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Maria Zhukova, Associated Fellow affiliated with the Department of Literature, has been awarded a Marbach Scholarship by the Deutsche Schillergesellschaft e. V..

Starting today, she will be at the German Literature Archive in Marbach for a research stay for one month. Her research focusses on the representation of TV in the literature of East Germany. In her project TV-Diskurse in Film und Literatur im spät- und nachsowjetischen Russland der 1950-1990er Jahre she examines the discourse about the TV in Soviet magazines, literature and movies. Whereas the official discourse in print media praises the TV as "a powerful means of communist education", the art discourse through film and literature considers the TV rather a means to dismantle the Soviet culture. 

Maria aims to examine this theory during her research stay in Marbach with literature from countries of the Eastern bloc. How did authors from Eastern Germany asses television? Which opinions did they express in the official print media, and in broadcasting itself? Are there differences between the opinions expressed in the official media and the discourse in their literary work? The rich holdings of the German Literature Archive in Marbach are an essential source to answer these questions. Besides the library, Marbach also provides media documentations of some German authors - newspaper clippings and recordings of broadcasting performances that convey the opinion of the authors about the TV. Moreover, the manuscript collections of Sarah Kirsch and Christa Wolf will be of particular importance for Maria's research.