A German-Chinese Book on Realistic Telling

A new publication by the Joint Research Center for German Language and Culture in Beijing investigates the correlation between “Reality and Foreignness in Narrative Texts of German Realism.” The book documents the results of a 2016 meeting of Chinese and German specialists in German studies in Beijing. This literary-history meeting was hosted by the German Language Division of the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) and the Institute for German Studies: Literature, Language, Media at KIT.

In 2010, the editors, Aihong Jiang, Vice Director of the School of Foreign Languages at BIT, and Uwe Japp, Professor Emeritus at the Institute for German Studies at KIT, had initiated the foundation of the Joint Research Center which, among others, fosters the exchange of lecturers and students. Another meeting that will focus on contemporary literature is scheduled for the near future.

The contributions to the present book analyze how “reality and foreignness” are conceived, among others, in the works of Friedrich Hebbel, Gottfried Keller, and Theodor Storm. Methodically, the contributions represent a wide spectrum of hermeneutic, sociohistorical, and narratological approaches. The proceedings also consider the results of alterity and gender research. “In various parts, the texts point out relationships to topical issues of migration,” says Uwe Japp.