Alexander Kluge made his first film in 1961. His breakthrough into West Germany’s literary landscape occurred a year later. His first co-authored book of social philosophy became a cult classic instantly in 1972. His first private television broadcast was in 1985. His Internet portal “Gärten der Informationen” went live in 2009 and his first e-books arrived in 2014.
Not only has Alexander Kluge remained committed to this day to staying abreast of the media shifts characteristic of modern life, but his output in all of these mediums is colossal and scholarship has still much to reckon with. Founded in early 2014 and published by V & R unipress, the Alexander-Kluge Jahrbuch is a trilingual, peer-reviewed yearbook dedicated to fostering the critical study of Kluge’s works in all their many guises. The yearbook is managed by an international five-member editorial board and its twenty-member advisory board includes Kluge specialists from around the world. Kluge and his staff are committed to making both new and old material (from Kluge’s Vorlass) available for publication in the yearbook. The yearbook seeks to serve as the international platform for innovative contributions (in English, French or German) on Kluge and Kluge’s influence, a nexus that brings together disciplines, theoretical approaches, regional dialogues, as well as the many generations of scholars working on Kluge.
The inaugural issue, named after Kluge’s last feature film Vermischte Nachrichten, appeared in late 2014 and contains not only a wide variety of scholarly articles but also new fiction by Kluge in German and translations of old stories in English, stills from recent recorded interviews, transcribed television interviews, reviews of recent scholarly publications as well as a up-to-date bibliography and videography. Contributions to future issues can be submitted via email at klugejahrbuch@unc.edu.