Katharina Palme
Antagonistic Characters and Character Relations in Middle High German Heroic Epics
My doctoral project investigates how antagonistic relations between characters and groups of characters are established and acted out in Middle High German heroic epic. In doing so, I will make reference to heroic epic peculiarities associated with the conception, representation, and motivation of antagonistic characters. The theoretical background of the thesis will discuss how the role of the antagonist is distinguished as a character of contradictions in Middle High German heroic epic. Using characters from the ‘Nibelungenstoffkreis’ and the ‘Historische Dietrichepik’, the thesis will show how these contradictions are staged, evoked, and narratologically deployed. The aim of the study is to make the ambivalent character of the antagonist more concretely comprehensible in order to develop a basis for further studies, including comparative ones.
Research Interests
- Languages and Literatures of the Middle Ages (esp. Middle High German and Old Irish)
- Heroic Sagas
- Construction of Otherworlds
- Historic Narratology and Character Studies
Vita
- 2022
Doctoral Fellow of the RTG Contradiction Studies at the University of Bremen - 2022
DAAD fellowship for a bi-national Dissertation – declined - Since 2021
Member at the AWA (Arbeitskreis Wiener Altgermanistik)-Nachwuchsnetzwerk at the University of Vienna - 2021
Erasmus-Internship at Bedey & Medea GmbH, Hamburg - 2018 – 2019
Internship at the Greek Consulate of Hamburg - 2017 – 2018
Master in Medieval Language, Literature and Culture, Trinity College Dublin - 2016 – 2017
Erasmus-Scholarship at Trinity College Dublin - 2015
Award for excellent studies at the University of Vienna - 2012 – 2017
Bachelor in German Philology at the University of Vienna - 2011
Representative of the Greek National School and Church of Vienna at the program „Greeks abroad“ in Athens
Talks, Workshops and Events
- 12.01.2023
Talk Antagonistische Figuren und Figurenrelationen in der mittelhochdeutschen Heldenepik [Antagonistic characters and character relations in Middle High German heroic epic poetry] at the Seminar of Prof. Dr. Timo Felber, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel - 04. – 06.10.2022
Talk Antagonistische Figuren und Figurenrelationen in der mittelhochdeutschen Heldenepik [Antagonistic characters and character relations in Middle High German heroic epic poetry]. XVIII, Altgermanistisches Colloquium am Hesselberg - 14. – 15.07.2022
Talk Hagen von Tronje: Adjuvant für den Untergang oder Opponent aller? Eine strukturalistische Analyse [Hagen von Tronje: Adjuvant to the Downfall or Opponent of All? A Structuralist Analysis] at the Chair Meeting of Prof. Dr. Beate Kellner (LMU Munich) and Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stephan Müller (University of Vienna), Wolfenbüttel - 01. – 03.06.2022
Talk Hagen von Tronje: Vom Antagonist zum Bösewicht zum Antiheld. Überlegungen zur diachronen Entwicklung und Rezeption einer Antagonistenfigur [Hagen von Tronje: From Antagonist to Villain to Antihero. Reflections on the diachronic development and reception of an antagonist character] at the Interdisciplinary Conference Figuration des Bösen, University Koblenz-Landau - 16.12.2021
Poster Presentation Die Figur des Antagonisten in der mittelhochdeteuschen Heldenepik [The character of the antagonist in Middle High Dedean heroic epic poetry] at AWA (Arbeitskreis Wiener Altgermanisten) - 26.11.2021
Online-Talk The Character of the Antagonist in Middle High German Heroic Saga at the 69th National Collogquium in German Studies, University of London
Teaching
- SoSe 2023 U Bremen
Seminar Das Nibelungenlied