About Us
TRANSIT addresses German responses to questions of national identity and fantasies of mobility as articulated in such untranslatable terms as Wanderlust, Zuwanderung, Fernweh, and Heimat. At the same time, TRANSIT investigates the creative responses to multilocal, multilingual experiences developed by immigrant and naturalized populations. New research on these topics from the Middle Ages to the present will expand the field of German studies and shed new light on debates about transnational connections.
TRANSIT covers the work of all those who have experienced the irresolvable tension between home and dislocation - whether explorers, adventurers, refugees, or exiles. We invite critical work, in English or German, from all areas in which movement and transition are major forces, from translation to travelogues and other forms of cultural transfer. TRANSIT welcomes new readings of well-known literary works and films such as Wolfram's Parzival, Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, Özdamar's Das Leben ist eine Karawanserei, or Wenders' Bis ans Ende der Welt. We also encourage analysis of non-canonical texts, public debates, and new media, as well as visual and material culture. We look forward to comparative studies that frame the German example within larger theoretical and historical concerns.
TRANSIT is a web-based, multi-media production that seeks to push boundaries: both of traditional scholarship and of print publication. Future issues will have a specific thematic focus as well an open forum and review essays on recent relevant books. TRANSIT accepts contributions from the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts.
TRANSIT unites the academic rigor of the traditional scholarly review process with the benefits of open-access publication. Timely publication and wide electronic distribution are made possible by the University of California's eScholarship service.
For further details, please visit our website: