Alt History · Towards an Alternative History of the Age of Goethe
Horizon Europe — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2023-09-01 → 2025-08-31
- EU contribution
- €172,750
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Towards an Alternative History of the Age of Goethe
The period between 1770 and 1830 is widely considered to be the canonical period of German literature and philosophy. The works of Goethe, Schiller, Kant und Fichte—among others—form the retrospective narrative of literary and philosophical history. The project critically re-examined how the core canonical period of German literary and philosophical historiography (1770-1830) and the conventional narrative of the development of a national literary and philosophical culture came to be. In doing so, I re-considered fundamentally what is understood by both literature and philosophy. The project, carried out at the at the University of Verona under the supervision of Prof. Laura Anna Macor in the Department of Human Sciences, has allowed me to prepare a book chapter and further archival/primary materials that take into account the modes of literary and intellectual sociability that allowed canonical narratives in the period to develop (in philosophy: Idealism from Kant to Hegel; in literature: Weimar Classicism. What has been insufficiently accounted for in scholarship is how and why particular canons emerged - not just as a post hoc rationalisation by literary historians and historians of philosophy - but at the time when texts were first circulated, read, recited, and performed. Through a series of small-scale case studies, including the philosophical work of Rahel Levin Varnhagen and the literary practices of Friedrich von Matthisson, I sought to reconstruct the development of literary and intellectual sociability in the core canonical period of German literature and philosophy.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This project challenges our understanding of the core canonical period of German literary and philosophical historiography (1770-1830) by asking: what concept of literature emerged in the period, and why were some authors and philosophically engaged figures marginalised through processes of canonisation, whilst others were not? This was a transformational period in German literary and philosophy culture, featuring major figures such as Goethe, Schiller, Kant, and Fichte, and these names continue to determine the narratives of the period in both fields. Through a series of three case studies, the first on social cultures of emotion, the second on gendered networks of philosophy, and the third on local canons, this project will examine the social and material contexts of literature and philosophy and ask how they influenced later processes of canonisation. I will integrate a wide variety of methodological approaches, including sociological concepts of networks imported into literary studies, and methods from book history and intellectual history. These will be used to interrogate the agency of individual mediators – readers and publishers, among others – in the development of literature and philosophy.The project will argue for a more nuanced understanding of what is understood by literature and philosophy in the period. I will specifically argue that examining literary sociability opens up other overlooked contexts that are obscured by canonisation and the master narratives that develop subsequent to the period. The fellowship will provide me with expertise in a variety of fields to expand on my background in literary studies: I will develop specialisms in the history of philosophy and in gender studies, and so will gain an interdisciplinary perspective on German studies. It will furnish me with the publication record that will allow me to apply for permanent positions (associate professorships) in academia in the UK.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI VERONA · VeronaCoordinatorItaly
Links
- View on CORDIS
- DOI: 10.3030/101063225
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e50ea55bb2&appId=PPGMS
- https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/documents/downloadPublic?documentIds=080166e512a25c03&appId=PPGMS
Data: CORDIS, © European Union