Recreating and experiencing historical affects in creative writing practice

The workshop asks how we can understand and study worldviews and beliefs (both historical and those of contemporary cultures) that seem “wrong” or “irrational” from the perspective of academic rationality (e.g., alchemy, magic or alternative medicine). Academic distance and its generalised view often relegate the scholar to the role of the spectator, depriving them of access to the emotional and experiential core of phenomena

The workshop will combine the study of intellectual history with creative writing methods. We proceed from the premise that the best means of understanding a socio-cultural system is its simulation. The seminar will not train participants in creative writing but introduce a methodological tool: writing as historical simulation. 

The workshop replaces external analysis with the “frog perspective”. Participants will write texts, based on sources, proceeding from the internal logic of the topic. Writing from inside out, the participants have to adopt the picture of the world of an Other (e.g. an alchemist) as the only reality. The creative process works as a cognitive experiment, forcing the writers to fill the gap not covered by theory and permits them to experience historical affect without mediation. This will result in a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the studied era/topic that enriches the subsequent academic work of the participants.