The lecture series is the third part of a series of lectures, the first two parts of which took place in the winter semesters 2015/16 and 2016/17 at Saarland University. In this framework, well-known 'classics' of Austrian literature as well as important literary positions are presented in a literary-historical sequence. The aim is to delineate the heterogeneous cultural space of Austria by means of selected literary examples of prominent authors. The individual analyses always focus on a central epic, dramatic or lyrical text. 
In the current Kassel lecture series - starting with literature at the beginning of the 21st century - we will go back chronologically in literary history to the middle of the 19th century. Epic texts, mainly novels, for example by Daniel Kehlmann, Arno Geiger, Elias Canetti, Gustav Meyrink and Adalbert Stifter will be discussed. 

Location: University of Kassel, Holländischer Platz, Campus Center (Lecture Hall 3)
Time: Thurs., 2-4 p.m., WiSe 2017/18 
Organization: Prof. Dr. Stefanie Kreuzer 

The writer Juli Zeh will receive this year's Grimm Guest Professorship at the University of Kassel. In doing so, the university in northern Hesse is paying tribute to an influential author who has received numerous awards for her literary work and has also repeatedly contributed to the socio-political debate. Juli Zeh will give a public lecture and a public reading in Kassel at the end of June.

Public lecture "A Page (of Me)": 
Tuesday, June 20, 6 to 8 p.m. 
Lecture Hall 1 at Campus Center, Moritzstr. 18

Public Reading from her work:
Wednesday, June 21, 8 to 10 p.m. 
Lecture Hall 1 at Campus Center, Moritzstr. 18

The reading will take place on Wednesday, May 3 at 7:00 p.m. at the University of Kassel, Arnold-Bode-Strasse 12, Lecture Hall 4.

On April 27, 2017, a public day of action on the topic of "Flight in Literature, Art and Culture" will take place at the Institute of German Studies. From 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., various actors are invited to offer specific perspectives on the topic of flight. The location is Kurt-Wolters-Straße 5. Children's book author Kirsten Boie will give a reading on her bilingual book "Bestimmt wird alles gut" in this context at 2 p.m. in room 0019/0020.

This year the Forster Conference will take place within the biennial conference of the International Herder Society (October 28-30, 2016, University of Kassel). The Georg Forster Society will participate with 4-5 approximately 30-minute presentations scheduled for Saturday, October 29. As the Herder Conference is entitled Herder and the Arts , exposés are requested that focus on Forster's engagement with Johann Gottfried Herder's work or specifically his understanding of art in his engagement with Herder.

Sven Regener is this year's Grimm Guest Professor at the University of Kassel. With the professorship, the University of Kassel honors a versatile author and artist who inspires his audience with novels as well as screenplays and German-language song lyrics. Among other things, Regener (55) will give a public lecture at the end of May on the topic "Zwischen Depression und Witzelsucht: Humor in Literature."

"Why do we look at animals?" This is how John Berger opens his well-known essay, pointing out the paradox that we always already perceive animals within the framework of cultural settings that exclude the animal's perspective. His question can thus be modified: How do we look at animals, what directions and orientations of gaze determine our view of the animal? 

Against this background, the workshop turns to the multi-layered processes of perception that are associated with animal-human relationships in the literature of the Middle Ages. Animals and humans share spaces of action and imagination, are actors who together influence culture and are themselves culturally shaped. At the same time, the numerous projection phenomena, the transformation and fusion phantasms point to a reflective distance that is significant in relation to a demarcation from the animal that is constitutive for the human self-understanding. 

The conference will take place on March 3 and 4, 2016 at Kurt-Wolters-Straße 5, Room -1029 and is organized by LOEWE-Schwerpunkt" Tier-Mensch-Gesellschaft" and the Institute for German Studies at Kassel University, Medieval Studies and Kiel University, the Germanist Seminar and Medieval Studies.

Daily newspapers are already proclaiming the end of the television age. The growing streaming market is enticing viewers with moving images that can be called up individually. When will the TV consumer still tune in to the classic program? The fourth part of the lecture series "fernsehen 4.0: Die Bewegtbild-Offensive" (Television 4.0: The Moving Image Offensive) addresses the development of the usage behavior of television viewers in recent years, the influence of "second screen usage" on social action and examines which new behaviors are developing among viewers.

The fourth part of the lecture series Life in the Media World will take place Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 6 p.m. c.t. in the Gießhaus of the University of Kassel. The event is aimed at students and the interested public. You are cordially invited! 

Digitization is revolutionizing the TV landscape not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of content: PayTV offerings, media libraries, and video platforms offer a huge range of moving image offerings. What can traditional TV stations use in the future to interest the various viewer groups in their content? What content do they expect? Two experts from the field point out the opportunities and risks of the growing streaming market and explain what possibilities there are to bind viewers to their own programming.

The third part of the lecture series Life in the media world will take place Tuesday, January 12 2016 at 6 p.m. c.t. at Gießhaus of the University of Kassel. The event is aimed at students and the interested public. You are cordially invited! 

Authorial series such as "Mad Man" or "House of Cards" have been booming for several years - some critics speak of a "Golden Age of Television" in view of the leap in quality in series production." In the second part of the lecture series "fernsehen 4.0: Die Bewegtbild-Offensive" you will learn how the forms of serial narration have changed since the 19th century and what constitutes the quality of today's authored series.

The second part of the lecture series Life in the media world will take place Tuesday, 8. December 2015 at 6 p.m. c.t. in the Gießhaus of the University of Kassel. The event is aimed at students and the interested public. You are cordially invited! 

Award-winning children's and young adult author Andreas Steinhöfel is coming to the University of Kassel on December 15. He will present excerpts from his new novel "Anders" in a public reading. The event will take place at the Campus Center of the University of Kassel, Moritzstraße 18, Lecture Hall 3, Room 1135. Start time is 7 p.m.

House of Cards, Homeland, Breaking Bad - US quality TV is making its way into German living rooms! Although... not necessarily only in living rooms. Video on demand offers make it possible: The viewer can watch his favorite show when, where and how he wants. Whether via the new smart TV on the couch, via tablet at the breakfast table or smartphone on the suburban train. Digitization is revolutionizing the television landscape not only in terms of technology, but also in terms of content: PayTV offerings, media libraries and video platforms such as YouTube offer a huge range of moving image offerings. 

What role will public and private television programs play in the future? Do the successes of Amazon, Netflix and YouTube show that viewers would like to be their own program directors? These questions are the subject of the lecture series "TV 4.0: The Moving Image Offensive," in which academics and practitioners will speak.

The weekly lecture and discussion series "Gender and Genre" is taking a critical look at popular television series for the second time this winter semester. The productions discussed range from "House of Cards" to "True Detective" and "The Walking Dead". Last winter semester, the lecture series examined TV series from a gender-theoretical perspective. Because of the great success, there will be a continuation this winter semester. The series begins on November 11. The lectures will take place on Wednesdays from 8 to 10 p.m. Location: Campus Center, Lecture Hall 3 / 1135.

Research on writing texts using external or given materials or sources lies at the intersection of writing and reading research. Studies on text-productive forms of reading, on strategies of understanding, reviewing, retaining, or organizing information while using external knowledge resources have so far stood unconnected to each other. The summer school aims to facilitate interdisciplinary exchange between writing and reading research with the goal of gaining research perspectives on writing with external sources and materials and on the conditions associated with it.

The 2015 Brothers Grimm Professorship goes to Paul Maar. The children's author, who became famous for novels such as "Lippel's Dream" or "Mr. Bello and the Blue Wonder," but especially for his stories about Sams, will be a guest at the University of Kassel on June 9 and 10. To mark the occasion, the Institute of German Studies is offering a teaching focus on "Children's Literature Language" in the 2015 summer semester.