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FUBiS Term II: Borders & Crossings: German Literature and Culture from Romanticism to the Present
(Course # 1.13)
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Type: |
B Track |
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Instructor(s): |
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Language: |
English |
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Contact hours: |
72 (6 contact hours per day) |
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Credit Points: |
6 |
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Capacity: |
18 |
Course description
In this course, you will encounter some of the most exciting textual and visual contributions to German culture in texts from the 19th to 21st centuries in English translation. Our focus will be borders - physical, ideological, intellectual, and metaphorical - and crossing borders as passages to more creative or liberated states of being, or as acts of transgression. You will gain insight into aesthetic and intellectual accomplishments of the most eventful periods in German cultural history. We will take full advantage of the unique opportunity of being in Berlin to visit sites relevant to course materials. Afternoon excursions include the Brücke Museum, Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Brecht-Weigel-Museum, East Side Gallery, and Stasi Museum. The language of instruction is English.
Requirements and Grading:
You must attend classes and actively engage in class discussions to do well in this course. Three response papers (1-2 pages each) on a specific aspect of a text due on the day of the reading (papers typed and double-spaced). Contribution of ideas to the class. Midterm and final are take-home essays.
- Participation (attendance, preparation, discussion) 20%
- Response papers 15%
- Oral presentations of response papers 15%
- Midterm take-home exam 25%
- Final take-home exam 25%
Readings:
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Ludwig Tieck: "Eckbert the Fair" (1797)
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Heinrich von Kleist: "The Marquise of O--" (1808)
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Georg Büchner: Woyzeck (published 1878); Werner Herzog (film): Woyzeck (1979)
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Hugo von Hofmannsthal: "The Lord Chandos Letter" (1902)
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Rainer Maria Rilke: poems from "New Poems" (1907)
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Franz Kafka: "The Judgment" (1913)
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Georg Kaiser: Gas II (1918)
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Hermann Hesse: Demian (1919) and Nietzsche: "Zarathustra’s Prologue" (1883)
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Bertolt Brecht: "The Modern Theater is the Epic Theater" (1930)
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G.W. Pabst (film): The Threepenny Opera (1930)
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Wolfgang Borchert: The Man Outside (1947)
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Günter Grass: Cat and Mouse (1961) (Ch. 1-7)
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Friedrich Dürrenmatt: The Physicists (1962)
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Christa Wolf: "What Remains" (published 1990)
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Thomas Brussig: Heroes Like Us (1995) (Ch. 1-3)
Student profile
The ideal student in this course will share great enthusiasm about learning with other course members, and be eager to experience some of the most renowned textual and urban sites in the cultural history of Berlin. The course is for students who are generally interested in German cultural history and literature. It is also suited to majors and minors in German, specifically in German literature or German studies from the nineteenth century to the present.
All undergraduates are eligible to participate. Everyone should be eager to engage in discussion of works of literature, visual arts, and film, and excited about visiting course-relevant sites in Berlin.
There are no prerequisites, and no knowledge of German is necessary, since course reading and discussions will be in English.
Vanderbilt students can earn German department culture studies credit toward a major or minor if they read a substantial number of texts in German.
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