WAGPCS

The first meeting of the Washington Area Group for Print Culture Studies 2011-2012 series will take place on Friday, October 7th, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. in the Woodrow Wilson Room (LJ-113), in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Chase Richards (History, University of Pennsylvania) will deliver a talk entitled “The Two Lives of Karl Gutzkow:  On the Fate of a ‘Popular’ Print Venture.”

Abstract

The story of Unterhaltungen am häuslichen Herd (1852-64), which author-critic and erstwhile Young German Karl Gutzkow edited through the end of 1862, offers a rare glimpse into the clash of perspectives that could accompany the production of a Familienblatt, or “family paper,” after 1848. Though Gutzkow’s faith in the press as a generator of liberal public consciousness—as well as in his own role as author-arbiter of this process—was beyond dispute, he struggled to reconcile himself to the constraints of the nascent popular press. Not only were his principles at stake, but his identity. If it was the breathtakingly swift reconfiguration of the post-revolutionary German print market which laid bare the outdatedness of his vision, the Unterhaltungen rose and fell in the considerable gap between Gutzkow the lofty liberal author and Gutzkow the would-be “popular” editor.

Please join us for Chase Richard's talk and for dinner afterwards.

The Jefferson Building is located between First and Second Streets, SE in the District of Columbia. Nearest metro stops are Capitol South (blue and orange lines) and Union Station (red line).

For further information, consult the Washington Area Group for Print Culture Studies website at http://wagpcs.wordpress.com/. For their encouragement and support, the Washington Area Group for Print Culture Studies would like to thank Dr. Carolyn T. Brown, director, and Yvonne French of the  Office of Scholarly Programs, Kluge Center, Library of Congress as well as John Y. Cole, director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.