English Literature 

Professor Kilian Schindler specialises in the field of early modern literature, with a focus on early modern drama. His current research interests are grounded in historicist approaches to religious and political conflict in literature, e.g. on questions of religious toleration and dissimulation (Nicodemism), early modern constitutionalism, or processes of secularisation. Other research interests include the poetics and politics of literary form (especially metrics), and transnational perspectives on English literature. He welcomes doctoral students with interests in any of these fields or related areas of study.

 

Literature never exists in “splendid isolation”. It is an integral part of the social and cultural fabric underlying our communities and is closely tied to other forms and media of artistic expression. As Professor of Modern English Literature (c. 1780-21st century), Julia Straub investigates the intersections between literary and media history in her research and explores the interactions between literature and digital technologies as well as other media such as photography or the visual arts. She welcomes research proposals from prospective PhD students who would like to work in these or other areas, such as Victorian Literature, transatlantic literary relations or cultural memory studies.

 

Professors who are eligible to supervise theses:

Ass. Prof. Kilian Schindler

Prof. Julia Straub

Areas of specialisation Prof. Kilian Schindler:

  • Early modern drama 
  • History of ideas and history of political thought, especially the reception of Niccolò Machiavelli
  • The Reformation and early modern religious conflict
  • Religious dissent, radical Protestantism, religious toleration and dissimulation,  with a particular focus on the reception of Erasmus of Rotterdam, Sebastian Castellio, and their contemporaries

 

Areas of specialisation Prof. Julia Straub:

  • Contemporary English literature and digital technologies
  • Intermedial configurations from 1800 to the present day
  • Transatlantic literary relationships
  • Victorian literature, especially the reception of Dante Alighieri’s works
  • Melodrama: its history, forms and functions
  • Theories of literary canon formation and cultural memory