German Language Literature and Culture I

Recommended Prerequisites

The course assumes an intermediate/advanced German language proficiency (CEFR level B2 or C), as well as a basic knowledge on German-speaking literature and culture.

Teaching Methods

Classes will have an expositional element, but particular relevance will be given to text and film analysis as well as to collective debate over specific issues raised by the works in question.

Learning Outcomes

This curricular unit aims at developing the students’ sensibility to the literary text as well as encouraging critical reflexion both on the intersemiotical dialogue between literature and cinema and on the plural relationships between the artistic forms and their multiple contexts.

At the end of the semester, students should be able to:

1. understand the literary text in its semantic and technical-compositive elements;
2. analyse and comment literary texts and films related to the theme of the curricular unit, showing intellectual autonomy, synthesizing abilities, argumentation skills and high proficiency in oral and written expression;
3. recognize the aesthetic movements of the period in question and understand the historical events related to Berlin that marked the social, political, and cultural evolution in the 20th century;
4. show that they have developed attitudes of intellectual curiosity and rigor, as well as a critical and emancipated thought.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

The course will focus on the topic “Metropolis and Lieu de Mémoire:Berlin in the 20^th Century”. We shall analyze representations of the town in German-speaking literary texts (and their respective filmic semiotizations), taking into account not only the development of Berlin as a metropolis and as a stage of worldwide transformation, but also its function as a «lieu de mémoire» (Pierre Nora) in the German and European context.

The syllabus may vary from one edition to the other, depending on the academic staff member in charge of the curricular unit.

Assessment Methods

Continuous Assessment
Participation in the classes’ debates, short oral presentations of texts and/or written papers: 40.0%
Research work: a 15-page research paper: 60.0%

Bibliography

Texts:

Brussig, Th. (2001). Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee (3. Aufl.). Frankfurt/M.: Fischer Taschenbuch.

Döblin, A. (1976). Berlin Alexanderplatz. Die Geschichte vom Franz Biberkopf (17. Aufl.). München: DTV.

Schneider, P. (1995). Der Mauerspringer. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch.

Timm, U. (1998). Johannisnacht. München: DTV.

Wolf, Ch. (1985). Der geteilte Himmel (18. Aufl.) München: DTV.

 

Further readings:

Nora, P. (1990). Zwischen Geschichte und Gedächtnis. Berlin: Wagenbach.

Harder, M. & Hille, A. (Hg.) (2006). Weltfabrik Berlin. Eine Metropole als Sujet der Literatur. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.

Ledanff, S. (2009). Hauptstadtphantasien. Berliner Stadtlektüren in der Gegenwartsliteratur 1989-2008. Bielefeld: Aisthesis.

Lützeler, P. & Schindler, S. (Hg.) (2005). Gegenwartsliteratur (4). Schwerpunkt: Berlin-Literatur. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.

Wellbery, D. & Ryan, J. (Ed.) (2004). A New History of German Literature. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.