The Chair of Modern German Literature and Media Culture currently has a total of six staff members: Under the academic direction of Prof. Dr. Lars Koch and the administrative office headed by Angelika Gleisberg, the Chair employs a total of three research assistants and three instructors for special assignments.

Why does everything seem so fragile today? Through an examination of literature, aesthetics, and society, this book sheds light on the risks and allure of fragility and explores the semantics of fragility.

Phenomena such as abuse and denigration, humiliation, and exposure can be understood as fundamental operations of social communication across eras and cultures. As moments of disruption, stabilization, and dynamization within social orders, they have the potential to form communities and shape societies. The research network groups such phenomena under the term “invectivity.” In Subproject K, faculty members of the chair examined the representation, performance, and reflection of invectives in contemporary theater, performance art, and action art from the perspective of media and cultural studies.