From October 26 to November 8, 2015, German Professor Michael Ostheimer conducted five lectures and seminars in Institute of German Studies, School of International Studies. Undergraduates, master and doctoral students majoring in German Language and Literature, and some teachers participated in these lectures and seminars with lively communication and active atmosphere.
Prof. Ostheimer has long been engaged in researches on literature in German Democratic Republic and contemporary German literature after German reunification, achieving a number of important academic achievements. He delivered lectures on “Hamlet in German Postwar Literature”, “Heiner Miller, a Historical Philosopher and Mythological Poet”, “Ingo Schulze and History before and after German Reunification”, “Island Motif in German Democratic Republic Literature” and “Chinese Novels in Contemporary German Literature” and presented a detailed introduction to literary development, regional characteristics and interaction between culture and politics after World War II and trends of contemporary German literature. His serial lectures have both multi-angle and multi-faceted panoramic presentation and in-depth analysis of key writers’ works, both longitudinal historic combing and horizontal textual interpretation and interpretation.
Besides serial lectures, Prof. Ostheimer, by reading some of Heiner Miller's short stories and poems together with students and teachers fromInstitute of German Studies in seminars, illustrated the differences between text analysis and text interpretation and discussed possible applications of specific cultural theories to literary studies and methodologies of literary studies.
Prof. Ostheimer’s serial lectures and seminars enhanced students’ interest in German literature studies. Active questioning also impressed Prof. Ostheimer deeply. Given relatively few domestic studies on postwar German literature and German literature after its reunification, Prof. Ostheimer’s lectures will to a large extent contribute to fostering and promoting research personnel in this new field. Students from Institute of German Studies benefitted a lot from these lectures which expanded and deepened their understanding of post-war German literature and contemporary German literature.
Institute of German Studies
Nov. 9, 2015
