FRIDAY, 3. March 2006

 

3:45 pm – 3:50 pm: Welcoming Remarks

Adam Woodis (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

 

3:50 pm – 5:00 pm: Keynote Address

Moderator: Adam Woodis (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Rainer Godel (Martin-Luther Universität Halle-Wittenberg)

Who’s Talking? On the Relevance of Analytic Precision

 

5:00 pm – 5:30 pm: Casual Reception

 

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Moderator: Maaike van der Heijden (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Ben Parrot (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Of Tigers, Tombs, and Autonomy: The Native Informant and Fritz Lang’s Indian Epic

Fritz Lang’s 1959 film Das indische Grabmal presents the complex interplay of Western and non-Western voices, as volatile political intrigues within a maharajah’s court expose the unstable exertion of the German self upon the Indian Other. My paper explores this interplay with respect to the powerful—if controversial—notion of the “native informant” as made famous by Edward Said in his monumental work Orientalism. Such an analysis of the native informant with respect to the overpowering voice of the German self reveals a surprising paradox which sheds light on the problems immanent in Said’s arguments and seeks to illustrate the sensitive issue of “appropriate” interactions between German and non-German voices in Lang’s post-war film.

Regina McConaghy (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Visual Dialogue: Re-Negotiating Boundaries in Tevfik Başer’s 40 Quadratmeter Deutschland

As it is a multimedia art form, interpretation of a film cannot be limited to a critique of the plot it contains. Analysis of the visual and aural texts of Tevfik Başer’s film 40 Quadratmeter Deutschland reveals a dialogue between constructed Otherness and familiarity. Although the progression of the plot seems to flatten the characters into one-dimensional archetypes, the language of the camera returns depth and perspective to their experiences as it continually re-negotiates the distinction between subject and object, between internal and external spaces. By playing with the viewer’s perceptions and expectations, Başer crosses boundaries into the new realm of trans-national Turkish-German cinema.     

 

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SATURDAY, 4. March 2006

 

9:00 am – 9:30 am: Coffee & Breakfast

 

9:30 am – 10:30 am

Moderator: Rachael LeClear (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Sarah Korpi (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Loss and Re-Assertion of voice and identity in Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Der Auftrag

In Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Der Auftrag, several troubling questions about modern society are broached, for example: What happens to individual voice and identity when society fails to acknowledge them? What constitutes humane behavior? Where does real power lie? These questions, as well as the relationship between loss and re-assertion of identity and loss and re-assertion of voice form the framework of my paper.

Stella Isenbügel (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Quest for a Female Identity: Influence and Interaction of the Public and Private Sphere in Christa Wolf’s Der geteilte Himmel

Christa Wolf’s role in the former German Democratic Republic was balanced between adaptation to and rejection of its socialist regime. Her novel Der geteilte Himmel contains a quest for an identity within the politics of the time. It expresses the struggle of a young East German woman, Rita Seidel, between assimilation with and opposition to life in the GDR. The suspension between these two elements constitutes a vital and significant part of Christa Wolf’s life and work, including Der geteilte Himmel. Specifically drawing on the figure of Rita, my paper examines how her strong and independent identity is shaped through the influence and interaction of the public and the private spheres.

 

10:30 am – 10:45 am: Casual Reception

 

10:45 am – 11:45 am

Moderator: Mike Olson (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Jack Davis (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

The Hyperbolic Voice: Print, Photography, and the Art of Exaggeration in Thomas Bernhard’s Auslöschung

Franz Murau, an Austrian writer and the main character of Thomas Bernhard’s final novel, Auslöschung, hates his home country with a maniacal intensity. In the course of the novel he rants against all things Austrian—from the cuisine and the architecture to the Austrian people themselves. During his tirade, thoughts about photography and the press coalesce to build an aesthetic realm that encompasses the novel itself. My paper explores the implications that the novel’s aesthetic (self-) understanding has for Auslöschung’s place in literary history.

Kris Imbrigotta (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

You Are Now Leaving the German Sector: Finding Germany in the New Berlin

Berlin is a dynamic “text” poised at the intersection of time and memory. This city has a rich cultural legacy present not only in its many physical structures, but which also resurfaces in the countless manifestations of the German voice and identity. My paper investigates how some contemporary German authors choose to remember such an erratic past. Ultimately, Germany cannot come to terms with its history by destroying it, only by demonstrating it.

 

11:45 am – 1:30 pm: Lunch

 

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Moderator: Thyra Knapp (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Caroline Domenghino (Johns Hopkins University)

Representation of Subjectivity in Käte Hamburger’s Logik der Dichtung

In Logik der Dichtung, Käte Hamburger elaborates the interplay of subjectivity of third-person subjects and the narrating instance in fictional narratives. As a result, “voice” in fiction is not the voice of a narrator with potential ties to the external world, but rather that of the characters themselves. Thus, the only authentic representation possible is that of the fictional characters. My paper will explore this dimension of Hamburger’s theory which ultimately calls into question the referential nature of narrative.

Nozomi Irei (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Celan and Poetic Communication

This paper will offer a close reading of two poems by Paul Celan (“Sprich auch du” and “Psalm”) and a critical reflection on some implications of his choice to write poetry in the German language. The guiding thought will be Celan’s speech, “Der Meridian,” and Deleuze and Guattari’s notion that there are different meanings to the “limit” (i.e., the “limit” as an “inaugural event,” a “structural function,” or an “eschatological determination”). In order to consider what kind of “limit” is marked in the poems, this paper will investigate the status of the “word” in Celan’s poems. The focus will be on a radical questioning of the relationship between language and “voice,” word and meaning, silence and poetic communication. 

 

2:30 pm – 2:45 pm: Coffee

 

2:45 pm – 3:45 pm

Moderator: Ivana Bradaric (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Jenny Wolff (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Deconstructing the Colonial Voice: Etienne van Heerden’s Ancestral Voices and Uwe Timm’s Morenga

My paper compares two works that deal with the Colonial past: Morenga by the German author Uwe Timm and Ancestral Voices by the South African writer Etienne van Heerden. In both works, the Colonial voice—the authoritarian voice from the Colonial narrative—is denounced as a lie and is replaced by a number of different non-authoritative voices. In particular, I will analyze the way in which these works respond to former Colonial discourse by questioning and destabilizing the ideas that characterize it.

Jan Jost (Technische Universität Berlin)

“Andern nach konnt ich nie sprechen”—Identität und Kommunikation in Achim von Arnims Lyrik

The theoretical discourse on Romantic identity and individuality is framed by the hypothesis of conventionalized codes in communication (e.g. N. Luhmann) and the critical perspective on “aesthetic subjectivity” (K.H. Bohrer). In this context, my paper aims to show that the reflection on communication (with a focus on the topics of self-consciousness and authenticity) in Achim von Arnim’s poetry is at the same time a reflection on identity. (in German)

 

3:45 pm – 4:15 pm: Casual Reception

 

4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

Moderator: Miranda Wilkerson (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Julie Larson-Guenette (University of Wisconsin-Madison) & Jacques Arceneaux (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

“Keeping it Basic”: Writing Strategies Employed by Intermediate Foreign Language-Learners

This pilot study examines how intermediate learners of French and German approach a timed, on-site writing task. Interviews with participants, along with analyses of the writing samples, reveal insights into learner behaviors and subsequent strategies regarding foreign language writing. Such behaviors and strategies employed by these participants suggest avoidance of topic, genre, and linguistic complexity. The interview data reveals participants’ strategies to simply “stick with what they know” and to “keep it basic.”

Geoffrey Brainerd (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Maintaining Swiss German: Immigration, Identity, Social Networks, and Place in New Glarus, Wisconsin

From the founding of New Glarus, Wisconsin in August 1845 by emigrants from Canton Glarus, Switzerland, the Swiss German language spoken in the town was vigorously maintained throughout the next century, passing from use in its last public domain, the church, only in 1950. Today, though few in number, Swiss speakers in New Glarus remain active. I will identify several of the factors that contributed to the maintenance of a Swiss German-speaking “island” for so long. Particular emphasis will be placed on strong network ties beginning with the emigration from Canton Glarus en masse, the shared experience of economic hardship, and the importance of demographic dominance on the then frontier of settlement. The attempt will be made to address micro-economic patterns, macro-technological factors, generational identity, aspirations and change, as well as the psychology of ethnic identity, and to situate their inter-relationship into the proper context.

 

5:15 pm – 5:20 pm: Closing Remarks

Mike Olson (University of Wisconsin-Madison)