- University of Innsbruck
- Assistant Professor
- Residential Fellow (2011-2012)
- “Augmented Reality as Animation Beyond Cinema and Television Screens”
Erwin Feyersinger is an assistant professor at the University of Innsbruck in the Department of American Studies. His academic background comprises linguistics as well as film and literary theory. His research is concerned with film and animation studies and relies mainly on narratological, poetic, semiotic, and cognitive frameworks.
His essays focus on, amongst others, the narrative device metalepsis, conceptual blending, television crossovers, metareference in animation as well as the ambiguity of Jan Švankmajer’s surrealist films. He has published in the peer-reviewed journals Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Montage AV, and Poetica, and he currently serves as a member of the editorial board of Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. For the completion of his doctoral dissertation, entitled Metalepsis in Animation: Paradoxical Transgressions of Ontological Levels, Professor Feyersinger received a fellowship from the Vice Rector for Research of the University of Innsbruck in 2009. For his dissertation, Professor Feyersinger was awarded the Award of Excellence 2010 from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research and the Roland-Faelske-Preis 2010 from the University of Hamburg and the Roland Faelske Foundation.
Publications
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Metalepsis in Animation: Paradoxical Transgressions of Ontological Levels
Universitätsverlag Winter Heidelberg, 2017
The narratological term metalepsis describes a seemingly paradoxical transgression of narrative or ontological levels that are perceived as mutually exclusive. While metalepsis can be found across a variety of media, it is a specifically important device in animated films and television series. Prominent examples are the hand of the animator reaching into the diegesis of her or his creations or characters escaping into the world of their creators.
Metalepsis in Animation: Paradoxical Transgressions of Ontological Levels explores various functions and uses of metalepses throughout the history of animation and develops models of mental processes that govern their cognitive production and reception.