgar Allan Poe Conference sponsored by the Poe Studies Association. The conference will be held at Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, April 7-10, 2022.
I’ll be giving a paper on „Monstrous Vision: Poe and the Optical Culture of Monstrosity“ and chairing the session on „Vortices of Aesthetic Judgement.“ Hopefully, the pandemic situation will allow the conference to go forward as planned – especially, since it’s already been postponed for a year!