Søren Frank

• Presentation
• CV
• Research outputs
• Prizes
• Activities

Søren Frank works at the intersection of literary analysis, literary history, and literary theory with a primary focus on the history and theory of the novel. He is an expert in blue humanities and researches the relationship between the Anthropocene and a blue literary history.

He holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Southern Denmark, has held research positions at Stanford University, and was a Senior Fellow at the Internationales Kolleg für Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie (IKKM) at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar.

Søren Frank is a former Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Southern Denmark and was chairman of the advisory board of the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award for 12 years. He is a recipient of the Carlsberg Foundation's Semper Ardens monograph grant and a member of Academia Europaea.

In 2024, Søren Frank joined the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics at the University of Copenhagen as Professor of Danish and Nordic Literature.

 

Primary fields of research

• Literary and Cultural History of the Sea
• Literary and Cultural History of the Coast
• Migration Literature
• Border Literature
• History of the Novel
• Blue Humanities
• The Anthropocene
• New Materialism
• Ecocriticism
• Rhythmanalysis
• Theory of Place

 

Current research

Research projects

• PI of "The Coastal Anthropocene: Literary Visions of Past and Future Shorelines" (CoAnt), a research project funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark (2024-26).

 

• PL in the "Center for the Understanding of Human Relationships with Nature" (CUHRE), an elite center funded by SDU Climate Cluster (2023-2027).

 

Latest publications

• A Poetic History of the Oceans: Literature and Maritime Modernity (2022)

 

• "Den hvide hvals hvidhed" (2023)

 

• "Havets og dybets kræfter i Les Travailleurs de la mer: Forvarsler om det antropocæne og Victor Hugos ambivalente antropocentrisme" (2022)

 

• "Her regerer havet: Siri Jacobsens Havbrevene og en amfibisk litteraturvidenskab" (2021)

 

Future publications

Søren Frank is currently working on a book about the Anthropocene coast in Danish and Nordic literature and a book about the history of comparative literature.

Forthcoming are articles on Georg Brandes and world literature, Johannes V. Jensen's The Long Journey as an unintended genealogy of the Anthropocene, the 1872 storm surge in Danish literature, and Cheminova in new Danish literature.

 

Teaching

Teaching

Søren Frank has taught a wide range of literary courses of an analytical, historical, and theoretical nature at BA and MA level. Examples of courses:

• Sea, Coast and Climate in Danish and Nordic Literature
• The Sea and the Anthropocene
• Academic Writing Workshop
• American Renaissance
• French Existentialism
• The Borders of Europe
• Literary Theory and Methodology

 

Supervision

He has supervised 94 BA projects, 21 Master theses, and 3 PhD dissertations.

 

Fields of interest

• Oceans and coasts
• Climate change
• The Anthropocene
• Johannes V. Jensen
• Georg Brandes
• Herman Melville
• Football/Soccer

 

Selected activities

1. The Coastal Anthropocene: The 1872 Storm Surge in Danish Literature

   Frank, Søren (Invited speaker)

   29 Jan 2024

   Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution

2. A Poetic History of the Oceans

   Frank, Søren (Keynote)

   26 Jan 2024

   Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution

3. Big Blue Nordic

   Frank, Søren (Keynote)

   17 Jan 2024

   Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution