Research at the DLA
A literature archive has a comprehensive, multidimensional, and multifaceted understanding of literature and documents it accordingly. It records the literary texts themselves and their creation, whether at the writer’s desk or in dialogue with friends, editors, and publishers; it deals with the perception of literature by its readers, including the authors themselves, and it records the productive adaptation of literature by authors, as well as by composers, singers, or visual artists. Thus, an archive also records literary cycles, literary circulations: in other words, processes that are potentially infinite.
The necessary complement to this multidimensional and multifaceted concept of literature in the archive is a research programme that is multidimensional and multifaceted. This research should be methodologically informed by both established and cutting edge, specialist and interdisciplinary approaches, and at the same time it should push the boundaries of these approaches, examining them against the evidence of the archival materials. While research cannot attempt to engage with all aspects of literature simultaneously, it can and should take its complexity into account. In 2025, the DLA aims to further expand its five major, established research areas
(1) How literature is made: Literary sociology
(2) Reading traces: Reader psychology, text comprehension research, and literary politology
(3) Recording literature: Audio analysis of literature
(4) Literature data: Digital collection research
(5) Material hermeneutics: Writing tools, literary media carriers, and literary objects.
The focus of 2025 lies in particular on two significant figures of world literature: Events marking the centenary of Franz Kafka’s death will complement the extended exhibition »Kafkas Echo« (22.06.2025); in the second half of the year, the DLA will launch an extensive international research programme that will run parallel to the exhibition on Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926).
Kontakt
Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach
Department of Research
Schillerhöhe 8-10
71672 Marbach
Telephone +49 (0) 7144 / 848-175
Email forschung@dla-marbach.de