Hannes Schweiger

Global Subjects: The Transnationalisation of Biography

The writing of lives is still by and large determined by the conceptual framework of the nation state. The life of an individual is interwoven with his or her social, political as well as cultural contexts; biography is thus frequently limited by the national borders within which it is mainly situated. However, due to the globalisation processes which affect the humanities in general and biography studies in particular, there is an increasing interest in global or cosmopolitan subjects whose lives exceed national borders. Furthermore, those aspects of a subjects life come under scrutiny which mark it as transnational or transcultural. The depiction of ‘global lives’ allows for national borders to be transgressed and contests the tenacious concept of the nation state. However, global subjects also draw attention to social, cultural and political borders that shape our life stories despite increased global interconnectedness. Intensified mobility results in the transnationalisation of lives, which has to be taken into account by biography studies. A focus on transcultural life narratives can also lead to the re-evaluation of existing biographies on subjects from earlier centuries. Drawing on theories of cosmopolitanism and cultural transfer as well as taking into account the implications of postcolonial studies for the writing of biographies, I will discuss the concept of global subjects and the impact of taking a transnational approach towards the writing of lives. The main focus is on how the transnationalisation of biographies affects our understanding of a subjects cultural identity.

Towards a Theory of Biography

Case Study: International Nationalism. Notes on German-Italian Biography in the nineteenth century This book chapter considers the special relationship between German-language and Italian culture in the mid- to late nineteenth century through the lens of biography and thinking about biography – in particular German-language biographies of Italian figures. Focal points are the artist biographies of the Prussian historian Alfred Reumont, who saw himself as an ‘agent’ of Italian culture not only in his native land, but also among Italians; Jacob Burckhardt and his reflections on biography in the perennially influential Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien; and finally, German-language biographies of heroes of the Italian Risorgimento, in particular of Giuseppe Garibaldi. I conclude that the texts in question do not only mark a shift in the cultural relations between Germany and Italy, but also in the development of biography itself, away from archival, documentary forms towards empathetic, at times melodramatic narrative.

Bernard Shaw's Contributions to the Culture and Politics of Fin-de-Siecle Vienna

Three days before the opening of The Devil’s Disciple at the Viennese Raimundtheater (25 February 1903), the first production of a play by Shaw in German, the Viennese paper Die Zeit published Shaw’s witty self-advertisement “A Devil of a Fellow. Self-Criticism.” In this article, he presents himself as a progressive and unconventional playwright, whose plays violate traditional drama and do not meet the expectations of an audience wishing to be entertained by sensationalism and melodrama. He concludes the article, which is also a defense of his translator, Siegfried Trebitsch, by making clear that he repudiates conventional melodrama: