The course gives a chronological survey of the most significant literary genres, issues and developments in German speaking countries from 1945 to the present. The two Nobel Prize winners, Günther Grass and Heinrich Böll, are only two of the fascinating authors discussed in this course. The course tries to provide a guide through the extraordinary literary landscape of the two Germanies, Austria’s and Switzerland’s between 1945 and the present. After a sketch of the historical situation (defeat of Nazi Germany, division of Germany into two countries, the time of the “economic miracle, student unrest in the 1960, the reunification in the 1990’s) we will deal with topics such as the Vergangenheitsbewältigung, the attempt to come to terms with the Nazi past, the politicization of literature in the 1960’s, and the return of a “new subjectivity” in the 1980’s. Finally the course will discuss the recent imaginative writing of the “post- unification” era.
Prerequisites:
Students should be able to read and discuss German literary texts without difficulty.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of this course, students should have a grasp of the major tendencies in post-World War II German literary history and should also be familiar with its major genres (short story, lyric poetry, novels and drama).
Method of presentation:
Lectures and discussions in class, work groups, oral reports by the students, films, work sheets.
Sarah Kirsch, Bei den weißen Stiefmütterchen, 1967 (poem)
Ulla Hahn, Nach vorne leben, 1986 (interpretation of Sarah Kirsch's poem “Bei den weißen Stiefmütterchen)
Wolfgang Borchert, Draußen vor der Tür, 1947 (audio and stage play)
All texts except Schlink are made available in a Reader.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Astrid Nothen studied German and French Literature as well as Teaching German as a foreign language. After having earned her degree and her teaching qualification, she worked as a high school teacher in Spain and taught German to professionals in France. Currently, she is head of the international language courses department at the University of Freiburg Language Teaching Centre.
The course gives a chronological survey of the most significant literary genres, issues and developments in German speaking countries from 1945 to the present. The two Nobel Prize winners, Günther Grass and Heinrich Böll, are only two of the fascinating authors discussed in this course. The course tries to provide a guide through the extraordinary literary landscape of the two Germanies, Austria’s and Switzerland’s between 1945 and the present. After a sketch of the historical situation (defeat of Nazi Germany, division of Germany into two countries, the time of the “economic miracle, student unrest in the 1960, the reunification in the 1990’s) we will deal with topics such as the Vergangenheitsbewältigung, the attempt to come to terms with the Nazi past, the politicization of literature in the 1960’s, and the return of a “new subjectivity” in the 1980’s. Finally the course will discuss the recent imaginative writing of the “post- unification” era.
Students should be able to read and discuss German literary texts without difficulty.
By the end of this course, students should have a grasp of the major tendencies in post-World War II German literary history and should also be familiar with its major genres (short story, lyric poetry, novels and drama).
Lectures and discussions in class, work groups, oral reports by the students, films, work sheets.
Oral participation (33%),
2 exams (33%),
2 essays (34%)
Ingeborg Bachmann, Reklame, 1956 (poem)
Heinrich Böll, Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral, 1963 (short story)
Wolfgang Borchert, Nachts schlafen die Ratten doch, 1949 (short story)
Paul Celan, Espenbaum, 1952 (poem)
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Der Besuch der alten Dame, 1956 (stage play excerpt)
Günter Eich, Konsultation, 1970 (short prose work)
Günter Grass, Die Blechtrommel, 1959 (novel excerpt); Die Rättin, 1986 (novel excerpt)
Ernst Jandl, der knarrende frühling, 1972 (poem); my own song, 1983 (poem)
Sarah Kirsch, Auf dem Deich, 1986 (short prose work)
Franz Xaver Kroetz, Nicht Fisch nicht Fleisch, 1982 (stage play excerpt)
Herta, Müller, Vater, Mutter und der Kleine, 1982 (short prose work)
Nelly Sachs, Völker der Erde, 1950 (poem)
Bernhard Schlink, Der Vorleser, 1995 (novel)
Christa Wolf, Der geteilte Himmel, 1973 (novella excerpt)
Ernst Jandl, für alle, 1984 (collection of texts)
Hans Werner Richter (Hrsg.): Almanach der Gruppe 47, 1962 (collection of texts)
Heinrich Böll, Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum oder : Wie Gewalt entstehen und wohin sie führen kann, 1974 (novella)
Ingeborg Bachmann, Probleme, Probleme, 1972 (short prose work)
Paul Celan, Die Todesfuge, 1945 (poem)
Sarah Kirsch, Bei den weißen Stiefmütterchen, 1967 (poem)
Ulla Hahn, Nach vorne leben, 1986 (interpretation of Sarah Kirsch's poem “Bei den weißen Stiefmütterchen)
Wolfgang Borchert, Draußen vor der Tür, 1947 (audio and stage play)
All texts except Schlink are made available in a Reader.
Astrid Nothen studied German and French Literature as well as Teaching German as a foreign language. After having earned her degree and her teaching qualification, she worked as a high school teacher in Spain and taught German to professionals in France. Currently, she is head of the international language courses department at the University of Freiburg Language Teaching Centre.