I am an associate professor of TEFL / TESOL and English Literature at the University of Salzburg, Department of English and American Studies. My main interests are literature in the classroom, visual narrative media (comics, picturebooks, films), visual literacy and auto/biography. Address: Austria
"Reading Shaun Tan's The Arrival". In Pascal Klenke et al., ed. Writing Worlds: Wel... more "Reading Shaun Tan's The Arrival". In Pascal Klenke et al., ed. Writing Worlds: Welten- und Raummodelle der Fantastik. Heidelberg: Winter, 2014. 265-76.
Riquelme, John Paul, ed. Gothic and Modernism: Essaying Dark Literary Modernity. Baltimore: The J... more Riquelme, John Paul, ed. Gothic and Modernism: Essaying Dark Literary Modernity. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. 236 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-8018-8865-6. $25.00. Gothic and Modernism is essentially a reprint of Modern Fiction Studies 46.3 (Fall 2000). However, John Paul Riquelme, the editor of both publications, provides an updated introduction and adds two new essays to the existing eight. Of these two, Theodora Goss's contribution, co-authored by Riquelme, appeared in MFS 53.3 (Fall 2007), which makes Paul K. Saint-Amour's "Gothic Temporality and Total War" the only original contribution. This collection of essays sets out to demonstrate Modernism's indebtedness to late nineteenth-century literature and especially Victorian Gothic fiction for some of its central concerns. Accordingly, part 1, "The 1890s," offers readings of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Thomas Hardy's Jude the...
In the early 1970 s, a number of influential science fiction scholars reached a consensus that th... more In the early 1970 s, a number of influential science fiction scholars reached a consensus that their genre of interest developed out of Gothic fiction and that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) marked a turning point in an ongoing reorientation towards a more secular and materialist understanding of human life and progress. The protagonist’s scientific career, which advances from a fascination with the occult to academic studies of chemistry and anatomy, seemed to mirror this paradigm shift. The new status of Frankenstein as a foundational text of the modern science fiction novel has frequently led to a narrow focus on its science, the uncanny anticipation of recent bioethical debates and Victor Frankenstein’s role as the archetypal (mad) scientist. However, the generic tension between Gothic themes and science fiction elements is instrumental to the novel’s design. Frankenstein, for example, is a far more problematic character than some science fiction scholars are willing to ackn...
This paper sets out to contextualize a number of contemporary android love stories, such as Jonat... more This paper sets out to contextualize a number of contemporary android love stories, such as Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn’s ALEX + ADA (2013–2015), Spike Jonze’s Her (2013) and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014), by looking at the way the creators engage with gender stereotypes and power relations. Apart from a synchronic look at how these variations on a theme are handled in detail, there is also a need to open up a diachronic perspective, which involves a well-established canon of predecessors on the one hand and a long tradition of feminist scholarship on the other. A return to the Golden Age of Science Fiction reveals obvious structural similarities, such as a male protagonist falling in love with a strongly feminized and sexualized machine, but also significant differences, which can be attributed to the cultural discourses that dominate different historical periods.
This paper sets out to contextualize a number of contemporary android love stories, such as Jonat... more This paper sets out to contextualize a number of contemporary android love stories, such as Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn’s ALEX + ADA (2013–2015), Spike Jonze’s Her (2013) and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014), by looking at the way the creators engage with gender stereotypes and power relations. Apart from a synchronic look at how these variations on a theme are handled in detail, there is also a need to open up a diachronic perspective, which involves a well-established canon of predecessors on the one hand and a long tradition of feminist scholarship on the other. A return to the Golden Age of Science Fiction reveals obvious structural similarities, such as a male protagonist falling in love with a strongly feminized and sexualized machine, but also significant differences, which can be attributed to the cultural discourses that dominate different historical periods.
Demokratie lernen in der Schule: Politische Bildung als Aufgabe für alle Unterrichtsfächer, 2020
In diesem Beitrag wird anhand eines konkreten Beispiels dargestellt, wie Schüle-
r/innen zentral... more In diesem Beitrag wird anhand eines konkreten Beispiels dargestellt, wie Schüle-
r/innen zentrale Kompetenzen im Bereich der Demokratiebildung weiterentwickeln
können, indem sie sich auf kritische Weise mit der Auto/biografie March von
John Lewis, Andrew Aydin und Nate Powell auseinandersetzen.
In ihrem richtungsweisenden Aufsatz »Desiring perception: finding utopian impulses in Shaun Tan's... more In ihrem richtungsweisenden Aufsatz »Desiring perception: finding utopian impulses in Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing« (2005), auf den ich später noch ausführlich eingehen werde, weist Debra Dudek eindrucksvoll nach, wie stark The Lost Thing (2000; dt. Titel: Die Fundsache) vom Genre der Utopie geprägt ist. Ich möchte diese Diskussion utopischer Tendenzen in Tans Werk in einen größeren Zusammenhang stellen, indem ich zwei weitere Bücher, The Rabbits (mit John Marsden; 1998) und The Arrival (2006; dt. Titel: Ein neues Land) hinzunehme, um eine längerfristige Beschäftigung des Künstlers mit zentralen Fragestellungen dieser Gattung aufzuzeigen.
One of the most lauded features of Shaun Tan’s Th e Arrival is its textual and generic hybridity.... more One of the most lauded features of Shaun Tan’s Th e Arrival is its textual and generic hybridity. However, (inter-)cultural readings of the picture book, both in the academic context and within Evelyn Arizpe (2014) and her team’s Visual Journeys project with immigrant children, reveal noticeable diffi culties in determining the cultural implications of the text. By contrasting its two main genres, documentary and utopian writing, this paper sets out to explain why the book allows for such divergent readings and recommends students in their later teens as the ideal target group for a cultural reading of Th e Arrival in the classroom.
The publication history of David Hine’s Strange Embrace, which spans more than two decades by now... more The publication history of David Hine’s Strange Embrace, which spans more than two decades by now, provides an interesting mirror of recent developments in the Comics industry, most importantly the move to digital releases. This remediation had a significant impact on the comic’s mediality and materiality, such as the multi-touch interface of smartphones and tablets allowing for several ways to navigate between, as well as within, the comic’s pages. However, the third print edition, which added full colour, improved lettering, and a host of bonus features, can already be considered as a redesign of the book. This article sets out to relate the changes across the various editions of Strange Embrace to marketing considerations, reading them as attempts to sell Hine’s work as an idiosyncratic art comic in the early 1990s, a mainstream Comic in the late 2000s, and, finally, a sophisticated graphic novel for connoisseurs of Comics in 2014.
"Reading Shaun Tan's The Arrival". In Pascal Klenke et al., ed. Writing Worlds: Wel... more "Reading Shaun Tan's The Arrival". In Pascal Klenke et al., ed. Writing Worlds: Welten- und Raummodelle der Fantastik. Heidelberg: Winter, 2014. 265-76.
Riquelme, John Paul, ed. Gothic and Modernism: Essaying Dark Literary Modernity. Baltimore: The J... more Riquelme, John Paul, ed. Gothic and Modernism: Essaying Dark Literary Modernity. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. 236 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978-0-8018-8865-6. $25.00. Gothic and Modernism is essentially a reprint of Modern Fiction Studies 46.3 (Fall 2000). However, John Paul Riquelme, the editor of both publications, provides an updated introduction and adds two new essays to the existing eight. Of these two, Theodora Goss's contribution, co-authored by Riquelme, appeared in MFS 53.3 (Fall 2007), which makes Paul K. Saint-Amour's "Gothic Temporality and Total War" the only original contribution. This collection of essays sets out to demonstrate Modernism's indebtedness to late nineteenth-century literature and especially Victorian Gothic fiction for some of its central concerns. Accordingly, part 1, "The 1890s," offers readings of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Thomas Hardy's Jude the...
In the early 1970 s, a number of influential science fiction scholars reached a consensus that th... more In the early 1970 s, a number of influential science fiction scholars reached a consensus that their genre of interest developed out of Gothic fiction and that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) marked a turning point in an ongoing reorientation towards a more secular and materialist understanding of human life and progress. The protagonist’s scientific career, which advances from a fascination with the occult to academic studies of chemistry and anatomy, seemed to mirror this paradigm shift. The new status of Frankenstein as a foundational text of the modern science fiction novel has frequently led to a narrow focus on its science, the uncanny anticipation of recent bioethical debates and Victor Frankenstein’s role as the archetypal (mad) scientist. However, the generic tension between Gothic themes and science fiction elements is instrumental to the novel’s design. Frankenstein, for example, is a far more problematic character than some science fiction scholars are willing to ackn...
This paper sets out to contextualize a number of contemporary android love stories, such as Jonat... more This paper sets out to contextualize a number of contemporary android love stories, such as Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn’s ALEX + ADA (2013–2015), Spike Jonze’s Her (2013) and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014), by looking at the way the creators engage with gender stereotypes and power relations. Apart from a synchronic look at how these variations on a theme are handled in detail, there is also a need to open up a diachronic perspective, which involves a well-established canon of predecessors on the one hand and a long tradition of feminist scholarship on the other. A return to the Golden Age of Science Fiction reveals obvious structural similarities, such as a male protagonist falling in love with a strongly feminized and sexualized machine, but also significant differences, which can be attributed to the cultural discourses that dominate different historical periods.
This paper sets out to contextualize a number of contemporary android love stories, such as Jonat... more This paper sets out to contextualize a number of contemporary android love stories, such as Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn’s ALEX + ADA (2013–2015), Spike Jonze’s Her (2013) and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina (2014), by looking at the way the creators engage with gender stereotypes and power relations. Apart from a synchronic look at how these variations on a theme are handled in detail, there is also a need to open up a diachronic perspective, which involves a well-established canon of predecessors on the one hand and a long tradition of feminist scholarship on the other. A return to the Golden Age of Science Fiction reveals obvious structural similarities, such as a male protagonist falling in love with a strongly feminized and sexualized machine, but also significant differences, which can be attributed to the cultural discourses that dominate different historical periods.
Demokratie lernen in der Schule: Politische Bildung als Aufgabe für alle Unterrichtsfächer, 2020
In diesem Beitrag wird anhand eines konkreten Beispiels dargestellt, wie Schüle-
r/innen zentral... more In diesem Beitrag wird anhand eines konkreten Beispiels dargestellt, wie Schüle-
r/innen zentrale Kompetenzen im Bereich der Demokratiebildung weiterentwickeln
können, indem sie sich auf kritische Weise mit der Auto/biografie March von
John Lewis, Andrew Aydin und Nate Powell auseinandersetzen.
In ihrem richtungsweisenden Aufsatz »Desiring perception: finding utopian impulses in Shaun Tan's... more In ihrem richtungsweisenden Aufsatz »Desiring perception: finding utopian impulses in Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing« (2005), auf den ich später noch ausführlich eingehen werde, weist Debra Dudek eindrucksvoll nach, wie stark The Lost Thing (2000; dt. Titel: Die Fundsache) vom Genre der Utopie geprägt ist. Ich möchte diese Diskussion utopischer Tendenzen in Tans Werk in einen größeren Zusammenhang stellen, indem ich zwei weitere Bücher, The Rabbits (mit John Marsden; 1998) und The Arrival (2006; dt. Titel: Ein neues Land) hinzunehme, um eine längerfristige Beschäftigung des Künstlers mit zentralen Fragestellungen dieser Gattung aufzuzeigen.
One of the most lauded features of Shaun Tan’s Th e Arrival is its textual and generic hybridity.... more One of the most lauded features of Shaun Tan’s Th e Arrival is its textual and generic hybridity. However, (inter-)cultural readings of the picture book, both in the academic context and within Evelyn Arizpe (2014) and her team’s Visual Journeys project with immigrant children, reveal noticeable diffi culties in determining the cultural implications of the text. By contrasting its two main genres, documentary and utopian writing, this paper sets out to explain why the book allows for such divergent readings and recommends students in their later teens as the ideal target group for a cultural reading of Th e Arrival in the classroom.
The publication history of David Hine’s Strange Embrace, which spans more than two decades by now... more The publication history of David Hine’s Strange Embrace, which spans more than two decades by now, provides an interesting mirror of recent developments in the Comics industry, most importantly the move to digital releases. This remediation had a significant impact on the comic’s mediality and materiality, such as the multi-touch interface of smartphones and tablets allowing for several ways to navigate between, as well as within, the comic’s pages. However, the third print edition, which added full colour, improved lettering, and a host of bonus features, can already be considered as a redesign of the book. This article sets out to relate the changes across the various editions of Strange Embrace to marketing considerations, reading them as attempts to sell Hine’s work as an idiosyncratic art comic in the early 1990s, a mainstream Comic in the late 2000s, and, finally, a sophisticated graphic novel for connoisseurs of Comics in 2014.
This study updates reader-response criticism as the foundation of aesthetic reading in the classr... more This study updates reader-response criticism as the foundation of aesthetic reading in the classroom by bringing it in line with cognitive theories in literary studies and linguistics. With the help of Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner's conceptual integration theory, which shares a surprising number of correspondences with Wolfgang Iser's The Act of Reading, it is possible to flesh out the latter's model of narrative meaning-making. In turn, this allows for a consistent reader-response approach to the medium of comics and auto/biography as one of its dominant genres. The fragmentation of comics narratives, but also of human lives and identities, requires such a theory that can explain how different perspectives and experiences can be blended into an experiential whole.
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Papers by Markus Oppolzer
r/innen zentrale Kompetenzen im Bereich der Demokratiebildung weiterentwickeln
können, indem sie sich auf kritische Weise mit der Auto/biografie March von
John Lewis, Andrew Aydin und Nate Powell auseinandersetzen.
children, reveal noticeable diffi culties in determining the cultural implications of the text. By contrasting its two main genres, documentary and utopian writing, this paper sets out to explain why the book allows for such divergent readings and recommends students
in their later teens as the ideal target group for a cultural reading of Th e Arrival in the classroom.
editions of Strange Embrace to marketing considerations, reading them as attempts to sell Hine’s work as an idiosyncratic art comic in the early 1990s, a mainstream Comic in the late 2000s, and, finally, a sophisticated graphic novel for connoisseurs of Comics in 2014.
r/innen zentrale Kompetenzen im Bereich der Demokratiebildung weiterentwickeln
können, indem sie sich auf kritische Weise mit der Auto/biografie March von
John Lewis, Andrew Aydin und Nate Powell auseinandersetzen.
children, reveal noticeable diffi culties in determining the cultural implications of the text. By contrasting its two main genres, documentary and utopian writing, this paper sets out to explain why the book allows for such divergent readings and recommends students
in their later teens as the ideal target group for a cultural reading of Th e Arrival in the classroom.
editions of Strange Embrace to marketing considerations, reading them as attempts to sell Hine’s work as an idiosyncratic art comic in the early 1990s, a mainstream Comic in the late 2000s, and, finally, a sophisticated graphic novel for connoisseurs of Comics in 2014.