Katastrophen, Fluten, Weltenbrände

The narration of crisis as an everyday practice has accompanied us for much longer than current debates about the present age of multiple crises. Storytelling is much more than just a practice of presenting or coping with experiences: it simultaneously means shaping the world. The theme of this volume is narratives from the pre-modern era to the present that depict crises not only as a threat to an existing order but also as an opportunity for fundamental change and new beginnings. Those who narrate crisis as an opportunity envision a desirable future. Moreover, it is these narratives that mobilize the many, thereby enabling societal change potential and ultimately shaping new realities. The volume connects interdisciplinary approaches to the study of crises and the accompanying visual, oral, written, media, and artistic storytelling. It aims to explore a spectrum of crisis experiences from the Middle Ages through the Early Modern period to the present. Commonalities and differences are thus made fruitful for today's understanding of current crisis phenomena. This also serves our positioning in a rapidly changing world.