In the last chapter of Mimesis. The Representation of Reality in Western Literature from 1946, Eric Auerbach compares his method to that of a modern novelist. Like they depict human existence only in fragmentary episodes such as a single day in Dublin, Auerbach writes a history of Western literature by analysing discrete literary samples, beginning with the Odyssey and Genesis and ending with Woolf. An archive of literary scenes of existence one might suggest.

Mimesis is in many ways at odds with ideals of literary criticism today: Its quirky, yet completely Western canon; its barefaced comparison of literary styles across two and half millennia. Yet, its main concept of literary representation remains one of the most used and contested, and its heuristic approach still offers an immensely open and inventive response to the question of how we as readers today relate to the foreign worlds of literary history.

We invite anyone interested to participate in this two-day conference and discuss the relevance of Auerbach’s method for humanist scholars today, marking 75 years of Mimesis.