Past Events

German Events Archive by Year

2016

	Thursday, November 10, 2016 W.G. Sebald's Literary Remains: On the Disappearance of the Author in his Work and Archive Dr. Ulrich von Bülow (The German Literary Archive) Olin, Room 204 5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 The papers of W. G. Sebald (1944-2001) are preserved at the German Literary Archive in Marbach (Germany). In this talk, Dr. von Bülow, head of Marbach’s Archive Department, will display and discuss rarely seen items from Sebald’s literary estate. The themes of memory and remains —both literary and non-literary— are prominent in Sebald’s fiction, and as a scholar and author, he was more concerned than many authors about the fate of his papers after his death. Just as he created in his writings a literary persona by means of factual material, he also carefully pre-selected what should be handed down to his reading public posthumously. This tour through Sebald’s fascinating archive will culminate with a look into the manuscripts for Sebald’s last great unfinished and unpublished book project. Dr. von Bülow has published books and articles on German writers such as Arthur Schnitzler, Peter Handke, Franz Fühmann, Tankred Dorst, and W. G. Sebald. Among the books he has edited are volumes by Rainer Maria Rilke, Erich Kästner, Karl Löwith, and Martin Heidegger. His most recent publication is a book on Hannah Arendt in Marbach. Ulrich von Bülow is currently a Visiting Research Scholar with the German Studies Program and the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. Sponsored by: Dean of the College; German Studies Program Contact: Thomas Wild 845-758-7363 twild@bard.edu
	Wednesday, October 19, 2016 The Hannah Arendt Edition Series - Inaugural Lecture - Jerome Kohn: The Work of Art Olin, Room 204 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Lecture by Jerome Kohn (Hannah Arendt Literary Trust; The New School). Discussant: Thomas Bartscherer (Bard College) In this talk, the work of art is not employed as a synonym for an artwork. One of its references is to what artists do when they make artworks; another is to what spectators do when they preserve – through their apperception – artworks over periods of time. The unprecedented evil of the 20th century, according to Hannah Arendt, has left us with a “broken thread of tradition.” From the point of view of the world – though not of history – every end is a beginning, a beginning whose end is not known in advance. A matter of increasing wonder to Arendt was how and where we can realize a new beginning today. The Work of Art will explore this question in conversation with thinkers such as Plato, Kant, Baudelaire, Benjamin, Rilke, and several eminent visual artworks. In his talk, Jerome Kohn will for the first time present from his unpublished book manuscript “The Work of Art.” Jerome Kohn is the Trustee of the Hannah Arendt Bluecher Literary Trust. He has published several volumes of Arendt's uncollected and unpublished writing, such as Essays In Understanding, Responsibility and Judgment, The Promise Of Politics, and The Jewish Writings. He is currently preparing a new edition of collected unpublished texts by Hannah Arendt titled Thinking Without Bannisters. Thomas Bartscherer is Assistant Professor of Humanities at Bard College. He is co-editor of Erotikon: Essay on Eros, Ancient and Modern and Switching Codes: Thinking Through Digital Technology in the Humanities and the Arts. He is currently completing a book titled Toward an Erotics of Tragedy and is co-editor of Arendt’s The Life of the Mind for the forthcoming Critical Edition of Hannah Arendt’s Complete Works. This event is co-sponsored by the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, German Studies Program, Literature Program, and by the Philosophy Program Location: Olin 204 [MAP] Date: Wednesday, October 19th, 2016 Time: 6:00 p.m. Rsvp not required Free & open to the Public Sponsored by: Hannah Arendt Center Contact:
	Thursday, October 6, 2016 Visual Attention as Ethical Action: Tolstoy - Cézanne - Salgado *Thomas Pfau, Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of English, Professor & Chair of Germanic Languages & Literatures,* Duke Divinity School** RKC 103 5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 This lecture will explore three case studies of visual attention and its ethical dimensions: a photograph by Sebastião Salgado; two paintings by Cézanne discussed by R. M. Rilke, and the harvesting scene opening Part III of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. In each instance, Thomas Pfau's focus will be on how the response elicited by a specific image triggers a distinctive ethical insight, a type of knowledge impossible to capture in propositional terms and achievable only through the medium of the image. The ethics of attention solicited by the image and subsequently articulated in writing involves empathy and, ultimately, demands a kind of participatory action on the part of the beholder. The lecture's overriding aim is to present attention as a form of knowledge neither "owned" nor "controlled" by the beholding subject but, on the contrary, transformative of the beholder. Sponsored by: American Studies Program; German Studies Program; Hannah Arendt Center; Literature Program Contact: Matthew Mutter 845-758-6822 mmutter@bard.edu
	Monday, September 12, 2016 "What Is Political Protest?" By Professor Christian Volk Olin, Room 204 5:00 pm EDT/GMT-4 Please join us for a special lecture hosted by the German Studies Program and the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanites at Bard College on Monday, September 12. The rise of political protest movements in recent years has accentuated the need for an understanding of the meaning of political protest in and for modern democracies on the one hand, and to consider suitable criteria to distinguish between emancipatory and non-emancipatory forms of protest on the other. The talk seeks to address these needs by developing a fully-fledged concept of political protest. A special Q&A session will follow the lecture with Thomas Wild, Associate Professor of German, Director of German Studies Research Director at the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College Christian Volk is Professor of Political Theory and History of Ideas at the University of Trier. He studied Politics, Economics and Economic and Social History at the RWTH Aachen University. Since mid-2011 he has headed the DFG research project "The concept of sovereignty in the transnational character". Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow and scientific coordinator of the research project "International dissidence" Goethe University (2010-2011) and the DFG Research Training Group "Multilevel Constitutionalism" of the Humboldt University of Berlin (2009-2010).The discussion following Prof. Volk's presentation will be moderated by Thomas Wild, Associate Professor of German, Director of German Studies and Research Director at the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College. Date: Monday, September 12 Location: Olin 204 Time: 5 PM Free & Open to the Public Sponsored by: Hannah Arendt Center Contact: cstanton@bard.edu
Ongoing Events
	Feb 29, 2016 – Dec 31, 1969 Every Monday German Evenings (Locations in description) Come weekly to the German Evenings and practice this beautiful language. 1st Monday of the Month: Language Table (Kline President's Room) 2nd Monday of the Month: Games Night (Olin LC 203) 3rd Monday of the Month: Movie Night (Olin LC 203) English Subtitles 4th Monday of the Month: Singing (Olin LC 203) Sponsored by: German Studies Program Contact: Dennis King dking@bard.edu