GERMAN LITERATURE

The module is taught as a mandatory subject in the Master’s degree programme in the Language Sciences Master’s degree for students specializing in German (30 hours lesson time and 6 CP). It shares the general objectives of the mentioned Master's degree programme within the area of German Literature.

To meet the objective of bringing students to an advanced level of German language and historical-cultural knowledge, the course will be taught in German with brief comments and explanations in Italian where necessary or requested.

Students who choose to follow the course as an optional subject and students who take part in the Erasmus programme are requested to contact the course instructor to ascertain they have the necessary language and literary competences.

The course wishes to obtain the follwing results:

- awareness of the historic-cultural context of the German speaking countries in the 18th and 19th centuries

- comprehension of the complex literary landscape at the time of the 18th and 19th centuries

- intensive study of chosen texts representing different genres

- development of the critical and expository skills needed to discuss the complex lierary topics from a variety of philosophical, psychological and literary standpoints, in relation to the period in question

- acquisition of meta-theoretical notions concerning the relationship between literature and historical and political contexts

- acquisition of comparative intercultural notions and awareness through outcomes achieved in a European literary prospective

- improvement of language skills (towards level C1/C2 on the CEFR) and skills of bibliographic research

- ability to translate into Italian extracts from literary texts and literary-cultural articles and to reflect on the translation process

- improvement of the ability to evaluate differing interpretative approaches and to formulate personal and effective hypotheses and judgements and to express them publicly, arguing a personal position

- development of the capacity to project and to map out a process of text analysis and to elaborate autonomously short presentations and papers

- ability to interact in interuniversity and international contexts through meetings with German-speaking students and researchers

- continued consolidation of the ability to select and utilize electronic sources and resources in German autonomously, and introduction to the ability to plan and carry out scientific work required in the various phases of the degree course, and the final thesis in particular

Bachelor’s degree (triennale) and number of credits of German Language and Literature following the access guidelines established by the programme in Language Sciences Master’s degree.

All students are to have the language and analytical skills necessary to cope autonomously with the reading and semantic analysis of texts in German (at the C1 level of the CEFR). They are also required to prepare a ca. 20-minute oral presentation in German on a topic related to the course programme. Students are also required to have the communicative and conversational skills necessary to take an active role in scientific debate.

Students who choose to follow the course as an optional subject and students who take part in the Erasmus programme are kindly requested to contact the course instructor to ascertain they have the necessary language and literary competences for the course and the coursework.

"Unterwegs zu Hölderlin"

In 2020 we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of Friedrich Hölderlin, one of Germany’s most outstanding poets ever.
As Hölderlin lived at a time of great changes and struggles, his life and artistic work guarantees scholars both a thorough and illuminating understanding of the German literature around the years 1800, and opens us to wider more vision of poetry in general. Hölderlin’s work - which in his life was little known, are in these days considered difficult and incomprehensible despite a surprising interest in his product.
The intense torn reception of his expression, as of his troubled life, will illustrate that literature is able to cross the frontiers of time and space and permits to achieve a deep interactive understanding of the ideas in the text.
Students will be confronted with analyses of Hölderlin’s narrative, prose and philosophical ideas, as well as both revisions and reconstructions of his personal life and poetry in order to help them find a key interpretation of German culture and its literature.

Primary literature:

Friedrich Hölderlin:
- Ausgewählte Gedichte
- Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland
- Über Religion
- Urteil und Sein
- Das älteste Systemprogramm des deutschen Idealismus
- Reflexionen

Peter Härtling: Hölderlin. Ein Roman. Dtv: München 1994
Martin Heidegger: Erläuterungen zu Hölderlins Dichtung. Vittorio Klostermann: Frankfurt a.M. 2015 (brani scelti)
Peter Weiss: Hölderlin. Suhrkamp: Berlin 2016


Hölderlin's texts can be found also on-line (http://www.wlb-stuttgart.de/sammlungen/hoelderlin-archiv/sammlung-digital/zur-stuttgarter-hoelderlin-ausgabe-online/ ).

Secondary literature (recommended):

Jürgen K. Hultenreich: Hölderlin - das halbe Leben. Edition A. B. Fischer: Berlin 2018
Johann Kreuzer (Hg.): Hölderlin-Handbuch: Leben - Werk - Wirkung. J.B. Metzler: Stuttgart 2011
Ulrich Gaier: Hölderlin. Eine Einführung. UTB: Tübingen, Basel 1993
Rüdiger Safranski, Hölderlin. Komm! ins Offene, Freund! Hanser: München 2019

For study-purposes students can refer to translations of the texts, meanwhile at the examination are admitted only the original versions in german language. Further bibliographical explanations and indications will be given during the course.

In the exam all students will be required:

1) to be familiar with the chosen texts and to be able to translate into Italian a piece from one of those texts discussing the linguistic-cultural reasons for the translation solutions adopted;

2) to be able to discuss the cultural and historical contexts of the works being examined;

3) to be conversant with the textual tools to be able first to comment on both the content and formal aspects, in order finally to present competently their own personal opinions;

4) to be able to make use of the critical tools of analysis when discussing the texts in the original;

and 5) to present a case in German on a particular chosen subject from a selection covered during the course. This theme, first agreed upon, will require a bibliographic study, as well as scholarly review of the different critical ideas encountered in the literary criticism.

The oral exam (approx. 30 minutes long) will be dedicated to the discussion of the presentations which students are required to prepare during the course and will include the linguistic-literary analysis of a part of one of the poems dealt with in the presentations as well as reflections on the reasons for the translation solutions encountered. About half of the exam will take place in German, the other half, at the student's choice, in German or Italian.

Front lectures with seminarial elements (presentations and class discussion); additional support material; supplementary multi-medial activities.

At the beginning of classes, students are advised to print out this programme and bring it with them. It will be discussed and explained in detail by the lecturer. The topics of the lessons will be presented together with the order in which the texts will be dealt with and discussed.
Other informations will be communicated during the module and/or in internet ("scheda docente - avvisi/materiale didattico"). For further information contact the professor.

oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development