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Rey Conquer Blog

Remaking the German Studies Curriculum: A Diversifying Approach

We are excited to publish a post from Domenic DeSocio, who is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan. He is currently completing a dissertation on the intersection of temporality and queer and female sexualities in German-language modernist literature. He has recently received funding to set up … Continue reading Remaking the German Studies Curriculum: A Diversifying Approach

Rey Conquer Blog

Is this the first poem written by a Black German writer?

Dr Nicola Thomas is Lecturer in German at the University of Bristol. Here, she talks about stumbling across a lesser-known landmark in Black German history.  I’ve just started a new job at the University of Bristol, and I was asked to update the first-year poetry reader over the summer. Over the years, colleagues at Bristol (past … Continue reading Is this the first poem written by a Black German writer?

Tom Bibliographic, Class, Gender, German Outside Germany, Post-1945, Primary, Race/Ethnicity

TESTER FOR JOSH Thomae, Jackie. Brüder (Berlin, 2019)

Please give a short description of the item: what's useful or interesting about it? Thomae's novel is great for anyone teaching courses on masculinity, contemporary depictions of the GDR, German depictions of Britain, and Black German identities. Her two protagonists, one in Berlin and one in London, are the brothers of the title. Their stories … Continue reading TESTER FOR JOSH Thomae, Jackie. Brüder (Berlin, 2019)

Tom Bibliographic, Class, Gender, German Outside Germany, Post-1945, Primary, Race/Ethnicity

Thomae, Jackie. Brüder (Berlin, 2019)

Thomae's novel is great for anyone teaching courses on masculinity, contemporary depictions of the GDR, German depictions of Britain, and Black German identities. Her two protagonists, one in Berlin and one in London, are the brothers of the title. Their stories never intersect, and the narrative twists and turns through a broad range of genres … Continue reading Thomae, Jackie. Brüder (Berlin, 2019)

Tom Bibliographic, Gender, Post-1945, Primary, Queer, Race/Ethnicity

Wenzel, Olivia. 1000 Serpentinen Angst (Frankfurt, 2020)

Wenzel's debut novel has been long-listed for the Deutscher Buchpreis 2020 and offers some fantastic benefits for teaching. Her prose, like her previous theatrical work, experiments with form, perspective and repetition in creating the sense of 'Serpentinen' of the novel's title. The contemporary style and frequent use of spoken register is perfect for  intermediate and … Continue reading Wenzel, Olivia. 1000 Serpentinen Angst (Frankfurt, 2020)

Rey Conquer Blog

Race and Revolution in German Literature around 1800

Joanna Raisbeck is a Stipendiary Lecturer in German at Wadham College and The Queen's College, University of Oxford, with research interests in German Romanticism and the so-called 'Sattelzeit'. The question of race in German literature before the late twentieth century is in general overlooked on undergraduate syllabuses. There are excellent resources that help readers explore … Continue reading Race and Revolution in German Literature around 1800

Nicola Bibliographic, Post-1945, Primary, Queer

Berg, Sibylle, Vielen Dank für das Leben (Munich: Hanser, 2012)

Berg's novel plots the life of Toto, born in the German Democratic Republic under unfortunate circumstances, leading on the one hand to a tale of rotten luck and chronic mistreatment at the hands of others as a young intersex individual, but on the other to her individual rise to self-confidence and contentment, despite all, with … Continue reading Berg, Sibylle, Vielen Dank für das Leben (Munich: Hanser, 2012)