Abstract: Figures of metamorphosis haunt the political imaginary from antiquity to the present. They testify to the enormous energies within processes of social formation. For my book project “Figuren der Verwandlung: Zur Mythologie und Plastizität des Politischen”, I investigate such figures in literature, theater and political philosophy from historical and systematic angles. The corpus includes works by Aeschylus, Plato, Ovid, Shakespeare, Thomas Hobbes, J. W. v. Goethe, Carl Schmitt, John Heartfield, Warlam Schalamow, Heiner Müller and Ulrike Ottinger, among others. The aim of the close readings is to broaden the understanding of the role of myth(ology) and aesthetic experience for…

Monday, April 27, 2020 12:00pm to 1:30pm via Zoom  RSVP here   Author Max Czollek’s essay collection Desintegriert Euch! transformed the debate about the integration of minorities in Germany when it appeared in 2018. His perspective on the roles of contemporary Jews in German society and its remembrance culture—its “theater of memory”—struck a nerve not just among Jews, but other minority groups as well. The threat from the right has created a new kind of solidarity, Czollek recently told the New York Times, speaking about his efforts to forge alliances among various minority groups in Germany. This joint event co-organized by the Stanford Taube Center…