Center for Narrative Research

The Center for Narrative Research (ZEF) is an interdisciplinary center of the Bergische Universität Wuppertal , where research and research-oriented teaching on the forms and functions of narration is carried out, promoted and coordinated.

About the ZEF

The ZEF was founded in 2007 at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal. The institution currently has 42 academics from the host university and 34 external corresponding members from various subjects and disciplines (mostly with a philological focus). Cooperations exist u. a. with the GK fictional and factual narration of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and the Bonn Center for Transcultural Narratology (BZTN) . Students of the philologies networked at ZEF have the opportunity to work on theses and qualifications with a focus on storytelling at ZEF.

Research activities

The scientists organized at ZEF research the phenomena of narration in its various forms, fields and functions. Classical topics and terms of structuralist narratology are supplemented by newer currents and approaches in the course of the new narratologies. Transgeneric, transmedial, cognitive and cultural-scientific aspects of narratives are just as much a subject of research as the development of a historical narratology and the peculiarities of factual narration.

ZEF has a doctoral study group with members from different subjects ( German , English / American , Romance studies , philosophy , theology ) who discuss their own dissertation projects as well as classic and current problems and contributions in narrative research in monthly meetings. Every year, the doctoral group of the ZEF organizes a workshop on changing narrative paradigms together with doctoral students from the graduate school of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg . In order to promote the cross-institutional networking of young narratological scientists, the international and interdisciplinary Wuppertal Graduate Forum Narratology has been held once a year since 2010 , where doctoral students from different universities and subjects present and discuss their research results on changing key topics.

Previous workshops of the Wuppertal Graduate Forum Narratology:

Narrated authenticity - authenticity of narration (July 15-17, 2010). Organized by Antonius Weixler.
Tell time (s). Narrative processes - complex configurations (July 7–9, 2011). Organized by Lukas Werner and Antonius Weixler.
Tell worlds. Narrative evocation of the (impossible) possible (June 14-16, 2012). Organized by Christoph Bartsch and Christiane Scheeren.

The activities of the ZEF include interdisciplinary events that are open to all interested parties. In addition to individual guest lectures and lecture series on narratological issues, this includes the Wuppertal Narratological Colloquium , which has been taking place regularly since 2009, with lectures by Wuppertal and foreign narratologists on topics that change every semester: "Basic Concepts of Narratology" (winter semester 2009/10), "Telling and remembering" (summer semester 2010 ), “Space and Narration” (winter semester 2010/11), “Context-Oriented Narratology (summer semester 2011)”, “The schema concept in narrative research” (winter semester 2011/12), “Popular storytelling” (summer semester 2012), “How comics tell . Narratological Perspectives on Graphic Literature ”(winter semester 2012/13).

International conferences organized in cooperation with ZEF (selection):

Voice (s) in the text. Narratological position determination (September 24-26, 2004). Organized by Andreas Blödorn, Daniela Langer and Michael Scheffel .
Narratology in the Age of Interdisciplinary Narrative Research (June 25/26, 2007). Organized by Sandra Heinen and Roy Sommer .
Ambivalence and coherence. Investigations into narrative meaning formation (November 16-18, 2007). Organized by Julia Abel, Andreas Blödorn and Michael Scheffel .
Narratives of reality. Fields, forms and functions of non-literary narration (April 18-20, 2008). Organized by Christian Klein and Matías Martínez .
Narration - cognition - text. The concept of narration in various disciplines (December 3–5, 2009). Organized by Matthias Aumüller.
Audiovisual storytelling. Image-sound relations in film (April 16/17, 2010). Organized by Andreas Blödorn, Sandra Heinen and Stephan Neumann.
Media storytelling. Communication and narrative instances (Graduate Conference, September 11-12, 2010). Organized by Stephan Brössel and Lukas Werner.
Other's narration. Intersectional Construction and Difference in Literature and Film (November 19-20, 2010). Organized by Christian Klein and Falko Schnicke.
Mechanisms of legitimation of the biographical. Contexts - Actors - Techniques - Limits (September 20-22, 2012). Organized by Christian Klein and Falko Schnicke.

Publications

The research revenues of the ZEF hit a. in the following publications:

Andreas Blödorn, Daniela Langer, Michael Scheffel (eds.): Voice (s) in the text. Narratological position determination . Berlin / New York: de Gruyter 2006. ISBN 978-3-11-019995-6 .
Sandra Heinen, Roy Sommer (eds.): Narratology in the Age of Cross-Disciplinary Narrative Research . Berlin / New York: de Gruyter 2009. ISBN 978-3-11-022243-2 .
Julia Abel, Andreas Blödorn, Michael Scheffel (eds.): Ambivalence and coherence. Investigations into narrative formation of meaning . Trier: WVT 2009. ISBN 978-3868211382 .
Christian Klein, Matías Martínez (ed.): Reality narratives. Fields, forms and functions of non-literary storytelling . Stuttgart / Weimar: Metzler 2009. ISBN 978-3-476-02250-9 .
Matías Martínez (ed.): Handbook of narrative literature. Theory, analysis, history . Stuttgart: Metzler 2011. ISBN 978-3-476-02347-6 .
Matías Martínez , Michael Scheffel (ed.): Introduction to narrative theory . 9th, adult u. actual Edition Munich: CH Beck 2012. ISBN 978-3-406-63860-2 .
Matthias Aumüller (ed.): Narrativity as a concept. Analyzes and application examples between philological and anthropological orientation . Berlin / New York: de Gruyter 2012. ISBN 3-11-027836-7 .
Antonius Weixler (ed.): Authentic storytelling. Production, narration, reception . Berlin / New York: de Gruyter 2012. ISBN 978-3-11-029113-1 .

DIEGESIS

ZEF has been publishing the DFG-funded online journal DIEGESIS since November 2012 . The freely accessible e-journal ( peer-reviewed ) is transdisciplinary and publishes articles and reviews from the field of narrative research in English and German. It appears twice a year with changing topics. The focus of the pilot edition was “Narrative Research in the 21st Century. An interdisciplinary review ”.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Cf. Matías Martínez (2010): “Unity and diversity of storytelling” ( Memento of February 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: BUW.Output research magazine 4.
↑ See Filippo Smerilli (2012): “ Schemata , Knowledge and Literature. The schema concept in narrative research ” . In: JLT. Journal of Literary Theory online .

[1] Cf. Matías Martínez (2010): “Unity and diversity of storytelling” ( Memento of February 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: BUW.Output research magazine 4.

[2] See Filippo Smerilli (2012): “ Schemata , Knowledge and Literature. The schema concept in narrative research ” . In: JLT. Journal of Literary Theory online .