Siri Hustvedt and Vittorio Gallese at the 2016 Tübingen Poetics Lectureship

The writer Siri Hustvedt and the neuroscientist Professor Vittorio Gallese are the guests of the Tübingen Poetics Lectureship this year. "Siri Hustvedt has undoubtedly become one of the most important American writers in recent years," says Dorothee Kimmich, professor of literary and cultural studies at the University of Tübingen. "She combines the tradition of American realism with a great reflexive power." Will be evident not only in their novels, but more in their essays on aesthetics, neurosciences and psychology. "The meeting between Hustvedt and Gallese within the framework of the Poetics Lectureship promises an extraordinarily interesting exchange," says Kimmich. "Galleses work not only provide a model for explaining human interaction and learning processes, they also give us hints as to why people need fictional narratives." The neuroscientist has contributed to his research into a contemporary aesthetic theory, an artistic imitation as an existential form of human perception and human knowledge.

The Tübingen Poetics Lectureship will be opened with a public reading by Siri Hustvedt on November 13th in the Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall. Further public readings and lectures by the author will take place from 14 to 16 November at the University of Tübingen.