German Core Units 2007
First Semester 2007
126006 German 3 Intermediate (Core) A
126017 German 2 (Core) A
126018 German 3 (Core) A
1. Theory and fiction of German Romanticism
Romanticism was a period of German literature from approximately 1793 to 1830, which has often been branded as irrational, regressive and nationalistic - and the most German of all literary movements. However, the notions of romanticism are contradictory and far more complex than that. This course will look at some fundamental theoretical writings of romantic authors in order to gain some understanding of the self-conception of the romantic movement and to provide a critical background for the interpretation of three central literary texts: Tieck's Der blonde Eckbert, Chamisso's Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte and Hoffmann's Der Sandmann.
Text: Ludwig Tieck, Der blonde Eckbert/Der Runenberg, Reclam; Adelbert von Chamisso, Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte, Reclam; E.T.A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann, Reclam.
2. “What was the New German Cinema?”
During the 1970s, notice began to be taken internationally of German directors such as Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. They and films such as The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Kings of the Road and Fear Eats the Soul were lauded as commentators began to speak of a “New German Cinema”. What was this New German Cinema? What were some of its most important characteristics and how did these differ from those of mainstream Hollywood cinema? How and why did it come about? What does this phenomenon tell us about German culture since the 1950s? This option will analyse a number of classic pieces of New German Cinema. It will explore the significance of this generation of filmmakers and also investigate what has happened in German film since the high water mark of the New German Cinema.
Text: to be supplied by the Department
3. Franz Kafka: Stories & Letters
A man for whom starvation is art; an ape who thinks he is human; a tyrannical father who cleans his ears with toothpicks at the dinner table. Which of these characters is fictional and which is real? In this option we will meet these and other 'characters' from Kafka's fiction and biography. Perhaps like no other author, Kafka's life and his fiction are often read contrastively. In reading Kafka we will examine central themes of Kafka's writing: the role of the artist, Jewish identity, the tyranny of the law, the power of the father and what it means to be human-or animal. In addition to the stories and letters we will read literary criticism which seeks to understand the life and work of this enigmatic writer.
Texts: Franz Kafka, Brief and den Vater, Reclam. Available university bookroom. Other texts supplied in class.
4. “Wozu gehen wir in die Schule?” School as metaphor in modernist literature
“… damit wir durchfallen”, complains one of the characters in Frank Wedekind’s play Frühlings Erwachen (1891) bitterly - and he is not alone. Wedekind was but one of many prominent writers of the fin-de-siècle, who voiced a harsh criticism of school as an institution. To name but a few: Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Musil, and a few years later Stephan Zweig and Christa Winsloe. School became a key feature in the depiction of the crisis of modernity. The course will explore the reasons of this phenomenon from a historical, sociological and literary perspective and will concentrate on the works of Frank Wedekind and Robert Musil. While Wedekind attacks the falseness of contemporary moral values in his play Frühlings Erwachen, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless (1906) by Musil concentrates on the psychological portrayal of a new generation, which seems estranged from the prosperous world of their parents. The course gives an introduction to modernism in the German-speaking world and will allow for reflections on the theme of youth at the turn of the last century.
Prescribed Texts: Robert Musil: Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless, Cornelsen • Frank Wedekind Frühlings Erwachen, Klett • Reader (all to be obtained in the University