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“Meine Flucht nach Paris” (1791): Drucklegung und Wirkung

Kotzebue’s “Meine Flucht nach Paris” (1791) is more than a travel narrative. Drawing on newly examined letters—many published here for the first time—this post reconstructs the personal crisis, literary strategy, and historical context behind the work, offering a fresh perspective on a key text of the author’s early career.

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Call for Contributions: Falk und Kotzebue

On 14 February 2026, the bicentenary of Johannes Daniel Falk’s death invites renewed attention to a figure central to Weimar’s literary and theatrical culture around 1800. As social reformer, satirist and critic, Falk was also a crucial witness to the fraught reception of August von Kotzebue and to the conflicts surrounding Goethe. This call seeks contributions that reassess the constellation “Falk and Kotzebue” from aesthetic, media-historical, ideological and socio-cultural perspectives. Papers may revisit familiar sources or uncover new materials, opening fresh approaches to two authors whose rivalry shaped an era.

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Erinnerung an die Zukunft: Naturgeschichte, Phantasie und Zeitverschachtelung in Kotzebues “Reise der Nase nach” (1818)

What can a supposedly prehistoric insect, discovered in a block of coal, tell us about the future of humanity? In an overlooked passage from his final travel writing, August von Kotzebue turns a museum curiosity into a bold meditation on time, memory and human transience. This blog post by Rolf Haaser revisits a forgotten episode from 1818 and shows how Kotzebue anticipates modern ideas of a “memory of the future” long before they had a name.

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August von Kotzebues transnationales Erbe und die intersektionale Literaturgeschichtsschreibung

A fresh look at August von Kotzebue reveals how deeply transnational, mobile and complex the literary landscape around 1800 truly was. This new article challenges the narrow canon of “Weimar Classicism” by tracing Kotzebue’s international impact, his hybrid dramatic forms, and the gendered networks that shaped his reception. By approaching his career through an intersectional lens, it opens a path toward a more inclusive and European literary historiography. Presented at the GSA Seminar “Literaturgeschichte intersektional weiterschreiben” (Arlington, VA, 2025), the piece invites readers to rethink what—and who—belongs at the centre of literary history.

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Das XIV. Kotzebue-Gespräch/Kotzebue-kõnelused XIV findet in Tallinn statt

The fourteenth edition of the Kotzebue-Gespräch / Kotzebue-kõnelused will take place on 17–18 October 2025 in Tallinn and Lihula. This annual scholarly gathering, dedicated to the life, work, and cultural milieu of August von Kotzebue, brings together researchers and cultural practitioners from Estonia, Germany, and beyond.

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August von Kotzebue – Der Spätheimkehrer, oder: Ubi bene, ibi patria?

What does “home” mean for a writer who moved with ease between Weimar, Vienna, St Petersburg and Berlin—celebrated on international stages yet increasingly mistrusted in his homeland? In this guest contribution, Frieder Sondermann (Sendai, Japan) explores August von Kotzebue’s letters to the Viennese theatre secretary Carl J. S. Escherich, uncovering a world of theatrical logistics, censorship politics, and finely tuned social manoeuvring.
Presented at “Kotzebue Picnic 2025: Homecoming,” the essay offers a vivid portrait of a restless author whose repeated returns only deepened the question: ubi bene, ibi patria? A rich glimpse into theatre culture around 1800—and into the emotional geography of a man navigating the shifting borders of his age.

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Verkleidung, Erinnerung und Versöhnung: Die virtuose Heimkehr in Kotzebues “Epigramm” (1798)

Blending the biblical parable of the prodigal son with echoes of Homer’s Odyssey, Kotzebue’s play “Das Epigramm” (1798) stages homecoming as disguise, recognition, and reconciliation. Discover how satire, sentiment, and autobiographical allusion converge in one of the playwright’s most inventive explorations of return.

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Verkleidet zurück: Odysseus und die Wiederkehr des Mythos bei Kotzebue

What happens when a long-lost husband steps out of the shadows—at a masked ball? In “Die Masken” (1813), August von Kotzebue transforms Homer’s Odysseus into a colonial returnee and places Penelope among the suitors once more. This blog post “Masked Returns and Mythical Echoes: Odysseus Reimagined “ explores Kotzebue’s rich and ironic reworkings of the homecoming motif, tracing explicit references to Penelope across his plays and prose. From theatrical disguises to literary homage, Kotzebue invites us to reencounter ancient myth in the domestic dramas of modernity.