Who We Are

We are devoted to studying and researching English literature from the Middle Ages to contemporary works. We have a keen interest in literary theory and thinking about literature as a practice that profits from theoretical frameworks. Currently, Eva von Contzen puts a strong emphasis on retellings, as she is looking into the ways classical and medieval materials have been appropriated and reinterpreted throughout literary history. On a theoretical level, she is interested especially in narrative theory, historical narratology in particular, as well as cognitive literary studies and reception studies. She also has an ongoing interest in lists and enumerations. 

Members of the chair also work on calumniated queens in medieval romance, the topos of isolation in literature, female hunger and food refusal, shapeshifters in medieval literature, and authenticity in historical fiction, among others.