GERMAN LITERATURE 1 MOD.1

The course is intended for students in the first semester of the first year of the LLEAP Master's degree course in Germanistics and the related Double Degree with the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; it is part of the characterising educational activities. It offers advanced knowledge in the field of German literature in the original language and advanced critical tools for the reading and interpretation of literary texts in the modern era.

1) A thorough knowledge of German prose from late Realism to the Mann brothers both in the cultural context of the time and in the structural constants immanent in the texts; 2) the ability to identify the complexity of the literary construction of the 19th century and its transformation up to the early 20th century with the aid of semiological criticism; 3) the ability to analyse and recognise the structural characteristics of the texts analysed in the light of a philologically plausible interpretation; 4) the ability to put forward competent interpretative proposals and to communicate them clearly in the seminar; 5) knowledge of Heinrich Heine's poetry from the perspective of its late 19th century reception.

Bachelor's degree and number of credits in German Language and Literature according to the access rules laid down in the regulations of the Master's Degree Course in European, American and Postcolonial Languages and Literature.

The founding of the Deutsches Reich in 1871 ushered in an era in which, as Friedrich Nietzsche so aptly wrote, the idolatry of political and economic success was matched by an extraordinary cultural stagnation, personified by the new human type of the cultural philistine. The course will explore the narrative figures of this Germany described by the philosopher in his 'Untimely Meditations' in the early 1970s. In the world represented in prose from late Realism to the Mann brothers in the early years of the 20th century, we will meet characters engaged in an arduous negotiation with inherited commonplaces, which only with the onset of modernity will surrender to their obsolescence, releasing new ways of perceiving the self, the world and the language capable of conveying them.
A seminar with Prof. Bernd Zegowitz of the Goethe-Universität Frankfurt on the poetry of Heinrich Heine from the perspective of his late 19th century reception is scheduled during the course.

Theodor Fontane, Effi Briest, (Reclam Ausgabe).
Theodor Fontane, Stine, (Reclam Ausgabe).
Excerpts from: Theodor Fontane, Der Stechlin (Reclam Ausgabe).
Excerpts from: Wilhelm Raabe, Die Akten des Vogelsangs, (Reclam Ausgabe).
Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks. Verfall einer Familie (Fischer Ausgabe).
Excerpts from: Heinrich Mann, Der Untertan (Fischer Ausgabe).
Excerpts from: Friedrich W. Nietzsche, Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe in 15 Bänden, hg. von Giorgio Colli und Mazzino Montinari.
A selection of poems by Heinrich Heine.

The oral examination is an interview in German covering all the topics discussed during the course. In the overall assessment, the written presentation of a topic that the student has discussed in seminar with other students in the last weeks of the course will count for 50%. On this occasion, clarity of exposition, the ability to deal with a topic in depth independently, and the competence and originality of the critical conclusions reached will be assessed. During the examination interview, the lecturer will verify 1) the knowledge of the texts dealt with during the course; 2) the ability to apply to the texts the critical and interpretative categories developed during the course; 3) the ability to argue on the specificities of the texts in relation to their era and to any structural constants that emerge from a semiological reading of them.

Lectures and workshops in German, with moments in Italian where necessary for full understanding and active participation in the course. Of some of the works, as indicated in the list of reference texts, only extracts will be read. Efforts will be made to stimulate oral discussion in German in a friendly learning environment.

If you require specific information on the course in German, please contact the lecturer by e-mail or during her office hours.
Erasmus students are welcome.

written and 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