Literary symposium
Literary symposium at which Dr. Cornelia Nenz (former director of the Fritz Reuter Literature Museum) will discuss literary reception and new perspectives on Fritz Reuter with Prof. Dr. Joachim Rickes (Humboldt University Berlin), Prof. Dr. Holger Helbig (University of Rostock), Prof. Dr. Carsten Gansel (Justus Liebig University Giessen) and Dr. Stephan Lesker (University of Rostock).
On June 26, 2026, the Old Synagogue Stavenhagen will be transformed into a place of lively literary debate from 11:00 to 16:00. The symposium is dedicated to a question that is as old as it is topical: what happens to literature when it is read, interpreted and rewritten?
Reception - often understood as subordinate - appears here as what it can be: a creative force. Between preservation and reinterpretation, between canon and contemporary perspective.
Four voices, four stories of reception
The focus is on authors whose works still resonate today:
- Fritz Reuter - "Günter Grass reads Ut mine Festungstid - On the reception of Fritz Reuter by a Nobel Prize winner"
- Uwe Johnson - From a past future into a future world. On the space-time continuum of the Uwe Johnson edition
- Brigitte Reimann - Rediscovery, reassessment, topicality
- Walter Kempowski - The reception of Kempowski by Gerhard Henschel and Jochen Schmidt
Program
11:00 a.m. - Kick-off
Welcome and thematic introduction
11:15 a.m. - Prof. Dr. Joachim Rickes (Humboldt University of Berlin)
"Günter Grass reads Ut mine Festungstid - On the Fritz Reuter reception of a Nobel Prize winner"
What happens when a Nobel Prize winner reads a classic? The lecture opens the view on the productive encounter between Günter Grass and Fritz Reuter - on lines of tradition, literary dialogs and the creative energy of reading itself.
12:00 p.m. - Prof. Dr. Holger Helbig (University of Rostock)
Uwe Johnson: From a past future into a future world On the space-time continuum of the Uwe Johnson edition
Between archive and present: How do editorial decisions influence the perception of a work? A look at the reception dynamics surrounding Uwe Johnson.
12:45 p.m. - Break
13:15 - Prof. Dr. Gansel (Justus Liebig University Giessen/Neubrandenburg)
A new reading of Brigitte Reimann
From GDR image to contemporary authority: The contribution traces the astonishing transformation of Brigitte Reimann's reception - in literary, cultural-historical and social terms.
14:00 - Dr. Stephan Lesker (University of Rostock)
Walter Kempowski: The reception of Kempowski by Gerhard Henschel and Jochen Schmidt.
Walter Kempowski between popular success and literary canon. On the reception by Gerhard Henschel and Jochen Schmidt.
14:45 - Panel discussion
Reception as creative practice
Discussion about appropriation, actualization and the question of how literature lives on in cultural memory.
16:00 - Conclusion
An open thinking space
The symposium is an invitation to listen, think further and join in the discussion - for those interested in literature, students, teachers and anyone who is curious about the afterlife of literature.
Please note
There are no plans to publish the contributions in paper form.
