GERM 260 - Developments in German Literature

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

This course offers an overview of selected historical developments in German literature from the last three centuries.

Topic for 2013/14b: The German Gothic. This course is an introduction to the history of the German literature, art, and cinema of the occult and the uncanny. Among the high points we consider are the revival of Gothic themes in Romantic literature, such as the novellas of E.T.A. Hoffmann; their flourishing in Realist tales such as Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s The Jew’s Beech Tree; their pervasiveness in German Expressionist films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; and the fascination that these themes continue to exercise in contemporary novels such as Patrick Süskind’s Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (the basis for the film by Tom Tykwer). We study the historical contexts in which the modern German fascination with the Gothic arose and developed, and also consider seminal theories such as Sigmund Freud’s famous essay on the uncanny. In addition to several short critical essays, students write their own Gothic narratives. Readings, discussion, and composition in German. Mr. Schreiber.

Prerequisite(s): GERM 230 , GERM 239 , GERM 240 , or the equivalent.

Two 75-minute periods.