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Dirk von Petersdorff

ディルク・フォン・ペータースドルフ

Dirk von Petersdorff

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1966-03-16 （Kiel, Germany）
Nationality
Germany
Languages
German
Residence History
Kiel (birthplace) → Tübingen (study/research) → Jena (current residence/employer)

Career

Occupations
literary scholar, writer, professor
Active Years
1990-
Affiliations
Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz), Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Faculty of Literature), Jena graduate college 'Modell "Romantik"'
Memberships
Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz, Jena graduate college 'Modell "Romantik"'
Influenced By
Niklas Luhmann, Richard Rorty, Hegel, Brentano, Eichendorff and other Romantic poets

Education

Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Faculty of Arts / Germanistics and History
Degree: Staatsexamen
Period: 1985–1991
Year of Graduation: 1991
Country: Germany
Studied Germanistics and History; completed the first Staatsexamen in 1991.
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Faculty of Arts / Germanistics
Degree: Dr. phil.
Period: 1992–1996
Year of Graduation: 1996
Country: Germany
Received a doctorate in 1996 with the dissertation 'Mysterienrede'.
University of Saarland
Faculty of Arts / Germanistics
Degree: Habilitation
Period: 2000–2003
Year of Graduation: 2003
Country: Germany
Habilitated in 2003; habilitation thesis published (as listed) in 2005.

Awards

Leonce und Lena Prize (supporting prize)
1991
Organization: Leonce-und-Lena Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Friedrich Hebbel Prize
1993
Organization: Friedrich-Hebbel Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Kleist Prize
1998
Organization: Kleist Prize (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Kiel Liliencron Lectureship for Poetry
1999
Organization: Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel (related)
Result: 受賞
Preis der LiteraTour Nord
2000
Organization: LiteraTour Nord (organizer)
Result: 受賞
Mainzer Poetikdozentur
2009
Organization: Mainz (organizer)
Result: 受講／授与
Fellow at Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin
2011
Organization: Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin (Wissenschaftskolleg)
Result: フェロー
Writer-in-Residence at Washington University in St. Louis
2013
Organization: Washington University in St. Louis
Result: 任命
Tübinger Poetik-Dozentur (Tübingen Poetics Lectureship)
2013
Organization: University of Tübingen (organizer)
Result: 授与（共同：ハンス・マグヌス・エンツェンスベルガー）
Fellow at Internationales Kolleg Morphomata
2016
Organization: University of Cologne (Morphomata)
Result: フェロー
Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald Fellow
2023
Organization: Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald
Result: フェロー

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Wie es weitergeht. Poems

1992 poetry

Early poetry collection that observes contemporary society with a diagnostic approach, assembling fragments and motifs to create poetic tension.

modernityfragmentationirony

Mysterienrede. On the Self-Understanding of Romantic Intellectuals

1996 scholarly monograph (dissertation)

Doctoral dissertation analyzing the self-understanding of intellectuals in the Romantic period, examining intellectual frameworks and self-representation.

Romanticismself-understanding of intellectualsliterary history

Sirenenpop

2014 poetry

A poetry collection incorporating pop culture and sonic effects; characterized by formal experimentation using songs, slogans and everyday fragments.

pop culturesonorityfragmentation and montage

How Did I End Up Here? (novel)

2018 novel

A novel told from alternating perspectives of people in their mid-thirties, exploring relationships, uncertainty, and modern life arrangements.

relationshipsuncertaintycontemporary life

Gewittergäste (Novella)

2022 novella

A story depicting a sultry evening dinner party that escalates into chaos, satirically presenting tensions and cultural clashes in contemporary society.

social tensioncultural conflictsatire

Bibliography

  • Wie es weitergeht. Poems (1992)
  • Zeitlösung. Poems (1995)
  • Mysterienrede. On the Self-Understanding of Romantic Intellectuals (1996)
  • Bekenntnisse und Postkarten. Poems (1999)
  • Verlorene Kämpfe. Essays (2001)
  • Die Teufel in Arezzo. Poems (2004)
  • Fliehkräfte der Moderne. On the Constitution of the Self in Early 20th-Century Lyric (2005)
  • Lebensanfang. A True Story (2007)
  • History of German Lyric Poetry (2008)
  • Take the Long Way Home. Poems (2010)
  • A Poem of Mine. Contemporary Poets Introduce Themselves (2012, ed.)
  • How to Write a Poem? (2013)
  • Sirenenpop (2014)
  • How Did I End Up Here? (2018)
  • "And love, gods, what a happiness": Faith and Love in Goethe's Poems (2019)
  • Romanticism. An Introduction (2020)
  • Gewittergäste. Novella (2022)
  • The Eternal Well. German Poems from Twelve Centuries (ed., 2023)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
ironic poetic expressionscholarly and poetic considerations linking history and the presentmixing pop culture with classical motifs
Recurring Motifs
love and faithtravel and wanderingeveryday fragments and incorporation of songs/melodies

Legacy

Dirk von Petersdorff is regarded as a scholar-writer who combines literary scholarship and poetry. He is valued for linking Romantic studies with contemporary lyric analysis and demonstrating the mutual permeation of scholarship and creative practice.

Academic Societies

  • Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz

Quotes

  • Poems can briefly offer a space to enter, to leave again, and to move on.
    Source: Wozu Gedichte da sind. (Munich lectures on poetry, 2019) (2019)

Trivia

  • Since 2019 he has edited the C.H. Beck poetry calendar.
  • In 2023 he edited and published the anthology 'Der ewige Brunnen', collecting German poems across twelve centuries.