Possible Worlds: Virtuality in the Novel of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries (B01)

• Subject Area: German Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern German Literature)
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 470106373

The research project B01 investigates the contribution the German novel of the 18th and early 19th centuries made to the theory and history of virtuality. The question is about elements of a pre-digital virtuality that are related to concepts of fictionality and possible worlds as well as literary communication, its media and formats around 1800. It analyzes how distinctions are made between literary fiction, preforms of virtuality and reality and how a knowledge of virtuality is developed that does not depend on the technical a priori of digitization.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1567: Virtuelle Lebenswelten
• Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Natalie Binczek; Professor Dr. Armin Schäfer