German Studies

Melanie received her BA in Sociology from the University of Bielefeld in 2019, with a minor in general literary studies. Her thesis examined the politicization of aesthetics in online cultures during the Trump election campaign. After completing her Bachelor's degree, she shifted her focus to literary studies at the University of Konstanz, where she explored the European literary canon, representation issues, and language critique. Focusing on literature from the 19th to the 21st century, her research interests included aesthetic theories, language crises, the question of inexpressibility, as well as issues of identity, spatial transitions, and temporal boundaries. She received her MA in 2023 with a thesis on the emerging genre of auto-sociobiography and the issue of representing the non-identical, which language can express. Her research interests include philosophy of language, narratology, early critical theory, interactions between literature and society, auto/biographical narratives, contemporary literature, and the relationship between imagination and experience in current poetological debates. Alongside her studies, she worked as a journalist and news editor and contributed to several volunteer educational projects.