Literary and cultural studies
Seminar for English Studies
The Department of English Literature and Cultural Studies integrates cultural and literary theories to analyze all periods, genres and media of literature and culture in Great Britain and Ireland since the Middle Ages. Special interest is given not only to canonical texts and historical contextualization, but also to popular narrative forms and the application of narrative theory models to non-literary forms.
Research and teaching focuses on the early modern period, the 18th and 19th centuries, children's and young adult literature, medieval reception and fantasy, historical novels, adaptation, gender studies, film and visual culture, as well as narratology in non-literary media and transatlantic perspectives.
Research profile
The Chair of English Literature and Cultural Studies deals with a wide range of different epochs, genres and media. The focus is on theoretically informed analyses of literary texts as well as non-literary media with special consideration of historical and culturally specific contexts. Literature, narratives and other media products are understood as something that actively shapes cultures and realities instead of merely depicting them or having to represent certain ideas.
In terms of time, previous and ongoing research projects at the professorship focus on the so-called "long" 18th century, the 19th century, the early modern period and the present day.
Thematically, the focus is on intertextual and intermedial phenomena (adaptation, film studies), childhood studies and children's and youth literature, historical novels, popular medieval reception and fantasy as well as narratological approaches to analog forms of play (e.g. role-playing games, board games).
Main areas of research
- Literature and culture of the long 18th century
- Children's and youth literature
- Intertextuality, intermediality, adaptation
- Historical novels
- Medieval reception and fantasy
- Narratological approaches to analog forms of play
- Literature and culture of the early modern period
- Gender and disability studies
Latest publications
Accepted for publication:
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"Fables." Published in The Cambridge History of Children's Literature in English. Vol. One, Origins to 1830. ed. Eugene Giddens, Zoe Jaques and Louise Joy. Cambridge University Press. (forthcoming 2026) 22 pages.
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2 articles in The Cambridge Guide to the English Novel, 1660-1820. ed. April London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (forthcoming):
- "The Platonic Marriage." (3 pages).
- "The Vale of Glendor." (2 pages).
Scientific articles:
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"Adaptation." The Routledge Companion to Children's Literature and Culture. Eds. Claudia Nelson, Elisabeth Wesseling and Andrea Mei-Ying Wu. Routledge, 2024. 352-363.
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"Transformations of Medieval Worlds and Literature in Analog Role Play: Three Case Studies." The Middle Ages and Popular Culture: Reception, Appropriation, Contemplation. Edited by Hans Rudolf Velten and Theresa Specht. Transcript, 2024. 137-160.
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"Presentist Fantasies of the Middle Ages: A Case Study of Two Pen-and-Paper Role-Playing Games Based on Medieval Literature." "When men are unprepared and look not for it": In Memoriam Christoph Houswitschka. Edited by Susan Brähler and Kerstin-Anja Münderlein. University of Bamberg Press, 2024. 249-262.
Reviews:
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"Review of: Simone Broders. The Age of Curiosity: The Neural Network of an Idea in Eighteenth-Century English Literature. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021." English Studies 34.3 (2023): 260-262.
Scientific articles:
- "Kenneth Branagh's A Haunting in Venice: Bridges to the Past." Das unheimliche Venedig, edited by Dennis Henneböhl and Claudia Lillge. Paderborn: Brill | Fink, 2026 (forthcoming)
- "Female Difficulties, Alienation, and 'unhonored...labor.' The Wanderer and Migration." Global Burneys: Literature, Legacy, and Transnational Perspectives, edited by Francesca Saggini and Lorna Clark. Palgrave-Macmillan, 2027 (forthcoming).
