Chair of British Literature and Culture Prof. Dr. Christoph Heyl

FRHistS, FSA Scot

Room:       R12 R05 A26
Tel.:          +49 201 183-4711
Fax:          +49 201 183-4713
e-mail:      christoph.heyl@uni-due.de

Office hours:

Semester:                       Semester break:
Wednesday 2 to 3 pm.        by appointment

• Curriculum Vitae

• Membership in Learned Societies and Other Associations

• Research Interests

• Publications and Work in Progress

• Keynotes, Invited Papers, Papers

• Current Lectures and Seminars

• Media

Curriculum Vitae

2015

July 2015: Received the 2015 Lehrpreis der Universität Duisburg-Essen (the university´s award for excellence in academic teaching).

2012-2014

October 2012 - September 2014: Head of Department

2011 – present

Full professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen
(Chair of British Literature and Culture).

2006 – 2011

Temporary appointments at several German universities: stand-in for Ratsstellen at Otto Friedrich-Universität, Bamberg and Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz; visiting professor at the University of Regensburg and Humboldt-Universität, Berlin (twice).

2006

Habilitation: Worlds of Wonders: Sammelndes Schreiben und schreibendes Sammeln im England des 17. Jahrhunderts (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main). Post-doctoral thesis about connections between the culture of collecting (cabinets of curiosities), literature and the visual arts in the seventeenth century.

From 2001

Lecturer (C1) at Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main.

2000

Ph. D.: A Passion for Privacy: Untersuchungen zur Genese der bürgerlichen Privatsphäre in London, ca. 1660-1800 (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main). Thesis on the rise of the private sphere in eighteenth-century London and the impact of emerging concepts of privacy on literature and art of the period.

Teaching post (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the University of Frankfurt. Extended stays in London on a regular basis to do research for Ph. D. and Habilitation (all in all several years), attached to the German Historical Institute and the School of Advanced Study, University College London. Research grants awarded by German Historical Institute, German Academic Exchange Service and other funding bodies.

1993

Staatsexamen in English and History (Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main).

From 1986

Studied English and History at Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main and the University of Reading

1985-86

Non-military national service

Membership in Learned Societies and Other Associations

Research Interests

Proposals for Ph.D. projects in the followings fields would be particularly welcome: Early Modern Studies (literature and culture of the 17^th and long 18^th century) / Urban Studies, especially: London, Edinburgh / Scottish literature and culture / cultural relations between Britain and Germany / cultural relations between Britain and India / literature and the visual arts in the early modern period.

I would be happy to supervise BA/MA theses related to topics listed below.

Earliest Beginnings to Middle Ages

• London’s cultural and literary history.

The 16^th and 17^th Century

• The culture of collecting (cabinets of curiosities) and related phenomena in English literature. Texts as collections, collections as texts. Interactions between collecting, early global exploration and early scientific research. Transformations of obsolete knowledge. (Specific collectors: the Tradescants, Sir Thomas Browne, the Royal Society).
• London in the seventeenth century. The Great Plague and the Great Fire; pre- and post-Fire architecture.
• Literary and early scientific prose (Robert Burton, Sir Thomas Browne).
• Diaries (Samuel Pepys, John Evelyn, Celia Fiennes etc.) .
• Early journalism (John Dunton).
• Poetry (the Elizabethan sonnet; the Metaphysical poets, especially John Donne and Andrew Marvell; Rochester); epic poetry (John Milton).
• Drama (Shakespeare; Congreve, Vanbrugh, Wycherley).
• The visual arts (especially: Wenceslas Hollar).

• Travel literature about India, encounters with Indian culture (Thomas Coryate).

The 18^th Century

• The rise of the private sphere in eighteenth-century London: material culture and middle-class mentalities. The private sphere and literature: the novel (Defoe, Fielding, Richardson, Cleland), the diary (Boswell), journalism (Addison and Steele; The Gentleman’s Magazine, The London Magazine), conduct books. The private sphere and the visual arts: conversation pieces; Hogarth’s Modern Moral Subjects.
• Gender roles, writing and publishing in eighteenth-century England (Montagu, Seward, Leapor / Pope, Gay, Swift, Smart).
• Eighteenth-century Edinburgh, its literary and cultural history. Robert Fergusson, Robert Burns, John Kay. Edinburgh as the Athens of the North. Scotland after 1746.
• Neo-classicism.
• Taste and the senses in the eighteenth century.
• The pre-history of English crime fiction: textual and visual narratives of crime
• Eighteenth-century music and musical aesthetics. Intermediality: text and music. George Frederic Handel’s oratorios. Ballad operas and cantatas. Exoticism, primitivism and the perception of Scottish music.
• Intermediality: text and image. Hogarth and Lichtenberg.

The 19^th Century

• Romanticism, tourism and travel literature.
• Romantic poetry: Byron, Heine, Pushkin.
• Anglo-German literary and cultural relations.
• History and literature: the historical novel. Scott.
• Crime fiction; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
• Science and literature: Charles Darwin and Lewis Carroll.
• Journalism and social criticism: Mayhew.
• Intermediality: authors and illustrators in the nineteenth century (Dickens / Cruickshank)
• Intermediality: text and music. Gilbert & Sullivan. Music hall and pantomime.

The 19^th and the 20^th Century

• German- and Yiddish-speaking emigrants and refugees in London, 1848-1945. Literatures of migration and exile. (Mayhew, Fontane, Zangwill, Kerr etc.) Identity and perceptions / depictions of urban space. Mental mapping and social topographies. Assimilation and cultural memory. Orientalism / urban exoticism: London as an oriental city.
• James Joyce. Modernism.
• Scottish crime fiction (Ian Rankin and others).
• Literature, culture and identity in post-devolution Scotland. The construction of a Scottish diaspora.

Publications and Work in Progress

a) Books:

Heyl, Christoph. Kleine Englische Literaturgeschichte (Stuttgart: Verlag J. B. Metzler, 2020). ISBN: 978-3-476-04509-6.

Weitere Informationen:

www.metzlerverlag.de

https://www.springer.com/de/book/9783476045096

 
Mieg, Harald A. and Heyl, Christoph (eds.), Stadt. Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch (Stuttgart: Verlag J. B. Metzler), ISBN: 978-3-476-02385-8
For further details, see: Metzler Verlag

Habilitationsschrift: Worlds of Wonders: Schreibendes Sammeln und sammelndes Schreiben in England, ca. 1600-1700. Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts London, 589 pp. (Munich: Oldenbourg, forthcoming).

Ph.D. thesis: A Passion for Privacy. Untersuchungen zur Genese der bürgerlichen Privatsphäre in London, 1660-1800. Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts London, Bd. 56 (München: Oldenbourg, 2004)
574 pp. Large sections of this book are available on Google Books.

http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/218367

Books: Work in Progress:

Edition: Das Lagertagebuch des Isy Aronowitz, 1940-1943 (Metropol Verlag).

b) Articles:

“We see the trident of Neptune, the eagle of Jupiter, the satyrs of Bacchus”: Neo-Classicism and British Ideas of India” in: Frédéric Ogée und Christoph Houswitschka (edd.), Final Frontiers: Exploring, Discovering, Conquering in the Age of Enlightenment (Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier), 21 pp. (forthcoming).

 “The Pastoral Pipes: A New Musical Instrument and the Aesthetics of Neo-Classicism” in: Ina Knoth (ed.), Music and the Arts in England, c. 1670-1750 (forthcoming).

“Translating Memory: The Lagertagebuch kept by Isy Aronowitz (1940-43) and Five Amber Beads by Richard Aronowitz (2006) in: Hofmann, Bettina und Reuter, Ursula, Translated Memories. Transgenerational Perspectives in Literature on the Holocaust (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020), pp. 223-230.

“Oriental Objects in 17^th Century English Cabinets of Curiosities: The Tradescant Collection” in: Ibata, Hélène et al. (ed.), Geographies of Contact. Britain, the Middle East and the Circulation of Knowledge (Strasbourg: Presses universitaires de Strasbourg), pp. 109-123.

“Handel’s Oratorios and the Taste of Eighteenth-Century London Audiences: Solomon as a Box Office Disaster” in: Ogée, Frédéric (ed.), Sensing the World. Taste and the Senses in the Eighteenth Century (II) (Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2017), pp. 59-72.

“Translating Memory: The Lagertagebuch kept by Isy Aronowitz (1940-43) and Five Amber Beads by Richard Aronowitz (2006)” in: Hofmann, Bettina, and reuter, Ursula (edd.), Translated Memories. Transgenerational Perspectives in Literature on the Holocaust (forthcoming).

“Der Ort, wo Betteley und Ueberfluß in einer Secunde die Stelle wechseln: Glücksspiel in Hogarths London / Hogarths London als Glücksspiel“ in: Lichtenberg-Jahrbuch 2016 (Heidelberg: Winter, 2017), 11 pp (forthcoming).

“Private Narratives Beyond the Core Canon: William Hogarth’s Conversation Pieces” in: Krysmanski, Bernd W. (ed.), 250 Years On: New Light on William Hogarth (forthcoming), 16 pp.

„Between Closet and Tea-Table: Domesticity, Leisure and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Eighteenth-Century London“ in: Sprang, Felix (ed.), Leisure and the Making of Knowledge in Eighteenth-Century Europe (Ashgate, forthcoming), 25 pp.

“Digitalisierung. Wie werden wir morgen lesen?” in: Kaube, Jürgen and Laakmann, Jörn (eds.), Das Lexikon der offenen Fragen (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2015), pp. 54-55.

“A Miserable Sight: The Great Fire of London, 1666” in: Brakensiek, Stefan and Claridge, Claudia (eds.), Fiasko. Scheitern in der Frühen Neuzeit. Beiträge zu einer Kulturgeschichte des Misserfolgs (Bielefeld,: Transcript Verlag, 2015) pp. 111-133.

“Barometz, Dodo, Jubjub, Heffalump: Vom Heimischwerden bizarrer Tiere in der englischen Literatur“ in: M. Ulrich und D. de Rentiis (edd.), Animalia in Fabula (Bamberg, 2014), pp. 29-49.

„Privatsphäre, Öffentlichkeit und urbane Modernität. London als historischer Präzedenzfall“ in: ” in: Mieg, Harald and Heyl, Christoph (eds.), Stadt. Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2013), pp. 271-282.

„Stadt und Literatur“ in: Mieg, Harald and Heyl, Christoph (eds.), Stadt. Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2013), pp. 222-243.

"Die Stadt als kultureller Raum" in: Mieg, Harald and Heyl, Christoph (eds.), Stadt. Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2013), pp. 199-201.

„William Hogarth, Science and Human Nature” in: Haekel, Ralf and Blackmore, Sabine (Ed.), Discovering the Human: Life Sciences and the Arts in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century (Göttingen: V&R, 2013), pp. 29-52.

“Wenn die Menschen plötzlich tugendhaft wären, so müßten viele Tausende verhungern: Kriminalität in London zur Zeit Lichtenbergs” in: Joost, Ulrich (Ed.), Lichtenberg-Jahrbuch 2011 (Heidelberg: Winter, 2012), pp. 101-116.

„Staging Scottishness: The Homecoming Scotland 2009 Initiative and Post-Devolution Perceptions of Scottish Culture, Literature and Identity” in: Frenk, Joachim and Steveker, Lena (Edd.), Anglistentag 2010 Saarbrücken: Proceedings (Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2011), pp. 39-56. www.wvttrier.de/top/proceedings_2010_wvt.pdf

„Horticultural, Panoramic and Peripatetic Modes of Identity Construction in Eighteenth-Century England” in: Müller, Anja and Karremann, Isabel (Eds.), Mediating Identities in Eighteenth-Century England, 20 S. (Ashgate, 2011), pp. 205-209.

„Ungrateful Odours, Sullying Toch: Excursions into the Dubious Realms of Trivia and Cloacina” in: Wagner, Peter and Ogée, Frédéric (Eds.), Taste and the Senses in the Eighteenth Century (Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2011), pp. 269-282.

„Horrid Howling or Sublime Sensation? Reactions to the Scottish Bagpipes and Eighteenth-Century Aesthetic Theory” in: Wagner, Peter and Ogée, Frédéric (Eds.), Taste and the Senses in the Eighteenth Century (Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2011), pp. 145-163.

„God’s terrible Voice in the City: Anmerkungen zur Rezeption des Great Fire of London (1666) in: Rößler, Hole and Koppenleitner, Vera (Eds.), Urbs Incensa – Ästhetische Transformationen der brennenden Stadt. Schriftenreihe des kunsthistorischen Max Planck-Instituts in Florenz, Bd. 10 (München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2011), pp. 23-44.

"London as a Latter-Day Rome? From Neo-Classicist to Post-Colonial Urban Imagination and Beyond, 1666-1941" in: Kinzel, Ulrich (Hrsg.), London. Urban Space and Cultural Experience. Literatur in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, Special Issue, XLII, 2/3, 2010, pp. 103-126.

„Dame Nature’s Imagination: Creation, Creativity and Gender” in: Zwierlein, Anne-Julia (Ed.), Gender and Creation. Surveying Gendered Myths of Creativity, Authority and Authorship (Heidelberg: Winter, 2010), pp. 65-84.

„Gentleman“ in: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit, Vol.. 4: Friede – Gutsherrschaft (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2006), 2 pp, q.v.

„Lusus Naturae und Lusus Scientiae im ältesten öffentlich zugänglichen  Kuriositäten­kabinett Englands“ in: Cardanus. Jahrbuch für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Nr. 6, 2006, pp. 25-44.

„Meyney, Maummenark, Billingbing, Banana: Textualität, exotische Klangmagie und Imagination im Kuriositätenkabinett der Tradescants” in: Lozar, A. and Felfe, R. (Eds.),  Frühneuzeitliche Sammelpraxis und Literatur (Berlin: Lukas, 2006), pp. 194-215.

„Whodunnit und who are we? Das Thema der schottischen Identität in Ian Rankins neuem Roman Fleshmarket Close“ in: Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, LIII, Jahrgang 2005, Heft 4, pp. 369-383.

„Einhorn und Indianermantel” in: Spektrum der Wissenschaft 4/2004, Sonderheft Forschung und Technik der Renaissance, pp. 12-15.

„Deformity’s Filthy Fingers: Cosmetics and the Plague in: (Anon.), Artificiall Embellishments, or Art’s best Directions how to preserve Beauty, or procure it (Oxford, 1665)” in: Glaisyer, N., Pennell, S. (Hrsg.), Didactic Literature in England 1500-1800: Experience Constructed (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 137-151.

„We are not at Home: Protecting Middle-Class Domestic Privacy in Post-Fire London” in: The London Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2002), pp. 12-33.

„When they are veyl’d to be seene” erschien gleichfalls in: Entwistle, J., Wilson, E. (Hrsg.), Body Dressing. Dress, Body, Culture (Oxford: Berg, 2001), pp. 121-143.

„When they are veyl’d to be seene: The Metamorphosis of the Mask in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century London” in: Tseelon, E. (Hrsg.), Masquerade and Identities (London: Routledge, 2001), pp. 114-134.

„עונש בכפר – אופנה בעיר ” („Punishment in the Country – Fashion in the City”). In: משקפײמ (Mishkafayim Art Quarterly), No. 33, 3/1998 (The Israel Museum, Jerusalem), pp. 28-31.

c) Reviews: 

Cowen Orlin, Lena, Locating Privacy in Tudor London (Oxford, 2007) in: Journal for the Study of British Cultures, Vol. 16/1 (2009), pp. 98-99.

Chalcraft, Anna und Viscardi, Judith, Strawberry Hill: Horace Walpole’s Gothic Castle (London, 2007) in: Journal for the Study of British Cultures, Vol. 15/2 (2008), pp. 192-194.

Manz, Stefan, Schulte-Beerbühl, Margrit und Davis, John R., Migration and Transfer from Germany to Britain, 1660-1914 (München, 2007) in: Angermion, Vol. I (2008), pp. 183-187.

Schwalm, Helga, Das Eigene und das Fremde. Biographische Identitätsentwürfe in der englischen Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts (Würzburg, 2007) in: Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, LVI, 2008, Heft 4, pp. 403-404.

Sutherland, Gill, Faith, Duty and the Power of Mind. The Cloughs and their Circle, 1820-1960 (Cambridge, 2006) in: Historische Zeitschrift Nr. 286 (2008), pp. 522-524.

Prein, Philipp, Bürgerliches Reisen im 19. Jahrhundert (Münster, 2005) in: Historische Zeitschrift No. 286 (2008), pp. 221-222.

Edwards, Clive, Turning Homes into Houses. A History of the Retailing and Consumption of Domestic Furnishings (Aldershot, 2005) in: Sehepunkte 7 (2007, Nr. 10) (ISSN 1618-6168), URL: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2007/10/pdf/12085.pdf

Snook, Edith, Women, Reading and the Cultural Politics of Early Modern England (Aldershot, 2005) in: Sehepunkte 7 (2007, Nr. 10) (ISSN 1618-6168), URL: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2007/10/pdf/12084.pdf

Biagoli, Mario, Galileo’s Instruments of Credit. Telescopes, Instruments, Secrecy (Chicago, 2006) in: Sehepunkte 7 (2007, Nr. 10) (ISSN 1618-6168), URL: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2007/10/pdf/9938.pdf

d) Miscellaneous
 

„Die Playfords und ihre Zeit”. Essay on amateur music-making in early modern London, sleeve notes, CD Oranges and Lemons. John Playford’s English Dancing Master (Coviello Classics COV20709, 2007), pp. 3-5 and 29-31.

„Theodora und das Londoner Publikum: Versuch einer Rekonstruktion“ Sleeve notes, CD Georg Friedrich Händel, Theodora. An Oratorio. HWV 68. Junge Kantorei / Frankfurter Barockorchester (Naxos MB 10024, 2010), pp. 11-15.

Keynotes, Invited Papers, Papers

September 2019, Bamberg, Otto-Friedrich-Universität: “We see the trident of Neptune, the eagle of Jupiter, the Satyrs of Bacchus: Neo-Classicism and British Ideas of India.” LAPASEC Conference “Final Frontiers: Exploring, Discovering, Conquering in the Age of Enlightenment”.

July 2919, Edinburgh: “The Pastoral Bagpipe”: A Newly Invented Musical Instrument between Neo-Classicism and Highland Revival. (With practical demonstrations on a period instrument.)” 15^th International Congress on the Enlightenment.

June 2019, Essen: “Put the Kettle on! Tea, Coffee and Other Hot Drinks in British Cultural History.” Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft Ruhr e.V.

June 2919, Hamburg, Universität Hamburg: “The Pastoral Pipes: A New Musical Instrument and the Aesthetics of Neo-Classicism”. Internationale Tagung “Music and the Arts in England, c. 1670-1750”.

May 2019, Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen: “Der dunkle Fremde: Zur Kulturgeschichte des Kaffees im England des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts“ Vortragsreihe „Die Kleine Form“.

April 2019, Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen: „Edinburgh as the Athens of the North: Architecture, Narratives of National Identity and International Networks of Neo-Classicism“, 1st Annual Conference „Interdisciplinary Perspectives of Global Cooperation Research), Käte Hamburger Kolleg.

March 2018, New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University: „The Godfather of the Graphic Novel: William Hogarth´s Innovations in Print Culture and Eighteenth-Century English Society.” Invited paper, Conference: Media Studies: Paedagogic and Metholdological Engagements (Centre for Media Studies).

March 2018, New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University: „A poore traveller and world seer: Thomas Coryate´s Voyage to India, 1612-1617”. Invited paper (English Department).

June 2017, Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen:“A Walk on the Wild Side: John Gays Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716).” (“Abwege – Fünf Dialoge”, with Prof. Jens Gurr).

June 2017, Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen: “Zu Fuß nach Indien (1612-1617): Thomas Coryates abwegiges Abenteuer.“ (“Abwege – Fünf Dialoge”, with PD. Dr. Simone Loleit).

January 2017: Essen, Stadtbibliothek: “Gespräch über Bücher: Ian McEwans Saturday“.

February 2017, Essen, Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft Ruhr e.V., „Almost unsufferable to our Ears? Romanticism and the Perception of the Highland Bagpipes, c. 1760-1830".

January 2017, Oxford, Annual Conference, British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies: “The Skeleton in the Phone Box: Gothic Imagination, Private Narrative and the Soane Family Monument.”

November 2016, Bamberg Graduate School of Literary, Culture and Media Studies, Georg-Friedrich-Universität, Bamberg: Master Class Workshop for Ph.D. Candidates: “The Great Fire of London (1666): A Case Study.”

November 2016, Bamberg Graduate School of Literary, Culture and Media Studies, Georg-Friedrich-Universität, Bamberg, invited paper: “Terrorist Attack or Divine Intervention? Making Sense of the Great Fire of London (1666)” (This paper was given in Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Bamberg to mark the tercentenary of the Great Fire of London.)

November 2016, Heidelberg, Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft, invited paper: “Terrorist Attack or Divine Intervention? Making Sense of the Great Fire of London (1666)”

October 2016, Frankfurt am Main, Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft/Britisches Honorarkonsulat, invited paper: “Terrorist Attack or Divine Intervention? Making Sense of the Great Fire of London (1666)”

July 2016, Ober-Ramstadt, Jahrestagung der Lichtenberg-Gesellschaft, invited paper: “Der Ort, wo Betteley und Ueberfluß in einer Secunde die Stelle wechseln: Glücksspiel in Hogarths London / Hogarths London als Glücksspiel“

June 2016, Essen, Mittwochsgesellschaft: “Horror oder Harmonie? Der schottische Dudelsack und die Musikästhetik der Romantik, ca. 1760-1830.“

February 2016, Munich, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Junges Kolleg), workshop Present Pasts: Historical Consciousness and the Experience of Modernity. Invited paper: "Decline and Fall: Rome, London, Babylon".

January 2016, Essen, Stipendienfeier der Universität Duisburg-Essen, “Die Genese der modernen großstädtischen Identität: Architektur und Privatsphäre in London, ca. 1660-1800.“

January 2016, Oxford, Annual Conference, British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies: “The music of rude passion: Scottish Bagpipe Music and Eighteenth-Century Musical Aesthetics (with practical demonstrations).

July 2015: Essen, international conference Translated Memories: Trans­generational Perspectives in Literature on the Holocaust (Steinheim-Institut für Deutsch-Jüdische Geschichte): invited paper (with Richard Aronowitz, Oxford/London): “Translating Memory: Where Parallel Lines of Fact and Fiction Meet”.

March 2015: New Delhi (Jawaharlal Nehru University, School of Media Studies), invited paper: “A New Rome? The Ruins of London as a Tourist Attraction of the Future”.

March 2015: New Delhi (Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre of English Studies), invited paper: “Bizarre Animals and British Literature”.

January 2015: Essen, Lebenslanges Lernen e.V. (Universität Duisburg-Essen). Invited paper: „Was heißt hier ‚gebildet‘?“

November 2014: Essen (Universität Duisburg-Essen). Series of lectures on Understanding and Mastering the Complex City (Ringvorlesung, Profilschwerpunkts „Urbane Systeme“): “From Pre-Modern to Modern Urban Complexity: The Case of London”.

October 2014: Sopot/Gdańsk, international conference on Place and Space in Scottish Literature and Culture. Keynote: "Between us and our Hame: Mock-Antiquarian Narratives of Space and Place in Tam o´Shanter." 

July 2014: London, „Literary London 2014: Ages of London“ (Literary London Society/Institute of English Studies, University of London): “Finer as a Ruin than in its Present State? Exploring the Future Ruins of London”

June 2014: Bremen (Universität Bremen). Invited paper (Konrektorin für Lehre und Studium / Konrektorin für Interkulturalität und Internationalität): „Was heißt hier ‚gebildet‘?“

June 2014: Strasbourg, interdisciplinary conference “Géographies des contacts. Contextes des rencontres entre les îles Britanniques et le Moyen-Orient“ (Université de Strasbourg). Invited paper: „Oriental Artefacts in English 17^th Century Cabinets of Curiosities: The Tradescant Collection.”

June 2014: Geneva, Conference on „The Senses of Modernity“ (Université de Genève). Keynote: „The Arts and Urban Modernity in the 18^th Century: The Case of William Hogarth.”

May 2014: Sopot/Gdańsk, Literary festival “Between/Pomiędzy“ and conference „New Beginnings in Scottish Literature“ (Uniwersytet Gdański). Keynote: „O’er Scotia’s parches lands the Naiads flew: Beginnings in Robert Fergusson’s The Rivers of Scotland (1773)” plus musical entertainment: Scottish music of the eighteenth century.

March 2014: Essen, „Universität im Spannungsfeld zwischen Wissen­schaftsfreiheit, religiöser Vielfalt und medialer Darstellung“ (Universität Duisburg-Essen): „Die Gegenstände der Geisteswissenschaften als Provokation. Konzept der Ringvorlesung Was heißt hier „gebildet“?“

June 2013: Jena (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität). Invited paper: „Scottish Literature in the Romantic Era.“

April 2013: Essen, interdisciplinary series of lectures on Pleiten, Pech und Pannen: Zur Logik des Scheiterns in der Frühen Neuzeit. „A Miserable Sight: Der Großbrand von London (1666).“

April 2013: Essen (Mittwochsgesellschaft Ruhr). Invited paper: „London als Ruinenstadt der Zukunft.“

December 2012: Essen (Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft Ruhr). Invited paper: „Barometz, Dodo, Jubjub, Heffalump! Bizarre Animals and British Literature: A Special Relationship.“

October 2012: Warsaw/Kasimierz Dolny, interdisciplinary conference Scotland in Europe (Uniwersytet Warszawski): „Scotland in Europe?“

June 2012: Frankfurt (Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft and Presse-Club Frankfurt). Invited paper: „Barometz, Dodo, Jubjub, Heffalump! Bizarre Animals and British Literature: A Special Relationship.”

April 2012: Los Angeles, interdisciplinary conference on Taste and the Senses in the Eighteenth Century (Center for 17^th and 18^th Century Studies, University of California at Los Angeles). Invited paper: „Handel’s Oratorios and the Taste of Eighteenth-Century London Audiences: Solomon as a Box Office Disaster.”

November 2011: Bamberg, interdisciplinary series of lectures: Animalia in Fabula (Universität Bamberg). Invited paper: „Tatu Arepa, Barometz, Jubjub, Heffalump: Vom Heimischwerden bizarrer Tiere in der Englischen Literatur.“

May 2011: Vancouver, interdisciplinary conference on The Elements: Air. (Humboldt Association of Canada, University of British Columbia.)  Keynote: “Grappling with the Intangible: A (Very) Short Cultural History of the Air.”

September 2010: Burg Schönburg, Celebrating Scot(t)s Voices (Universität Mainz), “The Decline and Fall of the Border Pipes: Material Culture, Cultural Practice and Notions of National Identity”.

September 2010: Saarbrücken, Anglistentag 2010, keynote: “The changes that have come over me: The Scottish Government Initiative Homecoming Scotland and Post-Devolution Perceptions of Scottish Literature, Culture and Identity.”

July 2010: Ober-Ramstadt, Jahrestagung der Lichtenberg-Gesellschaft: „Wenn die Menschen plötzlich tugendhaft würden, so müßten viele Tausende verhungern. Kriminaltiät in Hogarths London.“

January 2010: Berlin, Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft, Landesgruppe Berlin. Invited paper: “Almost insufferable to our Ears: Primitivism, Early Romanticism and the Perception of the Highland Bagpipes.”

December 2009: Regensburg. Gender and Creation in Early Modern England (Universität Regensburg). Invited paper: „Dame Nature’s Imagination. Creation, Creativity and Gender.“

November 2009: Göttingen, interdisciplinary conference: Darwin among the Disciplines (Georg August-Universität). Invited paper: “The Posthumous Evolution of the Dodo: From Charles Darwin to Lewis Carroll and Beyond.” This paper also requested as an invited paper at the following conference:

November 2009: Siegen, interdisciplinary conference: Darwin our Contemporary: Re-Imaginations and Medializations of Darwin and Cultures of Neo-Darwinian Ideas (Universität Siegen). Invited paper: “The Posthumous Evolution of the Dodo: From Charles Darwin to Lewis Carroll and Beyond.”

October 2009: Landau, 7^th LAPASEC Symposium on the Eighteenth Century (Universität Landau / Université Paris VI-Diderot): “Excursions into the Dubious Realms of Trivia and Cloacina.”

September 2009: Berlin, interdisciplinary conference: Discovering the Human: Life Sciences and the Arts in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). Invited paper: “William Hogarth and Science”.

May 2009: Ottawa, interdisciplinary conference: The Elements: Fire (Humboldt Association of Canada / University of Ottawa). Keynote: “Perceptions of the Great Fire of London, 1666: Religious and Secular Constructions of a Disaster.”

May 2009: Geneva, Université de Genève. Invited paper: “Exotism, Primitivism and Eighteenth-Century Perceptions of Scottish Music.”

March 2009: London, Centre for Metropolitan History (School of Advanced Study, University of London). Invited paper: “German- and Yiddish-Speaking Immigrants in London: Experience and Literary Transformation.”

January 2009: Jena, Friedrich Schiller-Universität. Invited paper: „Romanticism, Post-Romanticism and English Travel Writing“.

November 2008: Darmstadt, Technische Universität Darmstadt. Invited paper: „Sherlock’s Home: London und die Entstehung des englischen Kriminalromans.“

October 2008: Paris, 6th LAPASEC Symposium on the Eighteenth Century (Université Paris-Diderot), “Horrid Howling or Sublime Sensation? Reactions to the Scottish Bagpipes and Eighteenth-Century Aesthetic Theory”.

October 2008: Edinburgh, workshop on Transnational Histories of the Book (British Academy and Centre for the History of the Book, University of Edinburgh): “Early Nineteenth-Century Travel Literature and its Impact on Early Tourism: A Case Study.”

September 2008: Berlin, interdisciplinary conference Urbs Incensa – ästhetische Transformationen der brennende Stadt (Max Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Florenz, and Historisches Seminar der Universität Luzern). Invited paper: „God´s Terrible Voice in the City: Anmerkungen zur literarischen Rezeption des Great Fire of London, 1666.“

September 2008: Berlin, International Summer School on Metropolitan Studies (Georg Simmel-Zentrum für Metropolenforschung, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). Invited contribution: one-day workshop on „London as the Prototype of the Western Metropolis.“

September 2008: Frankfurt, Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft Rhein-Main and Presse-Club Frankfurt. Invited paper: „London’s Tourist Attractions of the Future“.

August 2008: Bamberg, conference: Mediating Identities in Eighteenth-Century England (Otto-Friedrich-Universität), invited paper (response): “Space and Identity in Eighteenth-Century England”.

July 2008: Berlin, August Boekh Antike-Zentrum and Georg Simmel-Zentrum für Metropolenforschung (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). Invited paper: „London – die Stadt und ihr antikes Erbe.“

Current Lectures and Seminars

Winter Semester 2020/21
 

Introduction to Literary Studies
Vorlesung & Grundkurs

Vorlesung

Mo 16-18.00 c.t. - alle 2 Wochen, abwechselnd mit Grundkurs
C. Heyl

As all other obligatory introductions in the field of Anglophone Studies, the Introduction to Literary Studies is of elementary importance to all new students. It will be your first and crucial step towards becoming an expert reader of literature written in English. The more you know, the more you see; the more you see, the more you can try to understand, which makes the whole process of reading even more exciting and rewarding. This course will therefore help you to see more and to get to grips with all sorts of texts by covering topics such as:

• What is literature? Why study literature?
• The major genres of literature (poetry, drama, narrative fiction).
• Key developments in the history of these genres in English literature and their cultural contexts.
• Literary theory and critical approaches, i.e. how to do things with texts in more than one way.
• How to use essential digital resources.
• How to write a seminar paper.
• What to do when you get stuck and you absolutely don’t know what to do … and much more besides.

Yes, this is a Pflichtveranstaltung, but it is also very much about enjoying literature.
The Introduction to Literary Studies will be extremely useful for all further courses in literary as well as cultural studies you will take while at university. It will be your first step towards enjoying literature even more than you do already, and also towards writing successful seminar papers, BA and MA theses.

The Introduction to Literary Studies consists of two elements: A lecture course (Vorlesung) and seminar-type courses (Grundkurse). The lecture and the seminar format alternate on a weekly basis throughout the semester. They belong together, it is essential to attend both. The lecture is taught by Prof. Heyl, the Grundkurse by members of the Introduction team.

Both the lecture and the Grundkurse will be conducted online and in real time throughout the semester. This will help to give your week a useful structure in times of Corona. You must sign up for one of the Grundkurse on LSF and join the Moodle course for the lecture (the Moodle course is called Vorlesung Introduction to Literary Studies, password: IntroLiteraryStudiesWS20-21).

You will receive further information via Moodle and e-mail. Please make sure to use and check your official university e-mail addresses at all times. Do not use any other addresses, and do not have e-mails sent to your university address forwarded to other addresses. Our experience in the last semester has shown that using non-university addresses / forwarding mails will lead to our messages bouncing back in very many cases.

A reader will be made available to you via Moodle. You will need to read and prepare material in the reader for each session.
You will also need to buy:
Michael Meyer, English and American Literatures. 4. Auflage. UTB Basics. ISBN-13: 978-3825-235505.
Christoph Heyl, Kleine Englische Literaturgeschichte. J.B. Metzler. ISBN-13: 978-3476045096.

Grundkurs

Mo 16-18.00 c.t. - alle 2 Wochen, abwechselnd mit Grundkurs
C. Heyl

This course serves as a complement to the lecture "Introduction to Literary Studies". Basic topics introduced in the lecture will be discussed in detail in each of the courses, with a particular focus on the most important literary genres – poetry, drama and narrative fiction. We will help you to acquire a good command of the basic analytical techniques in the field of Anglophone literary studies. The structure of all Introductory Courses to Literary Studies (Grundkurse) is identical. A variety of texts will help illustrate important aspects of literature such as the characteristics of the major epochs and genres, literary theories as well as various approaches to literature, etc. The texts to be discussed will be taken from a number of regions across the Anglophone world. You need to read and prepare texts in advance of sessions and actively participate in the classroom debates on a regular basis, and you will also need to write a number of short assignments. Once again: You must take both the lecture and one of the Grundkurse. You will need the Reader and the two books mentioned above for your Grundkurs as well as the lecture.

The Extra Slot
(offenes Oberseminar)

Mo 18-20.00 c.t. - alle zwei Wochen
C. Heyl

The Extra Slot provides an informal and friendly space for discussing texts and images (and occasionally also music) as well as questions and issues you find particularly interesting / fascinating / baffling. It is also a forum for discussing projects – yours as well as mine (ranging from seminar papers to BA/MA theses, or perhaps your first conference paper or plans for a Ph.D. thesis, to all sorts of publications etc.). This informal colloquium is for all those whose interests, enthusiasms and ambitions go well beyond what they are told they have to do. It also goes beyond the acquisition of Leistungsnachweise and credit points (of which there will be none whatsoever). This is the only one of my courses where no preparation is required.

In pre-Corona times, the Extra Slot description used to say: If any interesting opportunities come up, we may go and watch an English play, see an exhibition or attend other events connected with British literature and culture in and around Essen. Now that things are a bit different for reasons beyond our control, we will have to look for enjoyable digital alternatives.

The Extra Slot will be conducted entirely online and entirely in real time. We will meet online via Zoom every other week of the semester. Please join the seminar´s Moodle room (“The Extra Slot”, password: ExtraWS20-21); you will receive further information via Moodle/e-mail. Please make sure to use and check your official university e-mail addresses at all times. Do not use any other addresses, and do not have e-mails sent to your university address forwarded to other addresses. Our experience in the last semester has shown that using non-university addresses / forwarding mails will lead to our messages bouncing back in very many cases.

The Extra Slot is primarily aimed at students who have taken (or who are taking) one or several of my seminars/lectures. However, it is very much an open forum. Newcomers are most welcome. If you are new to the Extra Slot, please send an e-mail to christian.feser@uni-due.de who will put you on our mailing list

The European Dimension of Romanticism:
Byron, Heine, Pushkin
Seminar

Di 10-12.00 c.t.
C. Heyl

Byron was an international literary superstar of his time. Both his poetry and his life were unconventional, provocative and scandalous. He was regarded as “mad, bad and dangerous to know” – and this is precisely what fascinated people not just in Britain, but all over the continent and beyond.

This seminar will give you an opportunity to get acquainted with Byron’s outrageously witty (and sometimes simply outrageous) narrative verse (especially Don Juan and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage). In order to get an idea of the international impact of his works well beyond, our close reading of texts by Byron will be combined with a comparative approach, taking in both German and Russian texts (Heinrich Heine, Das Buch Le Grand and Englische Fragmente; Alexander Pushkin, Jewgenij Onegin, which, for reasons of practicality, will be read in German translation).

Please buy the following editions: George Gordon Lord Byron (Ed.: Jerome J. McGann), Lord Byron. The Major Works (Oxford World’s Classics), ISBN: 978-0199537334.

Alexander Puschkin (translated by Rolf-Dietrich Keil), Jewgeni Onegin. Roman in Versen (Insel), ISBN: 9783458342243. Other translations of this text are also of interest.

Heinrich Heine (Ed.: Bernd Kortländer), Reisebilder (Reclam), ISBN: 9783150187302

Requirements: thorough preparation for each session, active participation plus anything that might be required according to your Modulhandbuch / Studienordnung. As always: read, think, enjoy (!!), annotate (!) and look things up if necessary.  The first text to be discussed is Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (Canto 1).

The seminar will be conducted entirely online and entirely in real time. We will meet online via Zoom, each week of the semester at the time of the seminar. Please join the seminar´s Moodle room (“The European Dimension of Romanticism: Byron, Heine, Pushkin, password: ByronHPWS20-21); you will receive further information via Moodle. Please make sure to use and check your official university e-mail addresses at all times. Do not use any other addresses, and do not have e-mails sent to your university address forwarded to other addresses. Our experience in the last semester has shown that using non-university addresses / forwarding mails will lead to our messages bouncing back in very many cases.

Just in case your application is rejected by the LSF system: If you want to do this course because you are genuinely interested, you will be most welcome, no matter what LSF says. Please get in touch with claudia.hausmann@uni-due.de who will enrol you manually. The worst that might happen to you is that you cannot do a Leistungsnachweis if you lack the formal requirements.

Howl, howl, howl, howl!
William Shakespeare, King Lear
Seminar

Mi 10-12.00 c.t.
C. Heyl

A foolish old king, one good and two evil daughters, heartless cruelty, a bastard brother, someone pretending to be a mad beggar, rage, poisoning and suicide and the excitement: King Lear has it all. This course will give you an opportunity to engage in a close reading of this play. We shall consider historical and cultural contexts as well as questions relating to the staging of the play, both in Shakespeare’s time and today. We shall also look at cinematic and other adaptations and works of art inspired by this tragedy.

            Please buy this edition and none other: William Shakespeare (ed.: R.A. Foakes), King Lear. The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series. (Bloomsbury), ISBN 978-0174434603. You will need this book from the first week of the seminar, so buy it as soon as possible and start reading. Do not waste your money on other editions without substantial annotations as these would be useless for the purposes of this course.

Requirements: Thorough preparation for each session, active participation, including quite a bit of shouting and howlhowlhowlhowling plus doing any amount of wild, exciting and outrageous things. (Yes, I am afraid all of this will have to be done online – but we are going to have a go at it anyway. You will get a chance to turn into a king, a bastard or an evil daughter, and your Zoom window will be your stage.) Also anything that might be required according to yor Modulhandbuch / Studienordnung. As always: think, enjoy (!), annotate, and look things up if necessary.

The seminar will be conducted entirely online and entirely in real time. We will meet via Zoom, each week of the semester at the time of the seminar. Please join the seminar´s Moodle room (“Howl, howl, howl, howl! William Shakespeare, King Lear; password: LearWS20-21); you will receive further information via Moodle. Please make sure to use and check your official university e-mail addresses at all times. Do not use any other addresses, and do not have e-mails sent to your university address forwarded to other addresses. Our experience in the last semester has shown that using non-university addresses / forwarding mails will lead to our messages bouncing back in very many cases.

Just in case your application is rejected by the LSF system: If you want to do this course because you are genuinely interested, you will be most welcome, no matter what LSF says. Please get in touch with claudia.hausmann@uni-due.de who will enrol you manually. The worst that might happen to you is that you cannot do a Leistungsnachweis if you lack the formal requirements.

Wit, Elegance and Shit-Diving:
Alexander Pope
Seminar

Wed. 14-16.00 c.t.
C. Heyl

If you wanted to be a successful English poet in the eighteenth century, your best bet was to do things the way Alexander Pope did. Pope was not just a major poet of the period, he was so successful that his style of writing came to define the mainstream. Learning about Pope (who started life as a disadvantaged outsider in several respects) will also give you a chance to learn about English literature and culture of the period in more general terms.

Pope´s poems cover an impressive range of topics including how to write literary texts, a very odd case of hair fetishism, gender roles, architecture and what to do with one’s money. He wrote absolutely ferocious satires; these include The Dunciad (which would be Das Deppen-Epos in German), a mock-heroic poem describing, among other things, the reign of the goddess of stupidity and the bizarre rituals practised by her followers – and yes, these actually include a shit-diving contest. His poems were regarded as models of elegance and formal accomplishment; at the same time, they can be full of fierce humour and bizarre surprises.

Requirements: Thorough preparation for each session, active participation. Also anything that might be required according to your Modulhandbuch / Studienordnung. As always: think, enjoy (!), annotate, and look things up if necessary.

Please buy the following edition: Alexander Pope (ed.: Pat Rogers), Major Works (Oxford World’s Classics, ISBN 978-0-19-953761-7). The first text to be discussed is The Rape of the Lock.

The seminar will be conducted entirely online and entirely in real time. We will meet via Zoom, each week of the semester at the time of the seminar. Please join the seminar´s Moodle room (“Wit, Elegance and Shit-Diving: Alexander Pope; password: PopeWS20-21); you will receive further information via Moodle. Make sure to use and check your official university e-mail addresses at all times. Do not use any other addresses, and do not have e-mails sent to your university address forwarded to other addresses. Our experience in the last semester has shown that using non-university addresses / forwarding mails will lead to our messages bouncing back in very many cases.

Just in case your application is rejected by the LSF system: If you want to do this course because you are genuinely interested, you will be most welcome, no matter what LSF says. Please get in touch with claudia.hausmann@uni-due.de who will enrol you manually. The worst that might happen to you is that you cannot do a Leistungsnachweis if you lack the formal requirements.

Media

Academic Writing: A Very Brief Introduction

All students thinking about writing a seminar paper, a BA thesis or an MA thesis are encouraged to watch this short refresher course on academic writing. Click here for the video (MP4, 852 MB). Style sheets for footnote style as well as MLA style can be found here and here.

Der dunkle Fremde: Zur Kulturgeschichte des Kaffees im England des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts

Vortrag in der Reihe „Die Kleine Form“, Sommersemester 2019.

Zu Fuß nach Indien (1612-1617) Thomas Coryats abwegiges Abenteuer und das Lob auf die Torheit

Vortrag gemeinsam mit Prof. Simone Loleit in der Reihe "Abwege - Fünf Dialoge", Sommersemester 2017.

A Walk on the Wild Side: John Gays Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1716).

Vortrag gemeinsam mit Prof. Jens Gurr in der Reihe “Abwege – Fünf Dialoge”, Sommersemester 2017.

Study tour to Edinburgh, September 2017: The Athens of the North

Exkursion nach Edinburgh mit einer Gruppe von 18 Studierenden im Jahr 2017.

Musik der Band "R12 R04"

Gemeinsames Musizieren der Band "R12 R04", bestehend aus Christoph Heyl, Frank Erik Pointner, Michaela Meyer und Alan Webb bei der Verabschiedung von Alan Webb.