Nina Schmidt

My PhD research was motivated by a notable increase in publications of autobiographical writing about illness/ disability in the German-speaking world. Texts forming the basis of my analysis included Charlotte Roche’s Schoßgebete, Kathrin Schmidt’s Du stirbst nicht, Verena Stefan’s Fremdschlӓfer, and the cancer diaries of Christoph Schlingensief and Wolfgang Herrndorf – all published between 2007 and 2013. Many more could now be included, as such illness narratives continue to be published and attract widespread public attention. As well as producing new readings of each text that are particularly mindful of what it means to live with illness and write from this position, the thesis - now book - aims to demonstrate the value and use of literary disability studies to the field of Germanistik (German Studies). The book, titled The Wounded Self, is going to come out in paperback in 2022.

My postdoc position at the FU Berlin (2016-2021) allowed me to expand my research into illness narratives. I investigated representations of illness experiences in literature and in comics (as expressed by German- and English-speaking authors in particular; my emphasis was on European works). The PathoGraphics-project, with which my research was affiliated, was funded by the Einstein Stiftung Berlin.

My interests, as reflected in my publications, are: the genres of the self (autofiction, the autobiographical novel and comics or graphic novels, diary, autothanatography), disability studies, theories of the body and of trauma, as well as cultural representations of and the wider discourse on illness/ disability generally.

Find me on twitter: @schmidt20_nina

Watch the video:
https://vimeo.com/181782328

www.fsgs.fu-berlin.de/pathographics

For a more up-to-date list of publications, see: https://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/friedrichschlegel/assoziierte_projekte/Pathographics/sl_5_TEAM/Nina-Schmidt/index.html