UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Auerbach Lecture | 08.07.2024 | 6 pm

Saskia Kroonenberg (Literary Studies, Nijmegen): Walking, World, Literature. On the Relational Dimension of Weltliteratur 

“Sono io e i miei piedi. Si, i miei piedi…” (It’s me and my feet. Yes, my feet…, 34, translation of my own), Igiaba Scego writes in La mia casa è dove sono (My home is where I am, 2010), about how she feels like a crossroads, defining herself with her feet. To think and write with one’s feet, is the central image of this lecture, in which Saskia Kroonenberg will investigate the relation between written language, bodies, and the world they live on. How does the act of walking relate to literature in times of globalization? What does the literary theme of walking teach us about Welt(-literatur)? Can Weltliteratur perhaps be best understood in terms of walking, writing and earth? In order to answer these questions, she turns to several examples of what might be called Italian postcolonial literature, in which the theme of walking and physical movement is discussed. Moving beyond static notions of language and being, she explores the healing powers of speaking while walking, asking how words can take on new meanings depending on where they are spoken, and by which body.

Location & Time: Library Erich Auerbach Institute, Weyertal 59 (back building, 3rd floor), 50937 Cologne | Monday, 08.07.2024 | 6pm