“Intellectually Promiscuous”: An Interview with Linda Hutcheon (Konstanz, September 19, 2013)

Abstract

Linda Hutcheon, University Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto, was the University of Konstanz’s choice to give the prestigious Wolfgang Iser lecture in September 2013, which simultaneously opened that year’s annual convention of the German Anglistenverband (organized by Silvia Mergenthal and Reingard M. Nischik). Within this framework, Linda Hutcheon spoke to me about the development of various strands of thought in her impressive body of work—encompassing nine monographs, several collaborative books, and literally hundreds of articles and book chapters. We discussed the importance of crossing borders between disciplines, media, and nations, as well as of positioning oneself as a reader and critic. Other topics included her own intellectual background in comparative literature, in Canadian Studies, and in her more recent interdisciplinary projects on opera; recent developments in and since postmodernism; and the interconnections within her work on various practices of repetition with a difference, whether seen as postmodern, as parody, or as adaptation.