Small Forms
Aesthetics - Media - Modernity
Friday, September 9, 2022, A.D. White House
Saturday, September 10, 2022, A.D. White House
Sunday, September 11, 2022, Physical Sciences Building

The transatlantic research colloquium “Small Forms: Aesthetics—Media—Modernity,” a collaboration with the Graduiertenkolleg “Literatur- und Wissensgeschichte kleiner Formen” at the Humboldt University, Berlin will take place at Cornell University on September 9-11.

It is set up as an interdisciplinary investigation into the phenomenon of small forms. In addition to research reports and keynote addresses, it offers two reading seminars conducted by seasoned senior faculty. 

Links to the texts to be read in preparation are provided. In case you cannot access them, please contact Anne Chen at aac262@cornell.edu.

Friday, September 9, 2022, A.D. White House

Timelessness, Timeliness, Truth

9:30 – 9:45         Welcome and Introductions

9:45 – 11:15     READING SEMINAR: Small Forms and the Factography of Modernity [LINKS] 
Ethel Matala de Mazza (Humboldt-Universität Berlin)

11:30 – 12:30    Patrizia McBride (Cornell University)
The Truth of Fake Forms: the Feuilleton and the Lure of Ornamental Writing

1:30 – 3:00        Media Platforms, News, Updates 
        
Stephan Brändle (Humboldt-Universität Berlin)
At the Litfaßsäule: Telegraphic News and the Advertising Column During the Franco- Prussian War
        
Ron Sadan (Princeton University)
The Topicality of “Bildnachricht” in the German Daily Tempo (1928–1933) 

3:15 – 4:45        Snapshots, Miniatures, Truth Effects
        
Dennis Wegner (Cornell University)
Vladimir Nabokov’s A Guide to Berlin (1925) as Metropolitan Miniature
    
Christian Struck (Harvard University) 
BeReal. Selfies That Don’t Lie

5:00 – 6:00        KEYNOTE: Devin Fore (Princeton University)
Factography: Narrative Forms and Mass Technics of the Document