research
After obtaining two Master’s degrees, one in Political Sciences and one in English Literatures and Cultures, from the University of Bonn with a stop at the Nouvelle Sorbonne in Paris (Paris III), Christine Lehnen is currently pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing at the Department of English and American Studies and Creative Writing at the University of Manchester. Supervised by Jerome de Groot and Ian McGuire, she researches contemporary historical novels, investigating them for innovative and emancipating methods of remembering the past and making memories.
She is a member of the Memory Studies Association.
publications
- Lehnen, Christine (2021): “As We Come Out of Lockdown, Let’s Not Go Back to Locking Out the World: Creating Equal Opportunities through Digital Book Events”. In: Cultural Practices 2.3
- Lehnen, Christine (2021): “Remember their Names: The Women Who Almost Saved Troy”. In: Antigone Journal.
- Lehnen, Christine (2020): “Post-National Authors, Post-National Literature? An Interview with David Szalay”. In: Alluvium 8.1
- Lehnen, Christine (2019): “European Literature – Made in the UK?”. In: Alluvium 7.4
- Lehnen, Christine (2016): “Exploring Narratives’ Powers of Emotional Persuasion through Character Involvement: A Working Heuristic”. In: Journal of Literary Theory 10 (2).
- Lehnen, Christine (2015): Defining Dystopia. A Genre Between The Circle and The Hunger Games. A Functional Approach to Fiction. Marburg: Tectum.
teaching:
- Novel Writers’ Workshop (University of Bonn)The Novel Writing Workshop at the University of Bonn, first taught in 2014, is open to students from all disciplines. After a special application process, students may spend several semesters working on their novels, cover every stage from the first idea over outlining, writing the first draft, editing and polishing to submitting. The workshop focuses especially on a combination of theory and craft, the creative and the critical. The students work on projects that represent all the variety of young contemporary fiction in the region, from genre fiction over accessible literary to innovative language experiments. Every semester, students’ work is showcased to editors and agents, e. g. from DuMont, Kiepenheuer & Witsch and Bastei Lübbe. Since 2020, the Workshop is cooperating cross-institutionally with the University of Bochum to strengthen the network of emerging and established literary practitioners in North-Rhine Westfalia.
Student Reading Recommendations:
Atwood, Margaret. On Writers and Writing.
Boyd, Brian. On the Origin of Stories.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With A Thousand Faces.
Fludernik, Monika. Towards a New Narratolgy.
Gardner, John. The Art of Fiction.
George, Elizabeth. Write Away. One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction.
Gottschall, Jonathan. The Story-Telling Animal. How Fiction Makes Us Human
Kehlmann, Daniel. Diese Sehr Ernsten Scherze.
Kehlmann, Daniel. Lob. Über Literatur.
Kennedy, A L. On Writing.
Lehnen, Christine. “Exploring Narratives’ Powers of Emotional Persuasion through Character Involvement: A Working Heuristic”.
Murakami, Haruki. The Novelist as a Profession / Von Beruf Schriftsteller.
Oatley, Keith. The Passionate Muse. Exploring Emotions in Fiction.
Orwell, George. Why I Write.
Researchers at OnFiction.ca about the science of fiction
Rob Morgan at https://gamestoryuk.tumblr.com/ about digital storytelling
Sacks, Oliver. Gratitude.
Sklar, Howard. The Art of Sympathy in Fiction.
Vogler, Christoph. The Writer’s Journey. Mythic Structure for Writers.
Zeh, Juli. Treideln.