Laughter
Interdisciplinary German Studies Conference
March 8-10, 2013

With generous support from The Townsend Center for the Humanities, UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly, UC Berkeley Student Opportunities Fund, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of English, Department of Film & Media, Department of German, Department of Philosophy, Program in Medieval Studies, and Department of Spanish & Portuguese.

Official Conference Poster

Friday, March 8

5:00-6:30 p.m. Welcome Reception (5337 Dwinelle)

  • Remarks: Conference Organizers

6:30-8:00 p.m. Film Screening: Loriot (Selections; 142 Dwinelle)

  • Introduction: Jacob Johnson (UC Berkeley)
  • Presentation: “Es darf gelacht werden” by Dagmar Theison (UC Berkeley)

Saturday, March 9 (370 Dwinelle)

10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Ethics of Laughter (Moderator: Seth Elliott Meyer, UC Berkeley)

  • Almut Nickel (Universität Kassel): “Mythisches Lachen und ‘Fröhliche Philosophie.’ ‘Frau Nu lacht’ in Günther Anders’ Erzählung ‘Kosmologische Humoreske'”
  • Dennis Johannssen (Brown University): “Cheerful Pedagogy: Fourier, Jean Paul, and Benjamin’s Anthropological Materialism”
  • Todd Cesaratto (Miami University of Ohio): “Humor, Wit, Jokes, and the Question of Nationality in Jean Paul’s Vorschule der Ästhetik”

2:00-4:00 p.m. Subversive Laughter? (Moderator: Sebastian Haselbeck, UC Berkeley)

  • Claire Amanda Ross (Washington University in St. Louis): “Diegetic Laughter in Fritz Lang’s M”
  • Wiebke Schuldt (Washington University in St. Louis): “Vom Krieg ins Kabarett? Zum Kipp-Phänomen des Lachens in Irmgard Keuns RomanFerdinand, der Mann mit dem freundlichen Herzen”
  • Olivetta Gentilin (Verona University): “‘[…] und der Himmel müsse bersten, und die Erde müsse sich wälzen vor Lachen.’ Zum politischen Sinn des Lachens in Georg Büchners dramatischen Werken.”
  • Michael Huffmaster (Bowdoin College): “Kafka’s Laughter and the Kafkaesque”

4:30-6:00 p.m. Keynote Lecture: “Kafka’s Laughter” by Professor Anca Parvulescu (Washington University in St. Louis; introduction by Alexander Lambrow, UC Berkeley)

Sunday, March 10 (370 Dwinelle)

9:30-11:00 a.m. Caricatures and Masks (Moderator: Erik Born, UC Berkeley)

  • Maria Schnell (Universität Salzburg): “Rhetorisch-poetische Praxis im 16. Jahrhundert. Federführende Darstellungen von renaissance-humanistischer Gelehrtendichtung nach höfisch-soziokulturellem Vorbild in deutschsprachiger Tradierung”
  • Lena Heilmann (University of Washington): “Masking Laughter in Marianne Ehrmann’s Amalie: eine wahre Geschichte in Briefen”
  • Tara Hottmann (UC Berkeley): “Parodying Werner Herzog”

11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Parody and Performance (Moderator: Jenna Ingalls, UC Berkeley)

  • Frederike Gerstner (Universität Mainz): “Lachstürme im Theater: Topsy, eine ‘Neger-Soubrette comme il faut.'”
  • Iris-Aya Laemmerhirt (Technische Universität Dortmund): “The Great Dictator? Humorously Subverting the Image of Adolf Hitler in Contemporary German Culture”
  • Amila Becirbegovic (University of California, Davis): “Revolutionary Inversions in the Genre of Comedy: Carl Sternheim’s Die Hose versus Steve Martin’s The Underpants”

1:00 p.m. Concluding Remarks, Refreshments and Optional Lunch in Berkeley

Conference organizers: Jacob Johnson, Alexander Lambrow, Seth Elliott Meyer
berkeleygermanconference@gmail.com