Steffan Davies – författare

Extends the conception of German exile literature back from the Nazi period into the nineteenth century, arguing that exile has been a defining component of modern German writing.German exile literature has classically been defined as the exile literature of the mid-twentieth century, and for good reason: exile was the fate of many of the most prominent German authors during Nazism, and led to some of their most important works. Far less attention has been given, however, to the exiles who were so often present in Germany's earlier history.This book changes the understanding of German exile literature as a short, canonical period, arguing that exile is a defining component of modern German writing, experienced by many authors and imagined by others. It studies writing in exile and about exile from the French Revolution to the aftermath of the Second World War: from the invention of the modern nation-state, and of exclusion from that state, to the nation at its worst. It considers writers including Georg Forster, Schiller, Goethe, Hölderlin, Friedrich Schlegel, the Grimm brothers, Germaine de Staël, Heine, Storm, Raabe, Walter Mehring, Veza Canetti, and Döblin. This "long history" shows how national identity often begins outside the nation, and it emphasizes that the exile literature of 1933-1945 was never, in fact, a marginal literature or an exception.

What are the points of contact between the study of language and the study of history? What are the possibilities for collaboration between linguists and historians, and what prevents it? This volume, the proceedings of an international conference held at the University of Bristol in April 2009, presents twenty-two articles by linguists and historians, exploring the relationship between the fields theoretically, conceptually and in practice. Contributions focus on a variety of European and American languages, in historical periods from the Middle Ages to the present day. Key themes at the intersection of these two disciplines are the standardization and classification of languages, the social and demographic history of medieval and early modern Europe, the study of language and history ‘from below’, and the function of language in modern politics. The value of interdisciplinary collaboration is demonstrated in a wide-ranging set of case studies, on topics including language contact in Northern and Central Europe, the relationship between peninsular and transatlantic Spanish, and new approaches to the recent histories of Nicaragua, Luxembourg and Bulgaria. The volume seeks out the interdependencies between the two fields and asks why exchanges between linguists and historians remain the exception rather than the rule.

Das Verhältnis Mensch – Natur und das Leben in einer technisierten Welt sind Themenbereiche, die Alfred Döblin in seinen Erzählwerken und Essays immer wieder – und in mannigfaltigen Beziehungen – erkundet hat. Die hier versammelten Beiträge bieten neue Einsichten in die Entwicklung von Döblins Natur- und Weltauffassung. Sie befassen sich mit seiner Aufarbeitung der mit der Technik verbundenen Wissenskultur und sozialer Praxis, mit den Beziehungen zwischen seiner Thematik und aktuellen Erörterungen des ‚Posthumanen’ sowie mit Aspekten seiner Erzählpraxis und ethischen Orientierung, die mit diesen Themen verbunden sind. Der Band dokumentiert das 21. Internationale Alfred-Döblin-Kolloquium, das 2017 zum Thema „Natur, Technik und das (Post-)Humane in den Schriften Alfred Döblins" in Cambridge, England, tagte.

Alfred Döblins letzter großer Roman – erstmals in der ursprünglichen FassungDer englische Soldat Edward Allison kehrt traumatisiert aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in sein Elternhaus zurück. Er fragt nach der Schuld am Krieg und löst damit einen Reigen von Erzählungen aus, die ganz unterschiedliche Facetten von Schuld beleuchten, vor allem auch innerhalb der eigenen Familie. Ein Meisterwerk der Erzählkunst, neu ediert auf der Grundlage des ursprünglichen Typoskripts.Herausgegeben von Christina Althen und Steffan Davies

Döblin’s texts, which range widely across contemporary discourses, are paradigms of the encounter between literary and scientific modernity. With their use of ‛Tatsachenphantasie’, they explode conventional language, seeking a new connection with the world of objects and things. This volume reassesses and reevaluates the uniquely interdisciplinary quality of Döblin’s interdiscursive, factually-inspired poetics by offering challenging new perspectives on key works. The volume analyses not only some of Döblin’s best-known novels and stories, but also neglected works including his early medical essays, political journalism and autobiographical texts. Other topics addressed are Döblin’s engagement with German history; his relation to medical discourse; his topography of Berlin; his aestheticisation of his own biography and his relation to other major writers such as Heine, Benn, Brecht and Sebald. With contributions in English and in German by scholars from Germany and the United Kingdom, the volume presents insights into Döblin that are of value to advanced researchers and to students alike.