Doctoral Candidate Maximilan Kathan

My name is Maximilian/Max and I am originally from Vienna, Austria. I am currently living and pursuing my doctorate in Heidelberg. My academic background is in history and literature, after my bachelor studies in Vienna and Berlin I received an M.A. in “Jewish Civilizations” from Paideia - The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden and the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg. In my dissertation, I am now investigating the lines of connection between language, literature and national identities in the Habsburg Monarchy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in particular the role that Jewish authors played in these processes. I am interested in the question of how constructions of Jewish (and other) identities were represented in literature and non-literary forms and how these motifs were integrated into the political-historical context of the late Habsburg Monarchy. This question will be answered by examining the selected authors Karl Emil Franzos (1848-1904), Nathan Birnbaum (1864-1937) and possibly also Stefan Zweig (1881-1942). My sources are literary and journalistic texts, first-person documents and other archival materials from authors who participated in the processes of identity formation. I think I can benefit greatly from the interdisciplinary orientation of the HGGS, as my doctoral topic is located at the interface of history, German studies and Jewish studies.