
The ZfL
The ZfL is a humanities institute for literary research in interdisciplinary contexts that draws from a cultural studies framework. Its methods also engage with the structural transformations within historical-hermeneutic subject areas that have taken place in recent decades. In contrast to the study of literature at universities, predominantly organized by nationality, the ZfL fosters a broad concept of literature, but also uses interdisciplinary tools to fundamentally question the etiology of various literary concepts, their potential for the future, and the relationship between literature and other arts or cultural practices. This is done in the three program area History of Theory, World Literature, Knowledge of Life, and in the Focus Projects.
News

New on the ZfL BLOG: David Anderson on Fukuyama's End of History and historical novels of the 80s

New episode of “Bücher im Gespräch”: Leander Scholz and Falko Schmieder on political ecology
New in the video collection: Online discussion on political thinking in the Anthropocene with Leander Scholz and others
New in the video collection: “Writing in ‘the old style’ and Writing in a Late Style: David Hofshteyn’s War Poetry”
Keynote by Harriet Murav
Research
History of Theory
analyzes the genealogy of theory and develops innovative forms of historicizing it.
read moreWorld Literature
disusses the global interrelations of literature and its potential to shape the world.
read moreKnowledge of Life
investigates the knowlege of life in historical and interdisciplinary respects.
read moreFocus Projects
work on issues that run across the thematic fields of the program areas.
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