Im Rahmen der Lecture Series „Current Issues in North American and Cultural Studies“ des North American Studies Programm der Universität Bonn.

Authorizing Native Son
A Relational Approach to Engaged Literature

Tuesday
June 1, 2021
6:00-7:30 pm

with
Prof. Dr. Laura Bieger
University of Groningen

In democratic societies, where public discourse has political weight, literature is by default political it voices matters of common concern And yet, overtly political literature is commonly viewed as aesthetically inferior The present crisis of democracy has exposed the limitations of the old art vs propaganda dichotomy and of the established view that social engagement compromises the autonomy which art presumably needs to flourish There is, instead a new urgency to the question of what literary artists and scholars can do to strengthen democracy. In her talk, Prof Bieger applies a new, relational approach to Richard Wright’s first novel Native Son a creation so controversial that it could not be authorized in one single act.

Laura Bieger is Professor of American Studies, Political Theory, and Culture at the University of Groningen, where she co-directs the Research Center for Democratic Culture and Politics. She is the author of Belonging and Narrative (2018), which considers the need to belong as a driving force of literary production. In another book, Ästhetik der Immersion (2007), she examines public spaces from Washington, D.C. to Las Vegas that turn world image relations into immersive spectacles. Her current research explores the reading public as a democratic institution and ‘engaged literature’ as a tool for social change.

Online event, to be streamed via Zoom.
Please register via lecturesbonn@gmail.com