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Current research projects

Paramythos. Rhetorik, Poetik und Materialität in H.C. Andersens eventyr og historier

H.C. Andersen succeeded to a remarkable degree in achieving a global impact through his writing. Fairy tales such as Thumbelina (1835), The Little Mermaid (1837), and The Dryad (1868) can be described as modern myths that, in their treatment of central questions of vocality, engage with fundamental issues of genre.

Drawing on the Greek term for fairy tale - *paramythos*, from παρά (*parā*; beside, alongside) and μῦθος (*mŷthos*; sound, word, narrative, story) - this project aims to define the relationship between these genres with greater theoretical and analytical precision. It takes as its central thesis that the genre of the fairy tale, in its sustained engagement with myth, undergoes a fundamental reorientation as a genre in its own right. The project positions itself as a contribution to the study of classical myth's reception in modern literature, approached here from an explicitly poetological perspective.

The attempt to define Andersen's fairy tales as paramyths is intended to shed new light on the rhetorical strategies through which a new genre is delineated - strategies that build upon the underlying mythological sources. The question of what kind of poetics emerges from this process will be addressed through an analysis of rhetorical figures and material dimensions of the texts. Since the conception of the genre is closely bound up with questions of materiality theory, the original manuscripts will be incorporated into the interpretive framework.

Finally, the project aims to develop a concept of genre that extends beyond Andersen - one that takes shape in the nineteenth century and goes on to exert a far-reaching influence throughout the twentieth.

Research areas

Classical Literature and Reception

Translation Studies, Comparative Literature

Rhetorics, Narratology and Editorial Scholarship