Isak Winkel Holm

Current research

My research interests lie in the intersection of literary studies and political philosophyor, more generally, of aesthetics and politics. Hence, my research themes fall in two halves: on the one hand, Literary Theory, Cultural Theory, Aesthetics, Theory of Metaphor and Theory of Tragedy; on the other hand, Political Theory, Social Philosophy, Theory of Justice and Disaster Research. Currently, the two halves meet in a number book projects.

Stormløb mod grænsen: det politiske hos Franz Kafka(Assault on the Border: The Political in Franz Kafka, Gyldendal Publishers 2015) sets out to rethink the relationship between aesthetics and politics in Kafka's literary works. My claim is that this relationship should be understood not only as a question of aesthetic representation but, as well, as a question of aesthetic experience; not just content but also form. A thoroughly rewritten versionof this material, Kafka’s Stereoscopes: The Political Function of a Literary Style, is to be published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2019. 

At present, I am working on two closely related book projects on the prophetic tone in modern literature and philosophy. By prophetic tone, I mean an aesthetic mood, modelled after the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, in which the pre-catastrophic present is perceived in the shadow of a post-catastrophic future.

1. Kierkegaard og katastrofen (Kierkegaard and Catastrophe): In Fear and Trembling, Søren Kierkegaard describes the "shudder of thought" that emerges whenever we try to approach Abraham's three-day journey to Mount Moriah. This shudder, a specific configuration of imagination and affect, can be understood as a prophetic tone. In this case, the looming disaster is the future sacrifice on Mount Moriah. I contend that the prophetic tone, a largely understudied aesthetic category, is vital to the interpretation of Kierkegaard's philosophical thought. Existence, in Kierkegaard's innovative sense of the term, is human life seen in the light of the future disaster.

2. In the Shadow of Future Disasters: The Prophetic Tone in Modern Literature.

This is a book neither onthe prophet as a social role nor on the prophecy as alinguistic message but, rather, on the propheticas a literary tone. What interests me is the specific aesthetic mood created by the foreshadowing of disaster. In an opening essay, I offer an account of the concepts of tone (Heidegger, Wellbery, Sinnerbrink, Ngai) and, more specifically, of prophetic tone (inspired, first of all, by Maurice Blanchot’s seminal essay “La parole prophetique”). In the following essays, I explore this specific feeling tone in selected works of literature from the last two hundred years. My concern is the threat of looming disasters in literary works by Heinrich von Kleist, Søren Kierkegaard, Henrik Ibsen, Franz Kafka, Inger Christensen, Roberto Bolaño, Cormac McCarthy, and, finally, the first season of True Detective.I contend that this aesthetic category is vital to the interpretation of modern literature and, in a wider context, to the understanding of modern catastrophized life, a life under the permanent threat from climate disasters and terrorist attacks. 

In connection with my exploration of the cultural history of disaster I am member of the steering committee of a number of cross-disciplinary research networks and centres that, in different ways, create platforms for uniting cultural studies with the History, Law, Anthropology, Theology, etc.

"COPE – Copenhagen Disaster Research Center", http://cope.ku.dk

"Søren Kierkegaard Forskningscentret", http://www.skc.ku.dk, advisory board.

Teaching

"Filosofisk æstetik: fra Baumgarten til Berlant", kursu for KA-studerende, 2018

Specialeforberedende workshop, sammen med Mikkel Bolt, 2017-

"Litteraturfilosofi", kursus for KA-studerende, i samarbejde med Christian Benne, tysk, og Leo Catana, filosofi, 2016. 

"Den moderne litteraturs historie 1", i samarbejde med Frederik Tygstrup og skiftende undervisere, 2014-19    

"Æstetik og politik", kursus for KA-studerende, 2016                         

"Delingen af det sanselige", øvelsesrække for KA-studerende, 2013

"Sammenbrud: teoretisk emne", forelæsninger og seminarer på KA-uddannelsen i Moderne Kultur, i samarbejde med Erik Steinskog og Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, 2012-14

"Kafka og retfærdigheden", forelæsningsrække for KA-studerende, 2012

"Undtagelseskunst", øvelsesrække for kandidatstuderende, 2011

"Poetisk retfærdighed", øvelsesrække for kandidatstuderende, 2010

"Katastrofen i kulturen", emnekursus for kandidatstuderende, 2009

"Dostojevskijs Forbrydelse og straf", kortere kursus- og vejledningsforløb for Åbent universitet-studerende, 2007

"Litteraturteori og -analyse". Kursus på Åbent universitet i samarbejde med Lilian Munk Rösing, 2007

"Kants Kritik af dømmekraften", studiekreds for kandidatstuderende, 2007

"Cultural space". Research seminar ved Danish Doctoral School in Cultural Studies, Literature, and the Arts, Københavns Universitet, i samarbejde med Lilian Munk Rösing, 2007

"Franz Kafkas forfatterskab". Forelæsningsrække for overbygningsstuderende, 2006

"Franz Kafkas Processen". Øvelsesrække for overbygningsstuderende, 2006

"Litteraturteori og -analyse". Forelæsninger og seminarer for 1. års-studerende, i samarbejde med Lilian Munk Rösing (gentaget og revideret 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), 2005

"Kunst og konstitution". Seminar for overbygningsstuderende i samarbejde med Henrik Stampe Lund, 2004

"Emil Aarestrup, Digte, 1828". Øvelsesrække for overbygningsstuderende, 2002

"Mellemøstlig litteratur og kultur". Foredragsrække med gæsteforelæsere for overbygningsstuderende, sammen med Anne Fastrup, 2002

"Dostojevskij, Kældermennesket". Øvelsesrække for 1. års-studerende, 2002

"Balzac, Le Père Goriot". Forelæsningsrække med efterfølgende seminar for overbygningsstuderende, sammen med Frederik Tygstrup, 2001

"Lieder mit Worten: workshop om musikalsk og litterær interpretation", i samarbejde med sangeruddannelsen ved Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium. (Eichendorff og Mörike; Schumann og Wolf), 2001

"Forlagsarbejde", formidlingskursus for overbygningsstuderende, 2001

"Litterær metaforteori", øvelsesrække for tilvalgsstuderende, BA-niveau, 2001

"Den litterære tribunal", foredragsrække for overbygningsstuderende, 2000

"Franz Kafkas fortællinger", øvelsesrække for overbygningsstuderende, 1999

"Franz Kafkas Das Schloß", øvelsesrække for BA-studerende, 1999

"Metaforteorien i praksis", forelæsningsrække for BA-studerende, 1998

"Litteraturteori", studiekreds, 1998

"Rilkes billeder i Neue Gedichte", bachelorseminar, sammen med Lilian Munk Rösing, 1998

"Perspektiver på det tragiske", overbygningskursus, sammen med Henrik Stampe Lund, 1998

"Æstetikteori og litteraturteori", studiekreds, 1997

"Litteraturteori og kritikhistorie", overbygningskursus, 1997

"Metaforteorien i praksis: metaforen og sonetformen", overbygningskursus, 1997

"Kierkegaards billeder", overbygningskursus, 1996

"Tableauet i teksten", overbygningskursus, sammen med Anne Fastrup, 1995

"Ironi - fra romantikken til Rorty", overbygningskursus, 1994

"Angstbegrebet hos Kierkegaard, Heidegger og Sartre", overbygningskursus, sammen med Henrik Stampe Lund, 1993

"Værk­gennemgang af Søren Kierkegaards Enten-Eller", overbygningskursus, sammen med Henrik Stampe Lund, 1993

Knowledge of languages

CV

Education

• 1995-96 Winter semester, Doktorant at Freie Universität, Berlin
• 1994-1998 Research fellow at Department for Comparative Literature
• 1991 Studies at Sorbonne and Université de Paris VII
• 1985-92 Studies in Comparative Literature, University of Copenhagen

 Employment

• 2001- Associate Professor, Department for Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen
• 1999-2004 Editor of the Danish Cultural Magazine KRITIK
• 1998-2001 Assistant Professor, Department for Comparative Literature
• 1995-2000 Literary critic at Weekendavisen
• 1994 and 1997 Teaching assistant, Department for Comparative Literature
• 1992-1994 Editor (French, German, Spanish and Danish literature) at Gyldendal Publishers, Copenhagen

 Administrative positions

• 2005-2008 Head of Research (Literature and Modern Culture), Department for Arts and Cultural Studies
• 2001-2004 Head of Study, Department for Comparative Literature
• 1998-2001 Member of the Curriculum Committee, Department for Comparative Literature

 Academic tasks

• 2004-2005 Member of the Committee for Humanistic Studies, Ministry of Science, Technology and Development, writing the report "Humanistiske kandidater og arbejdsmarkedet" (Candidates from the Humanistic Sciences and the Labour Market)
• 1999-2004 Member of the Translation Committee, Danish Literature Centre
• 1995-2004 Editor of the series Moderne tænkere (Contemporary Thinkers), Gyldendal, Copenhagen
• 1994-2004 Reader for the publishing house Gyldendal, Copenhagen
• 1993 Editor of the journal Ny Poetik