Leibniz Centre for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL)

Leibniz Centre for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL)  

The Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL) analyzes literatures past and present in an interdisciplinary fashion and with regard to the larger field of cultural studies. Its research concerns the emergence of divergent concepts of literature as well as literature’s future, and considers the changing relationships between literature and other arts or cultural practices. All of our research proceeds from the present as a starting point; currently urgent problems are then placed into larger historical contexts. An overarching interest lies in developing alternative descriptions of our modernity. Historically and systematically, the three research areas ”History of Theory”, ”World Literature” and ”Knowledge of Life” constitute a coherent framework that allows for different emphases. Methodologically, the three areas cohere by virtue of a common horizon of historical-hermeneutic approaches. The ZfL’s scholarly pursuits have been enriched by, among others, the integration of approaches from religious studies, art and visual culture and history of concepts.