Time Schedule:
Brigitte Prutti
GERMAN 210
Seattle Campus
Introduction to major figures of German culture from the Reformation to the present, their contribution to the intellectual life of the Western world. Luther, Kant, Goethe, Schopenhauer, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, Kafka, Brecht, and Mann. In English.
Class description
Frankenstein read Goethe. Shouldn’t you?
This course introduces students to some inspiring, provocative, and inventive literary writers and thinkers in the German cultural tradition. Readings range from 18th century sentimentalism to contemporary postmodernist fiction. We will ask what it means to awaken one night after uneasy dreams to find oneself transformed into a giant insect; we will envision a workaholic Prussian writer at the sandy beaches of turn-of-the-century Venice; we will ask why Greek tragedy had to be reinvented in 19th century Germany of all places etc. We shall begin to understand why Frankenstein was moved to tears while reading German fiction. Among the texts on our reading list are Franz Kafka’s famous fantastic tale The Metamorphosis, Thomas Mann’s equally famous modernist artist novella Death in Venice, Friedrich Nietzsche’s path-breaking essay on the Birth of Tragedy, and the first internationally successful 18th century German novel, Goethe’s acclaimed Sorrows of Young Werther. We will also consider other interesting examples of shorter prose fiction by renowned 19th to 21st century writers such as Ingeborg Bachmann (The Thirtieth Year), Georg Büchner (Lenz), Peter Handke (A Sorrow Beyond Dreams), Judith Hermann (Summerhouse, Later), Joseph Roth (Stationmaster Fallmerayer), and Adalbert Stifter (Rock Crystal). Class is conducted in English.
Student learning goals
Students can expect to sharpen their critical skills and to gain a basic historical understanding of German literature in the larger European context.
General method of instruction
Lectures and class discussion.
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
Course requirements include regular attendance, active participation, short writing assignments, a midterm and a take-home final.
