The Research Group Popular Culture(s), together with the Literaturhaus Leipzig e.V., will be kicking off the event series “diejungeakademie@” as part of the 20th anniversary of Die Junge Akademie in 2020.

Four researchers, and members of Die Junge Akademie would like to place the form of Antigone against the backdrop of political events and cultural trends in society, and, from a historical, philological, literary, and philosophical standpoint, ask the question: How is she still relevant today? Excerpts will be read aloud from Friedrich Hölderlins translation of Antigone (1804): reviled as they were written, to this day controversial, but powerfully spoken and now used more and more.

The myth of Antigone, who buried her dead brother despite a prohibition, still resonates today – whether as a loving sister, a figure of defiance, a symbol of feministic ideals, or as a reference point for questions of law and order. Such links to current issues can be seen particularly clear in the version from Greek poet Sophokles, in which a seemingly simple plot evokes a diversity of opposites that links the piece to the modern relationship between women and men, living and the dead, society and the individual, and the state and family. Equally diverse are the debates that take place between different receptions of the literature and within various scientific fields.

Hölderlin-introduction and reading: Erik Schilling (LMU München)

Members of the podium: Michael Bies (FU Berlin), Eva Buddeberg (Universität Frankfurt), Christoph Lundgreen (Università di Pisa)

The event will be sponsored by the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony (Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen) and the Cultural Office of the City of Leipzig.