The Group "Das jüngste Elsaß" - Border Literatures and their European Openings

• Applicant: Dr. Christian Luckscheiter
• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 419997420

The aim of the project is to prepare a detailed study of the complete works of the eight authors, Otto Flake (1880–1963), Salomon Grumbach (1884–1952), Bernd Isemann (1881–1967), Johannes Leonhardus (pseudonym of Hans Koch) (1881–1952), René Prévôt (1880–1955), René Schickele (1883–1940), Ernst Stadler (1883–1914) and Hermann Wendel (1884–1936), who came together in Strasbourg in 1901 to form the group called "Das jüngste Elsaß". On the one hand, it shows how one of the most conflict-ridden borders in the first half of the 20th century, which was of crucial importance for relations between France and Germany, was perceived, described, mapped and discussed in exemplary manner for a period of over 50 years by a section of Alsatian literature which is still largely unexplored and partly untapped. On the other hand, it describes how the group influenced European thinking in the dispute over this border, an examination of which offers the prospect of general insights into the origins and development of debates on Europe in literature. The intention is to reposition Alsace on the literary map between Berlin and Paris and to add new dimensions to research into Alsatian literary history, regional literatures and their conceptualisations, border literatures as a genuine literary studies contribution to border studies, the Europe of literature and its discursive history, and, not least, Franco-German literary relations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants