Professorship for English Literature

Organisational unit: Professoship

Organisation profile

In the English Literature section, our research and teaching focusses on a wide range of topics from a broadly Cultural Studies perspective. Areas of particular interest in our research include narratology, image studies, literary translation and adaptation, transnational phenomena, Irish literature, children’s literature as well as literature of the Romantic period and eighteenth-century literature situated at the interface of literature and music. In our teaching we offer courses in the Bachelor and Master programmes in Teacher Education and Cultural Studies. Seminar topics range from a general Introduction to English Literature to literary translation, transmedia storytelling, contemporary Irish short stories, children’s literature, the picturebook and other multimodal texts, literary nonsense, specific writers such as Oscar Wilde or genres such as eighteenth-century travel. We explore how literature works between and beyond the book covers in research-based seminars and project seminars in cooperation with partners in literary institutions, in theatre excursions and through guest lectures by contemporary authors and translators as well as by representatives of publishing houses and from the local theatre. Committed to our teaching, we employ different didactic approaches and methods, including blended learning, and use a variety of teaching materials specifically tailored to our students’ needs and interests.

Main research areas

Areas of research are comparative literature, translation studies, image studies, children's literature and literature in the classroom (intercultural aspects and children's literature in foreign language learning and teaching).

  1. Published
  2. Published

    Over here and over there: das Deutschlandbild in der britischen Literatur vor und nach der Wende

    O'Sullivan, E., 2010, Grenzenlos: Mauerfall und Wende in (Kinder- und Jugend-)Literatur und Medien. Dettmar, U. & Oetken, M. (eds.). Heidelberg: Winter Universitätsverlag, p. 277-296 20 p. (Beiträge zur neueren Literaturgeschichte [Dritte Folge]; vol. 279).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  3. Published

    Picture books in teacher training: creative writing and intercultural learning with Das Land der Ecken and Die Englandreise

    O'Sullivan, E. & Rösler, D., 2005, Niemals zu früh und selten zu spät: Fremdsprachenunterricht in Schule und Erwachsenenbildung: Festschrift für Jürgen Quetz. Burwitz-Melzer, E. & Solmecke, G. (eds.). Berlin: Cornelsen-Verlag, p. 161-169 9 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  4. Published

    Picturing the World for Children: Early Nineteenth-Century Images of Foreign Nations

    O'Sullivan, E., 09.2017, Imagining Sameness and Difference in Children’s Literature: From the Enlightenment to the Present Day. O'Sullivan, E. & Immel, A. (eds.). London: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 51-70 20 p. (Critical Approaches to Children's Literature).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review

  5. Published

    Poetik der Nation: Englishness in der englischen Romantik

    Köhler, U. K., 26.09.2019, Leiden/Boston: Brill Rodopi. 254 p. (Studia Imagologica; vol. 25)

    Research output: Books and anthologiesMonographsResearchpeer-review

  6. Published

    Remote? Präsenz? Hybrid? Blended? Postpandemisches Lehren und Lernen in Bildungsinstitutionen

    O'Sullivan, E. & Rösler, D., 2024, Literaturvermittlung im virtuellen Raum: Beiträge zur digitalen germanistischen Hochschullehre. Eckart, M., Fjordevik , A., Langemeyer, P., Löwe, C., Marx Åberg, A. & Solheim, B. (eds.). Berlin: Peter Lang Verlag, p. 153-173 290 p. (Nordeuropäische Arbeiten zur Literatur, Sprache und Kultur; vol. 19).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticle in conference proceedingsResearchpeer-review

  7. Published

    Repräsentationen eigener und fremder Kulturen in der (Kinder)Literatur

    O'Sullivan, E., 2007, Dialoge zwischen den Kulturen. Honnef-Becker, I. (ed.). Baltmannsweiler: Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, p. 127-144 18 p. (Diskussionsforum Deutsch ; vol. 24).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearch

  8. Published

    Rose Blanche, Rosa Weiss, Rosa Bianca: A comparative view of a controversial picture book

    O'Sullivan, E., 01.04.2005, In: The Lion and the Unicorn. 29, 2, p. 152-170 19 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsScientific review articlesResearch

  9. Published

    Rose Blanche, Rose Blanca: a comparative view of a controversial picture book

    O'Sullivan, E., 2008, In: Children's Literature Review. 126, p. 130-138 9 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  10. Published

    Sameness and Difference in Children's Literature: An Introduction

    O'Sullivan, E. & Immel, A., 2017, Imagining Sameness and Difference in Children's Literature : From the Enlightenment to the Present Day. O'Sullivan, E. & Immel, A. (eds.). London, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 1-25 25 p. (Critical Approaches to Children's Literature).

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksContributions to collected editions/anthologiesResearchpeer-review