Loneliness, understood as involuntary solitude, has become a major concern in Western industrial societies. The experiences of the pandemic, in particular, has brought the social consequences of isolation sharply into focus and placed loneliness at the centre of public attention. Today, loneliness is increasingly being recorded statistically as a social burden, diagnosed as a symptom of »lost communities«, and addressed politically as a societal risk. Countermeasures range from social and medical prevention programs and national strategies to the establishment of dedicated political offices. The ubiquity of loneliness diagnoses forms the starting point for the Mosse Lectures in the winter term of 2026/27.

Moving beyond a purely pathological perspective, the focus will lie on the fundamental ambivalence of experiences of loneliness, reflected in the conceptual distinction between »loneliness« and »solitude.« Figures of loneliness have long be imagined in philosophy, literature, music, and the visual arts, not only as expressions of social isolation, but also as conditions of aesthetic experience, existential self-reflection, and individual freedom. In the 19th century, advocates of a programmatic, at times euphoric conception of loneliness in modernity linked the retreat into nature with projects of nature writing.

The Mosse Lectures trace the persistence and transformation of this tradition in contemporary literature, film, and popular culture, examining in particular the relationship between »Eleanor Rigby« and »Lonesome Hero,« female, male, and queer figures of loneliness who navigate the spectrum between isolation and self-determination. At stake are also the the gender-specific, cultural and political connotations of being alone.

The lecture series will be complemented by an accompanying film program, which will be shown on six evenings in January and February 2027 in collaboration with the Zeughauskino at Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin.

PLEASE NOTE: The Mosse Lectures take place in the Senatssaal of Humboldt University [Unter den Linden 6]. The room is barrier-free.