Course Description

Literary journalism – or journalism as literature – is journalistic writing that reads like fiction but which is based entirely on immersive research, eyewitness accounts and verifiable facts as closely scrutinized as possible. Situated comfortably between two axes of media pedagogy and research, literary journalism (journalisme littéraire in French, literarische Reportage in German) represents a form of written communication that is both literary and journalistic in form and aesthetic but which informs and educates the public, provides detailed historical and cultural contexts and editorial commentaries and, potentially, alters socio-political policy and opinion.

The second Summer School of the ReportAGES research project, this six-day graduate course for Master’s and PhD students – throughout Europe and, potentially, the Americas – of Journalism, Communications, Media Studies, English, German, or French Literature, Cultural Studies or Government Policy will explore how historical trends in narrative literary journalism in France, Germany and other nations of the interwar years reshaped the media landscape of each country, distinguishing a European development of the genre not just from its Anglo-American cousins but also from each other.

Following morning and afternoon workshops and lectures on eight principal themes treated in literary journalism (e.g., war, documentary aesthetics, journalistic traditions), students (Master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral) and interested faculty members will be introduced to the historical and cultural motivations behind the current popularity of literary journalism in France, Germany and other nations.

Professional in the field of literary reportage, Alain Lallemand (confirmed), will speak to the graduate students and faculty about his experiences in researching and producing reportages over the years for the Belgian daily Le Soir.

At the end of the course, students will be required to develop their own pedagogical unit (modeled after one of the eight themes presented or based on an entirely different theme not addressed during the course) and present it orally in English, French or German.

The Summer School is recognized by the Erasmus+Mobility/Staff Training. For more information on obtaining Erasmus+ professional accreditation, click here.

The Summer School course is sponsored by the Université franco-allemande │Deutsch-Französische Hochschule (UFA), Lorraine Université d’Excellence (LUE) and its grant program RÉCOLTE, the Lorraine research centers IDEA (UR 2338) and LIS (UR7305), Romanistik (Bonn) and xm:lab (HBKsaar), and the Humanities Faculty (ALL) of the Université de Lorraine.