German Special Studies Units
Link to Second Semester (126130)
First Semester 2007
126130 - German 1A
1. German Literature after 1945
At the end of the Second World War, German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno declared it was barbaric to write a poem after Auschwitz. Although most German writers did not agree, they saw themselves confronted with manifold questions. What sort of literature could one write after the atrocities of the War and of the Holocaust? What were appropriate themes? What were adequate genres? Which kind of language should be used? This course will look at the selection of poems, short stories and essays from the post-war period and will analyse the various answers to these questions and how they changed over the years.
Text: To be supplied by the Department
2. Germany Rocks! The present-day German music scene
What is going on in present-day popular German music? Which are the big names in the business and how can their popularity be explained? Which music is associated with which social scenes? How (un)political, how socially (un)aware are the artists? What the ideas or the ideologies behind some of the lyrics? Topics to be discussed include how bands assess the music scene and their role in it, how anti-American beats attack the U.S., how bands depict Germany either as an abyss or as a country to be proud of. Bands and singers whose songs will be discussed include Rammstein, Die Arzte, Böhse Onkelz, Die Toten Hosen, Wir Sind Helden, Mia, Madsen, die Fantastischen Vier and Bands des Labels Aggro Berlin. Interviews with musicians and critics, reviews, pamphlets and theoretical analyses will also be discussed in the seminar. Each student will have to present a song analysis in class.
Texts: To be supplied by the department
3. Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”
The Metamorphosis is one of Kafka’s most famous stories. It tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a giant beetle. His metamorphosis understandably has chaotic consequences for his life and his family. The portrayal of shifting family dynamics will be a focus of reading in this unit. The story will be read in its entirety and some interpretations of this extraordinary text by one of the 20th century’s iconic writers will be considered.
Text: F Kafka, Die Verwandlung. Reclam
4. Prose & Translation: German and Australian Short Stories
Kurzgeschichten (short stories) will be at the heart of this introductory translation course. The course will compare three sets of short stories by German and Australian writers – all but one published after 1945. The stories by Luise Rinser, Max Bolliger, Bernd Wagner, Beverly Farmer, and Tim Winton cover topics such as troubled teenagers, estranged families and life on the margins. The course will investigate the historical and cultural contexts in question and discuss the parallels between the Australian and German stories. The aim of this unit is to familiarize students with translation techniques from and into German and to allow students to explore linguistic and cultural differences between English and German. The close reading of texts will equip students with linguistic and critical skills.
Texts: Reader to be purchased in University bookshop
5. “Birds of passage”, Rockers and Student Rebels: Twentieth Century Youth Cultures in Germany
Twentieth century Germany has been home to some spectacular youth subcultures. What behaviour did curiously named groups like the Wandervögel (the “birds of passage” of Wilhelmine Germany), the Halbstarken (the “Rockers” of the 1950s) and the 68er (the student revolutionaries of 1968) engage in? What innovative culture did they consume and produce? What made these young people rail against German society? What effect did they have on that society? How has their behaviour been interpreted? How were these groups different from other subcultures elsewhere in the world? A range of texts will be analysed – including films, song texts, manifestos and memoirs, as well as some secondary literature. Students will be introduced to the field of German cultural studies.
Text: to be supplied by the Department
6. German Fairy Tales
Everyone knows "Sleeping Beauty", "Little Red Riding Hood" and a few more of the 242 fairy tales collected and published by the brothers Grimm in the Romantic period at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Less known is how the Grimms and editors after them gradually adapted the gruesome and often cruel fairy tales in subsequent editions to make them softer, moral and more suitable for children.
This course will give an introduction to structure and motifs of fairy-tales and why this genre was so appealing to the Romantics. It will look at the changes made to the originally orally transmitted folktales and analyse some fairytales written by German authors in imitation or as a parody of the popular form.
Text: To be supplied by the Department