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. 2008
  2. Published

    Jenny and Abigail on the rocks: censorship and children's literature in Britain

    O'Sullivan, E., 2008, In: Journal for the Study of British Cultures. 15, 2, p. 109-120 12 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. Published

    Kinder- und Jugendliteratur in der Ausbildung von Englischlehrern

    O'Sullivan, E., 2008, In: Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen. 37, 1, p. 197-211 15 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  4. Published

    Meine Sprache wohnt woanders: Sprache als Heimat in Kinderliteratur und Kindheitsautobiographien

    O'Sullivan, E., 2008, In: Kjl & m forschung.schule.bibliothek. 60, 4, p. 13-22 10 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearch

  5. Published

    Mit Kinder- und Jugendliteratur arbeiten. Warum und wie?

    O'Sullivan, E. & Rösler, D., 2008, In: Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht : Basisheft. 6, p. 3-6 4 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesTransfer

  6. 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

  7. Published

    Shifting images: Germans in postwar British children's fiction

    O'Sullivan, E., 2008, Under fire: Childhood in the Shadow of War. Goodenough, E. & Immel, A. (eds.). Detroit: Wayne State University Press, p. 77-89 13 p.

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

  8. Published

    Translating pictures (1999)

    O'Sullivan, E., 2008, Considering children's literature: A Reader. Schwenke Wyile, A. (ed.). Peterborough, Ontario [u.a.]: Broadview Press, p. 117-126 10 p.

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

  9. Published

    Zur Verortung des Bösen in der Kinder- und Jugendliteratur

    O'Sullivan, E., 2008, Das Böse heute: Formen und Funktionen. Faulstich, W. (ed.). Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, p. 101-111 11 p.

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

  10. 2007
  11. Published

    At the periphery of the periphery: children's literature, global and local

    O'Sullivan, E., 2007, Global fragments: (dis)orientation in the new world order. Bartels, A. & Wiemann, D. (eds.). Amsterdam: Rodopi, p. 241-258 18 p.

    Research output: Contributions to collected editions/worksArticle in conference proceedingsResearch

  12. Published

    Children's literature

    O'Sullivan, E., 2007, Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters : a Critical Survey. Beller, M. & Leerssen, J. (eds.). Amsterdam [u.a.]: Rodopi, p. 290-294 5 p. (Studia Imagologica; vol. 13).

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