Overview
Personal
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Gratzke, Michael
Lecturer |
Contact details
Address: School of Modern Languages, University of St Andrews, Buchanan Building, Union Street, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9PH
Telephone: +44 1334 463671
E-mail: mg43@st-andrews.ac.uk
Home page: http://st-andrews.academia.edu/MichaelGratzke
Research overview
Keywords: Eighteenth to twenty-first century literature and culture, especially in relation to masculinity and gender; German popular music and film; critical theory (Foucault, Derrida, Butler, Halberstam, Engel etc.). Topics: Love; war; masochism; masculinity; sentimentality; hero; heroism; Prussia. Methods: History of Masculinity; Queer Theory, Gender Studies; History and Literature.
My research revolves around depictions of male subjectivity in literature, film and on the Internet. I am particularly interested in the aesthetic representation of extreme experiences and altered states of mind.
The roots of my research are in literary representations of love and masochism which I analysed with the help of psychoanalytical and poststructuralist theory. I am currently finishing a more historical book on war literature and the figure of the sentimental war hero. This will be followed by a research project on 'voluntary self-divestiture' which will include work on corporeal and aesthetic practices aiming at a (temporary) dissolution of the self.
These are some of the authors I have been studying:
18 c: Ewald von Kleist, JWL Gleim, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, JW Goethe.
19c: Heinrich von Kleist, Joseph von Eichendorff, Theodor Fontane, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
20 c: Ernst Jünger, Bert Brecht, Heiner Müller, Elfriede Jelinek.
21c: Doron Rabonovici. Dietmar Dath.
Swiss authors: Robert Walser, Friedrich Glauser, Christoph Geiser.
Critical theory such as the works of Foucault & Derrida, Queer theory and gender studies in general are also a strong interest of mine. Recently, I have been exploring the use of Erving Goffman's theory of performance in the context of contemporary performance theory (Judith Butler, Judith Halberstam, Antke Engel). I have also been co-supervising some work in German Film Studies and would be interested in topics such as the Dr. Mabuse series, submarines on film and Monika Treut's films.
Please feel free to get in touch if you are looking for postgraduate opportunities and thesis supervision in any of the above research areas.
Recent publications
2009; M Gratzke; "'Ins Nichts mit dir zurück, Herr Prinz von Homburg, ins Nichts, ins Nichts!' Heldentum, Grazie und Männlichkeit in Kleists Über das Marionettentheater und Prinz Friedrich von Homburg"; Publications of the English Goethe Society; Matthew Bell, Martin Swales (ed); 78(1-2):60-69; Full text via DOI
2008; M Gratzke; "„Das Opfer war Gebot, war Leidenschaft.” Männlichkeit und Heldentum in Fontanes Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg"; Masculinities in German Culture; Sarah Colvin, Peter Davies (ed); Camden House, Rochester NY; 65-80
2007; Michael Gratzke; "Mythos Afrikasöldner. Modernisierung, mann-männliches Begehren und männliche Subjektbildung in der deutschsprachigen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts"; Unbeschreiblich männlich. Heteronormativitätskritische Perspektiven.; R Bauer, J Hoenes, V Woltersdorff (ed); Männerschwarm Verlag; 197-212
2007; M Gratzke; "So stirbt der Eskimaux an seinem Marterpfahl. Männliches Heldentum zwischen Stoizismus und Expressivität bei Winckelmann, Herder und Lessing"; Seminar, A Journal of German Studies; M Boehringer (ed); 43(3):265-279; Full text via DOI; More info
2006; M Gratzke; "'Denn die Liebe ist die Fortführung des Krieges mit anderen Mitteln.' Elfriede Jelineks Die Klavierspielerin als mythenkritisches Projekt"; Gewalt und kulturelles Gedächtnis. Repräsentationsformen von Gewalt in Literatur und Film seit 1945; Robert Weninger (ed); 129-138