Literary texts and media artefacts are particular spaces for the representation and study of violence as a micro-phenomenon. Research on the subject of violence in different fields of knowledge, such as sociology, philosophy and history, has focused on macro-violence phenomena such as war, terror or torture, and has contributed to the definition of violence as a crucial dimension of Modernity (and post-modernity). Research in the field of philology allows us to take up the definitions of other fields of research and explore the deadlocks, the ambivalent aspects, the implosive manifestations in order to come to represent a new complexity of the phenomenon of violence.
Our studies will focus on a series of research problems derived from a reconceptualisation of the phenomenon of violence from the point of view of literary and artistic discourse. The starting point, from German philology, is to contribute to the study of the phenomenon of violence in general to a specific approach to history (largely common throughout Europe), marked by a period of fascism and dictatorship in Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy in the 20th century.
The innovative potential of our research lies in the exploration of intertwinings, interdependencies, interconnections and modes of naming and exposing practices of violence present in different literary discourses, and is thus a crucial starting point for the analysis of the complexities related to this particular topic. Recent research shows that literary texts have the capacity to integrate and discuss microviolence, present in various aesthetic manifestations, language, everyday life and privacy, as well as macroviolence, present, for example, in epic narratives about war and violent conflict, and to create a connection between these two categories. Therefore, the different perceptions of violence in literary discourses will be studied as a mode of knowledge production reflecting certain hidden dynamics, especially in the field of German literature and cultural studies.
The aims of the group can be summarised as follows:
- to articulate dimensions of violence revealed in literary texts that have not yet been recognised as such;
- to analyse the inherent ambivalences of the social production of violence as it can be perceived in texts;
- question the established dichotomy between victim and executioner;
- to raise the question of whether the predominance of certain narrative discourses idealises and legitimises certain ideological contexts, i.e. contributes to a naturalisation of violence.
- To articulate dimensions of violence revealed in literary texts that have not yet been recognised as such.
- To analyse the inherent ambivalences of the social production of violence as it can be perceived in texts.
- To question the established dichotomy between victim and executioner.
- To raise the question of whether the predominance of certain narrative discourses idealises and legitimises certain ideological contexts, i.e. contributes to a naturalisation of violence.
- Renegotiating the boundaries of violence in relation to gender definition
It will attempt to identify, decode and analyse those elements and mechanisms revealed by the various discourses on gender-based violence that depict, and often re-inscribe, gender-based violence in literature throughout history and, by extension, in society.
- Expressions of violence in contemporary inter- and transnational German-language literature
The fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification seem to have ushered in a new peaceful era. However, migration literature has redefined borders and certain parameters of violence, giving rise to new discursive forms and interdependencies.
- Hate speech. Relationship between speech acts and violent phenomena
The relationship between literary language and violent phenomena will be explored. Based on theoretical proposals for the re-signification of hate speech, we will analyse the capacity of literary texts to problematize and make visible certain violent manifestations.
- Ghosts of violence: collective and individual memories of violence in German-language literature
The aim is to explore collective and individual memories of violence. It will analyse how memory is structured between victim and executioner, or the experience between the collective and the individual in relation to the phenomenon of violence in literary texts from 1945 to the present.
Partners
- Simonetta Sanna - Università degli studi di Sassari (Italia).
- Antonio Sousa Ribeiro - Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal).
- Dagmar von Hoff - Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz (Alemania).
- Lena Wetenkamp - Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz (Alemania).
Work team
- Juliane Felihg - Universitat de València.
- Juan José Monsell Corts - Universitat de València.
Blasco Ibáñez Campus
Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 32
46010 València (Valencia)
