Texts: Walter Benjamin, "The Storyteller: Reflections on the Work of Nikolai Leskov," from idem, The Storyteller Essays. New York, 2019. Extracts from Arabic Travelogues, among others Ḥannā Diyāb's Book of Travels and TK. 

Chair: James White and Johannes Stephan

Scholars of premodern Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Syriac, and other, including modern, literatures meet every two weeks to discuss milestones of literary theory and recent contributions to narrative studies (mostly in English) as well as notable literary pieces, with a particular focus on the topic of framing narratives. The subject of each session is one or two groundbreaking and thought-provoking contributions to literary theory and history, with relevance for the analysis of literary works. The fortnightly online meetings in the ongoing winter and the coming summer term of 2021 are to be carried on until July 22, 2021 on a remote basis.  

It is possible to join the group at any given time, please contact johannes.stephan@fu-berlin.de for participation.