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Topic · Literature and Literary Theory

Literature and Cultural Memory

Literature and Cultural Memory is a research topic within Literature and Literary Theory. Science Explorer counts 6.3k research works in it since 1950. 10.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers revolves around the literature and poetics of W.G. Sebald, focusing on themes such as history, memory, photography, authenticity, ruins, narrative, melancholy, and identity. The works explore the intersection of fiction and reality, the representation of traumatic pasts, and the construction of personal and collective narratives.

  • W.G. Sebald
  • literature
  • history
  • memory
  • photography
  • authenticity
  • ruins
  • narrative
  • melancholy
  • identity
Research works
6.3k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
678
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+46%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Literature and Cultural Memory research?

By volume, Germany and the United States publish the most (576 and 157 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Germany 576 works
  2. 2 United States 157 works
  3. 3 Austria 74 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 65 works
  5. 5 France 61 works
  6. 6 Italy 51 works
  7. 7 Switzerland 46 works
  8. 8 Poland 40 works
  9. 9 Brazil 27 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 26 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Germany: 51.3%United States: 14.0%Austria: 6.6%United Kingdom: 5.7%6 others listed: 22.4%51%largest
Germany576 · 51.3%United States157 · 14.0%Austria74 · 6.6%United Kingdom65 · 5.7%6 others listed251 · 22.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Literature and Cultural Memory research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Göttingen publishes the most Literature and Cultural Memory research, followed by Freie Universität Berlin and University of Freiburg.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of Göttingen Germany 27 works
  2. 2 Freie Universität Berlin Germany 23 works
  3. 3 University of Freiburg Germany 18 works
  4. 4 Goethe University Frankfurt Germany 18 works
  5. 5 University of Cologne Germany 16 works
  6. 6 University of Vienna Austria 16 works
  7. 7 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Germany 15 works
  8. 8 Universität Hamburg Germany 13 works
  9. 9 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany 13 works
  10. 10 Literaturarchiv Germany 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in Literature and Cultural Memory?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Literature and Cultural Memory include Sander L. Gilman and C. Kuhn.

  1. 1 Sander L. Gilman 4.2k citations
  2. 2 C. Kuhn 2.1k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Literature and Cultural Memory research done?

The largest centres of Literature and Cultural Memory research in 2022–2025 are Berlin (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Göttingen (Germany) and Hamburg (Germany). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Göttingen and Freiburg.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Berlin Germany 60 works
  2. 2 Vienna Austria 40 works
  3. 3 Göttingen Germany 29 works
  4. 4 Hamburg Germany 28 works
  5. 5 Cologne Germany 26 works
  6. 6 Munich Germany 25 works
  7. 7 Frankfurt am Main Germany 21 works
  8. 8 Zurich Switzerland 20 works
  9. 9 Freiburg Germany 20 works
  10. 10 Paris France 17 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GöttingenDE · 28.7 works44×
  2. FreiburgDE · 20.1 works23×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Literature and Cultural Memory than the world average.

See Literature and Cultural Memory on the map

Where is the best place to study Literature and Cultural Memory?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Göttingen, Universität Hamburg and Goethe University Frankfurt score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%mean 12.26%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Göttingen: 27, 18.6%Universität Hamburg: 13, 16.3%Goethe University Frankfurt: 18, 12.9%Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München: 15, 13.3%University of Cologne: 16, 19.3%University of Vienna: 16, 7.1%Ruhr University Bochum: 10, 13.9%Leipzig University: 12, 8.7%University of Zurich: 8, 6.3%Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz: 11, 6.2%University of Göttin…Universität HamburgLudwig-Maximilians-U…Goethe University Fr…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of Göttingen Germany 62.518.6%70.5×27 —
2Universität Hamburg Germany 54.516.3%17.1×13 +406.7%
3Goethe University Frankfurt Germany 53.312.9%31.5×18 +399.0%
4Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Germany 53.113.3%17.3×15 +213.8%
5University of Cologne Germany 47.019.3%35.8×16 +13.5%
6University of Vienna Austria 45.07.1%23.1×16 +221.2%
7Ruhr University Bochum Germany 43.713.9%17.6×10 +303.0%
8Leipzig University Germany 39.48.7%29.7×12 +687.9%
9University of Zurich Switzerland 35.26.3%11.4×8 +238.5%
10Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Germany 35.06.2%25.8×11 +193.8%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Literature and Cultural Memory research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 46% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Literature and Cultural Memory.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.