GERM 301 - Senior Seminar

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2023/24a: Fantastic Journeys: Exploring German Fantasy Fiction. The contemporary global genre of fantasy fiction owes much to its origins in 19th-century German literature, in particular the work of E.T.A. Hoffmann. This seminar investigates key points in the history of this genre, from its inception in the early nineteenth century, to its revival around 1900 in the work of artists and writers like Alfred Kubin (The Other Side), its renaissance in the later twentieth century in the fiction of Michael Ende (The Neverending Story), and its current flourishing in the novels of Carolina Funke (Inkheart), Kai Meyer (The Dark Reflections Trilogy), Rafik Schami (Damascus Nights), and many others. We pay particular attention to the liminal spaces that are explored in the genre: the border regions between dream and waking, childhood and adulthood, past and present, masculinity and femininity, escapism and social engagement, text and reality. In addition, we consider a variety of theoretical approaches to the fantastic such as Tvetan Todorov’s, examine cinematic adaptations to see how different media convey the fantastic, and probe the genre through writing both critical essays and fictional stories. Elliott Schreiber.

Prerequisite(s): GERM 260 or the equivalent.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS