Public Lecture Series “Buchkulturen. Geschichte und Gegenwart” From the origins of the book to the forms and consequences of digital reading

This summer semester, the Institute of German Studies at Technische Universität Braunschweig is once again holding a public lecture series. Under the topic “Buchkulturen. Geschichte und Gegenwart” (Book Cultures. History and Present), the book will be examined from different perspectives, from its origins to the forms and consequences of digital reading. The individual lectures of the lecture series are open to the public and can also be attended individually. They are designed to be understandable without special expertise and to be academically sound at the same time.

The public lecture series “Buchkulturen. Geschichte und Gegenwart” is organised by the departments of Germanistische Mediävistik (German Medieval Studies) and Didaktik der deutschen Literatur (Didactics of German Literature). Since the book is the main object of all areas of our subject, it is particularly appropriate to look at it from all sub-disciplinary, but also from interdisciplinary perspectives. This includes the material manifestation and origins of the book as well as current debates on the forms and consequences of digital reading of e-books. The focus will also be on the question of how to deal with books in the classroom or on individual examples of the media genre ‘book’ that are particularly prominent – for reasons of content or form.

The first lecture will be given by Dr Wiebke Ohlendorf, Institute of German Studies at TU Braunschweig, on the topic of “Buchgeschichte(n)” on

Tuesday, 25 April 2023, 6.30 pm,
Lecture Hall PK 11.1, Pockelsstraße 11, Haus der Wissenschaft, 38106 Braunschweig.

Admission is free. Please note that all lectures will be held in German.

Programme of the public lecture series “Buchkulturen. Geschichte und Gegenwart”

25.04.2023: Dr Wiebke Ohlendorf
Buchgeschichte(n) (Book (Hi)stories)

02.05.2023: Dr Anabel Recker
Vom ‚Passional‘ zum ‚Fortunatus‘. Der mittelniederdeutsche Buchdruck im norddeutschen Raum (From ‘Passional’ to ‘Fortunatus’. Middle Low German book printing in Northern Germany)

09.05.2023: PD Dr Andrea Schindler
„Als mir das buch saget…“ Bücher als Quelle und das ‚Buch der Bücher‘ (“When the book told me…” Books as a source and the ‘book of books’)

16.05.2023: Dr des. Mario Voß
Grammatik. Buch. Irritation (Grammar. Book. Irritation)

23.05.2023: Prof. Dr Norbert Kössinger
Frühmittelalterliche Handschriften und ihre Geschichten: Typen – Texte – Traditionen (Early Medieval Manuscripts and their Stories: Types – Texts – Traditions)

06.06.2023: Prof. Dr Martin Neef
Von rückläufigen und vorläufigen Wörterbüchern: Bücher als Werkzeug sprachwissenschaftlicher Erkenntnis (Of retrograde and provisional dictionaries: Books as tools of linguistic insight)

13.06.2023: Dr Andrea Hübener
Briefkopierbücher und ihre Funktion (Letter copybooks and their function)

20.06.2023: Dr Christine Jakobi-Mirwald
Zierschrift, Zierbuchstabe, Ziernaht: Gliederung und Gestaltung der mittelalterlichen Buchseite (Ornamental writing, ornamental letters, ornamental stitching: Structure and design of the medieval book page)

27.06.2023: Prof. Dr Jan Standke
Papier oder Pixel? Zur Buchkultur der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (Paper or Pixel? On the book culture of children’s and youth literature)

04.07.2023: Prof. Dr Johannes Odendahl
„Zu leiden, weinen, / Genießen und zu freuen sich.“ Prometheus trifft ChatGPT: Literarisches Lesen nach der Kompetenzorientierung (“To suffer, to weep, / To enjoy and to rejoice.” Prometheus meets ChatGPT: Literary reading after competence orientation

11.07.2023: Dr Matthias Leichtfried
„Inszenierte Materialität“ – Das Ausstellen der Materialität gedruckter Bücher in digitalen Praktiken (“Staged Materiality” – exhibiting the materiality of printed books in digital practices)

18.07.2023: Dr Luise Borek
„ein buoch niuwe unde vrisch“ – Digitale Edition mittelalterlicher Handschriften (“ein buoch niuwe unde vrisch” – Digital edition of medieval manuscripts)

Time / Place:
6.30 pm / Lecture room PK 11.1, Pockelsstr. 11, Haus der Wissenschaft, ground floor