Performing Knowledge, 1750-1850

This volume addresses how practices and concepts of performance contribute to the production and circulation of knowledge in German-speaking Europe between 1750 and 1850. Building on recent work in the history of science, media theory, and performance theory, the essays in this volume discuss a range of different scholarly, literary, musical, and theatrical scenes of performance and take up the question of knowledge transfers in new ways.

Sean B. Franzel, University of Missouri, Columbia Missouri, USA; Mary Helen Dupree , Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.

The period between 1750 and 1850 was a time when knowledge and its modes of transmission were reconsidered and reworked in fundamental ways. Social and political transformations, such as the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, went hand in hand with in new ways of viewing, sensing, and experiencing what was perceived to be a rapidly changing world. This volume brings together a range of essays that explore the performance of knowledge in the period from 1750 to 1850, in the broadest possible sense. The essays explore a wide variety of literary, theatrical, and scientific events staged during this period, including scientific demonstrations, philosophical lectures, theatrical performances, stage design, botany primers, musical publications, staged Schiller memorials, acoustic performances, and literary declamations. These events served as vital conduits for the larger process of generating, differentiating, and circulating knowledge. By unpacking the significance of performance and performativity for the creation and circulation of knowledge in Germany during this period, the volume makes an important contribution to interdisciplinary German cultural studies, performance studies, and the history of knowledge.

Auteur

Sean B. Franzel, University of Missouri, Columbia Missouri, USA; Mary Helen Dupree, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.