Field of Focus III - Funded ProjectsVermessene Figuren

Project leader

Dr. Marcus Willand

 

The project "Vermessene Figuren. Quantities and qualities of dramatic characters –Poetologies and Texts between 1740 and 1920" was funded from January to October by the Exzellenzinitiative Zukunftskonzept 2019. The aim of the work during the funding period applied for was to combine research in the context of Marcus Willand's habilitation on the poetology of the dramatic characters with research from QuaDramA, a research project led by him and Dr. Nils Reiter.

In this manner, Willand combines a traditional literary perspective with interdisciplinary research in the field of Digital Humanities: Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to re-perspect the history of German Drama and poetology through close and distant readings of dramatic texts between 1740 and 1920. Since antiquity, poetological reflection on dramatic works has played an eminently important role for the interpretation of tragedies and comedies. Therefore, authors of dramatic works feel a much greater obligation to reflect on their texts than in other genres. In doing so, they explicate character constitutions and constellations, intentions, conflicts, and much more. The research work funded by Field of Focus III was thus devoted to the desideratum of a "history of the poetology of the dramatic character".

 

Contact: marcus.willand@gs.uni-heidelberg.de