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<ll forces from differenl parts aims at global politics made forthc future. ofthc left spectrum, unifying them through not a politics designed for the current the underlying desire to "radically generation ofGermans. ch<lllenge the lifestyle in late capitalisl The second panel began with Dr. societies." The Greens began their march DiallaReest! Gabriele Vogi (East Asia Program, through parliamentary institutions Cornell) who presented on the knowing that street fights did not provide The first speaker. Dr, Carl Lankowski contemporary Green Party and "'The Issue a lrue opportunity for real change. The (Expert on the Greens, Deputy Directorof of War and Peacc". A graduate of the video clip introduced the most important Area Studies. Coordinator for European University of Hamburg with a figures of the early Green Party, among Area Sludies. George P, Schultz Nalional specializalion in peace movemenlS. VOgl them the familiar faces ofJoschka Fischer Foreign AffairsTrainingCenler. Foreign offcred an analysis of the Green Party's and Otto Schily. highlighted some orthe Service Instilute) offered to situate lhe relationship to social movements and its bureaucratic and administrative Greens and evaluate theirrole in a broader engagement with the anti-war protests of difficulties the young parliamenlary historical selling. His paper. entilled "A lhe past five years. In the latc 1990's. the members struggled with, and offered Post-Westphalian P3rty: The Germ<ln goals ofpeace acti vi sts and pari iamenlary examples of their rhetorical skills in Greens:'traced lheGreens' development represcm;llives diverged. crealing a gap p..'lJ'1 i3ment (.. We demand the endofsex ism from a protest organization to a pragmatic that splil the party inlO fundamentalisls in this parliament!"), The dip provided oppositional force to today's parlia­ and realists. In 19991he contlicl hardened insight into the heated discussion <lhout mentary power. Lankowski offered the because of the German military the Green party's reaction 10 Dr. HelmUI thesis that the Green Parly's vision was involvement in Kosovo. a move that Kohl's inauguration as German 10 leave behind the Westphal ian di vision certainly compromised the Green P3rty'S chancellor: the Greens had presented him ofmodern Europe into nation states. thus agenda. Asa resull. many fundamentalists with a lree branch severely damaged by working toward a different international left the party. while Rea/os maintained (col1lillued 011 pap,t! 8J 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