Research
Research Interests
Victorian Literature for Children and Young Adults
An early research interest, connected with his work on South African fiction, was the representation of Africa and Africans in nineteenth century British adventure fiction (Ballantyne, Conrad, Haggard, Henty).
In 2008, Prof. Petzold was granted a EU-funded Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the Unviersity of Edinburgh, to examine the representation of natural science in periodicals for young readers, published between 1847 and 1900. The research project was scheduled to run for two years (2009 and 2010), but had to be terminated after 15 months when he was appointed Professor of British Literature and Cultural Studies at the University of Regensburg. Due to this, he has focussed on data-collection while in Edinburgh; the analysis of this data is ongoing and has already led to a number of publications.
South African Literature
Prof. Petzold has started working on South African literature in the late 1990s; his main research interest was at first connected with the interdependencies of 'history' and 'identity', and it led to his doctoral thesis Re-imagining White Identity by Exploring the Past: History in South African Novels of the 1990s (Trier: WVT, 2002). More recently, his focus is shifting towards the representation of South Africa's cities and their 'problems' (eg. migration/immigration, violence, HIV/AIDS).
Genre Theory / Theory of Poetry
In his Habilitationsschrift, Sprechsituationen lyrischer Dichtung: Ein Beitrag zur Gattungstypologie (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2013), Prof. Petzold uses an approach based on cognitive science to examine genre theory, more specifically the theory of (lyrical) poetry. In connection with this research theme, he was awarded funding by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for a project examining the speaker position in a large selection of poems written in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The final report can be downloaded as a pdf (in German).
Publications
List of Publications
A. Books
Nadine Gordimer: Eine starke Stimme geegen die Apartheid. Darmstadt: wbg Theiss,
2023.
A History of the Sonnet in England: "A little world made cunningly". Berlin: Erich
Schmidt Verlag, 2022.
Sprechsituationen lyrischer Dichtung: Ein Beitrag zur Gattungstypologie.
ZAA Monographs. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2012.
Re-imagining White Identity by Exploring the Past: History in South African Novels
of the 1990s. Studies in English Literary Cultural History 5. Trier: WVT,
2002.
B. Articles
"Ballantyne 'on the Rocks'. The Arctic as Adventure-Arena." What is North? Imagining
and Representing the North from Ancient Times to the Present Day. Ed. Oisín
Plumb, Alexandra Sanmark, Donna Heddle. Turnhout: Brepols, 2020. 227-243.
"A Girl's Own Empire? Imperialism and the Girl's Own Paper, 1880 to 1903." Imperial
Middlebrow. Ed. Christoph Ehland and Jana Gohrisch. Leiden: Brill, 2020. 22-43.
"Victorian Gendered Photography in the Boy's Own Paper and the Girl's Own Paper."
Victorian Periodicals Review 52.1 (2019): 57-79.
"'What is there that women cannot do?': Ambiguities of Gender, Genre, and Repre-
sentation in 'Our Tour in Norway,' a Travelogue in the Girl's Own Paper." Victorian
Periodicals Review 51.3 (2018): 539-557.
"'A dialogue I'll tell you as true as my life': Formen und Funktionen des Dialogs in der
englischen Straßenballade." Das Dialoggedicht / Dialogue Poems. Ed. Christina
Johanna Bischoff, Till Kinzel, Jarmila Mildorf. Heidelberg: Winter, 2017. 243-258.
"Whose Hillbrow? Xenophobia and the Urban Space in the 'New' South Africa."
Contested Communities: Communication, Narration, Imagination. Ed. Susanne
Mühleisen. ASNEL Papers 21. Leiden: Brill Rodopi, 2017. 171-186.
"Anti-Slavery Discourse in Three Adventure Stories by R.M. Ballantyne." Empires and
Revolutions: Cunninghame Graham and His Contemporaries. Ed. Carla Sassie and
Silke Stroh. Glasgow: Scottish Literature International, 2017. 32-46.
"Constructing and Deconstructing the Fantasy Hero: Joe Abercrombie's 'First Law'
Trilogy." Heroes and Heroism in British Fiction Since 1800. Ed. Barbara Korte &
Stefanie Lethbridge. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. 135-150.
"'I'm not going.' Questions of Home and Society in Nadine Gordimer's No Time
Like the Present." Anglistentag 2015, Paderborn: Proceedings. Ed. Christoph
Ehland, Ilka Mindt and Merle Tönnies. Trier: WVT, 2016. 67-76.
"Chains of Voices: Multiperspectivity and Historical 'Truth' in Three Novels by
André Brink." English in Africa 43.1 (2016): 87-100.
"Inventing the Victorian Boy: S.O Beeton's The Boy's Own Magazine." The Making
of English Popular Culture. Ed. John Storey. Abington: Routledge, 2016.
76-89.
"Laughing at Racism or Laughing with the Racists? The 'Indian Comedy' of
Goodness Gracious Me." British TV Comedies: Cultural Concepts, Contexts and
Controversies. Ed. Jürgen Kamm & Birgit Neumann. Houndmills: Palgrave, 2016.
185-196.
"Raising Ghosts or Laying Them to Rest? Ghost Stories in Two Victorian Magazines
for 'Boys'." Geister: Einblicke in das Unsichtbare. Ed. Dieter Petzold. Inklings:
Jahrbuch für Literatur und Ästhetik 33. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2016. 27-40.
"'Making it Fit': The Appropriation of Poe in Boy's Own Magazine." The Edgar Allan
Poe Review 16.2 (2015): 155-168.
"Dystopia of Reproduction: P.D. James, The Children of Men (1992) and Alfonso
Cuarón, Children of Men (2006)." Dystopia, Science Fiction, Post-Apocalypse:
Classics - New Tendencies - Model Interpretations. Ed. Eckart Voigts and
Alessandra Boller. Trier: WVT, 2015. 333-345.
"It's Not Cruel, It's Science! The Re-Invention of Bird-Nesting in Late Victorian
Juvenile Culture." Anglistentag 2013 Konstanz: Proceedings. Ed. Silvia Mergen-
thal & Reingard Nischik. Trier: WVT, 2014. 9-19.
"'How like us is that ugly brute, the ape!': Darwin's 'Ape Theory' and Its Traces in
Victorian Children's Magazines." Reflecting on Darwin. Ed. Eckart Voigts, Barbara
Schaff and Monika Pietrzak-Franger. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014. 57-71.
"'Are You Learning to Grow Old?': 'Aging Well' with the Help of The Girl's Own
Paper, 1880 to 1900." Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Aging in Nineteenth-
Century Culture. Ed. Katharina Boehm, Anna Farkas, and Anne-Julia Zwierlein.
London: Routledge, 2014. 147-164.
"Mr Gorilla, the 'Lion of the Season': Die Britische Gorilla-Manie im Spiegel
Viktorianischer Kinderliteratur." Animalia in fabula: Interdisziplinäre Gedanken
über das Tier in der Sprache, Literatur und Kultur. Ed. Miorita Ulrich und
Dina De Rentiis. Bamberg: University of Bamberg Press, 2013. 179-198.
"The Victorian Debate on Science Education and the Case of 'Robina Crusoe'."
Anglistentag 2011 Freiburg: Proceedings. Ed. Monika Fludernik and
Benjamin Kohlmann. Trier: WVT, 2012. 353-364.
"John Gay's Polly and the Politics of 'Colonial Pastoral'." Zeitschrift für Anglistik
und Amerikanistik 60.2 (2012):107-120.
"Polly Peachum, a 'Model of Virtue'? Questions of Morality in John Gay's Polly."
Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 35.3 (2012): 343-357.
"'The end was not ignoble'? Bird-Nesting Between Cruelty, Manliness and Science
Education in British Children's Periodicals, 1850-1900." Time of Beauty,
Time of Fear: the Romantic Legacy in the Literature of Childhood. Ed. James
Holt McGavran, Jr. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2012. 128-150.
"Robert Louis Stevensons Treasure Island." "Klassiker" der internationalen Jugend-
literatur: Kulturelle und epochenspezifische Diskurse aus Sicht der Fach-
disziplinen. Ed. Anita Schilcher und Claudia Maria Pecher. Hohengehren:
Schneider, 2012. 83-97.
“'Nothing like this can be your fault at your age' Trauma-Narrative and the
Politics of Self-Accusation in The Innocence of Roast Chicken." Trauma,
Memory, and Narrative in the Contemporary South African Novel. Ed. Ewald
Mengel and Michela Borzaga. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2012. 319-333.
"'Play up! play up! and play the game!' The Militarization of Cricket in Victorian
Boys' Magazines." Journal for the Study of British Cultures Special Issue:
"Sports." Ed. Christian Schmitt-Kilb. 18.1 (2011): 27-39.
"Moral Opposition to Gay's Beggar's Opera: William Duncombe's 'Evidence'
Refuted." Notes and Queries NS 57.1 (2010): 71-73.
"The Needlework of War-time: The South African War in Magazines for Young
Readers." Anglistentag 2008 Tübingen: Proceedings. Ed. Christoph Reinfandt
and Lars Eckstein. Trier: WVT, 2009. 481-490.
[with Barbara Korte] "Censorship in Britain: Then and Now." Censorship and
Cultural Regulation in Contemporary Britain. Ed. Barbara Korte and Jochen
Petzold. 15.2 (2008): 97-108.
"The Subjectivity of Absence: Verbal Cues for Constructing an Individual Point of
View in Poems with 'Hidden' Speakers." Anglistentag 2007 Münster:
Proceedings. Ed. Klaus Stierstorfer. Trier: WVT, 2008. 235-243.
"Geschichte als Verbrechen: Zur Verknüpfung von history und crime in Romanen
André Brinks." Geschichte im Krimi: Beiträge aus den Kulturwissenschaften.
Ed. Barbara Korte and Sylvia Paletschek. Köln: Böhlau, 2009. 227-239.
"White Angst in South Africa – The Apocalyptic Vision of John Conyngham."
Embracing the Other: Addressing Xenophobia in the New Literatures in
English. Ed. Dunja Mohr. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. 141-151.
"'Translating' the Great Trek into the Twentieth Century: Re-interpretation of the
Afrikaner Myth in Three South African Novels." English in Africa 34.1 (2007):
115-131.
[with Rüdiger Heinze] "No More Room in Hell: Utopian Moments in the Dystopia
of 28 Days Later." Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Special Issue
"The Disappearance of Utopia?" Ed. Rüdiger Heinze and Jochen Petzold. 55.1
(2007): 53-68.
[with Rüdiger Heinze] "Introduction: The Disappearance of Utopia?" Zeitschrift für
Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Special Issue "The Disappearance of Utopia?" Ed.
Rüdiger Heinze and Jochen Petzold. 55.1 (2007): 1-3.
"Integrating Jack and John: Anthologizing Donne in the Twentieth Century."
Anglistik 18.1 (2007). 9-26.
"Subverting the Master Discourse? The Power of Women's Words in
Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Fletcher's The Woman's Prize, or
The Tamer Tamed." Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 31.2 (2006):
157-170.
"Children's Literature after Apartheid: Examining 'Hidden Histories' of South
Africa's Past." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 30.2 (2005):
140-151.
"Ridiculing Rainbow Rhetoric: Christopher Hope's Me, the Moon and Elvis
Presley." Towards a Transcultural Future: Literature and Society in a 'Post'-
Colonial World. ASNEL Papers 9.2. Ed. Geoffrey Davis, Peter Marsden,
Bénédicte Ledent and Marc Delrez. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2005. 285-292.
"Das Motiv der Farm bei J. M. Coetzee: Dekonstruktion eines südafrikanischen
Mythos." Normen, Ausgrenzungen, Hybridisierungen und 'Acts of Identity'. Ed.
Monika Fludernik and Hans-Joachim Gehrke. Würzburg: Ergon, 2004.
95-114.
"Afrika als 'Other': Landschaftsdarstellung im englischen Abenteuerroman und
die Kolonisierung Afrikas." Ordnungen der Landschaft: Natur und Raum
technisch und symbolisch entwerfen. Hrsg. Stefan kaufmann. Identitäten und
Alteritäten Bd. 12. Würzburg: Ergon, 2002. 175-190.
"In Search of a New National History: Debunking Old Heroes in Robert Kirby's
The Secret Letters of Jan van Riebeeck." Research in African Literatures,
Special Issue "Nationalism", 32.3 (2001): 143-154.
"André Brink's Magical History Tour: Postmodern and Postcolonial Influences in
The First Life of Adamastor." English in Africa 27.2 (2000): 45-58.
"Zwischen 'Nigger' und 'Noble Savage': Das Afrikabild in R. M. Ballantynes Black
Ivory." Afrika in den europäischen Literaturen zwischen 1860 und 1930.
Hrsg. Titus Heydenreich und Eberhard Späth. Erlangen: Universitätsbund
Erlangen-Nürnberg, 2000. 171-188.
"Marlow's Racism and the Subversion of Truths in Heart of Darkness." L'Epoque
Conradienne 25 (1999): 9-25.
C. Editorship
[with Anne-Julia Zwierlein, Katharina Boehm and Martin Decker] Anglistentag 2017,
Regensburg: Proceedings. Trier: WVT, 2018.
[with Barbara Korte] Journal for the Study of British Cultures. Special Issue
"Censorship". 15.2 (2008).
[with Rüdiger Heinze] Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik. Special Issue
"The Disappearance of Utopia?" 55.1 (2007).
D. Reviews & Reports
(rev.) "Leslie Allin, Penetrating Critiques: Emasculated Empire and Victorian Identity
in Africa (Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2020)" Victorian Periodicals Review 54.2 (2021):
378-380.
(rev.) "Grzegorczyk, Blanka. Discourses of Postcolonialism in Contemporary British
Children's Literature. New York & London: Routledge, 2015." Geister: Einblicke
in das Unsichtbare. Ed. Dieter Petzold. Inklings: Jahrbuch für Literatur und
Ästhetik 33. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2016. 246-249.
(rev.) "Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, ed. The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and
Cinematic Monsters. Farnham: Ashgate, 2014." Inklings: Jahrbuch für Literatur
und Ästhetik 32 (2015): 240-242.
(rev.) "Kristine Moruzi. Constructing Girlhood through the Periodical Press,
1850-1915. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012." Anglistik 25.2 (2014): 171-172.
(rev.) "John Miller. Empire and the Animal Body. London and New York: Anthem,
2012." ZAA 61.4 (2013): 411-412.
(rev.) "Jana Gohrisch & Ellen Grünkemeier, eds. Listening to Africa: Anglophone
African Literatures and Cultures (Heidelberg: Winter, 2012)." Journal for the
Study of British Cultures 20.1 (2013): 82-85.
(rev.) "Carol Freeman, Elizabeth Leane and Yvette Watt, eds. Considering Animals:
Contemporary Studies in Human-Animal Relations (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012)."
Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 165.1 (2013):
195-196.
(rev.) "Johann Schmidt. Großbritannien 1945-2010: Kultur, Politik, Gesellschaft.
(Stuttgart: Kröner, 2011)." Inklings: Jahrbuch für Literatur und Ästhetik 30
(2013):351-353.
(rev.) "Michelle J. SmithEmpire in British Girls' Literature and Culture: Imperial Girls,
1880-1915 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)." Zeitschrift für Anglistik
und Amerikanistik 60.4 (2012): 407-408.
(rev.) "Saskia Lettmaier. Broken Engagements: The Action for Breach of Promise
of Marriage and the Feminine Ideal, 1800-1940 (Oxford: OUP, 2010)."
Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 60.2 (2012): 194-195.
(rev.) "Andrea Gutenberg. Körper, Sexualität und Moral: Die Auseinandersetzung
mit Degenerationsvorstellungen in englischer Literature und Kultur
1910-1940 (Trier: WVT, 2009)." Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
59.1 (2011): 93-94.
(rev.) "Sonja Altnöder, Inhabiting the "New" South Africa: Ethical Encounters at the
Race-Gender Interface in Four Post-Apartheid Novels by Zoë Wicomb,
Sindiwe Magona, Nadine Gordimer and Farida Karodia (Trier: WVT, 2008)."
Anglistik 21.1 (2010): 228-229.
(rev.) "Yulisa Amadu Maddy and Donnarae MacCann, Neo-Imperialism in
Children's Literature About Africa: A Study of Contemporary Fiction (New
York: Routledge, 2009)." Children's Literary Association Quarterly 34.3
(2009): 300-302.
(rev.) "Thomas Kullmann, Englische Kinder- und Jugendliteratur: Eine Einführung
(Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2008)." Zeitschrift für Anglistik und
Amerikanistik 57.4 (2009): 403-404.
(rev.) "Claudia Drawe, Erinnerung und Identität in ausgewählten Romanen der
Postapartheid (Trier: WVT, 2007)." Anglistik 20.1 (2009): 231-232.
(rev.) "Ulrich Pallua, Eurocentrism, Racism, Colonialism in the Victorian and
Edwardian Age (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2006)." Anglia 125.2
(2007): 386-389.
(rev.) "Eva Müller-Zettelmann and Margarete Rubik, eds, Theory into Poetry: New
Approaches to the Lyric (Amsterdam & New York: Rodopi, 2005)." Zeitschrift
für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 55.2 (2007): 195-196.
(rev.) "Kay Sulk, 'Not Grace, then, but at Least the Body': J.M. Coetzees Schriften
1990–1999 (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2005)." Anglistik 18.1 (2007): 217-218.
(rev.) "Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Victorian Afterlives: The Shaping of Influence in
Nineteenth-Century Literature". Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
51.4 (2003): 461-462.
(rev.) "Elmar Schenkel, H. G. Wells: Der Prophet im Labyrinth". Zeitschrift für
Anglistik und Amerikanistik 51.3 (2003): 326-327.
[with Haike Frank] "Embracing the Other" (Conference Report). European English
Messenger 11.2 (2002): 75-76.
E. Interview
[with Rüdiger Heinze] "The Disappearance of Utopia? An Interview with Ernest
Callenbach on the Role and Function of Utopian Thought in Contemporary
American Society." Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Special Issue
"The Disappearance of Utopia?" Ed. Rüdiger Heinze and Jochen Petzold. 55.1
(2007): 87-92.
Conf. Papers
Öffentliche Vorträge, Konferenzbeiträge
“'What is there that women cannot do?' A Radical Travelogue in the Girl's Own Paper."
July 2017. "Borders and Border Crossings." 49th Annual Conference of the
Research Society for Victorian Periodicals. Freiburg i.Br., Germany.
"Writing to Save Their Souls: R.M. Ballantyne's Support of the Royal National Lifeboat
Institution." July 2017. "Travel, Translation and Communication." 9th Annual
Conference of the Victorian Popular Fiction Association. London, UK.
"Popular and Political: Crime Writing as a Commentary on South African Society."
July 2016. The 17th Triennial ACLALS Conference. Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Reise gefördert durch den DAAD.
"Ballantyne 'On the Rocks': Boys' Adventures in the Arctic." April 2016. "Visualising
the North." 3rd International St Magnus Conference. University of the Islands and
Highlands. Orkney Isles, Scotland. Paper on youtube
"Paternalistic 'Emancipation': Anti-slavery Discourse in the Adventure Stories of
Robert Michael Ballantyne." July 2015. "Empires and Revolutions: R.B.
Cunninghame Graham and Other Scottish Writers on Globalisation and
Democracy (c. 1850 - 1950)." Annual Conference of ASLS. Stirling, Scotland.
"Nur ein toter Ork ist ein guter Ork? Rassismus in Fantasy & SciFi." June 2015.
Festival Contre le Racisme. Universität Regensburg.
"Laying to Rest the Ghosts?! Ghost Stories in Two Victorian Magazines for 'Boys'."
Mai 2015. "Ghosts: A Conference on the Nearly Invisible." Universität Leipzig.
"'I believe in Darwin's theory: we are descended doubtless from gorillas.' Victorian
Monkey-Mania and Children's Literature." Guest Lecture, November 2014,
Universität Braunschweig.
"'It's Not Cruel, It's Science!' The Re-invention of Bird-nesting in Late Victorian
Juvenile Culture." September 2013. Anglistentag, Sektion "Victorian Lives,"
Universität Konstanz.
"Chains of Voices: Subjectivity, Multiperspectivity and Historical ‘Truth’ in Novels of
André Brink.” März 2013. “Contrary: The Oeuvre of André Brink.” University of
Pretoria (South Africa). Reiseförderung durch den DAAD.
“Laughing Away Racism? The ‘Indian Comedy’ of Goodness Gracious Me.”
November 2012. Ringvorlesung “A History of British TV Comedy: Poetics –
Politics – Interpretations.” Universität Passau, WS 2012/13.
“Mr Gorilla, ‘The Lion of the Season’: Die Britische ‘Gorilla-Manie’ im Spiegel der
Viktorianischen Kinderliteratur.” Dezember 2011. Ringvorlesung “Das Tier in der
Sprache, Literatur und Kultur.” Universität Bamberg, WS 2011/12.
“‘Are you learning to grow old?’ The Politics of Ageing in The Girl’s Own Paper.”
November 2011. The Cultural Politics of Ageing in the Nineteenth Century:
Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Universität Regensburg.
“I had some pet theories of my own on the subject of education, which I could
now put to the test” – The Victorian Deabte on Science Education and the
Case of “Robina Crusoe.” September 2011. Anglistentag, Sektion “Varia,”
Unviersität Freiburg.
“(Post-)Colonial Space: Writing South Africa.” Juli 2011. Lehrerfortbildung des
Instituts für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Regensburg.
“Piraten! Robert Louis Stevensons Treasure Island als Klassiker der
Kinderliteratur.” Juni 2011. Ringvorlesung: Klassiker der Kinderliteratur,
Universität Regensburg.
“John Gay’s Polly and the Politics of ‘Colonial Pastoral’.” Juni 2011. “Postcolonial
Studies Across the Disciplines,” Jahrestagung der GNEL/ASNEL, Universität
Hannover.
“‘Wie ähnlich ist uns der Affe, dies äußerst scheußliche Tier!’ Darwins
'Affentheorie’ im Spiegel der englischen Kinderliteratur.” November 2010.
Antrittsvorlesung an der Universität Regensburg.
“Whose Hillbrow? Xenophobia and the Urban Space in the New South Africa.” Mai
2010. “Contested Communities,” Jahrestagung der GNEL/ASNEL, Universität
Bayreuth.
“‘Monkey Business’ Darwin’s ‘Ape Theory’ and its Traces in Victorian Children’s
Magazines.” November 2009. “Darwin Among the Disciplines,” Konferenz,
Universität Göttingen.
“More than ‘Blood and Thunder’: The Popularization of Science and the Juvenile
Magazines, 1850–1900.” Juni 2009. “The Hockliffe Conference 2009,”
University of Bedfordshire, Großbritannien.
“‘For a’ that’ – ‘Trotz alledem!’: Burns, Freiligrath and the Birth of a Leftwing
Slogan.” Mai 2009. “Translating Romanticism”, Konferenz, IASH, University of
Edinburgh
“‘The Needlework of Wartime’: The South African War in Magazines for Young
Readers.” Oktober 2008. Anglistentag, Sektion “Varia,” Universität Tübingen.
“The Subjectivity of Absence: Verbal Cues for Constructing an Individual Point of
View in Poems with ‘Hidden’ Speakers.” September 2007. Anglistentag,
Sektion “Cognitive Approaches in Literature and Linguistics,” Universität
Münster.
“Family and Nation in Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things.” März 2007.
Gastvortrag als Erasmus-Austauschdozent, University of St. Andrews,
Schottland.
“Geschichte als Verbrechen: Zur Verknüpfung von ‘history’ und ‘crime’ im
zeitgenössischen südafrikanischen Roman.” Dezember 2006. Symposium
“Geschichte und Krimi,” Universität Freiburg.
“Shakespeares Othello.” November 2006. Podiumsdiskussion im Rahmen der
Veranstaltungsreihe "Text und Szene," Studium Generale, Universität
Freiburg.
“No More Room in Hell: Utopian Moments in the Dystopia of 28 Days Later.” Mit
Rüdiger Heinze, Freiburg. Januar 2006. Internationales EUCOR-Symposium
“The Disappearance of Utopia?” Universität Freiburg.
“‘Translating’ the Great Trek into the Twentieth Century: Re-interpretations of
the Afrikaner Myth in Three South African Novels.” Mai 2005. Jahrestagung
der GNEL/ASNEL, Universität Kiel.
“Censorship in South Africa – Nadine Gordimer’s Burger’s Daughter.” Mai 2005.
Aktionstag ‘Zensur’ zum internationalen Tag der Pressefreiheit, Universität
Freiburg.
“Studentenproteste in Deutschland: 1968 – 2003.” März 2004. Gastvortrag als
Erasmus-Austauschdozent, University of Ulster (Coleraine, Nordirland).
“The Irish in England” Januar 2004. Ringvorlesung “Multicultural Britain”,
Wintersemester 2003/04, Universität Freiburg.
“‘Hidden Histories’ and the Search for Local Identity in a New South Africa.” Mai
2003. Jahrestagung der GNEL/ASNEL, Universität Magdeburg.
“White Angst in South Africa – The Apocalyptic Visions of John Conyngham.” Mai
2002. Jahrestagung der GNEL/ASNEL, Universität Erfurt.
“André Brink: Post-Modernist Moralist.” Mai 2002. “Versions and Subversions,”
International Conference on African Literatures, HU Berlin.
“Landschaftsdarstellung im englischen Abenteuerroman und die Kolonisierung
Afrikas.” Mai 2001. “Ordnungen der Landschaft,” Workshop des SFB 541,
Universität Freiburg.
“Südafrika als ‘Rainbow Nation’ – Fragen der nationalen Identität.” Juni 2000.
Berichtskolloquium des SFB 541, Universität Freiburg.
“Christopher Hope’s Me, the Moon and Elvis Presley as a Critique of Rainbow
Rhetoric.” Juni 2000. Jahrestagung der GNEL/ASNEL, RWTH Aachen.
“Brink’s Magical History Tour: The First Life of Adamastor.” Juli 1999.
Jahrestagung der Association of University English Teachers of South Africa
(AUETSA), Pretoria (Südafrika).
“Das Afrikabild in Robert Michael Ballantynes Black Ivory.” Januar 1999.
Interdisziplinäres Kolloquium “Afrika in den europäischen Literaturen
zwischen 1860 und 1930,” Universität Erlangen.
“Der postmoderne historische Roman in Südafrika: André Brinks The First Life of
Adamastor und Mike Nicols This Day and Age.” Dezember 1998.
Berichtskolloquium des SFB 541, Universität Freiburg.
Projects
coming soon
Superv. Theses
Betreute Abschlussarbeiten (Erstgutachten)
Dissertationen
Thomas Graf, "The Plurality of Imperial Identities in British Invasion Fiction,
1871-1914" (2021)
Sandra Stadler, "Contemporary South African Literature for Young Adults: Space,
Gender and Social Economics" (2015)
Masterarbeiten
"'Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know': The Motif of the Modern Dr Faust(us) in
Late Victorian Literature" (2023)
"(Un)Masking the Spectre: The Late Victorian Female Criminal at the Intersection
of Criminal, Gender and Consumer Discourse in Late Nineteenth-Century
Sensation and Detective Fiction" (2022)
"Caught Between Romance and Change: Contrasting Aspects of Scottish Identity
from Sir Walter Scott to Irvine Welsh" (2020)
"Dangerous Toys: Abuse of Technology and Its Socio-Psychological Implications
in Black Mirror" (2019)
"Portrayal of Trauma in Selected Poems of Ciaran Carson from The Irish for No
to Until Before After" (2019)
"The New Woman and Her Fallen Sisters: Images of Deviant Womanhood in Late
Victorian Women's Magazines" (2017)
"Benefits and Books: The Literary Response to the Social Welfare System in Scotland,
1980-2014" (2016)
"Women in Gordimer's Rainbow Nation: The Representation of Women in the
Post-apartheid Novels of Nadine Gordimer" (2014)
"Exploring the Colonial Encounter: Hybridity of Irish Identity Represented in
George Bernard Shaw's John Bull's Other Island, and Brian Friel's Making History
and Translations " (2013)
Magisterarbeiten
"The Cultural Phenomenon of 'Jack the Ripper'" (2013)
"Settlers and Savages, Hunters and Beasts, Slaves and Fugitives: A Survey of
Sub-Saharan Africa in the Works of R.M. Ballantyne" (2012)
"'Happy Multicultural Land': The conciliatory Effect of Humour in Timothy Mo's
Sour Sweet, Meera Syal's Anita and Me and Zadie Smith's White Teeth " (2011)
"The Contemporary Glasgow Novel" (2011)
"Children of a Fighting Race: An Analysis of Irish Postcolonial Identity in
Short Fiction" (2011)
"British Lesbian Writing in the 20th Century: Literary Lesbian Images as Reflections,
Modifiers and Constitutors of Society" (2011)
"'Revisiting Manderley' -- Re-Evaluating Approaches to Daphne du Maurier's
Rebecca (1938)" (2011)
"'Thanks, but We're Working in the UK Already': A comparative Analysis of Eastern
European Migrants in the British Daily Press" (2011)
"Writing Identity in Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh and The Enchantress of
Florence" (2010)
BA
"Female Emancipation and Lesbian Existences in the Chapter 'The Twelve Dancing
Princesses' in Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson" (2023)
"'Free, Feminist and Powerful': Representations of Black British Motherhood and
Queer Identity in Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other (2019)" (2023)
"'Adapt or Perish': Evolution and Degeneration in Selected Works by H.G. Wells" (2023)
"The Mechanisms of Immortaltiy: Of Phylacteries and Horcruxes" (2022)
"Jacobitism, Scottish National Identity and the Duality of Identities in Violet
Jacob's Flemington and D.K. Broster's The Flight of the Heron" (2022)
"Manliness in A.C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes" (2021)
"Heroism in Detective Fiction and Film: Sherlock Holmes in Arthur Conan
Doyle's Fiction and the BBC's Sherlock " (2021)
"Performances of a Performance: Pluralities of Gender in Feminist Analogue Art" (2021)
"Gender and Sexuality in Queer Literature" (2021)
"(Anti-)Colonialism in Stevenon's Treasure Island " (2021)
"Artificial Enough to Become Genuine? Gender Politics in Angela Carter's
The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (1972)" (2020)
"'He puts on women's clothing and hangs around in bars...?' The Use of Cross-
Dressing in Monty Python's Flying Circus" (2020)
"The Power of Children: Adult-Child Power Relations in Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland and Coraline " (2020)
"Country Houses and Leisure Culture in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice" (2019)
"The Representation of Female Criminals in Late Nineteenth-Century fin de siècle
Literature" (2019)
"Doctor Who: The Development of the Female 'Sidekick'" (2019)
"Questions of Identity in Kgebetli Moele's Untitled " (2019)
"Questions of Identity in Disney Pixar's Brave: The Construction of Scottish Identity
through the Romantic Tradition" (2019)
"The Function of Fairy Tales in John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things" (2019)
"'To Take Arms against a Sea of Troubles': Critical Commentaries on the Monarchy
in William Shakespeare's Hamlet and its Contemporary Retelling The Royals" (2018)
"The Representation of Africa in Robert Michael Ballantyne's Gorilla Hunters (1861)"
(2018)
"Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A New Perspective on the 'Fallen Woman'
Character or a Reinforcement of Victorian Gender Idals?" (2018)
"The Ambiguities of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas " (2018)
"The Victorian Vivisection-Debate and Wells's The Island of Dr Moreau " (2018)
"Really Utilitarian Engines: Tracing Utilitarian Ideas in Wilbert Awdry's Railway
Series " (2018)
"Family Values in Harry Potter " (2018)
"Winning Recognition: London City Branding in the Context of the Olympic
Summer Games 2012" (2018)
"'Helping Those Who Help Themselves': Instructional Articles in The Boy's Own Paper
and The Girl's Own Paper " (2018)
"The Motif of Resistance in V for Vendetta and The Children of Men" (2017)
"Praising the Pioneers: The Role of Feminist Magazines in Promoting Women's Access
to Higher Education in Late Victorian England" (2017)
"The Development and Regression of the Bond Girl" (2017)
"Versions of Girlhood in the Girl's Own Paper" (2017)
"Gender Depictions in Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy -- New Perspectives on the
Male Main Character in Contemporary Fantasy Literature" (2017)
"The Labyrinth of Love: Mary Wroth's Crown of Sonnets and the Concepts of
Spiritual and Worldly Love" (2017)
"'Change the story and the story changes you': Subversion in Terry Pratchett's
Tiffany Aching Series" (2017)
"'They offered you a choice between the death of your principles and death of your
body': Power Monopolies in Dystopian Literature" (2017)
"The Mytho of the Irish West in Selected Plays" (2016)
"The Dilemma of the 'War on Terror': A Comparison of Two British Tabloids
and Two National 'Quality Papers'" (2016)
"The Depiction of Gender Roles in Enid Blyton's Novels" (2016)
"A Study in Silk: The Original Sherlock Holmes in Anthony Horowitz's The House of
Silk " (2016)
"Male Homosexuality over the Years: A Dichronic comparison of Three
Adaptations of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray " (2016)
"'Learning the White Man's Way' - Australia's Stolen Generations" (2016)
"Gender Aspects of Early British Punk Rock" (2014)
"The English Rococo as a Mirror of Contemporary Eighteenth Century Culture
and Society" (2014)
"Dystopian Elemts in selected Plays by Mark Ravenhill" (2014)
"BBC's Sherlock: An Adaptation Combining the Victorian Model with Twenty-first
Century Innovation" (2014)
"Literary Prototypes, Authorial Limits, and Reluctant Paternalism in Elizabeth Gasckell's
'Social Problem Novels'" (2014)
"Illuminating the Shadows - An Analysis of Good and Bad in Casino Royale (2006),
Quantum of Solace (2008) and Skyfall (2008)" (2014)
"'Too Old to Change?' J.M. Coetzee's David Lurie as a Representative of South
African Apartheid and Post-Apartheid Societies" (2013)
"Intertextuality as a Seminal Tool to Comprehend Gender and Sexuality Issues
in Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Picture Show " (2013)
"Sherlock Holmes in the 21st Century" (2012)
"Singing Independence? The National Anthem Debate as an Access Key to Scottish
National Identity and Scottish Nationalism" (2012)
"Dylan Thomas and the Process of the Gothic and Grotesque" (2012)
"British Literary Responses to 9/11: The Cases of Pat Barker's Double Vision and
Chris Cleave's Incendiary " (2012)
"Morals and Morality in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist " (2012)
"The Representation of Muslims in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist "
(2012)
"Gender Issues in 'Robina Crusoe'" (2012)
"'Staying alive's as good as it gets' - Modern Media and its Impact on the Individual
in 28 Days Later " (2012)
"'But there again, I keep forgetting that you're more than just a very beautiful
woman.' - The Changing Concept of the Bond Girl" (2012)
"'Nature' in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre: Visualising Inner Processes by Means of
External Conditions" (2012)
"Pat Barker's Union Street : Women versus Men - A Society of Role Swaps" (2011)
"Orientalism and Colonial Discourse in G.A. Henty's Rujub the Juggler " (2011)
"The Function of Fairies in The Coming of the Fairies by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
and in the Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer" (2011)
"Englishness in the 21st Century -- National Identity Construction in the Media
During the Football World Cup 2010" (2011)
"Behind the Façade: The Ambiguity of the Theme Family in Ian McEwan's Novels
The Cement Garden, The Child in Time, Atonement, and On Chesil Beach " (2011)
"Daniel Devoe's Robinson Crusoe – A Textual Document for Economic Thinking
in the 18th Century" (2010)
Staatsexamen (vertieft)
"The Sufferer's Perspective of Immigration" (2024)
"Diseased, Deformed, Deviant: Degeneration in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla"
(1872) and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)" (2023)
"Not so New: The Inspiration Wilkie Collins's The Law and the Lady Took from a
Fatal Woman" (2022)
"'I didn't eat for three days so I could be lovely' - The Romanticization of Eating
Disorders in the Media and in Skins UK " (2022)
"The Nineteenth and the Twentieth/Twenty-First Century in Dialogue:
The Relevance of the Neo-Victorian Novels Affinity and Fingersmith by Sarah
Waters for Contemporary Society" (2022)
"Post-ColonialWales: Welsh Nationalism, Language, and Identity Mirrored
in Plaid Cymru" (2021)
"'It's like a haunted house, only I'm the ghost.' Representations of Mental Illness and
Mentally Ill Individuals in Charlie Covell's The End of the F*** World " (2021)
"Sympathy for the Devil: Sympathy Guidance Strategies Concerning Dungeon &
Dragon's Iconic Vampire Strahd von Zarovich in I, Strahd: The Memories
of a Vampire " (2021)
"Agnes Grey's Struggle towards Emancipation: The Governess as a Solution to the
Woman Question - A Feminist Reading of Agnes Grey " (2021)
"'Time can be rewritten' - But that doesn't mean it should! Changing Tendencies
of Postcolonial depictions in the Chibnall Era of Doctor Who " (2021)
"Cross-Dressing as Rebecca: The Role of Gender (Idetntity), Gender Performance
and Same-Sex Desire in Amy Dillwyn's The Rebecca Riots " (2021)
"Brexit and Anglo-German Relations in Political Cartoons" (2021)
"I'll (Not) Face Myself: A Psychoanalytic Comparative Reading betweeen Mary
Shelley's Frankenstein and Katsura Hashino's Persona 4 " (2020)
"Jane Austen's Timeless Theme of First Impressions: Adapting Pride and
Prejudice to Screen, Modern Times and Different Cultures" (2020)
"Strong Women in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew " (2020)
"Heroes in A Song of Ice and Fire: Radical or Conventional?" (2019)
"Modern Femininity in British Fin-de-siècle Literature: The 'New Woman'
Phenomenon in George Gissing's New Grub Street " (2019)
"The Presentation of Bonnie Prince Charlie and His Function as Projection Screen"
(2018)
"The Depiction of Gender in Jones' Howl's Moving Castle in Comparison
with Its Film Adaptation" (2017)
"Mary Poppins: Comparison of the Book Series with the Disney Film Adaptation
Mainly Focusing on the Portrayal of Gender Roles" (2017)
"Getting Behind Brexit" (2017)
"Generational Conflict and Identity Construction in Zadie Smith's White Teeth " (2017)
"Demystifying Celtic Identity" (2017)
"Failing Heroes in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire" (2016)
"Two World Wars and One World Cup: The Influence of Politics, Media and Football
on Anglo-German Relations" (2016)
"Success or Failure? The Feminine Ideal in Enid Blyton's Malory Towers Series." (2015)
"Coping With the Past: The Example of District Six." (2015)
"Charms, Chains and Clipboards: Madness in Great Britain During the 17th and
18th Centuries" (2013)
"Identity, Race and Society in K. Sello Duiker's Thirteen Cents and The Quiet Violence
of Dreams " (2013)
"Construction of Scottishness in Hamish Macbeth " (2013)
"'I Am in an English Autumn' Constructions of Egypt as Postcolonial Space in
Ahdaf Soueif's The Map of Love and Alaa Al Aswany's The Yacoubian Building "
(2013)
"From Villains to Heroes? The Representation of Pirate Characters in The Pirate,
Treasure Island, Captain Blood, and Selected Stories from 19th Century
Children's Magazines" (2013)
"'There Is No Nationality Without Literature': Nation-building and Identity
Construction Based on the Poetry of the Easter Rising 1916" (2013)
"28 Days Later, Chlidren of Men and Family Patterns in the Face of Global
Developments" (2013)
"The Perception of Women as Threat to the Patriarchal Order as Portrayed in William
Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing " (2013)
"Challenging Idealistic Notions of Irishness: The Demythologisation of the West of
Ireland in Twentieht-Century Anglo-Irish Drama" (2012)
"Colonial and Postcolonial Concepts in Father Ted and Martin McDonagh's
Leenane Trilogy" (2012)
"The Representation of 9/11 and the 'War on Terror' in Contemporary British Fiction"
(2012)
"Ancient Mythology in A Midsummer Night's Dream " (2012)
"The Changing Image of Oscar Wilde" (2011)
"The Motif of the Double in Scottish Literature" (2011)
"'Trustable, Good, Sound Women the World Can Lean On' The Girl's School Story
as a Mediator of Suitable Gender Roles for Girls: An Analysis in Children's
Literature" (2011)
"Searching for the 'Inner Room': Identity Formation in Hanif Kureishi's
The Buddha of Suburbia " (2011)
"The Vampire: The Change of the Creature's Depiction through the Ages" (2011)
"The Early Feminism of the Female Gothic" (2011)
"Prostitutes and Wives in Neo-Victorian Fiction – Giving a Voice to the 'Weak'" (2011)
"Appearances can be Deceptive – The Search for Identity and Reality in Kate
Atkinson's Human Croquet" (2010)
Staatsexamen (nicht vertieft)
"Harry Potter and the Phenomenon of Print Media" (2023)
"By Order of the Peaky Blinders: Exploring the Portrayal of Violence and the
Potential Glorification thereof in Steven Knight's Drama TV Series Peaky Blinders"
(2023)
"The Multi-Layered Depiction of Margaret Thatcher in the TV Series The Crown" (2023)
"The Influence of Different Feminist Movements on the 1995 Series and the 2005
Movie of Pride and Prejudice" (2023)
"Topics of Gender in Outlander" (2023)
"Emerging Feminism in the Shadow of the Supernatural: A Modern Interpretation of
The Turn of the Screw " (2023)
"Assasin's Creed: Syndicate's Use of Historical Figures as Mediators of Political and
Social Problems." (2023)
"'An Englishman born and bread, almost': The Search for Identity in the bildungsroman
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi." (2023)
"Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins' Morality in Three Treasure Island Film
Adaptations." (2022)
"The Mother, the Maiden, and the Crone: Subversion in Terry Pratchett's
Discworld Novels" (2022)
"Depiction of Women's Power and Feminism in the 18th Century Series Outlander "
(2022)
"The Representation of the Royal Family in the British Press" (2021)
"The Coverage of the Coronavirus Pandemic in British Newspapers" (2020)
"Innocent Until Proven Guilty? The Negative Press Coverage of the Oscar Wilde
Trials" (2020)
"A Feminist Perspectiv eon Disney Pixar's Brave " (2020)
"Dystopian Worlds in Black Mirror" (2019)
"Racism in the World of Harry Potter and Its Similarities to the Third Reich" (2019)
"Scribbling Gender: An Analysis of Societal Gender Constructions through
Bathroom Graffiti" (2019)
"Multiculturalism in Muhammad Khan's I am Thunder (2018)" (2018)
"Ecocriticism in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings " (2017)
"The Role of Women within the Harry Potter Series" (2016)
"The Downfall and Redemption of a 'Fallen Woman' in Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth "
(2016)
"Modern British Culture in BBC's Sherlock " (2016)
"Representation of Women in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire " (2015)
"Gender Roles and Gender Stereotypes in Children's Literature between the 1920s
and 1940s" (2015)
"Shades of Victorianism: A Comparison and Evaluation of Shades of Grey and
Jane Eyre " (2015)
"Analysis of Hayao Miyazaki's Film Adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle " (2015)
"Gender and Gender Roles in British Fairy Tales" (2015)
"The Depiction of the United Kingdom Independence Party in Selected British
Newspapers During the Campaign for the European Elections 2014" (2014)
"'Facts Are Chiels that Winna Ding' Scottish Independence and the Press: An Analysis
of the Coverage of Four British Newspapers" (2013)
"Prejudice in Harry Potter " (2012)
"Austen goes Bollywood: Love Relationships in Bride & Prejudice " (2012)
"The Futility of War: A Study of Selected Poems by Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg
and Siegfried Sassoon" (2012)
"Hornby on Relationships" (2012)
"'It starts with doors.' - Fantasy Tropes in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere and Stardust "
(2011)
"Emancipated Women Characters in George Bernard Shaw's Drama" (2010)
"Relationships in Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting: Mirror for the Interstate Relations
between England and Scotland" (2010)
