"Prix Germaine de Staël" awarded to Dr Philipp Lammers
Dr Philipp Lammers from the University of Konstanz received the renowned French-German prize from the Frankoromanistenverband (FRV) and the French Embassy for his dissertation on the French author Stendhal.
As a scholar of Romance literature, Philipp Lammers focused his doctoral research on the work of the French author Stendhal. Until today, Stendhal is considered a pioneer and an important representative of literary realism. He himself was an avid reader of memoirs of the 18th century, the French Revolution and his own postrevolutionary period. In his dissertation "In der Nachhut erzählen. Stendhals Zeitgeschichten als Arbeit an den Memoiren", Lammers examines the interplay between these memoirs and the author’s work and asks: How did the highly successful genre of memoir influence Stendhal's works historically and politically? And how did it shape his way of writing, his art?
"My dissertation shows that Stendhal tells stories that are set after what his contemporaries felt to be the end of history, the fall of Napoleon and the Empire. When Stendhal narrates contemporary history, he does so in the wake of other, memorialistic narratives", explains Lammers, an academic staff member and lecturer who works and researches in the Department of Literature, Art and Media Studies at the University of Konstanz.
Lammers was awarded this year's "Prix Germaine de Staël" for his dissertation in the field of Romance literature. The jury emphasized his courageous approach as well as the well-founded argumentation of his work. The members also highlighted how Lammers gave new perspective to Stendhal’s well-known and well-researched novels.
Named for the French author Anne-Louise-Germaine Baronin von Staël-Holstein, the "Prix Germaine de Staël" is presented every two years by the Frankoromanistenverband (FRV) and the French Embassy in Germany. Emmanuel Cohet, envoy of the French Embassy in Germany, presented Lammers with the prize on 21 September 2022 in a virtual award ceremony at the 13th conference of French literary scholars in Vienna. Prize winners receive a one-month research fellowship at a French institution of their choice.
"I am happy to receive this award and thankful for the opportunity to continue my collaboration with French researchers. Even as a doctoral researcher, I worked at the Université Grenoble-Alpes in the context of a binational doctoral examination procedure. I intend to complete my research fellowship at the École Normale Supérieure, ENS, in Paris."
Key facts:
- 2022 "Prix Germaine de Staël" awarded to Dr Philipp Lammers for his dissertation "In der Nachhut erzählen. Stendhals Zeitgeschichten als Arbeit an den Memoiren" about how Stendhal's work was influenced by memoirs.
- The prize is presented every two years by the Frankoromanistenverband (FRV) and the French Embassy in Germany.
- Prize winners receive a one-month research fellowship at a French institution of their choice.