LFU:online

In a first step the lecturer will give a comprehensive overview of some theoretical basic-texts. General texts of intermedial studies will be presented in a chronological overview and discussed with the students. This overview ranges from Oscar Walzels programmatic text "Wechselseitige Erhellung der Künste" (Reciprocal illumination of the Arts, 1917) and basic texts by Michail Bachtin and Julia Kristeva, to the studies of Jens Schröter, Monika Schmitz-Emans, Irina O. Rajewsky and Werner Wolf, which dominate the present discussion. The students will also become acquainted with various typologies, which will help them to organize the conceptual field. In the second part of the course the students and the lecturer will read and discuss some texts on the intermedial "subcategories" Literature and Visual Arts, Literature and Film, Literature and Photography, Literature and Music, etc.

In a scientific context the terminus "Intermedialität" (Intermediality) was first used in 1983 by Aage A. Hansen-Löve in his study "Intermedialität und Intertextualität" (Intermediality and Intertextuality). The term was established rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s in German literature and cultural studies. But the roots of today's research in intermediality rich already back much further. One of the first texts that dealt with the mutual relationships between the arts was Lessing's Laocoon-essay (1766). At the beginning of the 20th Century the scientific debate about the relationship between the arts was refreshed by Oskar Walzels text "Wechselseitige Erhellung der Künste" (Reciprocal illumination of the Arts, 1917). At this time the new medium film had already joined the "classical" art forms: literature, visual art, music, opera and dance. With regard to the comparison with other arts this invention required new research criteria. A similar revolution began with the rapid rise of digital media in the 1980s. As part of the course some of the most important theoretical texts of intermedial research will be presented and discussed.

The general overview of the most fundamental positions of intermedial research will be presented by the lecturer. The several approaches of intermediality (literature and visual arts, literature and music, etc.) will be worked out in keynote presentations and discussion groups by the students and the lecturer.

To complete the course, the students have to prepare and hold short presentations during the semester. At the end of the semester a written exam has to be passed. In addition, the active participation in the discussions will be part of the rating.

1.    Clüver, Claus: INTER TEXTUS / INTER ARTES / INTER MEDIA. In: Komparatistik. Jahrbuch der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft 2000/2001. Heidelberg: Synchron 2001, S. 14-50.

2.    Degner, Uta / Wolf, Norbert Christian (Hg.): Der neue Wettstreit der Künste. Legitimation und Dominanz im Zeichen der Intermedialität. Bielefeld: transcript 2010.

3.    Helbig, Jörg: Intermedialität. Theorie und Praxis eines interdisziplinären Forschungsgebietes. Frankfurt a. M.: Turnshare 2009.

4.    Rajewsky, Irina O.: Intermedialität. Tübingen / Basel: Francke 2002. (UTB für Wissenschaft, Uni-Taschenbücher 2261).

5.    Wolf, Werner: Intermedialität: ein weites Feld und eine Herausforderung für die Literaturwissenschaft. In: Foltinek, Herbert und Leitgeb, Christoph (Hg.): Literaturwissenschaft. intermedial – interdisziplinär. Wien: Verl. d. österr. Akademie d. Wissenschaften 2002, S. 163-193.