Writing at the Intersection. Poetics and Knowledge in the Works of Durs Grünbein

Art and theory, poetics and poetology, lyrics and neurophysiology: The most striking characteristic in the works of the Berlin-based lyricist, essayist and translator Durs Grünbein lies in the interlinkage between poetical practice and theoretical reflection where traditional literary spaces are left and extended by perspectives oriented towards natural and cultural sciences. At the same time, Grünbein comments on his own aesthetical development in a manner which is characterized by self-distance and a high degree of conceptual precision. The publication comprises three major subject areas which are being examined in exemplary individual case studies: 1. Grünbein in the literature industry 2. Literature, music and history 3. Dialogue with the sciences. The objective consists in determining the multitude of aesthetical positions of an author who consistently renews his own position between culture and knowledge, seen from the perspective of different disciplines (biology, germanistics, history, italianistics, comparatistics, cultural science, science of music, philosophy and physics).