Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Sprach- und literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultät - Nordeuropa-Institut

Writing the Anthropocene – Reinhard Hennig

Reinhard Hennig is Associate professor for Nordic literature at the university of Agder, Norway. In his lecture and keynote connected with the workshop "Changing Concepts of Nature in Literature and Film" he will give a review of literary studies regarding the question of how literature can help us imagine and understand the Anthropocene considering Norwegian literature and its trend to address environmental issues.
  • Writing the Anthropocene – Reinhard Hennig
  • 2020-01-28T18:00:00+01:00
  • 2020-01-28T20:00:00+01:00
  • Reinhard Hennig is Associate professor for Nordic literature at the university of Agder, Norway. In his lecture and keynote connected with the workshop "Changing Concepts of Nature in Literature and Film" he will give a review of literary studies regarding the question of how literature can help us imagine and understand the Anthropocene considering Norwegian literature and its trend to address environmental issues.
  • Was Öffentliche Veranstaltung Henrik-Steffens-Vorlesung
  • Wann 28.01.2020 von 18:00 bis 20:00
  • Wo DOR24, Raum 3.134 (Brandes)
  • iCal

Writing the Anthropocene: Contemporary Norwegian Literature and the Global Environmental Crisis

Reinhard Hennig
is Associate professor for Nordic literature at the university of Agder, Norway and holds a PhD in Scandiavian Studies from the University of Bonn. He is also cofounder and coordinator of the Ecocritical Network for Scandinavian Studies. His main research and publications focus on environmental changes in history and literature, the Anthropocene, education for sustainable development, contemporary literature from Northern Europe, and Old Norse literature and culture.
Der Vortrag wird auf Englisch gehalten.
20200127 ccon 2

 

Global environmental and climatic change is now occurring on such a great scale that the planet can even be said to have entered a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The implication that humanity has become a geological force has sparked controversial debate in both the sciences and the humanities. In literary studies, an obvious question is how literature can help us imagine and understand the Anthropocene, and perhaps even equip us to live better with its problematic consequences. Norway is not only the first country in the world to boast an organization of environmentally committed writers: in much contemporary Norwegian literature, there is also a significant trend to address environmental issues. This lecture will discuss the various ways in which the Anthropocene enters recent texts from Norway, and ask whether attempts to imagine humanity’s geological agency also call for literary innovation.