Openbare Lesings

 

2009	Der 34jährige österreichische Autor Markus Köhle ist ein in Wien lebender, seit geraumer Zeit um sein Leben schreibender, Tirolerknödel, der gerne Zug fährt, Schlagzeug spielt und eine schöne Homepage hat: www.autohr.at. Er studierte Germanistik und Romanistik, erhielt 2008 das Österreichische Staatsstipendium für Literatur und wurde beim Internationalen Literaturfestival Berlin bei der Slam!Revue mit dem 2. Preis ausgezeichnet. Er war als Stadt- und Dorfschreiber tätig, hat mehrere Publikationen und „Sprechknoten” veröffentlicht und wird aus seinem kürzlich erschienenen Buch „Bruchharsch” lesen. (15 April 2009) Invitation - pdf
•	Prof. Dr. Ernest Hess-Lüttich (University of Bern, Switzerland – Stellenbosch University) The Language of Music, Gaze, and Dance. Benjamin Britten's opera “Death in Venice” (9 February 2009)
2008	Prof. Reingard Nethersole (University of Richmond, Virginia, USA): “Rethinking the Human” The talk briefly reflected the modern sense of "human" and "humanity" that derives from the distinction man/animal in which what is not-animal is key. (Foucault, Lyotard, Derrida, Stiegler, Agamben). It demonstrated the limit of the concept 'human' (incl. African Humanism) in its philosophical, political, economic and educational reach before the horizon of the force of the event of digital interconnectivity on a global scale. In conclusion the talk drew the contours of a language/literary study beyond the anthropological model set up by the Human Sciences (28 July 2008)
2007	Dr. Ingrid Laurien (Universiteit of Göttingen – Duitsland / Universiteit of Stellenbosch) “A past that will never go away”: Facing the Nazi past in the third generation (16 October)
•	Franz J. Müller (member and president of Weiße Rose Stiftung, Germany) Public Lecture on The White Rose Movement during WWII in Nazi Germany (2 May) Organized in conjunction with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Johannesburg
•	Peter Prange (German Author), Creative Writing Workshop on “Anfänge” (30 March) Organized in conjunction with the DAAD office in Johannesburg
2006	Prof Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (Lafayette College, USA) (i) “Stimmen der Gewalt” Elfriede Jelineks Die Klavierspielin und Michael Hanekes Filmadaptation La Pianiste (7 August) and (ii) “Socio-cultural activism and its discursive representations in Eastern Germany” (25 August)
•	Prof Philippe Baudorre (University of Bordeaux III Michel de Montaigne, France) W par Georges Perec – Lecture to 3rd year and postgraduate students and staff (August)
2005	Sjord van Tuinen (University of Ghent, Belgium) “Peter Sloterdijk oder die unerträgliche Leichtigkeit der Theorie” (6 October)
•	Dr Rosalia Bivona (University of Cergy-Pontoise, France & University of Palermo, Italy) “Babel cocasse. Le cas de Fouad Laroui” (30 September)
•	Prof Jim McNab (University of North Carolina, Wilmington, USA) “1918: The Crisis of Aesthetic Representation in France” (11 May)
•	Prof John Noyes (University of Toronto, Canada) “Odysseus at the Mast (America at the Helm). Territory, and the Idea of Human Nature” (28 April)
•	Prof Anil Bhatti (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre for German Studies, New Delhi, India) “Culture and Diversity. Postcolonial Reflections” (4 April)
•	Dr Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff (Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany) “Moderne Märchen im Bilderbuch” (18 March)
2004	Prof Brian Gill (University of Calgary, Department of French & Italian, Canada) “New Paradigms in TELL” (13 September)
•	Prof Antoine Raybaud (University of Geneva, Switzerland) Saint-John Perse’s Winds (15 September)
•	Prof. Dr. Dr. Ernest WB Hess-Lüttich (University of Bern, Switzerland) “Deutsche Sprache und Kultur der Gegenwart” and “Interkulturalität und Fremde in Literatur und Alltag” (16 Feb – 12 March)

 

 

 

Slam Poet Markus Köhle in Stellenbosch

Am Mittwochabend, den 15. April 2009 las der österreichische Slam Poet Markus Köhle aus seinem jüngsten Werk Bruchharsch in Stellenbosch. Die Lesung, die in der Visual Arts Building, Universität Stellenbosch, stattfand, wurde zusammen von dem österreichischen Konsulat und der Deutschabteilung der Universität Stellenbosch organisiert, und war eine von drei erfolgreichen Lesungen in Südafrika.

Der 1975 in Tirol geborene und in Wien lebende Autor, der für mehrere Preise ausgezeichnet wurde, u.a. 2008/2009 das Österreichische Staatsstipendium für Literatur, wurde durch seinen sogenannten Poetry Slam bekannt. Wie Köhle auf der Umschlagseite seines Buches Bruchharsch zutreffend zusammenfasst, ist Poetry Slam „ein Wedeln in Sprachhängen, ein Gleiten von Form zu Form, eine normbrechende Wortlawine. Kritisch und alltäglich, komisch und grotesk sind die Szenen, die mit Getöse die Prosapiste hinunterdonnern“. Erschiene Werke sind Bruchharsch (2009), Riesenradschlag (2007), Brahmskoller (2005), Couscous à la Beuschl. Episodenroman (2004), Letternletscho. Ein Stabreim-Abcetera (2004), Pumpernickel. Erzählungen (2003).

Während der Lesung las der Autor nicht nur aus seinem Buch vor. Er lies auch ganz neue Slam Gedichten auf das überraschte Publikum hinunterdonnern und regte die Zuschauer an mitzumachen und mitzubasteln. Aber er warnte trocken: "Ein Hammer als Richtungsanker fürs Leben kann helfen, wenn man mit Steinen umzugehen weiß".

 

Prof. John Noyes (University of Toronto) gives public lecture on 28 April

Professor John Noyes (University of Toronto) spoke on “Odysseus at the Mast (America at the Helm). Territory, and the Idea of Human Nature”.

In this talk John Noyes used the image of Odysseus bound to ask how we might evaluate the idea of human nature, self-restraint and violence in an age of US global hegemony. Who owns the technology of destruction? Who owns the idea of human nature? Placing these questions at the center of the current global conflict allows us to understand what is at stake in the so-called war against so-called terrorism. The ownership of technologies of destruction today is inextricably bound to the idea of human nature, and it recasts the boundary between nature and freedom along lines of ownership.

Visit of Professor Anil Bhatti - Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi - India

The Department of Modern Foreign Languages was delighted to host Professor Anil Bhatti for a week. Internationally distinguished Germanist Anil Bhatti, Head of the Centre for German Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi was invited to deliver the keynote address at the 22nd Conference of the Association for German Studies in Southern Africa on “National Philology, Cultural Homogenisation and postcolonial Discourses”. Professor Bhatti also delivered a public lecture to staff and students on the 4th April 2005. His presentation in English entitled “Culture and Diversity. Postcolonial Reflections” generated a lively debate and keen interest as he explored the question of language and pluralism and expressed his views on cultural interactions and cultural studies in general. He investigated the possibility of determining the 'nature' of culture/s and argued that culture/s should be perceived as process not as monolithic entities. He advocated the need for greater interaction between cultural processes in order to reach the favoured form of the Polylogue as opposed to the restrictive Dialogue. Professor Bhatti called for polyphonic communication between cultures “where the important thing would not be that everyone is right in his own way, but that each in his own way has not yet exhausted the potential of the multiple”.

Professor Bhatti was the second of our international speakers for 2005. On 18 March Dr. Bernd Dolle - Weinkauff from the Institut für Jugendbuchforschung of the Goethe-University in Frankfurt gave a workshop to German first year students on “Contemporary fairy tales in illustrated books”. Since then, the Department of Modern Foreign Languages has welcomed Professor John Noyes from the University of Toronto who delivered another public lecture on 28 April 2005 on “Odysseus at the Mast (America at the Helm). Territory, and the Idea of Human Nature”. We are expecting the arrival of guest Professor Jim McNab from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in mid-May who will be lecturing to our 3rd Year French students and who will also be delivering a public lecture.

Dr. Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff (Goethe-University, Frankfurt) gives public lecture on 18 March

The German section of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages hosted Dr.Bernd Dolle-Weinkauff from the Goethe-University of Frankfurt on the 18th of March 2005. The topic of the lecture was “Moderne Märchen im Bilderbuch”.