Upcoming Conference: XIII Symposium on Baltic Literary Culture

I am pleased to share that Rolf Haaser and myself will be participating in the upcoming XIII Symposium on Baltic Literary Culture, titled “Reisetexte aus dem Baltikum im europäischen Kontext”, taking place on the 12th and 13th of September 2024 in Tartu. This symposium, organised by the University of Tartu (Departments of German and Comparative Literature) and the University of Potsdam, in collaboration with the Estonian Goethe Society, will bring together scholars to explore the role of Baltic travel writing within the wider European context.

Event Details:

• Dates: 12-13 September 2024
• Location: Tartu, Estonia and Online via Zoom
• Organisers: University of Tartu and University of Potsdam
• More Information and Programme: Event Page

Our Contribution:

Together with my colleague Rolf Haaser, we will be presenting a paper titled “Bekenntnisse eines sentimentalen Reisenden: Die verschlungenen Reise- und Lebenswege in der autofiktionalen Prosa August von Kotzebues”. Our presentation will focus on the fascinating ways in which August von Kotzebue used autobiographical travel writing to navigate moments of personal crisis, particularly in his travel narrative “Meine Flucht nach Paris im Winter 1790”.

Born in Weimar in 1761, Kotzebue relocated to Reval (modern-day Tallinn) at the age of 22, where his marriage to Friederike von Essen solidified his ties to the Baltic region. It was here that Kotzebue began his successful career in literature and journalism. By the late 1780s, his dramatic works were already being performed, with plays such as Menschenhaß und Reue, Die Indianer in England, and Kind der Liebe gaining popularity in both Reval and beyond. These early performances set the stage for his later rise to prominence as an influential and, at times, controversial figure in European theatre.

Our paper will focus on the specific moment in 1790 when Kotzebue’s life was shaken by the sudden death of his wife Friederike, a personal tragedy that drove him to seek solace through travel. His journey to revolutionary France, documented in “Meine Flucht nach Paris”, was both an attempt to escape his grief and a means of re-establishing his public identity through literature. This work, published in 1791, not only helped Kotzebue cope with his personal loss but also cemented his reputation as a successful writer of autobiographical prose.

In our presentation, we will explore how Kotzebue used travel writing as a form of self-representation, merging personal experience with broader socio-political commentary. We will place particular emphasis on his development of a distinctive Poetology of the Self, which allowed him to blend personal narratives with the wider political and cultural events of the time. This work also foreshadowed his later autofictional travel writings, which continued to shape his literary persona and remain crucial to understanding the transnational nature of Romantic travel literature.

The symposium will feature two contributions on August von Kotzebue. In addition to our presentation, Kristel Pappel, Professor at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre and organiser of the long-standing “Kotzebue-Gespräche” conference series, will present her paper titled “… ich reise bloß als Mensch”: Italian Theatre in Kotzebue’s “Erinnerungen von einer Reise aus Liefland nach Rom und Neapel”. Her talk will explore Kotzebue’s observations on Italian theatre during his journey from Reval (Tallinn) to Rome and Naples, providing valuable insights into his reflections on Italy’s cultural landscapes.

We look forward to contributing to this engaging symposium and exchanging ideas with other scholars about the complex intersections of literature, travel, and identity in the Baltic and European intellectual traditions of the 18th and 19th centuries.

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