The Cultural Infrastructure of Democracy: What Literature Can Contribute to Deep Conflicts Within Plural Democracies

Jens Martin Gurr
Professor of British and Anglophone Literature and Culture
Universtität Duisburg-Essen

Jens Martin Gurr is full professor of British and Anglophone literature and culture at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. His research examines the relationship between literature, culture, and democratic public debate, with recent books including Understanding Public Debates: What Literary Studies Can Do (2024) and Enlightenment Controversies: Literary Self-Critique and Present-Day Debates (2026).