Deutsches Haus at NYU presents a cultural talk on September 19.
Deutsches Haus at NYU (42 Washington Mews, New York, N.Y.) will present a lecture Monday, Sept. 19, at 6:30 p.m. by Professor Elisabeth Bronfen on “Charmed Visions: E. T. A. Hoffmann’s ‘Sandman' on Screen."
Hardly another German gothic story has had as sustained an impact as E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman. One year after the end of the First World War, Sigmund Freud places it at the center of his essay on the uncanny, while Ernst Lubitsch recasts it in his romantic comedy Die Puppe. At the heart of both re-visitations lies the omnipotence of an enchanted vision that endows in-animated objects with a life of their own. Hitchcock’s Vertigo, in turn, explores the dark inversion of such visual screen magic, not without its own touch of black humor.
Elisabeth Bronfen is professor of English and American Studies at the University of Zürich, and, since 2007 Global Distinguished Professor in the German department at NYU. She specializes in the interface between literary and visual culture, historical transformations through various media, psychoanalysis, and gender studies. Her publications include Specters of War: Hollywood’s Engagement with Military Conflict, Night Passages: Philosophy, Literature and Film, and Mad Men, Death and the American Dream.
Events at Deutsches Haus are free and open to the public. If you would like to attend this event, please send an email to deutscheshaus.rsvp@nyu.edu or call 212.998.8600.
As space at Deutsches Haus is limited, please arrive ten minutes prior to the event to ensure you get a good seat. Thank you!
Charmed Visions: E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Sandman on Screen is a DAAD supported event.