Time Schedule:
Richard Block
GERMAN 497
Seattle Campus
Class description
SUMMER 2009:
“The more closely one looks at a word, the more distantly it looks back.” Walter Benjamin often cited this aphorism by Karl Kraus. In this seminar, we will likewise explore how close reading is destined to distance us from the text, how language retreats from visibility and offers meaning as a surrogate. That is to say, what language presents to the close reader is something other than itself, an allegory of its own failure to appear before the reader and tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That does mean, however, that language does not hold such a potentiality in reserve or has not left traces of what it was before the fall into meaning.
To explore these issues, we will begin with a reading of the Old Testament, particularly the first chapters of Genesis and those related to the Tower of Babel. We will then move to the eighteenth century to Herder’s essay, “Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache,” which offers an organic understanding of language to argue for the abiding closeness of language, i.e. its presence. From there, we will consider Hamann’s radical critique of reason, Enlightenment and philosophical language. That will lead to a reading of Nietzsche’s undoing of Herder’s thesis (“Über Wahrheit und Lüge…”), followed by Heidegger’s response to Nietzsche’s assertion that language can offer nothing other than interpretations of interpretations. We will conclude with essays by Walter Benjamin and Jacques Derrida to seek out what is meant by speaking of the potentiality of language and, moreover, its messianic potentiality. And how does an allegory of language’s failure recall and even transmit that potentiality?
On a more mundane level, the purpose of this course is to offer students a critical understanding of language to inform their readings of literary and cultural texts. To that end, we will occasionally refer to poems and translations.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Readings are in German (except for those from the OT and the essays by Derrida), but English translations for students outside of the department will be made available. Discussions are in English.
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
Requirements: Rather than write scholarly essays, students will be asked to lead a class session (50 minutes) and prepare a detailed class plan, as if they were going to present the material to advanced undergraduates. In other words, the term will be used to help students prepare for teaching complex material.
