CCGES, the German Section of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics and the European Studies Programme are pleased to be hosting a talk by Prof. Waltraud Maierhofer of the University of Iowa on Wednesday, April 8th. Prof. Maierhofer’s presentation will be entitled “Poisoner, Corrupter, Infanticide . . . What Should I Write? – ‘Anna Göldi – The Last Witch’ and the Fictionality of Trial Records” investigates the film adaptation (1991) of the novel “Anna Göldi—The Last Witch” by Swiss writer Eveline Hasler. Göldi (1734-1782) was the last woman to be put to trial for witchcraft in German-speaking countries in the late 18th century. Recent historical research has made it clear that Anna Göldi was the victim of a power struggle between two of the leading families in the canton of Glarus, and in June 2008, the cantonal administration of Glarus declared its intention to rehabilitate Göldi. Prof. Maierhofer’s deliberations will focus on two aspects of the film, namely the character of the council’s scribe who records the trial and the transformation and role of the trial documents in the film.
Prof. Maierhofer received her Dr. phil. from the University of Regensburg, Germany. She is the Fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation and the Field-editor of the Eighteenth-Century Current Bibliography. Among her numerous publications are the books Hexen – Huren – Heldenweiber. Bilder des Weiblichen in Erzähltexten über den Dreißigjährigen Krieg; ‘Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre’ und derRoman des Nebeneinander, and the co-edition of Women Against Napoleon: Historical and Fictional Responses.
Location: TEL Building 0016
Time: 1:30 – 2:20 p.m.
The event has been made possible by the support of the German Studies Programme/York University, the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, and York’s European Studies Programme. For more information and to RSVP, contact Dr. Diana Spokiene (Ext. 88745; email: spokiene@yorku.ca)
