Comparatively Speaking Interview with

Doriane Zerka

Position:

Early Career Fellowship

University:

University of Cambridge

bio:

Doriane Zerka holds an Early Career Fellowship with the Leverhulme Trust and Isaac Newton Trust, hosted by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on comparative medieval literature, perceptions of alterity and gender, and the mobility of cultural production in the medieval world, with a particular emphasis on the German and Iberian contexts. She holds a PhD in German and Hispanic Studies from King’s College London, an MPhil in European Literature and Culture from the University of Cambridge and a BA in German and Hispanic Studies (European Studies) from Queen Mary, University of London. After completing her doctoral studies in 2019, she worked as Lecturer in German for Queen Mary, University of London before returning to Cambridge in 2020. Her doctoral thesis analysed representations of Iberia and the construction of identities in medieval German literature and is currently being revised for publication in 2022 with Legenda under the title Imagining Iberia in Medieval German Literature, while her current research questions the role of women as transcultural agents in the formation of a network of ‘European’ literature in the premodern world.

Interview

Can you tell us a little about your current research and/or your most recent publication?

My work is comparative because it combines different languages and cultural contexts to think about what we might understand as ‘medieval European literature’. For example, while my PhD thesis analysed representations of Iberia in medieval German literature, I often relied on Iberian literature and historiography to offer another perspective or illuminate representations of the Peninsula from within. My new project similarly considers the constitutive potential of intercultural dialogue, specifically by looking at the role of women as transcultural agents in premodern European literature. In that sense, my research is comparative because it focuses in a very general sense on perceptions, dialogue and mobility between linguistic and cultural spheres.

In what sense do you think of your work as “comparative”?

My work is comparative because it combines different languages and cultural contexts to think about what we might understand as ‘medieval European literature’. For example, while my PhD thesis analysed representations of Iberia in medieval German literature, I often relied on Iberian literature and historiography to offer another perspective or illuminate representations of the Peninsula from within. My new project similarly considers the constitutive potential of intercultural dialogue, specifically by looking at the role of women as transcultural agents in premodern European literature. In that sense, my research is comparative because it focuses in a very general sense on perceptions, dialogue and mobility between linguistic and cultural spheres.

What challenges have you faced while pursuing your career in comparative literature, and do you have any advice for comparatists at the early career stage?

While my work is in comparative medieval literature, I have been working and studying in Modern Languages departments. My background is in German and Spanish, as well as European literature and culture. Trying to remain both a Germanist and a Hispanist in equal measure has often been challenging, partly because of institutional divisions, and I’m not sure I’ve always succeeded. I’ve been very lucky though in being co-supervised for my PhD and having a supervisor from each field who were both very supportive and committed to the thesis. My advice for anyone working comparatively, whether or not they identify as ‘comparatists’ would be to not be too restricted by institutional structures and try to get involved in any workshops, conferences or other venues or to contact people you might want to collaborate with without worrying that they might not work in your strictly defined field.

Who is one person in your field whose work you admire?

For her work on comparative medieval literature, I’d say Rachel Scott at Royal Holloway, who looks at Iberian literatures and cultures in the medieval and Early Modern periods from a transnational perspective. I’ve heard her talk on a number of occasions on her work with the reception of Kalila wa-Dimna in medieval Iberia and beyond and used her book on Celestina for teaching purposes. In writing as in talks, she’s always really clear and thought-provoking and I find her work really inspiring in its focus on mobility and exchange. We worked together a few times when I was doing my PhD and she was a postdoctoral researcher on the Languages Acts and Worldmaking project at KCL and she’s also a very friendly, kind and supportive person.

What have you read recently that you would recommend to other comparatists?

I’ve just been re-reading a piece I cited in my thesis by César Domínguez, entitled “Historiography and the geo-literary imaginary. The Iberian Peninsula: Between Lebensraum and espace vécu” from the first volume of A Comparative History of Literatures in the Iberian Peninsula (Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2010). Domínguez opens by questioning the preposition “literatures in the Iberian Peninsula”, to discuss the use of spatial delimitations and the interaction of national and comparative literary histories. While the chapter focuses on the Iberian Peninsula, the article could be really interesting to most comparatists in that it reflects on a range of categories we might use to define the objects of comparative analysis.
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