Forum: (New) Directions in Eighteenth-Century German Studies

Summary

Abstract: This volume's Forum seeks to promote the discussion of (new) directions in eighteenth-century (German) studies. Envisioned as a dialogue with similar fora in other venues, as well as with prolific publication and conference activities, this topic engages a wide range of contributors working through recent research in part to chronicle the state of the field and, more importantly, to redefine and reimagine its objects of study. These eight short essays illustrate inter- and cross-disciplinary work, but also foreground the capacity for academic activism. The contributors reflect on eighteenth-century German (Goethe) studies in dialogue with disability studies and medical humanities, music and sound studies vis-à-vis the spoken word/orality, (post)colonialism/decoloniality and the environment, abolitionist discourse as an important literary impetus, and, finally, legacies and reverberations of the eighteenth century in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century cultures. Individually and collectively, these contributions open up new lines of inquiry and dialogue with other periods of German literary and cultural history. At the same time, they expose erstwhile blind spots and thus task universities and colleges with turning to new areas of inquiry in order to promote diverse areas of scholarship.

Keywords: eighteenth-century German studies, Goethe studies, medical humanities, disability studies, orality/sound studies, postnational approaches, interdisciplinary, state of the field

THIS VOLUME'S FORUM, “(New) Directions in Eighteenth-Century (German) Studies,” has evolved over time; it is at once urgent and obsolete— because whatever we present here is a mere snapshot in time. The topic resonates with a panel and a roundtable we organized at the German Studies Association (GSA) conference in 2019. And while only a few of the original contributors are included in this volume of the Goethe Yearbook—Monika Nenon presented the initial ideas for her article and Bridget Swanson and Peter Höyng participated in the roundtable—the GSA discussions led to further directions and invitations that contributed to the Forum.

This Forum is a snapshot in yet another sense of the word: it exists in the company of other fora, such as the German Quarterly's 2020 special issue (vol. 93.2) on the eighteenth century, which includes articles and investigations about the role, importance, and relevance of the eighteenth century to German studies, as well as recent pathbreaking articles published in The Eighteenth Century (previously Eighteenth Century Theory and Interpretation), which, for some time, has provided impulse, provocations, and insights into specialized eighteenth-century topics, often from a comparative perspective.