Poetry as Cultural Diplomacy: Walt Whitman and World Literature

Walt Whitman was a Global poet in two ways. His voice reached into practically every corner of the world – he was translated into many major and a large number of 'smaller' languages. At the same time, he saw himself as a global poet and developed an international and intercultural poetics anticipating many writers of the 20th and 21st centuries: poetry to him was a superior mode of diplomacy. Both aspects will be addressed.
This seminar will also be part of a project bringing Whitman’s poetry into public spaces in Dortmund in a number of languages. Students who are native or highly proficient speakers of the following languages are especially encouraged to participate: Albanian, Arabic, Dutch, Farsi, Greek, Italian, Kurdish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, Yiddish, Yvrit. This part of the seminar is also very suitable for projects in both Lehramt and Angewandte curricula. Interested students who are proficient in the mentioned languages are invited to contact the instructor early at walter.gruenzweigudoedu
We will use the ”Signet” edition of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. You will need a paper version of this book.

This course is particularly recommended for students of the Angewandte Studiengänge.