1869, Ep. 153 with Alexander Sorenson, author of The Waiting Water

1869, the Cornell University Press Podcast

Learn more about The Waiting Water here (and use 09POD to save 30%): https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501777103/the-waiting-water/ Transcript here: https://otter.ai/u/9ViJleOJojtPvz1hresS5aiMzok?tab=chat&view=transcript In this episode, we speak with Alexander Sorenson, author of the new book The Waiting Water: Order, Sacrifice, and Submergence in German Realism. Alexander Sorenson is Lecturer of German and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University, State University of New York. His research and teaching interests center upon interdisciplinary themes and issues related to the environmental humanities, such as the interface between philosophy, literature, art and the history of science. We spoke to Alexander about the difference between German realism and English and French realism; what the symbolic meaning is behind one the most recurring motifs in German Realist literature—death by drowning; and the deep connections between this drowning motif with Ovid’s Metamorphoses as well as Shakespeare’s character Ophelia in Hamlet.