Jan D. Kucharzewski is Postdoctoral Researcher at the chair of American Literary and Cultural Studies (A III). His current research project titled “Once More into the Fray: Hunters, Sailors and the American Liminal” examines the function of liminality in discourses of hegemonic U.S.-American masculinity since 1800. Situated on the nexus between literary studies, film studies, cultural studies, and history of ideas, the project demonstrates how a predominant ideal of normative masculinity and a corresponding notion of national identity are associated with permanent states of transition and conditions of crisis. This thesis of an ‘American Liminal’ as a decisive catalyst of hegemonic identities is particularized through discussions of fictional representations of hunters and sailors as paradigmatic figures of liminality in American literature and in American film.
After completing a master’s degree in English/