Department Store Literature and Consumer Culture between 1880 and 1930

• Applicant: Dr. Uwe Lindemann
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
• Term: from 2010 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 163255515

The research project will be finished in its second phase. The targets formulated for the first phase are still valid: On the one hand, carrying out a systematic overview of the Central European and American literature on department stores from the 1880's to the 1930's. On the other hand, reconstructing the discursive pattern of historical debates about department stores, on which the fictional department store literature participates in many ways. Thirdly, answering the question, why department stores could be central symbols of the modernization around 1900. It is postulated that the department store differs from other places of modernity like grand hotels, railway stations, cinemas etc. on a conceptual level. That is to say: The department store brings the modern diversity, complexity and ambiguity as a whole into view. Contrary to the modern processes of differentiation the department store concentrates different fields of knowledge and different discourses at one place and thus creates a symbolic entity in the highly heterogeneous discussions of modernity around 1900.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants