Max Wenzel Weber

In my MA thesis – “Ich bin schon jetzt nur noch eine dünne Haut…”: Erdsystem und Literatur in Marlen Haushofer’s Die Wand” – I explore the ways in which literature can intertwine with the earthsystem. I conclude that any translation of the earthsystem’s processes into literature remains futile, but nevertheless the translation of the untranslatable becomes necessary both to develop a form of modesty towards our environment and to enable any future engagement between literature and the earthsystem.

My current research interests involve the so-called Anthropocene, Gaia-theory, cybernetics and literary imaginations of the future.

• 48^th Collegium Phaenomenologicum, Climate Philosophy in the Capitalocene, Città di Castello, Italy, July 6-24, 2026.
• “The ‘Romantic Energy’ of Heinrich von Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas“, Environmental Humanities International Doctoral Cluster Oxford Field School, University of Oxford, May 18-22, 2026.
• “Horsepower, Freedom and Justice – The ‘Romantic Energy’ of Heinrich von Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas“, 78^th National Postgraduate Colloquium in German Studies, University of London, May 14-15, 2026.
• “Scenes of Play as Metareflections on Literature and Ecology in Marlen Haushofer’s Die Wand and Der Himmel, der nirgendwo endet”, 18th Toronto German Studies Symposium, University of Toronto, October 2-4, 2025.
• “Leben und Schreiben im Schatten des Anthropozäns – Curt Grottewitz als Schriftsteller der ‘Kritischen Zone’”/ “Living and Writing in the Shadow of the Anthropocene – Curt Grottewitz as Author of the ‘Critical Zone’”, 76th National Postgraduate Colloquium in German Studies, University of London, May 1-2, 2025.
• Conference Report: “Backstages of Globalization: New Perspectives on Infrastructure and Power in the 20th Century”, H-Soz-Kult, 12.03.2025, https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/fdkn-153654.