Research Assistance
Julie N. Heinrichs
PhD
Web and graphic design
Room: 2-10
Doctoral Project
Divergence: The Poetics of Otherness in Heinrich von Kleist’s Works and Letters (working title)
Kleist is the Other. This is a frequently invoked trope, not only in his reception as a poet but also in scholarship on his works. Even in his own time, he was perceived as an author who eluded the understanding of his contemporaries. Yet a divergent perception of the world offers a shift in perspective. Kleist, who writes from perspectives of otherness not only in his letters, also frequently frames his texts from the most divergent positions. A sleepwalking prince, an Amazon queen who descends into madness, Kohlhaas, the man seeking justice who, due to his unyielding nature, himself succumbs to injustice: in Kleist’s texts, we repeatedly encounter a “third” figure who cannot be fitted into the familiar. Drawing on the latest approaches from neurodiversity studies, I aim to explore in my thesis the mechanisms within the text that frame the Other: How can divergence, as conceptualized by Foucault, Deleuze & Guattari, and Erin Manning, be established as a structural model for discourses in order to describe the interaction between convergent lines and alternating breaks? This means actively taking a position within divergence and attempting to engage with these lines and follow where they lead.
Key Research Areas
- German-Language Literature from the 18th to the 20th Century (with a focus on Heinrich von Kleist)
- History of Discourse on Madness and Suicide
- Neurodiversity Studies
- Queer and Gender Studies
- Theory and Reception of Myths
Activities
Publications
(forthcoming) Kollektive Autorschaft im Ausnahmezustand. Kleists parasitäre Schreibpraxis im Kontext der gefundenen Briefe 1809. In: Kleist-Jahrbuch 2026.
(forthcoming) „als ob Einem die Augenlider weggeschnitten wären“ – Heinrich von Kleist’s and Clemens Brentano’s divergent concepts of perceptions of Caspar David Friedrich’s Mönch am Meer (working title) In: Laura Seymour & Laura Basten (eds.): Neurodiversity and Materiality. Communication – Transmission – Touch (expected 2028).
Presentations
›„[…] Somit gehören Sie Ihnen.” Abhängigkeit als Autorschaftskonzept.‹ Keynote lecture as part of the workshop “Kleist im Krieg. Neue Funde – neue Perspektiven. Interdisziplinäre Forschungsansätze zu Kleists politischen Briefen und Schriften‹, University of Cologne, May 7–8, 2025.
›Mythos im Selbst. Mythenrezeption in Kleists Penthesilea.‹ Lecture as part of an online workshop organized by the Kleist-Nachwuchsnetzwerk of the Heinrich-von-Kleist-Gesellschaft, July 2, 2021.
›Mythosrezeption in Heinrich von Kleists Penthesilea.‹ Lecture presented as part of the colloquium ›Perspektiven auf deutsche Sprache und Kultur. Internationales Kolloquium Amsterdam-Köln‹, University of Cologne, March 20–21, 2019.
Events
Workshops
Neurodiversity in the German-speaking World. Virtual workshop in collaboration with Laura Basten, November 12, 2026 (the event will be hosted in german).
›Kleist im Krieg. Neue Funde – neue Perspektiven? Interdisziplinäre Forschungsansätze zu Kleists politischen Briefen und Schriften.‹ Workshop in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Martin Roussel and Dr. Ingo Breuer, University of Cologne, May 7–8, 2025.
Seminars
Seminar, Summer Semester 25: ›Als die Amazonen nach Troja kamen. Heinrich von Kleists Penthesilea‹
Biography
Since 2024: PhD position at the Erich Auerbach Institute for Advanced Studies
Since 2024: PhD student at the University of Cologne
2016–2021: Research assistant to Dr Ingo Breuer (Institute for German Language and Literature I)
2018–2019: Research assistant in the Public Relations Office of the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Arts
2016–2018: Research assistant at the Chair of Prof. Dr Sabine von Heusinger (Institute of History)
2019–2023: Master of Arts in German Language and Literature at the University of Cologne
2013–2019: Bachelor of Arts in German Language and Literature and History at the University of Cologne