GERMAN CULTURE NEWS CORNELL UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR GERMAN CULTURAL STUDIES
fall 2003 VOIIlIII/! X Jl Nn I
RETROSPECTIVE OF POET OSWALD EGGER GERMAN COLLOQUIUM OPENS SYMPOSIUM FALL 2003 Scan Fmnzel Samuel Frederick Sean Fmnzcl Amalia Hcnmann Cassandr.tCarnpbell "(Dis)locating Poetries: Transatlantic Marlim.Ma.\iulis Connections'- \\,as the tilk of the poelT)' Joshua Dittrich symposium that brought poet Oswald Egger's \ isit as a writcrin residence to its culmination. A mixture of acadcmic In the firM colk'quiuln 'iCssion of the intenentions. poelOlogical rcncctions. yc:lr. Daniel Purdy of Pcnn State and poetry reading. the ~ymposium UniversityptC'lCnled a paperentitled'"l1lc H"in"rMuliu brought togcthcr writers. graduatc Building in Bi/dll1lf(: Architectum] studl:nts. and facully for a producti"e Spt.'C13IOrship in GnClhc and Benjamin:' discussion on the currl:nt ,tate of poetry. Purdy argued thai eIghteenth century HEINER MOLLER IN Samuel Frederickofthe Dcpanmentof Illoc.kh. orthe ideal \l. ay Incll.pcricncc and PERFORMANCE: Gennan Studiesopenro up thesymposium undcrsland architecture arc being with a paper on O,m'ald Egger's poetics rcasscrlcd in conh.'lllporary discus~ion\ A SYMPOSIUM entitled ..Os...... ald Egger's Poetry ofRirds. about an;hitct:turc 111 GeTmany and in the Beasts and thc An ofBeholding. or Poetic United SI:Jlcs. Sean Fr..mzel Augury in the Uner Zoo of Semiotics:' ~ought Purdy cnnlra'lcd Ihe reception of Samuel Frederick Frederick to examine Egger', architecture in 'l:\cT:l1 IC:\IS of Goethe poi.:tksandsomecentralthemcs running with Benjamin'" under-landing ofa POSI lamieTmka through the body of his work. Frederick ;lUrali, c.~pcricncc Ill" modern architecture considcred whai it means \0 observe. to in order In show tll.1I contemporary sec. and tll read as he rumin:lIed on one of n.:prcscntation" of hUlldings (and ruins) Jonathan Kalb (Chair of the Theater the multivalent titles of Egger's books. in visual and print media est;lhlish a clear department at HunlcrC\lllege)opcned up "Observc the Obverse." Tne "Obverse:" rebtionship hctween the spectator and the twod:ly symposium "Heiner Mililerin this \rore contains sevcral moments the viewed or framed image, Benjamin Pcrformance:' by presenlinl,! a paper central to Egger's work. one being the argued lhat hccaui>e city dwellers live cntitlL'(i "Genn:mia .3: Gcspcnstcr:lmTOIcn vcry question ofthc possibility ofpoetry, amid" great m\x1ernisl ;Irchilectural Mann: Heiner Muller and the Art of [n German, "Oh-Verse'!" is a question. monstrositics.lhey relatc tn the buildings Posthumous Provocation." Kalb ("whether verseT) and calls intoquestion not through dl!>taneed. disinterested investigated Gemwn;aJ. Heiner Mi.i11cr· s the statUi> of thc poetic ai> well as thc spcctato~hip. hut rather by hrushing up last work. and the notorioui> difficultle~ ~tatu!> as poctry of Egf:!er'~ own against them. by COllllOg inlo eont:lct that mterpreters have had in stagmg it. uncon"entional texts. The obverse is at wilh themon:l much nlore \ iscemlle\el, Kalb argued that the provocation the same time the surf:K"C or the top. and The understanding of buildings represented hy this "'ork qucstion~ imphl:~ a kind of staying on the surface aniculated (and repeatcd) in recent ml.-dia romantic ideas of stahle authorship that charaCleri/es the experience of debate!> seems to reini>(:ribc an :lesthetics bccauscofthcwork'scali forintctprctation reading Egger. Frederick wentontodr.lw of .. pect:ltorshlp rCl1llniSt:cnt of and misinterpretall on. The work is out M>mc Implications of seeing and of eighteenth century debates on the uniquely malleable tospecific historical. the poetic observatIonofbeing by read109 pag~ (NNlllnlU'd on lJa~,.JJ !ronllnu,don pug" 6J (contlTlUt't! on 71
Genmm Cullur, N"KS Page I FLOWER POWER? THEGERMAN GREEN PARTY TURNSTWENTY: REVISITING ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS IN THE 21st CENTURY. DAAD Weekend, September 20-21, 2003
Organizer Professor Diana Reese MelanieSteiner order. Renecling on the history of (Cornell) opened this year's annual Martins Ma~ulis international affairs since the Treaty of DAADconfcrcncc by presenting the topic Westphalia in 1648, lhe cornerstone for as one that fosters an interdisciplinary modern Europe, Lankowski then focused perspective within German Studies. acid rain. and refused 10 witness Kohl on the emergence of the Green Party raising questions of globalization. the taking the oath. Were lhe Greens a against lhe background of a post-war feminist movement. pacifism. social provoc3tivc bunch of troublemakers? conservatism lhat encouraged a justice. and. ofcourse. environmentalism. "withdrawal from politics" and "amnesia". In 1983. the Green Party entered the Having refuscd 10 take up a strong German parliament as the strongest attachment to the German nation slate, oppositional force chalknging existing the members of the Green Party conceplionsofmodcm life. In honorofits concentrated lheir cfforts on posilioning twentieth anniversary. Reese invited posi-war Germany within a European guest speakers to prescnt on its history frame thaI askcd for a Europcan..rather as well as on current issues relevant to the than German. identity.thus leading away Green Party. which in turn allowed for from the focus inwards. Having firmly rcncction on the pany's future. establishcd thcmseIYes as a pari iamentary For a glimpse into the party's early party in thc late 1990's. the Greens struggles. Reese chose to show historical contribute today to an inlcrprelalion of video material on the Green Party'sentry globalization that putS the emphasis not into the Tenth Bundestag in 1983. LlIsl on economics but rather on ,wd Frllst presented the party as a environmcntal and peace-making policies. "'colorful faction"' that combined The Green Party. Lankowski concluded. opposition Page Z Germall Cullure News UNIVERSITY OF ANDREW CHIGNELL GIESSEN NEW HIRE IN PROFESSOR VISITS PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT CORNELL Sean Franzel Sean Franzel I)rofessor virSchulen berg(Univcrsity Joining the faculty of the Philosophy of Bremen). a visiting scholar sponsored Departmcnt is Assistant Professor by the Institute for German Cultural Andrew Chignell. who specializcs in Studies. gave a lecture in September as seventeenth and eighteenth century part of his visil to Cornell. lh: talk was phi losophy. He wrote his disseTlation on entitled "What docs il Mean 10 do Kant'sepistemology with Allen Wood at American Studies in GermanyT In vicw OSll'ahi Egger Yale University. The dissertation aimed of the faCllhal the relationship Ix:lwccn to givc an account of epistcmic Germany and the United Stales has neen POET OSWALD EGGER justification (Fiinl'(lllrl!(l[fell) that would profoundly disturbed by the United GIVES READING revisecommon understandings of Kant's Slates' unilateral decision to gain war in position and open up an intcresting Iraq. Schulenberg felt that an intensified dialogue with contemporary discussions Samuel Frederick transatlantic dialogue between German of epistemology. Among Professor and American intellectuals was nceded. Chigncll's teaching interests arc He therefore proposed that the best way On October J I writer-in-rt:sidence rationalism from Dcscartcs to Kant. 10 grasp conceptually the complex and Oswald Egger held a readingofhis work contemporary epistemology. aesthetics. problematic nature ofthe current situation as the inaugural cvent in his month-long and the philosophy ofreligion. Professor was to bring together German stay at Cornell. Egger. originally from Chigncll will be tcaching a course on Amcricanists and Amaican Germanists, southern Tyrol and now residing in Kant's philosophy of religion in the Schulenberg brougbt up for discussion Vienna. is aleading figure amongGenn:m Spring 2004 semester.· the question ofwhat "American Studies," language expcrimental poets. He has a truly protean field. actually means and publ ishcd several vol urnes of verse over "'''''''***** implies in Germany, He also addressed the past decade, most recently two titles lbe impact of American mass culture on with the Suhrkarnp publishing house. German students. Finally. Schulenberg Heraedel"Rede( 1999)andNichts. dasis' commented on thc relation hctween the (2001). as well as a book published this two fiddsofAmcrican Studiesand literary year by Edition Kurrespol1dell~e"called theory.• -broich: Homotopie" cines Gedic-IIt.f. His achicvements havc been recognized with ...... ***"'** numerous prizcs. including the prcstigiousCiemens-Brentano-Lyrikpreis in 20CX>. GerolD" Culwral Nel\'.~ is fJl/blished by the Egger started his reading with fns/illlle/or German CuI/ural Swaies poetological renections in English, Cornell UI/iwtrsiry admitting at one point "I know I don't 726 Unil'ersily AI'ellue, /lhaca. NY 14850 know what poems arc'" This Peler U. HohctUlalil. Direc/or tentativeness informed most of his Casey Str..w's, Copy [,Ii/Or opening remarks. which soon switehed Sean Praflz"l. GmallUfe Coordiflator mid-sentence-to German. the language alia Pho/Ographer in which he continued with statements (607) 255-8408 sbj25@"omell,edll .. bout "poctry'''s paradoxes and ll'WW.'lrls.comel/./'duligcs/ inversions: "Versagt sich nicht. was An(/r('w Clligl1t>1l spricht, illl Gedicht?" (ronril/fw,l 0/1 ll(j}!.e 10j German Culture Ne\l's Page] (Cof/oquium - cominued from page I) reception of architectural monuments. cityscllpes of Berlin lind New York after first <;entury. Members of lhe audience abandoning Benjamin's theorelical the attack on the World Trade Cellterare also considered the difference between insight especially paradigmatic ofthis. privacy and secrecy. the roles ofgender Aftergenerously giving his time to lead and class posili(ln~, and the usc ofgossip two enthusiastically received seminars as a lheme in Iilerature. Just as Professor for graduate students. Professor Gerhard Kurz pointed out lhat "whole sketches of KUr-L. visiting from the UniversilY of life can be orienled to literary models" Giessen. offered an October 24'h and vice versa. lh..: audi..:nce recount..:d colloquium on "Gossip liS Lilerature. liter:l;ry examples to explain how gossip Lilerature as Gossip." Professor Kurz works in our daily world. in the tales we revealed the rich analytical results of tell ourselves. studying "literary fomlsasan elaboration On Friday. November 7. Nicholas ofdaily linguistics forms." Gossip offers Malhew, graduate student in the an exemplary model of a proto-lilerary Department ofMusic. presented his paper form, It is an exercise not only of entilled '·Be..:thovcn's Augenhlicke.'· In imagination but also of social power. his paper, Mathew investigated the self When we read each other's behavior as conscious creal ion of static"Augen guided by underlying social principles. blicke:'or moments, in B..:ethoven· sopera we can ex.plain such behavior by Fidelio and in scveral of his choral and interweaving it into our narratives of the instrumental works wrillen belween 1811 way the world works. the way "such and 1815. Heexarninedthese moments in people" arc. The performance ofgossip light of both their historical <;ontext and (re)constitut..:s social houndaries while their context within the opera. DllIriel Purdy simullaneously breaching the border These static tableaux. by "self between the public and the private which consciouslyclongating. commemorating. Purdy began by looking at Goethc's itconstantlyemphasizcs. Professor Kurz and monumentalizing the momenl." often famous and COnlrovcrsial essay "Von pointed out the risc in theoretical interest serve the political purpose ofcelebrating deUlscher Baukunst:' providing a rich in gossip among writers and thinkers of the triumphs of the Congress of Vienna. phenomenological description of the seventecnth century and provided As Mathew ex.plained, these works are Goelhe's own reaction to the Strasburg salient examples from eightcenth- and not typical ofBeethoven's oeuvre in that cathedral. Here. lhe huilding gives the ninctcenth-<;entury literary trcatments of they lend to be vocal music. arc not wriuen individual an occasion 10 develop his (as Kfat,~cJr, Reminding us of Goethe's in a symphonic form. and incorporate BilduflR is a gendercd lerm in lhe observation. "what else is a novella but clements of the fugue and strophi<; song. discourse ofeighteenth cenlury German an outrageous event thai happ..:ned.'· These pieces also introdu<;e occasional lhoughl) spontaneous and creative Professor Kurz wonden:d whelher the clements into Beethoven's rnusi<;,lhereby subjectivity. The indi\ idual recreates the charm of th..: literary novelly, gossip seeming to upsellhe Beethovenian ideal process ofartislic produclion by regarding transformed into art. mighl stem from a oflhe work liS ti mcless, :lUlOnOmOUS, and lhe ideal image ofthe building in his mind. "sublimated pleasure, .. in the unveiling self-delermining. Their paratactic. ::llihe same time accessing the genius of and pres..:ntation of intimate feelings. rc petiti VI: stru<;tures "would se..:m tostand lhe builder. Purdy also considered . in lhe sublimation ofa pleasure to hurt in direct opposition to the self-propelling, Goethe's I/alie"isclle Reise and Goethe's and confirm moral rules, in the feeling of process-oriented. and linear musical revision of his underslanding of power from which no secrets can be narratives thai music historians have long archite(lure in this text. hidden." Prosaic s<;intillation repnxluces associaled with Beethoven." Purdy argued that lhere :Ire important the hroken rules of our social groups In addition. M;lthew argued that these parallels between the individual spectator wilhout questioning these standards. bUI static mom..:nts have liule purpose in the encountering lhe gOlhic cathedral or a novel such as Fontane's Effi Briest teleology of the work. contributing liule medieval castle. who views lhe huilding problematizes the social ,lnd moral to the drammic trajectory. Thus. ·'[tlhe in order 10 awaken. enhance, and educate grounds of the generally applicable concluding tableaux can only insist on his or her subjectivity (eighteen! hce nt ury standards upon which gossip rests. the necessity of the dramatic outcome aesthetics of Bifdlllrg) and the ways in The suhsequent discussion raised through relenlless affinnation," Thae is which the contested discussion of queslions aboUI hislorical changes in the no intrinsic <;onnection ofthese moments architecture in contemporary public concept ofwhal constitut..:s Iiterature and to the parti<;u lar work: as Mathewex plains. spheres functions in establishing national the possibility of virtual forms ofgossip they seem like they could be part ofany and personal identity. Debates abollithe under the medial wnditions ofthe twenty- piece. Page 4 German Cuffllre Neil'S These musical momen!s, clements of ~yntax and however. arc linked tothe wording, the length of the historical moment out of actual text. and its metrics. which they emerged. The debates Ihal arose in Rooted in a historical the room closely resembled moment. the "Augen those that have raged blicke" contained in the around Holderlin's di fficull music do not need 10 be work for over a century, c1im;lxesemerging from a Heidi Voskuhl of the musical context, for they department of Science anJ arc historical climaxes Technology Studies offered from the start. Parataxis an interdisciplinary app and repetition comhine roach to the complex and within the work tocreatea contradictory figure of the dissociated. expansive automaton in the context of moment that celebrates an the late eighteenth century. event external to the work. The title of her paper Mallhew argued that our Grrllllrli KlIr~ (r.) witlr Samuel Frederick ("Bewegungen, die Ruhr predisposition towards "symphonic" or transmitter of select messages to the ung zu verrathen seheinen": Music "developmental" compositional tech "masses."Th~ first part of Herrmann's playing Automata and Jean Paul's Early niques, along with our association of pr~senlation dealt with the early Satirical Work in Late Eighteenth Cenlury Beethoven with these techniques, has competition between the editors of the Germany) already suggests its central led to the negative evaluation of these Stuttgart and the Frankfurt editions of problematic - that ofa tension between statically affirmative works. HOlderlin's work. She paid particular motion (Bl''''egungl and emotion Mathew ended his paper with the attention to the "discoverer" of the pOl:Il1 (Riihmng) -and something ofthe variety suggestion that perhilps our expcrience "Wic wenn am Fdertage:' Norbert von of fields and discourse~ she unites in her ofthesc pieces is not sodifferent from lhe Hellingrath, discussing his insights approach (literature. music pedagogy, experience of Beethoven's other works. concerning the scleeti VI: eommunil:ation intellectual history, history of science). If the more respected works in of "esoteric" messages to the mass Linking Ihe close reading of Je:.ln Paul's Beethoven's oeuvre arc viewed as a readership within the context of his satire on music-making automata with an collection of memorable moments, the participation in the elite nationalistcircle ::malysis ofcontemporary textson music:.ll dividing line between these works and ofStephan George. Simply pUI. Hcllingralh performance and pedagogy, Voskuhl the long-ignored occasional pieces viewed lhe "mystery" as safe even when d~monstrates :J strikingly similar becomes blurred. the texts were published, as only a sclect fil,!Uration of mechanicity both in the In the discussion that followed, few would have acceSs to the "true technical movemenl of musical participants discussed such issue~ as meaning." This imagined privileged performance and in the corresponding Adorno's writings on Beethoven. the position ofthe editor parallels that ofthe production ofaffect. She argued th:.llthis staging of Beethoven's opera. and the poet in "Wic wenn :Jm Feiertage." linkage opens up the possihility of nature and function ofrnusicaltablcaux in Heidegger"s reading of this particular rethinking theoppositions ofmechanical! general. lextevinccs the same faith in the possibility human and mech:.lnical!scntimental in the In her paper"Why Holderlin?"" Amalia of esoteric transmission and the s;mle context of eighteenlh century Herrmann presented a work-in-progress denial ofexoteric interpretationstoa larger Empplldsamkeit and theories of renecting hercum:nt research endeavors, audienc~. Herrmann quotes a 1942lcHer subjectivity, which deal in part with editorial policies from Max Kornlnercll to Hcidegger Eric RenL..chlcr, chair of the German governing the publication of Hiilderlin claiming that :JS the interpreter of the department at Harvard University, used texts. Using the poem "Wie wenn am pOl:Ill, the latler has created a new kind of the ... hortcomings of a recent German Feiertage" as the basis of her analysis, E!>'oterik. Heidegger went so far as to biopic of Marlene Dietrich to address Hemuann wrote and spoke :.lboUi soml:: of adjust cenain ekmentsofthe text to fit his some of the issues and Ih~mes that the philological difficultie~ related to the own interpr~tation. characterize ptlSlwall German cinema's (re)construction of the text from the The discussion following the rclationshiptothe past. The film (Joseph original manuscript. She also explored presentation focused mainly on the Vilsmaicr's Mar/ene) is for Rentschler a Martin Heidegger's role as an difficulties Ihat the hand-written original failure in two main respects: (I) in its inlermediary, an interpreter of the text, presented to the reader in determining representation of the elusive, auratic which itselfcenters upon the poet as the precise meaning: problems related to qualities ofMarlene herself. and (2) in the Germall ell/wre New.s PageS (Muller· cOIuinuedfrom pagf' /) occasional readings. and. as Kalbargued. the Production Plays in Performance."' it even encourages misreadings, For Kruger's concern. like Romanska's in the Muller, a dramalist is someone who uses first panel. was the question of st3ging theater to open productively destructive and production. in particular Ihat of lensions; Kalb saw this dialectic between Muller's so-called production dramas production and destruction as con such as Der Bau and Der Lohndriicker. stituting the intriguing. yet frustrating She proposcd lakin£ an "archeological" project of intcrpreting and performing approach thaI would excavate and re Muller. In this way. Muller's works. and animate historical relics in the especially Germ(lIIia J. can be looked al performance. thereby leading to a as messa£es in a bOil Ie. providing the production that is more than a simple inexhaustible possibility of provoking ironizing of socialism. Kruger is most future generations with evcr new interested in the exposing ofthe ·'corpus," possibilities for interpretation and he itcollective, institutional. orsimply the performanr.:e. body itself. How can an actor excavate Magda Romanska. Ph.D. candidate;n historical relations or correlations Ihat Ihe department of Theatre. Film and might have been ignored because buried Eric RenlKlrfrr Dance. presenled a paper entitled in ideology? Kruger'sexamination leads "Abstraction. Eroticism and the Mind of to a consideration of the actor's body in spin it tries to put on Marlene's postwar the Flesh: The Theatrc in Quanet. The its tensions with thecharactcrpor~rayed, reconciliation with the peopk of Berlin Quartet in Theatre," Romanska's m:lin its materiality Ihat posits itself as more and the German nalion as a whok. The impulse is 10 considcr how one might than a representative sign, Material for central aesthetic problem of any biopic adequately stage Muller's pl3y: how the critique of "ideological exhaustion·· (th3t of 3 so-called "body 100 much") is should one conlextualize il in order 10 mighl lie in the actor's "ghosting of a only intensified here when the body in "makc it both stageable and timeless, posilive hero:' his failurc to create an question (Marlene's) is so mdically testifying to irs timcs and relevant to ideal. hi_, gestures that might be the pcrform3tive and ambiguous. Vilsmaier oursT' Alon£sideclipsfrom Benolucci·s vocabulary for reading corporeal signs, is. 3ccording to Rentschler. simply not up La:'if Tango ill Paris :md Christophcr Thus. connected to a project of to the ch31lcngc of bringing this elusive Hampton·s adaplation of Les Uai.'iOlI.'i excavation. an analysis of costume and perform3tivity to tllc screen, opting DallKueuses.the ILaclos Jnovel on which gesture. ofthe actor's corporeality might instc3d for 3 de-eroticil.ed. de·mystified Quartet isalso based. Romanska grappled lead to an understanding of thc socio charaClerilation. Furthermore. the with problems ofthedichotomy between historical body. of the performer as narrative of the film attempts to re-shape public and priv3te. finally confronting pcrfonner. Marlene's life into a kind of tragic love crucial questionsofstaging. How political Michael Richardson (Ithaca College) story which would somehow redeem her should it be? Should the characters he began his talk on ··AlIegories and Ends; in the eyes of the Gemlan people. whom 'real' oronly abstractions? Thedangcrof Hci ner Muller's Hamletmachine" with a she supposedly spurned when she the former is an inappropriate history of twentieth century allegorical emigr3ted to the United Stales in the sent;mentalism.the danger ofthe latter a productions of Hamlet. especially in the 1930s. This reconciliatory gesture. loss of thc importanl role of power and GDR. He thcn considered how onc might however. is too lillie too late. given that sex. Romanskaconcludcd by suggesting rC3d Hamfetmaclline as Page 6 German Culture News of theatrical vocabulary and structures. and Wilson produce what Hans-Thiess Despoiled Shore Medeamalerial His reading kads to the conclusion that Lehmann has termed postdmmatic Landscape lI'ir1l Argonauts as the closi ng an understanding of Muller's playas theater. Through acollaborative process event of the two-day conference. allegory must finally be incomplete. but based not on complementarity of mise Perfonncd by Cornell theater students. that in this very incompleteness it en-scene and written text. but rather their who prepared and rehearsed the funclions as an allegory of the end of affiliation without synthesis. the two production in record time. the piece was allegory. at least as an ..... end of such achieve a "pre-ideological" theatrical given life with all its shock. humor. and an allegorical usc of the classics·· as event. Bathrick explains that MUller's incoherence to an enthused audience. Richardson had laid One conference panici out in his discussion pant called it the best of GDR perfonnance of the play allegorizations of he had ever seen." Shakespeare. Richardson finally SI'WI Franzel mId Samuel considers Muller's Prederick are gradllate playas a negotiation s/udell/s ill/he Depanmenlof Germall SrI/dies. Jamie between the socialist Trnka is a greuillale swd('t/f realist past and the ill rhe lJe(llmmenl ofCom· revolutionary parmi"!' U/era/llre, aesthetics of the present. •••••••• Frank Hornigk. professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin and edilOrof ""rank Hornigk (right)alldwife Therese (celller)allhe I,erfonnance the new Heiner Muller Werkall.\·~(lbe published by notion of the "pre-ideological" is best (Poetry· comillliedfrom page II Suhrkamp. delivered a paper emitled: understood as a kind of na"lvctC. wherein "Heiner Mullers Arbeit an der "the language ofthe emerging text 'docs Egger together with poems by Wallace Erinnerung.·· In it, he provided a thematic not aniculate the fruits of thinking but Stevens and Rilke. analysis ofdeath. m<:mory. and work of rather scans the thinking process. It Frederick's paper was followed by short and on history. drawing <:xamples from a carries with it the first glimpse of intervcntions by graduate students in wide sckction ofMuIkr'sth<:atrical. prose. something unknown. the horror of thc the English Ph.d and MFA programs. and po<:tic work. He argues that Muller's first glimpse ofthe new," In this respect, Karen Anderson raised the issue of work insists upon a r<:cognition ofhistory it is in his work with Wilson that Muller whether utopia can be summoned by - often rnanifest<:d as a process of comes closest to achieving on stage his distopic visions. She explored the critical exhumation - as pr<:r<:quisite to ils proper own theater aesthetic as articulated in his potential of poetry through her burial as past and in whidl Muller essay on Brecht's Fatzer fragment. discussion of several American poets positions himself as gravedigger and A roundtable discussion of Mulkr in who point to the utopic by representing officiary, Through a series ofexamples, perfonnancc later in the afternoon pro the problems of the present day. Josh he shows that Muller's relationship to a vided a freer forum for lively interaction Corey read from his own IXJCtry. displaying specifically G<:rlllan past. presem. and among the conference participants and a broad rangc of tone and historical future is articulat<:rJ in figures of the the audience. l\'farvin Carlson (CUNY register in his sounding of the poet's skeletal, the vampiric. and the necrophdic. Graduate Ccnter). Holger Teschke calling. Cathleen Drake brought up the A print version orhis talk is forthcoming (Mount Holyoke). David Bathrick and question of the author as collagist and a in a volume dedicated to Jean Mortier. Jonathan Kalb(HunterCollege)shared joiner of fragments of language. She David Bathrick's"HeinerMuller. Roben impressions of productions and personal performed a collage-like reading of the Wilson, and the Ideology ofForm" traced anecdotes about Muller. opening up a twO other poets participating in the the collaborative work of Muller and dialogue that touched on the problems symposium. Rosmarie Waldrop and Wilson. placing it in a theoretical context (and successes) of staging Muller both Barrett Watten. Angela Naimollexplored in order to show the profound influence during his lifetimc and today, the social role and function of poetry. the two artists had on one another. He HolgerTeschke. who had worked with Poctry has a dislocating and subversive argues that despite - or perhaps because Mullerat the Berliner Ens<:mble. directed function according to Nai mou. and should of - their aesthetic diffcn.:nces, Muller a marvelous performance/reading of act as a chiropractor to the globe. German Clllrllre News Page 7 realigning and righting its hackhone. ils of Achilles' name. 10 allegory'~ ancient poelological pr31.:tice. Watten.oneofthe languages gone crookcd from political meanings. Ihrough excurses on Cervantes eentralmembersofthe LanguageSchool, ahusc. Alex Papanicolopoulosalsoread and Delcuze. Egger explores the an :lrtistic 1ll0vemenl stressing collective from his own work. Roundingoutlhc firsl paradoxes. inversions and aporias of the cOllllllUnicaiion in the process of making panel. August Smith, lecturer in the poem and its elements. the word. the arlworks.lalked ,thout how the intemclion English Department. read his own poem sound. Ihe image. with olherschanges the [In)Ccsl> ofwriting essay, which ruminated on the figure of poetry. He discussed the role different lhe center as a media technologies production and a have had on his clearing ofmeaning. exchange with Oswald Egger. other poets. writer-in- reside nce including Ihe at the InstitulC for periodic:ll journal German Cultural :lnd chat rooms on Studies. whose slay the internet. in Ithaca during Ihe Wallen argued thm month ofNovemh\:r Ihe poeI always was the main construcls the text impulse and in a field of SOCi:ll inspiration for this interaclion, and symposium. thai the Language delivered a paper School. by self that was largely pcrformative in nature, The gradll(jlf.' s/Ildell/ {Wile! consciously emphasizing this aspect of highly allusive, and poetic production. above all full of had hil upon an verbal play. He imparla!'t aspect of prefaced his talk by poetry in the post mutely wriling its modern em.· "title" on the chalkboard: Seall Frtlllzel alld "F.A Q Still/llel Fr('derickllre (jreqllel1lly m"ked grad14(1/1' s/lIdnlls ill qlleslioIIS.) IIII' Del)(/rllll('111 of Indeed. Egger's CentUlII S/lIdie.f. inquiry into the •••••••• being or non-being of poems. often via arcane elymology. rLJAALJ - ,Oll/illlll'dfrom j1agt' 2) largely took the form of a series llf Poeb (/. 10 r.J Barrell Wm/ell, Ro:muui/' Waldrop. O~· ..t,'(11t1 Egger questions and lCnlative remarks: "I. for th:lt Ihe inlcrvcntion in Kosovo W:lS a one.don·t even know whether pocmsare necessary hurnanit:lrian acl. In the p:lst (or touch) poems Would I need \0 Rosmarie Waldrop. accomplished years. however. re:llisls and revolve word for word so that it would translator :lnd poe!. presented a serics of fundarnentalists slOod together against evolve as a lurn ofphrase'!" Eggerdid nol relkclionson Ihe arl oftransl:nion:lnd on the waron Iraq. agreeing that waragainst hesitate 10 answer his own queries. the processes of her own work. She Iraq W:lS "unjusl" and Americ:ln behavior usually simply wilh "I don'l know."' discussed Iheories oftranslation ranging "notcorrcct'·, Even against parliamentary Egger's talk in part performed in language from antiquity IOGemlan Romanticism to pressure. the Green ParlY united wilh his own um;erlainlies about language. high M(xJernism. showing the pitfalls and peace movements 10 form a light And yet. as he said at one junclUre. "a dangers thattr:lnslators face in rendering cooper:llion that organized ":lction d:lys" poem ora wnrddocsn't exist. il ;flsi,~ts" poetry into anOlher language, She then againsl the war and demonstr:nlons to so that language, while always elusive or re:ld from some of her own work. which IhcGreen Party openly summoOl:J spectral. has an uncanny power. one Darreu Watten. ProfessorofEnglishal its voters. The Grccns worked on the whose intricacies Egger tries 10 exam ine Wayne State University. opened up a local. nmional. and lnlernmionallevcl to in mathematical speculation and new perspcclive on Ihe topic of the day protest against the war. referring to elymologicalexcavation, From therOols wilh some renections on his own ch:lpters VI and VII ofthe UN Charterlhat Page 8 German ellltllrt' Ne\ll~' deal with "threats 10 peace. breaches of industrial art. not meant to be preserved: S<:hriXier. Clinton. and Blair. orinsist upon the peace and acts ofaggression." Vogt. they were malleable. Beuys' art. then. its earlier position of staunch pacifism, emphasizing the peace movements' expressed a fundamental instability that environmental protection. and economic renewal and success in gathering 500.000 was aimed at destabilizing cxiting notions redistribution. people to demonstrate in Berlin as well as of art and materiality. Beuys thus Dominic Doyer. a Cornell involving popular icons such as perfonneda severe cri tiq ue on corn modity anthropologist. spoke ahout the Konstantin Wecker and Senta Berger. exchange. He was particularly interested challenges for the Greens in Eastern concluded that the Green Party was able in Germany's way ofdcaling with its past Germilny. They have performed to form such a strong opposition to and broke with the silence that had significantly worse in elections on the American politics under the George W. dominated postwar German culture. territory of the former GDR than in the Bush administration because Green Exhibiting at subsequent Documenta former west. Although the late 1970ssaw realists and fundamentalists joined in shows. Beuys proved an enormous the birth ofa protest movement in the Eilst holding fast 10 the Green Party'soriginal influence for the following generation of similartotheGreens in the West. it never grassroots politics. Gennan artists. among them Anselm formed into an effective political force. Kiefer. Spector al.~o integrated works hy After 1989. a broadly-hased protest Beuys-friend Andy Warhol to exemplify movement absorbed most of the Greens' the German's personal as well as issues. while the Western Grcen Pany did professional relations to the United not wish to interfere in the democratic States. Spector concluded with Beuys' change in the East: in fact. it was the only Documenta 8 contribution. The Hone.v major Western party to oppose PI/mp (1977). arguing that Beuys. by reunification in principle. which was transforming the Kassel Fridericianum reflected in its poor results in the 1990 into a social organism. encouraged Volhkammer elections. Laler. new Germany's opening up to a global challenges were posed by the rise of the community. PDS. the successor pany to the SED. On Sunday. September 21. three while the Eastern Greens were swallowed panelists evaluated the role of the Green up by the Western Green Party. To this Party in contemporary German political day. little mention is made of Eastern life. In his presentation. "Parliamentary Germany in the Green Party program. Politics Insideand Out." Max Pensky of Boyer offered practical advice for the Binghamton State University first Greens to'\ucceed in the East: stay on the Dr. Carl l..anlww.'iki explained the greater formal importance traditional Green message while adapting of political parties and party politics in to Eastern values: find a charismatic, In the last presentation of the fir~t day Gennany ascomparedtothe United States. young leader: and combat unemployment of the DAAD week<.:nd. Dr. Franklin Because of the system of proportional -the most important issue in the East. "8uzz" Spector (Artist. Chair. representation used in parliamentary Department of An. Cornell) introduced elections. the Greens now have to the art of one of the most prominent compromise between acting as a followers ofthe Green Party. the German responsible coalition partner and postwar artist Joseph Beuys. Spector's adhering to the values they have pursued own art is indebted to Beuys. whose art is since their emergence as an increasingly political in the sense that it articulmes the significant force in the I98Ds. Controversy Iink between society. social (in-)justice. has arisen aS,1 result ofsucheornpromises. and memory. Instead of focusing on leading to a description of the Greens' Beuys' involvement with the Green Pany. politics as "pale green." This type of Spector presented some of Beuys' most ;.:riticism has arisen especially because of fascinating work in a lecturcaccompanied Gennany's involvement in military peace hy a slide show. !leuys. so Spector. keeping operations. whi;.:h fall under the challenged the art institution. and control of the Green Foreign Minister consequcntly institutions as such. with Joschka Fischer. as well as in response to his sculptural art that was partially made the Greens' handling of economic ofunconvcntionallllaterials 1ike felt. fat. challenges. According to Pensky. the honey. and chocolate. Those artworks Green Party now has todctennine whether Heidi Voskuhl made of organic materials were. unlike to follow the political "Third Way" of German Culllire Ne\\'.~ Page 9 Finally. Heidi Voskuhl. a doctoral and the screening ofa shan col1aborative lilm that featured Eggds voice-over ofa GERMAN COLLOQUIUM candidate In Science and Technology FOR SPRING 2004 Studies at Cornell. presented on the Green poem he later called a "cover version" of Party. global ization. and technology. She the '60s pop hit "California Dreaming...• The Institute will sponSN scven pointed 10 several contradictions in the Scm/Ie! Prl:'d/'rirk a gra(/l/(I//' .\'/11111'11I ill/he (instead of the usual six) presentas for Greens political ideology. Voskuhl i.5 f)ep{/r/lltel/l ofGenml/1 SIll/lies. claimed that the idyllic view ofa pristine the German colloquium series. Starting on January ,,0 will be Gemlan Studies natural environment could be seen as a *.... ** .. "'.. borrowing from ('onservative and graduate student John Kim with hisp:lpcr entitled ··Kant and the Violence of romantic thought - which c1ashe.~ with VISITING PROFESSORS AT Perpetual Pem.:e.·· He will be followed on the Greens self·image as largely a IGCS FALLSEMESTER2003 progressive political force. In addition. February IJ with "Cementing the Greens have di fficully derining their Worldviews: East German Secret Police The Institute for German Cultural OfficeT'!\.forExample."givcnbyProfessor stance on scientitic-technological issues Studies hosted four visilOrs from Gc.:rmany Andreas Glaeser of the University of in that their assertions of the in the fall semester. Chicago:' indispensability of medical research arc Professor Frank Hornigk. specialist in Yuliya Komska. graduate student from in connict with reservations regarding its New German Literature at Humboldt German Studies wi11 present "Bringing desimbililY. Questions in the audience University in Berlin.washercinSeptcmbcr. the Passion Closer to Home: The concerned the Green Party'srelationship While at Cornell. and in addition to his Expulsion of Germans as a Palestinian with churches and religion. particularly own research. Professor Hornigk Story" on February 27. OnApril9Markus . the.: treatment ofenvironmental issues by participated in a symposium on Heiner Stock. Visiting Scholar working withArt conservative Catholic panics in the.: Mi.il1er.Gemlanavant-gardedramatistof Groos this year. will present a paper southern German-speaking lands. as well the postwar years. and assisted with the entitled "mal/ties rell/, The Ambiguities as their relationship with the growing staging of one of Mi.ilkr"s plays. of Late Minnesang."· Muslim community. Also. clarification Dr. U1rSchulcnbcrg. whose speciality The series continues on April 16 when was req uested on the extent ofthe Gree ns at the University of Bremen is American Franz Peter Hugdilhl. G..:rman Studies "Ludditism" versus their support for Literature and Culture. was at Cornell graduate student. willgivcapapcrentitlcd "non-polluting capitalism" or a from late July to September. He met wilh "TIle Essay as Fonn and Forum for the "knowledge economy." Dominic Boyer students in the departments of English Public Intellectual:' 10 be followed on concluded by noting that. on paper. the and Comparative Literature and the April 30 by "Culture Incorporated: Gree.:n Party trie.:s to a\'oid the position of AmericanStudiesprograrn. Museums. Artists. and Corporate the FOP. the usual coalition partyofSPD Professor Gerhard Kur.l from the Sponsorships:' hy Marc Rectanusoflowa and CDU. but it is not entirely obvious department of New German Literalure. Statc University. The colloquium series how that translates into policy,· University of Giessen in Germany was ends on May 7 when Max Pensky of guest of the Institute in Octohcr. He was Binghamton University presents his Me/allie Steiner and Mar/illS Masl//is are vcry popular with the graduale students contribution ·'The Politics of Memory gradl/(J/estudellts ill/he Depan/llt'moiGI'mum Stll(/il:'.~. in the Gennan Dcpanmentandeoopcrated and European Transgressions.... fully in theirorganized sessions with him. '---C-:=:-=-=-=-=:::::C:::C:::::---l NATIVE SPE,\KER(S) OF ...... Therelationships fanned have continued. GERl\'Ii\N SOUGHT Professor Kurz also participated in the The Language House Program invites (Heading - ('ollli/llu,dfrOIll/X/I!./' J) German Colloquium series by giving a applications for its nalive speaker paper. positions. Candidates should be fully Dr. Oswald Egger,poet.st:lrted the new bilingual in Gennan and English. have an The line hc.:tween these renections and series of exchange at the Institute by interest in Ianguagcpcdagogy.andenjoy the poetry that followed was hard to hear. being the first to participate in the activities working with undergraduates, though Egger did shift to a longer poem ofArtist-in-Residt:nee. During his month Candidates mustalsobe full-time students that was full of botanical vocabulary and atCornell.hevisitedandmet with students C ""'h (undergrad or grad) at orne. e that he later identified as a piece loosely tn informal dinners. etc. He also .. ., I 'Oho"'< .. w kof posttlOn ental sup 0 "...... strm:tured on the seasons. In addition 10 participated in areadingofhis paclry and work and comes with a combined room this longerpocm Eggerre:ld~honerpicces was one ofthe key panicipants in a poetry and board remuneration package. For from his two Suhrkamp volumes. The symposium. organil.ed by the Institutt: more information. please contact the reading concluded with "Apfclspalten 1 . and the John S. Knight Institute for LanguageHouseProgramat607-255-654J. Handteller. Regen" (from HerdederRede) Writing in the Disciplines.· Page 10 German Culfllre Nl'Il'.5