Research
Katrin Kohl's research focuses on literature and cultural politics in the eighteenth and twentieth/twenty-first century. She is currently working on an edition of the poetic correspondence between Rainer Maria Rilke and Erika Mitterer, investigating dialogic processes in the period of modernism. Other research interests include the Prussian king Frederick the Great; the work of the eighteenth-century poet F.G. Klopstock; the work of holocaust-survivor H.G. Adler; and the theory and practice of metaphor.
Since 2016, Katrin Kohl has been the Programme Lead and the Principal Investigator in AHRC-funded Creative Multilingualism Project.
Teaching
Katrin Kohl teaches across the range of German literature since the eighteenth century and is interested in exploring cultural connections between different periods of German history. Special teaching interests include poetry, narratology, literary responses to the National Socialist past, GDR literature, advanced translation and comparative literature. She is also interested in language teaching.
Graduate Teaching
Graduate teaching includes special subjects in eighteenth and twentieth century literature, and a regular seminar on Spaces of Comparison. Subjects of supervised doctoral theses include modernist poetry and narrative literature, literature under National Socialism, contemporary literature and poetics, and the role of metaphor in translation theory.
Websites
Frederick the Great. Tercentenary, Oxford http://frederick.mml.ox.ac.uk
Oxford German Network https://www.ogn.ox.ac.uk/
Creative Multilingualism https://www.creativeml.ox.ac.uk/about
Publications
Books
with Reynolds, M. et al. (forthcoming, 2020) Creative Multilingualism: A Manifesto
with Duncan, D., Harrison, St., Kohl, K., Reynolds, M. (2019) Babel. Adventures in Translation
Rhetoric, the Bible, and the Origin of Free Verse: the Early "Hymns" of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 1990)
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Sammlung Metzler 325 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2000)
Metapher, Sammlung Metzler 352 (Stuttgart, Weimar: Metzler, 2007)
Poetologische Metaphern. Formen und Funktionen in der deutschen Literatur (Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 2007)
Edited Books
Rainer Maria Rilke – Erika Mitterer, Besitzlose Liebe. Der poetische Briefwechsel (Frankfurt: Insel, 2018)
Klopstock an der Grenze der Epochen, ed. by Kevin Hilliard and Katrin Kohl (Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 1995)
A History of Austrian Literature 1918-2000, ed. by Katrin Kohl and Ritchie Robertson (Rochester/NY: Camden House, 2006)
Wort und Schrift. Das Werk von Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, ed. by Kevin Hilliard and Katrin Kohl (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2008)
H.G. Adler, Andere Wege. Gesammelte Gedichte, ed. by Katrin Kohl and Franz Hocheneder, with Jeremy Adler (Klagenfurt: Drava, 2010)
Articles and Book Chapters (since 2007)
'“Flaschenpost”: Sprache als Metapher in der Lyrik des 20. Jahrhunderts', in Flaschenpost: German Poetry and the Long Twentieth Century, ed. by Karen Leeder, special volume: German Life and Letters, 60 (2007), 329-347
'Es lebe das Klischee! Spielarten eines verpönten Stilmittels bei Ernst Jandl, Andreas Okopenko und Oskar Pastior', in Schaltstelle. Neue deutsche Lyrik im Dialog, ed. by Karen Leeder (= German Monitor, 69) (Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi 2007), 187-212
'Festival, Performance, Wettstreit: Deutsche Gegenwartsliteratur als Ereignis', in Literarische Wertung und Kanonbildung, ed. by Nicholas Saul and Ricarda Schmidt (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2007), 173-190
'Conversation, Sport or Hatchet Job? Criticism and the Power of Metaphor', in In(ter)discipline: New Languages for Criticism, ed. by Gillian Beer, Malcolm Bowie et al. (Oxford: Legenda, 2007), 83-93
'Kulturstiftung durch Sprache: Rede und Schrift in der "Deutschen Gelehrtenrepublik"', in Wort und Schrift. Das Werk von Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, ed. by Kevin Hilliard and Katrin Kohl (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2008), 133-146
'No Escape? Goethe’s Strategies of Self-Projection and Their Role in German Literary Historiography', Goethe Yearbook, 16 (2008), 173-191
'Poetic Universals?', in Takhyīl. The Imaginary in Classical Arabic Poetics, ed. by Geert Jan van Gelder and Marlé Hammond ([Cambridge:] E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Trust, 2009), 133-146
'Ode', in Handbuch der Literarischen Gattungen, ed. by Dieter Lamping (Stuttgart: Kröner, 2009), 555-564
'Dialogische Verwandlungen: Der poetische Briefwechsel zwischen Erika Mitterer und Rainer Maria Rilke', in Nach Duino. Studien zu Rainer Maria Rilkes späten Gedichten, ed. by Karen Leeder and Robert Vilain (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2010), 70-92
'The Metaphor of Cultural Impact and the Cultural Impact of Metaphor', in Cultural Impact in the German Context. Studies in Transmission, Reception, and Influence, ed. by Rebecca Braun and Lyn Marven (Rochester/NY: Camden House, 2010), 19-35
'Conceptualising the GDR – 20 Years After', in From Stasiland to Ostalgie. The GDR Twenty Years After, ed. by Karen Leeder, special volume: Oxford German Studies, 38 (2009), 265-277
'Michael Hamburger as a Translator of German Poetry', in From Charlottenburg to Middleton. Michael Hamburger (1924-2007): Poet, Translator, Critic, ed. by Joyce Crick et al. (Munich: Iudicium, 2010), 41-61
'Klopstocks Homer', in Homer und die deutsche Literatur, ed. by Heinz Ludwig Arnold with Hermann Korte (Munich: Text + Kritik, 2010) (= Text + Kritik VIII/10), 107-122
'Poets Triumphant: the Contest with Philosophy in Schiller’s "Die Künstler"', Publications of the English Goethe Society, 79 (2010), 28-41
'Tropik (Allegorie, Metapher, Synekdoché, Metonymie)', in Lexikon Literaturwissenschaft. Hundert Grundbegriffe, ed. by Gerhard Lauer and Christine Ruhrberg (Reclam: Stuttgart, 2011), 338-341
'Die "beste Art über Gott zu denken"? Auseinandersetzungen um das religiöse Potential der Dichtung im 18. Jahrhundert' in Literatur und Theologie im 18. Jahrhundert. Konfrontationen - Kontroversen - Konkurrenzen, ed. by Hans-Edwin Friedrich et al. (Hallesche Beiträge zur Europäischen Aufklärung, 41) (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2011), 225-242
'H.G. Adlers Poetik der dichterischen Stimme', Monatshefte, 103 (2011), 228-248
"Nach Celan"? Die Bedeutung Celans für die Geschichte deutschsprachiger Lyrik und Poetik', in Poetik nach Celan, Part 1, ed. by Rüdiger Görner and Leonard Olschner, special volume: Jahrbuch für Internationale Germanistik, 43.1 (2011), 35-55
'Inspiration, Ingenium, Technik: Die apologetische Bedeutung der Ursprungstopik in der deutschsprachigen Kunsttheorie und Poetik der Frühen Neuzeit', in Welche Antike? Konkurrierende Rezeptionen des Altertums im Barock, ed. by Ulrich Heinen, 2 vols (Wolfenbütteler Arbeiten zur Barockforschung, 47) (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011), vol. 1, 971-984
'Die Metapher im wissenschaftlichen Diskurs des 18. Jahrhunderts: Theoretische Ansätze', in Tropen und Metaphern im wissenschaftlichen Diskurs im Bereich der Geisteswissenschaften des 18. Jahrhunderts, ed. by Elena Agazzi (Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte) (Hamburg: Meiner, 2011), 13-24
'Die Berliner Akademie als Medium des Kulturtransfers im Kontext der europäischen Aufklärung', in Friedrich der Große: Politik und Kulturtransfer im europäischen Kontext, ed. by Friedrich Luh and Michael Kaiser (2011), www.perspectivia.net:8403/perspectivia/content/publikationen/friedrich300-colloquien/friedrich-kulturtransfer/kohl_akademie
'Die Medialität der Lyrik: Oralität, Literarität, Musikalität, Visualität', in Handbuch Lyrik, ed. by Dieter Lamping (Stuttgart and Weimar: Metzler, 2011), 88-97
'Hero or Villain? The Response of German Authors to Frederick the Great', Publications of the English Goethe Society 81 (2012), 51-72
'Publizistische Inszenierung von Größe. Friedrichs Schriften als Medium des Ruhms', in Friederisiko. Friedrich der Große. Die Essays, ed. by Generaldirektion der Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten (Munich: Hirmer, 2012), 26-35
'E. Marlitt's Bestselling Poetics', in The German Bestseller in the Late Nineteenth Century, ed. by Charlotte Woodford and Benedict Schofield (Rochester/NY: Camden House, 2012), 183-205
'Die Rolle der Wilhelmine von Bayreuth in Friedrichs Dynastieverständnis', in Friedrich der Große und die Dynastie der Hohenzollern, ed. by Friedrich Luh and Michael Kaiser (2012), https://perspectivia.net/publikationen/friedrich300-colloquien/friedrich-dynastie/kohl_wilhelmine
'Friendship, Love and Loss in the Poetry of Else Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945)', Oxford German Studies, 42 (2013), 3-22
'Geschichtslyrik und die "Autonomie" der Literatur', in Geschichtslyrik. Ein Kompendium, ed. by Heinrich Detering and Peer Trilcke (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2013) [forthcoming]
Language Teaching
with Maddalena Fagandini et al., Deutsch direkt! and Ganz spontan! (multimedia courses) (London: BBC, 1985 and 1987)
with Tristam Carrington-Windo, Deutsches Business-Magazin (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1991)
with Tristam Carrington-Windo, German means Business (London: BBC Books, 1993)
with Martin Durrell and Gudrun Loftus, Practising German Grammar, 3rd ed. (London: Hodder, 2011) (from 2012: Routledge)
with Martin Durrell and Gudrun Loftus, Essential German Grammar (London: Hodder, 2002) (from 2012: Routledge)
Public Engagement
LinguaMania, Ashmolean Museum LiveFriday, Oxford, 27 January 2017
We are Children of the World - A Multilingual Concert, Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, 27 June 2018 (film shortlisted for AHRC film award)
Babel: Adventures in Translation, Exhibition, The Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, 5 February - 2 June 2019. Reviewed in the TLS; the Apollo Magazine; the Tatler.
Babel: Adventures in Translation, Teaching Guide
Babel: Adventures in Translation, The Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, Library Late Event, 8 March 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=GYqmS89LevY
Babel: Translation Competition
Public Speaking and Media
Translating Multilingual Britain, Lecture, the Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, 8 May 2019 (delivered as part of Babel: Adventures in Translation programme)
Babel: Adventures in Translation, discussion with Katrin Kohl and Matthew Reynolds, chaired by Samuel Fanous, Oxford Literary Festival, 3 April 2019
Start of the Week, BBC Radio 4, Jhumpa Lahiri, April De Angelis, Katrin Kohl and Marcus du Sautoy discuss the complexity of language and culture with Andrew Marr, 4 March 2019
Ofqual is killing off modern foreign language education, open letter published in the Guardian, 11 May 2019
Are Modern Foreign Languages exams too difficult?, Oxford Arts Blog, 13 May 2019
A number of Blogposts on Creative Multilingualism website, including: Modern (Foreign) Languages – a fractured identity?; Before Babel – a lost paradise?; What have birds got to do with multilingualism?; What can the UK learn from African multilingualism?; Thriving in post-Brexit Britain: the importance of languages; Languages as another way of being; Helping to balance the European argument – John le Carré speaks out for language learning