AIDS has provoked an enormous outpouring of theoretical reflection on how to write about the illness. Yet, the number of authors writing about AIDS and the critics in search of the AIDS discourse are extremely scarce in European literature, says a German professor of Romance studies coming to Cornell University.

Dieter Ingenschay, professor of Romance studies at Humboldt University, Berlin, will give a free and open lecture, "Is There a Discourse of AIDS in Central European Literatures?" Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 4:30 p.m. in the A.D. White House on the Cornell campus.

The answer to that question, Ingenschay says, is no in so far as AIDS has not formed one coherent innovative writing or "style." "It has surged, however, a new kind of subjective, autobiographical discourse."

In his lecture, Ingenschay will first provide a short survey on AIDS as a subject in French, Spanish, Italian and German literature. He then will discuss:

• the creation of new forms of autobiography and protocol discourse,
• the integration of medical knowledge in literature and
• the appearance, use and metaphorization of AIDS in fiction.

Ingenschay, who has been teaching at Humboldt University since 1994, focuses his work on 20th century literature in Spain and Latin America, postmodern narrative and homosexuality, among other topics. Previously he taught at the University of Munich, the University of Mainz/Germersheim and Ruhr University.

The lecture is sponsored by the Cornell Committee on University Lectures.