Artistic Freedom and Author Responsibility

Alexandra Juster is a qualified lawyer in Italy (Laurea in Giurisprudenza) and in France (French Bar examination). She is admitted to the bars in both countries and holds a doctorate in modern German literature. Having studied and lived in Austria, Italy, France, Spain and Germany, she is multilingual (mother tongue German, also fluent in English, French, Spanish and Italian), enabling her to access research sources in their original language and to draw on her knowledge of several legal systems and logics. Combining her legal training with literary skills and publishing experience allows her to move easily between law and literature in an interdisciplinary way. Since the beginning of her academic career in October 2020, when she started research for her dissertation, she has completed three monographs on the contemporary author Juli Zeh. All three monographs deal with literature, law, current social issues and philosophy in an interdisciplinary way. She has also published numerous anonymously reviewed articles on a range of socially relevant topics, as well as delivering conference presentations.

• Introduction.- Contemporary political literature between artistic freedom (Article 5 (3)(1) German Basic Law) and the author’s ethical responsibility.- The writer's responsibility: from legality to legitimacy.- Guillaume Dustan: From law to literature, a reconfiguration of normativity through fiction.- The Significance of Aesthetics and Narrative Conventions for Political Literature: Multi-perspectivity vs. Mono-perspectivity.- Writing Without Power. Engagement and the Politics of Literature Today.- Political Literature and Ethical Mediation: Memory, Engagement, and Responsibility in the Work of Boualem Sansal.- Relationality and Responsibility of Testimony in the Work of Svetlana Alexievich.- Requiem for the European Dream? Robert Menasse and the Idea of Europe.- Politically involved writers in the twentieth century: a case study of Günter Grass.- The Transferability of Ethics and Aesthetics – Shida Bazyar's Balancing Act in Current Iranian and Racism Discourses.