Meta-Rationalities. Literary critique of reason in German prose fiction since 2000

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Leonhard Herrmann
• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: from 2013 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 237181892

Since 2000 the figure of the savant has featured prominently in German prose fiction; the use of forms of fantastic and unreliable narration has been equally apparent. This project will consider the two phenomena as parts of an overarching attempt at the literary critique of reason. These characters and narrative modes are used to critique the reductiveness of today's instrumental rationality and to counterpose literature's specifically aesthetic dimension as a potential source of knowledge.The project identifies the immediate context for contemporary literature's poetological self-perception as the philosophical critique of reason reaching from Kritische Theorie to Postmodernism, a critique accompanied by an epistemological valorization of the Aesthetic. In addition, the project will highlight how the contemporary notion of literary cogition refers back to central ideas in German literature since 1800. Finally, the project will argue that today's poetological thinking is linked to epistemological problems which can be considered as typical of the modern age.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor David Wellbery, Ph.D.