Im Mittelpunkt dieser Studie steht die Frage, wie englische Literatur Modernisierungsprozesse und damit verbundene Krisenphänomene reflektiert und welche Umgangsstrategien für individuelles und gesellschaftliches Handeln entworfen werden. Zentrale Analysekategorie ist das Konzept der ,Kontingenz', weil Vorstellungen davon, welche Bereiche der Welt auch anders sein könnten, das Wirklichkeitsbild einer Gesellschaft strukturieren. Die Studie entwirft ein narratologisches Analysemodell für Ästhetiken der Kontingenz und zeichnet anhand literarischer Fallstudien (u.a. George Eliot, Iris Murdoch, Ian McEwan) Kulturkonflikte um Kontingenzkonzeptionen vom 19. - 21. Jahrhundert nach.

The linguae & litterae series, edited by Peter Auer, Gesa von Essen and Werner Frick, documents the research activities of the School of Language and Literature of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS). These research activities in literary studies and linguistics are characterized by an approach that is theoretically and methodologically “state of the art” and interdisciplinarily open. In linguistics the accent is on the corpus-based, quantitative and qualitative investigation of language; in literary studies the focus is on the comparative, transdisciplinary analysis of literary phenomena in their cultural contexts. At the same time the series deals with the productive interfaces and synergies between modern linguistics and literary studies (as well as the humanities, social and natural sciences with which they interact). It seeks a new, contemporary reformulation of the humanities research curriculum and its problem and concept orientation for the future. The series has a clear international orientation - each volume is multilingual, containing German, English and French contributions and, depending on the volume, articles in Italian or Spanish as well. Each individual volume is peer reviewed by an international editorial board. Each year 2-4 volumes are published.  

The linguae& litterae series, edited by Peter Auer, Gesa von Essen and Werner Frick, documents the research activities of the School of Languageand Literature of the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS). These research activities in literary studies and linguistics are characterized by an approach that is theoretically and methodologically “state of the art” and interdisciplinarily open. In linguistics the accent is on the corpus-based, quantitative and qualitative investigation of language; in literary studies the focus is on the comparative, transdisciplinary analysis of literary phenomena in their cultural contexts. At the same time the series deals with the productive interfaces and synergies between modern linguistics and literary studies (as well as the humanities, social and natural sciences with which they interact). It seeks a new, contemporary reformulation of the humanities research curriculum and its problem and concept orientation for the future. The series has a clear international orientation - each volume is multilingual, containing German, English and French contributions and, depending on the volume, articles in Italian or Spanish as well. Each individual volume is peer reviewed by an international editorial board. Each year 2-4 volumes are published.

Der Band verbindet Andreas Reckwitz' soziologische Theorien zur Subjektkultur mit Analysen englischer Romane vom 18. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert. Die Beiträger zeigen, dass der englische Roman Übergangsprozesse von der bürgerlichen zur postmodernen Subjektkultur dokumentiert, allerdings auch selber ein diskursformendes Medium ist. Dabei beziehen sich die Beiträger neben Reckwitz auf weitere Subjekttheorien und bringen diese in einen kritischen Dialog. Der Band präsentiert große Teile von Reckwitz' Forschung zum ersten Mal einem englischsprachigen Publikum und bietet eine innovative literaturwissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit Subjektkulturen und ihrer Transformation.