Esther-Marie Schilling
Lecturer in North American Literature and Culture
Advisor for the Master's course "Culture, Ecology, Change"
Philologicum
Room 209
Universitätsplatz 3
18055 Rostock
esther-marie.schillinguni-rostockde
Tel.: +49 (0)381 498-2584
Fax: +49 (0)381 498-2594
Office Hours this Semester (teaching weeks)
Tuesday from
8 to 9 o'cock
by prior appointment via email
(Please note that changes to office hours will be announced under the menu item "News")
Office hours lecture-free period SS 2026
23.07.2026
08.00 to 09.00 o'clock
30.07.2026
08.00 to 09.00 Uhr o'clock
19.08.2026
09.00 to 11.00 Uhr o'clock
Each session requires prior registration by email
(Please note that changes to office hours will be announced under the menu item "News")
Curriculum Vitae
Education
since May 2024
study/programme coordinator M.A. Culture, Ecology, Change
since 2023
lecturer and PhD candidate, Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik, University of Rostock
PhD project: “Anglophone Literatures in Crisis Mode”
2018 – 2023
1. Staatsexamen (English/Chemistry), University of Rostock
Final Thesis: “The Language of Brexit Literature: Narrating a Social and Political Landslide”
2016
Abitur (A-Levels)
Other
2023 – leading student assistant DGfA Conference “America and Ownership: Territory, Slavery, Jubilee”, University of Rostock
2021 – leading student assistant “Metaphora 2021: Übergänge ins Universitätsleben”, University of Rostock
2020 – Online Materials Developer “English Resource Pool”, University of Rostock
Publications and Presentations
Presentations
“In Forests and Along the Shores: Non-Human Spaces as Gendered Contact Zones in Speculative Fiction.” EASLCE 11th Biennial Conerence Join the Orca Uprising – Nonhuman Resistance and Multispecies (In)Justice. University Utrecht, 14-17.04.2026
“Mapping Processes of Erosion in Contemporary Speculative Fiction.” ASLE-UKI Biennial Conference ‘Erosion – Creimeadh’. University of Galway, 12-14.08.2025
“’She never claimed her space’: Literary (Re-)Negotiations of Women and Motherhood in The School For Good Mothers and When She Woke.” Exploring Contradictions beyond Contradictions. 1st International Conference on Contradiction Studies, Universität Bremen, 11-14.02.2025
“’Preaching to the Choir’?: Anticipates Audiences as Narrative Technique in Brexit Literature.” FRIAS Conference Popular Culture And Democracy: Opportunities, Challenges, And The Way Forward. Freiburg Institue for Advanced Studies, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, 24-26.10.2024
Reviews
Review of “Irish London: A Cultural History: By Richard Kirkland.” Journal for the Study of British Cultures Vol. 32 (1), https://jsbc.winter-verlag.de/issue/JSBC/2025/1 (2025)
Review of “Atmosfears: The Uncanny Climate of Contemporary Ecofiction: By Natalie Dederichs.” Green Letters, April, 1–3. doi:10.1080/14688417.2025.2499772. (2025)
Research Interests
- literary representations of contemporary anxieties (climate change, political extremism, xenophobia)
- ecocriticism and postcolonialism
- gender studies, feminist criticism, ecofeminism
- speculative fiction
Teaching
SS 2026
Proseminar: Genderes Spaces in Postcolonial Literary Fictions
Proseminar: The Short Story through Time: Texts, Contexts, Criticism
WS 2025/26
Proseminar: Literature for Young(er) Readers: An Introduction to Literary Studies (LA Grundschule)
Grundkurs: Introduction to Literary Studies
Kolloquium: Praktikum Culture-Ecology-Change
SS 2025
Proseminar: "There will always be motive for crime". Detective Short Stories
Proseminar: Witches in Cultural History and Imagination
WS 2024/25
Proseminar: 1925 Across the Atlantic: The Great Gatsby and Mrs. Dalloway
Proseminar: "The Future is Feminist"?: Women, Motherhood, and Reproductive Rights in Contemporary Speculative Fiction
SS 2024
Proseminar: (American) Musical Politics
WS 2023/24
Proseminar: In 3 Genres around the World’s Crises