|
|
|
|
• Stellungnahmen • Zurück zu 10 Jahre OE-Studien
|
Stellungnahmen
· Argumente · Informationen (zurück zur Übersicht)
Brief von James S. Driscoll (Harvard University) an den Rektor
Dear Professor Gäbler: I have read with dismay that there is an effort to close the Slavic Seminar at Basel. I respectfully urge you to reconsider this decision immediately. The work of the Slavic Seminar at Basel is of the utmost importance to our field and has brought to the University of Basel an international reputation for innovation, ground-breaking research and extraordinary productivity and quality. Among the many achievements of this department, I must give testimony to the intellectual leadership and inspiration that the department has provided to a whole generation of scholars interested in New Economic Criticism as applied to the context of East European culture and history. The importance of this work cannot be exaggerated, as it is undoubtedly the most important new theoretical “movement” in our field. Let me provide you with three examples of how the work done at Basel has inspired meetings, publications and ongoing research by scholars all over the world. Firstly, it was directly because of the efforts at Basel that the editors of Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie (New Literary Review) commissioned a special issue of the journal (#58) dedicated to econo-critical approaches to Russian literature, which featured a number of original participants from the “Literatur und Kommerz” conference held at Basel in 2001. Since that conference, and as a direct consequence of the work begun at Basel, ongoing academic meetings at professional organizations such as AATSEEL and AAASS have been organized to continue the line of inquiry opened up by the “Literatur und Kommerz” project. Lastly, I can bring to your attention the upcoming conference "Critical Exchanges: Economy and Culture in the Literature of Russia" which will be held this spring at Northwestern University. As you will see from the conference web site (URL below), the work done by the Slavisches Seminar is acknowledged as the inspiration for this scholarly meeting, which was specially organized in order to maintain the trans-Atlantic dialogue begun by our European colleagues at Basel who pioneered this important new approach for literary studies. http://www.slavic.northwestern.edu/criticalexchanges There is no question that over a dozen scholars in the United States and Canada have drawn direct inspiration from the efforts of Profs. Guski and Schmid and all of our colleagues at the Slavisches Seminar. Their work is tremendously important and an internationally respected asset for the University of Basel. I ask you to preserve the legacy of this remarkable department. Sincerely, James S. Driscoll Doctoral Candidate Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Stellungnahmen · Argumente · Informationen (zurück zur Übersicht)
|
