Daria Engelmann // University of Oldenburg

Literatur des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts
Jahrhundertwende, historische Avantgarde, Expressionismus, Nachkriegsliteratur
Die Literaturkritik der Nachkriegszeit
Die literaturkritische Rezeption der historischen Avantgarde zwischen 1945–1960
Feldtheorie, Literarisches Feld nach Pierre Bourdieu
Gender Studies
Queere Figuren in der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur

Abstract of the dissertation project

The reception of the historical avant-garde in West Germany between 1945 and 1960 (working title)

Based on the thesis that a reception of the historical avant-garde did not only take place in the late 1950s and 1960s, as most research suggests, but was already resumed or continued from 1945 onwards, the dissertation aims to analyse the reception of the historical avant-garde between 1945 and 1960 in the Western zones and the Federal Republic of Germany on the basis of selected literary-critical and essayistic writings. The planned dissertation aims to close a research gap by analysing the early (non-literary) writings of various post-war authors (including Alfred Döblin, Gottfried Benn and Peter Rühmkorf) as well as essayistic and literary-critical contributions from selected journals (including Zwischen den Kriegen, Studentenkurier and Texte und Zeichen) with regard to their reference to the historical avant-garde and its function. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the reception of the historical avant-garde and to relate it to the debates on the state of literature in the literary field of West Germany between 1945 and 1960.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr Sabine Kyora

Curriculum Vitae

Since 10/2018	Research assistant in the field of modern German literary studies at the Institute for German Studies at the University of Oldenburg
Since 10/2018	Doctoral candidate in Modern German Literature at the Institute for German Studies at the University of Oldenburg
10/2014 - 09/2018	Master's degree in German Studies at the University of Oldenburg Specialising in Literary Studies
05/2015 - 09/2018	Student assistant at the Institute for German Studies at the University of Oldenburg (with Prof Dr Sabine Kyora)
10/2017 - 02/2018 10/2016 - 02/2017 10/2015 - 02/2016 10/2014 - 02/2015	Tutor at the Institute for German Studies at the University of Oldenburg (for the introductory lecture 'Literature and Culture' with Prof. Dr Sabine Doering/Prof. Dr Sabine Kyora)
12/2013 - 03/2014	Student assistant in the third-party funded project "Principles of word spelling in German and English" at the Institute for German Studies at the University of Oldenburg
04/2011 - 09/2014	Bachelor's degree in German Studies at the University of Oldenburg
10/2010 - 09/2014	Bachelor's degree in the subjects of Philosophy, Values and Norms and Art and Media at the University of Oldenburg

Publications

Daria Engelmann: Backwarded Foreward. Peter Rühmkorf's Continuation of the Historical Avant-Garde in the Context of the German Restoration Discourse after 1945. In: Journal of Avant-Garde Studies. Vol. 5 (2025) No. 2. pp. 139-172. DOI: 10.1163/25896377-bja10014

Daria Engelmann: Debates on the evaluation of Expressionism in 1947 in the magazines Merkur, Das goldene Tor and Hochland. In: Germanica. Vol. 74 (2024). pp. 17-34. DOI: 10.4000/11w1c

Daria Engelmann: Der Weg aus der 'geistigen Unbehaustheit' - Überlegungen zum Literaturfeld der Nachkriegszeit über Egon Holthusens Avantgarderezeption. In: Karsten Schmidt and Haimo Stiemer (eds.): Bourdieu in German Studies. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2022. pp. 273-300. DOI: 10.1515/9783110761122-012

Daria Engelmann: Gottfried Benn in Hans Egon Holthusen's "Der unbehauste Mensch". On the literary reception of the historical avant-garde between 1945 and 1951. In: Benn-Forum. Contributions to literary modernism. Vol. 7. 2020/2021. pp. 93-116. DOI: 10.1515/9783110729658-006

Lectures

02.04.2025
The reception of the historical avant-garde in West Germany 1945 to 1949. Lecture at the Children's and Young Adult Literature: Research & Didactics Workshop at the University of Oldenburg from 2 - 3 April 2025.

09.12.2022
"And is a girl even the opposite of a boy?" The subversive potential of trans life narratives in contemporary German-language children's and youth literature. Lecture at the 12th Gender Studies Day of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Oldenburg.

15.11.2022
The autonomous concept of youth in Boris Bas Backer's Kisses for Jet (2020). Lecture at the conference "Kindheit medial. Kindheits- und Jugendkonstruktionen im aktuellen Comic." at the University of Oldenburg from 14-15 November 2022.

06.10.2022
"Schinkentour in die Moderne". Zur Funktion der literaturkritischen Rezeption der historischen Avantgarde bei Peter Rühmkorf zwischen 1953 und 1959. Lecture at the conference "Literatur der frühen Bundesrepublik: Materielle Kulturen und mediale Öffentlichkeiten", Post/Doc-Workshop at the Philips-Universität Marburg from 6-7 October 2022.

26/09/2022
Die Fortschreibung der historischen Avantgarde in literary-critical debates of the early post-war period. Lecture at the conference "Mehrdeutigkeiten", 27th Germanists' Conference at the University of Paderborn, 25-28 September 2022.

08.04.2022
Negative avant-garde reception or: Expressionism as an 'anti-spiritual' phenomenon in Hans Rudolf Oehlhey. Online lecture in the Young Scholars Forum "Literatur der Nachkriegszeit", Johannes-Bobrowski-Gesellschaft e.V. in co-operation with literary scholars from the Universities of Göttingen, Mainz/Germersheim, Nijmegen and Potsdam from 8 April 2022.

23/07/2021
Die Rezeption der historischen Avantgarde in Westdeutschland zwischen 1945 und 1960. Online lecture in DocColloq, Interdisziplinäres Doktorandenkolloquium der Universität Trier vom 7.5.-3.9.2021.

02/06/2021
The Engagement in the Poetics of Wolfdietrich Schnurre. Guest lecture in the online seminar by Prof. Dr Thomas Boyken on "Kinder- und Jugendliteratur nach 1945: Kästner, Bergengruen, Schnurre." at the University of Oldenburg from 14 April to 14 July 2021.

25 March 2021
Das westdeutsche literarische Feld der frühen Nachkriegszeit anhand von Holthusens Rezeption der historischen Avantgarde. Lecture at the online conference "Bourdieu in der Germanistik" at the University of Oldenburg from 25 March, 26 March and 8 April 2021.