Cultural Mobility between Britain and Germany in the 18th Century
This workshop will explore the relationship between British and German textual cultures in the eighteenth century, with particular emphasis on the role of Göttingen as a nexus for the transmission, translation, and adaptation of Anglophone texts in the period. Beginning with the assumption that the role of the book trade and the periodical press was the principal means by which ideas and values were transmitted over geographical distance throughout the eighteenth century, the focus of the workshop will be on the way in which the transmission of these cultural products operated between different constituencies. And yet, transmission is only part of the story. While some elements of Anglophone culture travelled well between intellectual centres, others underwent radical redefinition through agencies such as reception, citation, and translation.
The aim of the workshop is to examine the role of print and other forms of material culture in the creation of a ‘Republic of Letters’ in a period crucial for the history of ideas, and to open up new questions and perspectives relating to cultural mobility and on the development of intellectual and literary practices in the eighteenth century. While the emphasis will not be exclusively on Göttingen’s relations with Anglophone culture, one of the key elements for analysis will be to account for the strategic importance of Göttingen’s place in the reception, reproduction, and transformation of eighteenth-century British culture.
Thursday, 28th November 2013
02.15-02.30 p.m. Welcome by the Lichtenberg-Kolleg Bill Bell (Fellow / Cardiff): Introduction
02.30-03.30 p.m. Hans Erich Bödeker (Göttingen): Intellectual History and the History of the Book
03.30-04.00 p.m. Coffee Break
04.00-05.00 p.m. Helmut Rohlfing (Göttingen): Eleven “Heralds of Science” and how their Books made it into Göttingen University Library
05.00-06.00 p.m. Fania Oz-Salzberger (Haifa): Tracing the passage of ideas across linguistic boundaries: A typology for eighteenth-century Scottish-German itineraries
Friday, 29th November 2013
09.30 – 10.30 a.m. Matthias Middell (Leipzig): Cultural Tranfers and Transnational History
10.30 – 11.00 a.m. Coffee break
11.00 – 12.00 a.m. Martin Gierl (Göttingen): Reviews of English Books in the Göttingische gelehrten Anzeigen
12.00 – 01.00 a.m. Marie-Luise Spieckermann (Muenster): Johann Heinrich Merck's early translations and the marketplace
01.00 – 02.00 p.m. Lunch
02.00 – 03.00 p.m. Jürgen Schlumbohm (Göttingen): British medicine in Göttingen: Books, Persons, Approaches
03.00- 04.00 p.m. Dominik Hünniger (Göttingen): Natural History on Horseback: Johann Christian Fabricius travels to Scotland and England
Participation is only possible after registration. If you are interested in particpating please send an e-Mail to lichtenbergkolleg@zvw.uni-goettingen.de by 24th November 2013.