Constanze Guthenke – författare

Placing Modern Greece is about literary representations of Greece in the period of Romanticism, encompassing the time in the 1820s when it became a territorial and political reality as a nation state. Constanze Guthenke claims that the imagining of and attitude towards Greece was shaped by a fascination with the material, and by the highly conceptualized tension between the ideal on the one hand, and the material on the other. Her study focuses on natureand landscape imagery as vehicles of representation, on their specific inner workings, and on their dynamic, which conditions how and whether Greece as a modern entity in the making can be represented at all. Offering readings from German and contemporaneous Greek authors, Guthenke supplies a commentary on thetranslation and crossings of representational models and their limits.

Placing Modern Greece is about literary representations of Greece in the period of Romanticism, encompassing the time in the 1820s when it became a territorial and political reality as a nation state. Constanze Guthenke claims that the imagining of and attitude towards Greece was shaped by a fascination with the material, and by the highly conceptualized tension between the ideal on the one hand, and the material on the other. Her study focuses on nature and landscape imagery as vehicles of representation, on their specific inner workings, and on their dynamic, which conditions how and whether Greece as a modern entity in the making can be represented at all. Offering readings from German and contemporaneous Greek authors, Guthenke supplies a commentary on the translation and crossings of representational models and their limits.

Aristophanes’ comedies have long been read as a response to the political turbulence of 5th-century Athens, particularly during the Peloponnesian War. However, this volume frames him as a ‘political correspondent,’ whose works engage critically with both his time and ours. The contributions to this volume explore the ways in which Aristophanes’ comedy remains vital and disruptive in the present. The essays examine the tension between Aristophanes’ comic exaggerations and their real-world implications, revealing how his humour both reflects and unsettles our current political and social concerns. Through topics like speech, violence, pedagogy, gender and populism, the contributors illustrate how Aristophanes’ plays offer a lens through which to interrogate the fluidity of political and social power – both in ancient Athens and today.In doing so, this volume reflects the provisional nature of comedy itself: a genre built on misdirection, timing and the inevitable instability of its moment. By engaging with Aristophanes in the ‘current moment,’ this collection invites readers to embrace the elusiveness and tension inherent in both comedy and scholarly practice. Far from offering definitive answers, the plays challenge us to question, engage and reflect on our own commitments and complicities.

Aristophanes' comedies have long been read as a response to the political turbulence of 5th-century Athens, particularly during the Peloponnesian War. However, this volume frames him as a 'political correspondent,' whose works engage critically with both his time and ours. The contributions to this volume explore the ways in which Aristophanes' comedy remains vital and disruptive in the present. The essays examine the tension between Aristophanes' comic exaggerations and their real-world implications, revealing how his humour both reflects and unsettles our current political and social concerns. Through topics like speech, violence, pedagogy, gender and populism, the contributors illustrate how Aristophanes' plays offer a lens through which to interrogate the fluidity of political and social power both in ancient Athens and today.In doing so, this volume reflects the provisional nature of comedy itself: a genre built on misdirection, timing and the inevitable instability of its moment. By engaging with Aristophanes in the 'current moment,' this collection invites readers to embrace the elusiveness and tension inherent in both comedy and scholarly practice. Far from offering definitive answers, the plays challenge us to question, engage and reflect on our own commitments and complicities.