GERM 260 - Developments in German Literature

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2019/20b: 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. 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. Elliott Schreiber. Elliott Schreiber.

Prerequisite(s): GERM 230 or GERM 240, or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS