The Group

The professorship has two focal points: knowledge research in literary and cultural studies and Jewish literary and cultural history. In the first field, knowledge is analysed as a cultural and poetic practice and at the same time literature is examined in its epistemological forms and functions. This is done using striking examples such as encyclopaedics, occultism, fantasy and joke theory. In the second area, Jewish literature and culture are examined in philosophical-theological as well as historical-political contexts. This is done in joint projects, such as on the discourse of assimilation or the concept of knowledge in Zionism, as well as in individual projects on authors such as Franz Kafka, Else Lasker-Schüler or Joseph Roth. The professorship also focuses on research on Max Frisch or Thomas Mann, whose archives are located at the ETH.
Three visiting professorships are also located in the immediate vicinity of the professorship: the visiting professorships for Italian and French literature and culture as well as the visiting professorship "Science and Judaism.
The professorship also participates in the exchange programme "Knowledge in Society" with the Cohen Institute of the University of Tel Aviv.