2015 - 2016: Humboldt Resarch Fellow, Peter Szondi-Institut, Freie Universität Berlin

Gastgeberin: Prof. Dr. Irene Albers, AVL und Romanische Phiologie

Pr. Dr. Lionel Ruffel is Head of Department and Professor of Comparative Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Paris 8. He is the incumbent of a Research Chair ‘Archaeology of the Contemporary: literature, culture media’ held at the Institut Universitaire de France.

https://univ-paris8.academia.edu/LionelRuffel
http://www.lgc.univ-paris8.fr/
http://www.master-creation-litteraire.univ-paris8.fr/
http://whatisthecontemporary.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/

Convinced that working on the contemporary demands an input from contemporary practitioners, he is also involved in French and international literary and artistic circles as a publisher, curator, literary advisor and columnist.  
Notably, he has been the founding director of the online literary journal “chaoïd” (2000-2007). He is also the founding director of the series “chaoïd” at Verdier publishing.
He has been awarded a Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship for Advanced Researcher to spend the academic year 2015-2016 at the Peter Szondi Institute where he is launching a new research program "Ecosystems of Contemporary Texts: Towards an Imaginary of Publication."

2015 - present: Gast Professor, Bern University of the Arts
2015 (spring): The Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor, University of St-Andrews
2013 - present: Full Professor of Comparative Literature, Paris 8 University
2012:  Habilitation, Comparative Literature, Paris 8 University
2011 – 2016: Member of the French University Institute (Institut Universitaire de France)
2007 - 2013:  Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Paris 8 University
2003: Phd, French and Comparative Literature, University Toulouse Jean Jaurès


contact: lruffel@zedat.fu-berlin.de
lionel.ruffel@univ-paris8.fr

Research Project: Ecosystems of Contemporary

Texts: Towards an Imaginary of Publication

The various methods that are typically used in literary studies are not suited to describe the profound evolutions that have been occurring in the contemporary literary ecosystem, which has gone from an imaginary centered on the book as object and medium, to an imaginary centered on a practice: publication. Today, there are as many literatures possible as there are possibilities for publication: books, performances, readings, groups, digital spaces. Beyond artistic creations, the whole of human communications are also entering the publishing era, thanks to the democratization of tools formerly limited to privileged authorities. That is why publishing has become not only one of the most interdisciplinary concepts but also one the most political ones. It is this imaginary of publication that my research project is designed to consecrate. Coming out of a reflection on contemporary literatures, it will produce a theory of the contemporary within its aesthetic, social and political stakes.