Hallo zusammen,

If anyone is interested in making the drive, you are welcome to attend these two events at the Department of Germanic Studies at UT Austin.

Viele Grüße, 
Dr. D

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Stammtisch conversation hour, fall 2023: Wednesdays 3-4pm in MH 4.01.01

German Club, fall 2023: Thursdays 2:30-3:30pm, location TBD

Subscribe to the UTSA German list-serv (info) and German Club GroupMe (student contact and conversations)



Devon Donohue-Bergeler, Ph.D.

Professor of Instruction

Director of the German Program

Pronouns: she, her, hers


The University of Texas at San Antonio

Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures

One UTSA Circle

San Antonio, TX 78249-3209

MH 4.02.06


From: Kit Belgum <belgum@austin.utexas.edu>

 

Please see the two events with author Thomas Meinecke that will take place (in German) here at UT in about a month. These are open to you and your students (and anyone else you think might be interested).

 

Best,

Kit

 

Tomboy Revisited

Reading and discussion with Thomas Meinecke

Event is in German

October 30, 2023

5:00 - 6:30 p.m.

BUR 337

University of Texas at Austin

 

Thomas Meinecke's second novel, "Tomboy" (1997), is considered today in the German-speaking world as the first "theory novel" and simultaneously as one of the earliest ones that earnestly engages with Judith Butler's deconstructive feminism, apart from the more satirical genre of the "campus novel." Science fiction, quite literally. Meinecke's subsequent novels, despite various thematic directions, remained methodologically and politically committed to Butler's theorems. The characters in Meinecke's novels engage in conversations within the narrative, which is written in the present tense, discussing the current developments in Queer Studies, occasionally even challenging Butler. Meinecke's penchant for pop culture references means that ideologically contaminated passages, such as misogynistic narratives from the early 20th century, also flow through his novels. This fact led to "Tomboy" receiving a trigger warning in Warwick, UK. It will be interesting to engage with the author in this event about such currents and undercurrents.

 

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Texas Germans in Thomas Meinecke's newest novel

Reading and discussion with Thomas Meinecke

Event is in German

November 1, 2023

5:00 - 6:30 p.m.

BUR 337

University of Texas at Austin

 

The "Lateiner" colonies, or, utopian colonies, established by idealistic German immigrants in the mid-19th century in central Texas, form a recurring motif in Thomas Meinecke's novels. He has researched this topic multiple times in Texas, speaking with the descendants of communist communes (mostly in Texas German), recording many interviews with them, and also searching for and finding sources in Texan libraries. Excursions into the Hill Country led him to places like Bettina on the Llano River, named after the German poet Bettina von Arnim. Standing on the abandoned bluff of the settlement, which was abandoned after only a year, you can see the ruins of a stone house nearby, most likely the schoolhouse of the neighboring town of Leiningen. Cut. Thomas Meinecke's next novel begins in front of the Hotel zur Post in Amorbach, Odenwald, the favorite place of Theodor W. Adorno, but it soon encounters the ruling Leiningen family residing in the town, as it immediately becomes clear that they were central figures in the "Association for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas." In this event, Thomas Meinecke will provide insight into his current work on this novel.