Literary scholar Maria Löschnigg from the Department of English Studies has been awarded the Pierre-Savard-Award for her monograph "The Routledge Introduction to the Canadian Short Story", published in 2023. The prize, endowed with 1,000 Canadian dollars (equivalent to just under 700 euros), is the highest award in Canadian Studies and is awarded by the international umbrella organisation for all Canadian Studies associations. The award-winning volume was commissioned by Routledge publishing house, as Löschnigg is one of the world's most renowned researchers in the field of the Canadian short story.
"This literary form is particularly interesting because it is more experimental than the novel and topics come up quickly," says Löschnigg, explaining her enthusiasm for the genre. The immense variety of content offers an extraordinary insight into the culture, the great ethnic plurality of Canada and the fractures between the English- and French-speaking worlds. "The fragmented form also reflects moments of crisis such as the threatened environment or experiences of loss," adds the researcher. Unlike in German literature, the short story is extremely popular in Canada and is therefore an important field of research.