Lessing Conf. 1999
Up Lessing Conf. 1999 Goethe-Freud.htm

 

"Lessing International: Lessing Reception Abroad"
International Symposium, Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN, USA (October 28-31, 1999)


Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-81) is one of the most significantly critical and innovative thinkers of the 18th century. His enduring impact on the intellectual life of Germany since the Age of Enlightenment has been widely noted in such areas as literary criticism, performance theory, art theory, biblical exegesis, women's rights, and the history of religion. Lessing's fame as an advocate of religious tolerance is legendary. The international symposium, Lessing International: Lessing Reception Abroad, will be hosted by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages at Vanderbilt University. It seeks to focus attention on an important aspect of the history of Lessing studies which has been accorded only sporadic and limited attention in the past. By shifting the focus to the international plane, contexts and connections come into view which provide new perspectives and shed new light on the interdisciplinary nature of reception studies in general and of G.E. Lessing in particular.

At the center of the deliberations stands the reconstruction of the various contexts of Lessing's works and their modes of reception outside the territorial boundaries of Germany itself. Thus, it is not so much the author's work and intention which will figure prominently, as the history of mentality at the various moments of reception. These heterogeneous moments are critical to the "remaking" and reconfiguring of enduring themes according to one's own historical situation. Thirty-four scholars from around the world will examine such specific topics as: 1) Lessing and the Press, 2) Lessing in Libraries, 3) Lessing in the Schools and Colleges, 4) Lessing in the Publishing World, 5) Lessing in the American Academy, 6) Lessing at Conferences, 7) Lessing Among the Jews, 8) Lessing and Women, 9) Lessing in Contemporary Theory, and 10) Lessing in the Age of Mass Communication. The international focus includes among others Armenia, Canada, China, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, and the USA.

For further information, please contact: Prof. John A. McCarthy, President, Lessing Society, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, Vanderbilt University, Box 24B, Nashville, TN 37235. E-mail: john.a.mccarthy@vanderbilt.edu . Fax: (615)343-7258; Tel. (615) 322-2611.

To purchase a volume of the Lessing Yearbook, vol. 32 (ISBN 0-8143-2985-3/ISSN 0075-8833) which contains several of the papers mentioned below, please visit the Lessing Society web site.

Program
Lessing International: Lessing-Reception Abroad
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 28-31 October 1999

Sponsored by:
Office of the Chancellor, Vanderbilt University
Office of the Provost, Vanderbilt University
Office of the Dean of the College of Arts & Science, Vanderbilt University
Graduate School, Vanderbilt University
Department of Germanic & Slavic Languages, Vanderbilt University
German Academic Exchange Service, New York
Max Kade Foundation, New York
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, Washington DC,
Goethe Institute, Atlanta GA
Lessing Museum Kamenz
Fritz Thyssen Stiftung

Thursday, Oct. 28 (Room 223, Social Religious Bldg, Peabody College)

12:00-15:00 Arrival in Nashville, Check-in at the Vanderbilt Hampton Inn
1919 West End Avenue, Nashville TN 37203, Tel. 615-329-114

16:00-16:30 Greeting and Opening Remarks Greeting and Opening Remarks
Thomas Burish, Provost, Vanderbilt University
Ettore Infante, Dean, College of Arts and Science

16:30-16:45 John A. McCarthy (Nashville)
Matthias Hanke (Lessing Museum, Kamenz)

16:45-18:30 Lessing Reception – Reception Theory (Moderator: Richard E. Schade, Cincinnati)
Wilfried Barner (Göttingen), "Wirkung und Wechselwirkung. Lessing in der Weltliteratur"
Walter Schmitz (Dresden), "Grundsatzüberlegungen zur Rezeptionstheorie"

19:00-20:30 Opening Reception (Foyer, Kirkland Hall, Arts & Science Campus)
Hosted by Joe B. Wyatt, Chancellor, Vanderbilt University

 Friday, Oct. 29 (Art Gallery, The University Club of Nashville)

8:15-10:30 Lessing Reception in Central & Eastern Europe (Moderator: Laurie Johnson, Nashville)
Franz M. Eybl (Wien), "Österreichs Lessingrezeption – Lessings Österreichsrezeption im 18. Jahrhundert"
Matthias Hanke (Kamenz) "Die Wirkung Lessings in Böhmen und Mähren"
Wojciech Kunicki (Wrocklaw), "Lessing und die polnische Literaturöffentlichkeit im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert"
Alfred A. Kipa (Allentown PA), "Lessing in Ukraine"

10:30-10:45 Coffee Break

10:45-12:30 Lessing in Northern Europe (Moderator: Herbert Rowland, West Lafayette IN)
Klaus Bohnen (Aarhus), "Lessings Politik-Rezeption: ein deutsch-dänischer Problemfall"
Carl Niekerk (Champaign-Urbana), "Lessing Reception in the Netherlands"
Ann Schmiesing (Boulder), "The Reception of LessingÂ’s Drama in Norway"

12:30-13:45 Lunch (University Club Dining Room)

13:45-16:15 Lessing in England, France and Italy (Moderator: Kartharina Gerstenberg)
Carsten Zelle (Siegen), "Der ‘Lessing’ eines englischen Opiumessers: das deutsche 18. Jahrhundert bei Thomas de Quincey"
Wolfgang Albrecht (Weimar), "Französische Lessing-Rezeption in der 2. Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts"
Ann Lagny (Lille), "Der Fall Lessing: Die schwierige Rezeption eines deutschen Klassikers in Frankreich im 20. Jahrhundert"
Alessandro Costazza (Trento), "Lessing-Rezeption in Italien: die Laokoon-Debatte"

16:15-16:30 Coffee Break

16:30-18:15 Lessing Globally (Moderator: John A. McCarthy)
Adrian Hsia (Montréal), "Die Lessing-Rezeption in China"
Donara Karapetjan (Yerewan), "Über die Lessing-Rezeption in Armenien und die Aktualität Lessings in der Gegenwart"
Teruaki Takahashi (Tokyo), "Lessing-Rezeption in Japan"
David John (Waterloo), "Lessing and Islam: 'Nathan in Africa'"

Free Evening: Nashville Nightlife

Saturday, October 30 (Art Gallery, The University Club of Nashville)

8:30-10:15 Lessing and North America (Moderator: Monika Nenon, Memphis)
Arnd Bohm (Ottowa), "Just Sizzle? Lessing in Canadian Academic Discourse"
Herbert Rowland (West Lafayette IN), "Lessing in American Magazines of the 19th Century"
Joachim Dyck (Oldenburg), "Lessing in ausgewählten German Departments"

10:15-10:30 Coffee Break

10:30-12:15 LessingÂ’s Jewish Reception

(Moderator: Arno Schilson, Mainz)
Willi Goetschel (New York), "Lessing, Mendelssohn, Nathan: German Jewish Myth Building as an Act of Emancipation"
Barbara Fischer (Tuscaloosa AL), "Spatial and Temporal Responses to NathanÂ’s Wisdom: On the Jewish Reception of G.E. LessingÂ’s Nathan der Weise during the Early 20th Century"
Gad Kaynar (Tel Aviv), "Lessing and Non-Lessing on the Israeli Stage: Some Theological, Political, and Theatrical Aspects"

12:15-13:30 Lunch (University Club)

13:45-16:00 Lessing in Critical Discourses (Moderator:Arno Schilson)
Inge Stephan (Berlin), "Die Rezeption von Lessings Frauen"
Sara Paulson Eigen (Cambridge MA), "Lessing, Arendt, and the ‘Truths’ of History"
Beate Allert (West Lafayette IN), "Lessing im Kontext kunsttheoretischer Debatten"
Wolfgang Bender (Münster), "Lessing in der Theaterpublizistik zwischen 1755 -1800"

16:00-16:15 Coffee Break

16:15-18:15 Determinants of Reception (Moderator: Richard E. Schade)
Terry Foreman (Murray KY), "LessingÂ’s Quest for Religious Truth 200 Years On: MichalsonÂ’s Confusion and Other Anglophone Deconstructions"
Dieter Fratzke (Kamenz), "Lessing in fremden Sprach- und Kulturwelten: Ãœbersetzungen als museale Zeugnisse der Rezeption und Wirkung im Ausland"
Thedel von Wallmoden (Göttingen), "Lessing und seine Verleger"

19:00 Reception and Dinner at McCarthys
(Busses pick up in front of Hotel and return to hotel ca. 22:30)

 

Sunday, October 31 (Room 223, Social Religious Building, Peabody Campus)

8:45-10:00 Lessing Reception via Modern Technology (Moderator: Dieter O. Sevin)
Franz Birgel (Allentown, PA), "Minna von Barnhelm in the Service of the Third Reich"
Georg Braungart (Regensburg) und Deanna Kendall (Nashville), "Die (bewußte oder unbewußte) Rezeption der Laokoon-Ästhetik im Kontext der neuen Medien"

10:00-10:20 Break

10:20-11:45 Roundtable Discussion & Action Agenda (Moderators: McCarthy, Schilson, Stephan)
(Each speaker is asked to make a brief, five-minute personal statement based on an initial critical reaction to the symposium papers and to make one suggestion for possible future research directions.)

Albrecht                  Nenon
Allert                      Niekerk
Barner                    Schmiesing
Dyck                      Zelle
Fratzke                  John

11:45-12:00 Closing Remarks


Hans-Ulrich Seidt (German Embassy, Washington DC)
John A. McCarthy

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