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CFP: Georg Forster Colloquium 2024: Georg Forster as an author of letters (University of Kassel, November 2, 2024), 31.07.24

The epistolary author Georg Forster was admired by many of his contemporaries and counted among the classics of epistolary literature. Early editions of his letters were published by Therese Forster-Huber and the literary historians Gervinus, Hettner and Leitzmann. A literary scholarship oriented towards rhetoric also articulated a conspicuous interest in Forster's epistolary art, before after 1848 the nationalization of scholarship in the history of ideas and an orientation of German studies as national philology caused him to recede into the background in this respect too - apart from exceptions such as Gustav Landauer and Walter Benjamin - until well into the 20th century.

In our colloquium, we would like to discuss Forster's epistolary practice from the perspective of literary, cultural and media studies, to work out the historical and authorial characteristics and the specific addressees of his letters. These also deserve special attention as pretexts for more extensive writings, in particular the Ansichten vom Niederrhein and the letter essays.

The contributions will be published in Georg-Forster-Studien.

 

Please send your topic suggestions by 31.7. 2024 with a short synopsis and biographical details to Prof. Dr. Stefan Greif(greif[at]uni-kassel[dot]de).

 

Prof. Dr. Stefan Greif, First Chairman (greif@uni-kassel.de)

Dr. Michael Ewert, Second Chairman (ewertmuen@web.de)

Jan Sinning, management and organization of the colloquium (sinning@uni-kassel.de)

Past colloquia

Georg Forster Colloquium 2022: Racism and Antiracism in the 18th Century

Georg Forster Colloquium 2019: Letter Culture of the Late Enlightenment