Thinking with and through Literature in Friedrich Kittler’s Discourse Networks, 1800/1900

Looking at Discourse Networks, 1800/1900 from a certain historical, cultural, and disciplinary distance, I focus on the two-edged centrality of poetry and literature within a project whose ambition and appeal transcends the disciplinary boundaries not only of literary studies but more broadly of the humanities. I argue that beyond the neat separation between poetry (Dichtung) for discourse network 1800 and literature (Literatur) for discourse network 1900, literature should be understood as a broad and heterogeneous concept in Discourse Networks, 1800/1900, a concept that encompasses poetry and much else.