>
>From: "Rebecca Braun" <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Subject: CFP: Gunter Grass in International
>Perspective (UK) (12/31/06; 9/5/07-9/7/07)
>
>Changing the Nation: G¸nter Grass in International Perspective
>
>An International Conference at the University of Liverpool, UK
>5-7 September 2007
>
>Confirmed speakers: Avi Primor (Israeli
>Ambassador to the FRG, 1993-99) Patrick
>OíNeill (Queenís, Canada), Krishna Winston (Wesleyan, US) Michael Minden
>(Cambridge, UK), Julian Preece (Kent, UK), Karen Leeder (Oxford, UK), Volker
>Neuhaus (Cologne, Germany)
>
>Ever since the publication of Die Blechtrommel in 1959, Grass has exerted a
>powerful influence over contemporary debates shaping the post-war German
>nation. While his first novel was initially valued in Germany for its
>contribution to literary developments, its significance abroad was distinctly
>political: it was widely hailed as the German book that broke the collective
>silence of Grassís compatriots on their National Socialist past. Over the
>course of his career, Grass has repeatedly built on this two-pronged success,
>becoming recognised both at home and abroad as Germanyís leading international
>writer and intellectual. His prominent position
>has always involved controversy
>- as most recently demonstrated by the outcry occasioned by his 2006
>autobiographical revelations. Yet at the same time the doors that his fame has
>opened across the world have allowed him to break out of the narrowly
>nationalistic framework of his youth and bring to his German subject matter
>ideas and techniques that transcend simple national boundaries.
>
>This conference focuses for the first time on what exactly it has meant for
>Grass to be an international author and intellectual, how his work has engaged
>with and impacted on debates outside Germany, and what influence these debates
>have had on his standing and his work back home. Showcasing German Studies
>particularly in the UK and US, we explore how changing the national context in
>which Grass is discussed can provide a valuable angle on his repeated efforts
>to change the German nation as both a political and a cultural entity.
>Potential speakers are invited to examine Grass and his oeuvre from three main
>perspectives:
>
>1. Provenance
>How has Grass come to reach national and
>international standing? Where might we
>place his roots, both cultural/literary and biographical/political? What about
>the impact of his own migration from Danzig/GdaÒsk, his claim in the 1990
>speech ëSchreiben nach Auschwitzí that the Holocaust has always functioned as
>the pivotal reference point for his work, and his 1992 reference to ëVerlust
>als Voraussetzung f¸r Literaturí?
>
>2. Transmission
>How has Grass acted as a political and cultural mediator, bringing German
>literature and German debate to the world ñ and
>vice-versa? How has Grass acted
>as a partner in dialogue for intellectuals abroad (KenzaburÙ 'e, Pavel Kohout,
>FranÁoise Giroud, Yoram Kaniuk, Helen Wolff)? Can we discern a particularly
>international style, themes (e.g. travel, cultural exchange) or outlook that
>reflect Grassís international standing? What about Grassís writing in
>translation?
>
>3. Reception
>What has Grassís impact been on international literature (Kurt Vonnegut, Lobo
>Antunes, Nadine Gordimer, Gabriel GarcÌa M·rquez, Salman Rushdie, John Irving
>all acknowledge debts) and on international politics? What impact has
>international recognition had on Grassís own
>work and its reception in Germany?
>
>Proposals (300 words) for 25-minute papers
>exploring any of the themes outlined
>above or related aspects should be e-mailed to the conference co-ordinators by
>31 December 2006:
>
>Dr Frank Brunssen ([log in to unmask]), Dr Rebecca Braun
>([log in to unmask]).
>
>For abstracts from confirmed speakers and
>further conference details, please see
>www.liv.ac.uk/sml/conferences/Grass/index.htm
>
>
>--
>Dr Rebecca Braun (nee Beard)
>Honorary Research Fellow
>School of Modern Languages (German)
>University of Liverpool
>Liverpool
>L69 7ZR

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