Intro

There is one in almost every European society, a so-called “national author”. Yet how do national authors develop and how greatly does their work influence the discourse on cultural identity in their respective societies? Why do we assume that national authors are entitled to represent the collective? And under what conditions can we equate his/her person as a guarantor of cultural identity despite diverse epochal upheavals and processes of social transformation? As a rule, there are complex processes of canonisation which determine who ultimately is raised to the rank of a national author. In turn, such processes of canonisation are closely interwoven with cultural-policy goals and media presentations of every kind. Whether it is Racine, Voltaire or Hugo in France, Shakespeare or Byron in Great Britain, Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky in Russia, Goethe or Schiller in Germany, despite their differences, they all have one aspect in common: their works supposedly represent the genuine and inimitable character of their own nation. Such identification with an author, work and national culture can only function when the respective oeuvre is reduced to a few, at best pithy, and thus generally stereotypical characteristics.

The 2016 International Summer School is organised by the MWW Research Association, founded in 2013, and is made possible with funding provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). For an overview of the collections of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, visit www.klassik-stiftung.de/en/.

International partner universities: University of Tokyo, Japan; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA; University of Oxford, Great Britain.

Application procedures

The summer school is open to twenty junior researchers from around the world. Doctoral candidates and PhD students in the fields of Literature and Cultural Studies may apply to participate. Advanced master’s degree students may also be considered in exceptional cases. The organisers especially encourage doctoral candidates from South America, Africa and Asia to apply.

In their application, candidates are asked to describe to what extent their academic work would benefit from participating in the summer school and visiting Weimar. Good German language skills are required as the language of instruction is German.

International participants, who must travel very far (transcontinentally) and have a concrete interest in the collections, may informally apply in their cover letter for a week-long archival research visit following the summer school. If approved, the MWW Research Association will cover the additional accommodation expenses in Weimar.

The application must include the following documents:

Application deadline

Applications must be submitted online via the application portal by 29 February 2016. You can find the respective link at the end of this site

Applications received via letter post or e-mail will not be considered.

All participants will be notified by the end of April 2016. International participants will receive an invitation which they can present when applying for an entry visa.

There is no legal entitlement to participation.

Accommodation / Travel expenses

All participants receive free accommodation for the duration of their stay in Weimar.

Travel expenses are reimbursed in accordance to the flat-rate allowances of the DAAD.

Participation fee

Each participant will be charged a participation fee of 300 euros. In exceptional, substantiated cases, participants may petition to have the fee waived.

Source: http://www.mww-forschung.de/en/promotion-of-young-researchers/international-summer-school/