Learning from the Chinese experiences

Xiang Zhao conducts research on health psychology at the University of Klagenfurt. We spoke to him about how China handled COVID-19. Among other things, Zhao recommends more precise instructions to the population.

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Immersed in a sea of words: Poetic metaphors

It’s a familiar situation: We gaze at a poem and wonder – what was the author trying to express? What was his or her intention in using that specific metaphor? And how should we, as readers, interpret it? Over the next two years, Carina Rasse, holder of the DOC-scholarship awarded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and currently working at the Department of English, will explore how metaphors emerge and how they are deciphered by readers.

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Studying coincidence in literature and films

A position as post-doctoral researcher at the Department of English and American Studies brought Matthias Klestil to Klagenfurt from Bayreuth. His research currently focuses on material from literature and films, which addresses versionality and coincidence. In our interview with Matthias Klestil, he tells us about the paths that led him to Klagenfurt, and he reveals what he finds fascinating about the USA.

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Can novels make us care about others? A study based on ethnic American literatures

When President Donald Trump addresses the nation, he often resorts to discriminatory stereotypes when referring to African American, Mexican American and Muslim American communities. The narrative that suggests that these groups represent a threat to the American nation is shaping a number of current debates, but there are also important counternarratives. Within the scope of a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), scholars from the field of American Studies are investigating how ethnic American literary texts are inviting readers to imaginatively step into the shoes of a character who is different from themselves and to see the world through that character’s eyes.

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