The Secrets of Reading: How Literature Shapes Our Minds!

The Secrets of Reading: How Literature Shapes Our Minds!

On May 20, 2025 it was announced that Dr. Elias Kreuzmair, research associate in the department for modern German literature and literary theory at the Institute for German Philology at the University of Greifswald, has received significant project funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The project entitled “Writing Reading. Poetologies of Knowledge About Reading” aims to shed light on reading from a literary studies perspective. Loud uni-greifswald.de Kreuzmair will focus in particular on the analysis of non-fiction texts as well as their narrative structures, metaphors and reading scenes.

Kreuzmair uses established methods from the history of knowledge and literary studies. His research project includes a corpus from various sources, including early modern reading teachings and material on critical reading discourses of the last 200 years. Considerations on hermeneutics and scientific publications from the last century are also incorporated into the study. It also becomes clear that Kreuzmair sees reading as a central act of human existence that contributes greatly to people's self-definition.

The roots of literary studies

The professionalization of literary studies has a long history that goes back to ancient times. Libraries such as those at Alexandria and Pergamum collected and analyzed texts, which were groundbreaking in the development of literary criticism and theory. These findings are presented in an overview of the history of literary studies li-go.de shown.

In Plato's dialogues and in Aristotle's works, fundamental considerations about poetry and questions of understanding are formulated. Poetics, rhetoric and hermeneutics also emerged from the need to understand texts and examine their effects. With the rise of European humanism in the 17th and 18th centuries, the philological study of literature became increasingly important. Wilhelm von Humboldt, a defining figure of this time, reorganized the university knowledge culture.

Developments since the 19th century

The establishment of modern literary studies can be seen in various phases of development. Particularly in the 19th century, the critical and philological treatment of texts acquired a new quality. The institutional changes and the associated internationalization of literary research are of central importance. This development is driven by uni-koeln.de comprehensively documented. Discussions about the role of German studies in the National Socialist era and the Zurich literary dispute of 1966 represented turning points in the history of literary criticism.

The extensive work “History of Literary Criticism 1750–1950” by René Wellek, which was published in several volumes, also sheds light on these developments. Wellek considers, among other things, English-language literary criticism and its influence on the theory and poetics of literature. The various volumes, which contain extensive bibliographic information, contribute to deepening the understanding of literary studies.