Prof. Dr. Robert Mitchell
Professor*in,
Professur für Literaturwissenschaft und Kulturtheorie
Publikationen
Bücher und Anthologien
- Infectious liberty: Biopolitics between romanticism and liberalism
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 2021 , 324 S.Publikation: Bücher und Anthologien › Buch › Forschung
- Experimental life: Vitalism in Romantic science and literature
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 2013 , 309 S.Publikation: Bücher und Anthologien › Buch › Forschung
- Sympathy and the state in the romantic era: Systems, state finance, and the shadows of futurity
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 2007 , 266 S.Publikation: Bücher und Anthologien › Buch › Forschung
Beiträge in Zeitschriften
- The Planetary Experiment: A History and Theory of Science at Scale
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , Orit Halpern (Autor*in) , Henning Schmidgen (Autor*in) , 01.01.2026 , in: Critical Inquiry, 52, 2 , S. 242-265 , 24 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
- Recovering Character’s Science
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 01.05.2024 , in: Novel, 57, 1 , S. 138-144 , 7 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Übersichtsarbeiten › Forschung
- Frankenstein and the sciences of self-regulation
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 01.12.2020 , in: Huntington Library Quarterly, 53, 4 , S. 749-770 , 22 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung
- Enlightenment biopolitics: Population and the growth of genius
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 01.12.2018 , in: Eighteenth Century, 59, 4 , S. 405-427 , 23 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung
- Regulating Life: Romanticism, Science, and the Liberal Imagination<sup>*</sup>
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 04.05.2018 , in: European Romantic Review, 29, 3 , S. 275-293 , 19 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
Beiträge in Sammelwerken
- May Flies and Horseshoe Crabs: Romantic and Post-Romantic Consciousness, Institutions, and Populations
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 01.01.2022 , S. 285-308 , 24 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Sammelwerken › Kapitel › Forschung › begutachtet
- Immunisation and the Natural Sciences: Esposito on Disciplines, Deconstruction and Equilibrium
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 01.01.2021 , S. 85-117 , 33 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Sammelwerken › Kapitel › Forschung › begutachtet
- Population aesthetics in romantic and post-romantic literature
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 01.01.2016 , S. 267-289 , 23 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Sammelwerken › Kapitel › Forschung › begutachtet
- Global Flows: Romantic-Era Terraforming
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 01.01.2014 , S. 199-218 , 20 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Sammelwerken › Kapitel › Forschung › begutachtet
- MELANCHOLY
Robert Mitchell (Autor*in) , 01.01.2013 , S. 722-723 , 2 S.Publikation: Beiträge in Sammelwerken › Lexikonbeiträge › Forschung
Lehrveranstaltungen
This lecture course introduces students to the field of English literary and cultural studies. We consider the basics of literary studies, including literary history, literary criticism, literary genres (from poetry to drama to prose), literary periods (from the early modern period to the present), and theories, methods, and strategies of interpreting literary texts in a scholarly manner. At the same time, we consider these basics of literary studies in the light of a guiding question: namely, how and why did the language and literature of a very small island country (England) came to have global and planetary sway by the twentieth-first century? This lecture will be accompanied by a tutorial (‘Übung’) in which students will further develop their practical skills.
Readings: many of the shorter reading are available on Moodle. Students should purchase their own copy of Shakespeare’s The Tempest (any academic edition is fine, but the Norton edition is a great choice), and copies of at least two of the novels discussed in the course (but check with your Übung instructor before making your choice of novels).
Readings: many of the shorter reading are available on Moodle. Students should purchase their own copy of Shakespeare’s The Tempest (any academic edition is fine, but the Norton edition is a great choice), and copies of at least two of the novels discussed in the course (but check with your Übung instructor before making your choice of novels).
This course focuses on the history, theory, and literary and artistic representations of “planetary experimentation.” The Anthropocene is itself a concept of planetary experimentation, having been described as a condition that is the result of “a large-scale geophysical experiment of a kind that could not have happened in the past nor be reproduced in the future,” or as an “unintended experiment of humankind on its own life support system.” Alternative terms such as the Capitalocene or Plantationocene stress that a small subset of humans, rather than “humankind,” are responsible for this experiment, yet also present phenomena such as global warming and rapid species extinction as signs of irresponsible planetary experimentation. This course focuses on theories of “planetarity,” considering especially the role of concepts of experimentation in these theories. We will also draw on work in science and technology studies (STS), while keeping in mind that planetary experiments tend not to fit easily into usual understandings of experimentation as lab-based, replicable, etc. In addition, we consider non-scientific theories of experimentation, and explore ways in which different literary genres and artistic projects understand planetary experimentation (for example, via fictions about explicit planetary experiments, such as geoengineering or the intentional global spread of nanotechnologies, as well as fictions about responses to unintentional planetary experiments, such as accidental release and global spread of a technology or virus). We will focus especially on how literature and art projects imagine or instantiate agency, expertise, and responsibility, and consider how these accounts compare to science and technology studies accounts of planetary experiments. The guiding premise of the course is that the history and language of planetary experimentation can open up contemporary discussions of engineering and technical solutionism to a critical history of politics, truth, and aesthetics.