| Unit name | Precursors of Modernism: Heine, Buchner, Kleist |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GERM30057 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Debbie Pinfold |
| Open unit status | Open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of German |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The unitstudies key works of three canonical authors of early to mid-nineteenth-century German literature: Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811), Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), and Georg Büchner (1813-1837), whose writings have had a major impact on modern literary aesthetics. The scope of texts discussed will cover prose, poetry and drama; socio-historical contexts (e.g. industrialisation, city growth) will be considered, as well as political circumstances (Kleinstaaterei, censorship) that significantly influenced the authors’ writings. In analyses of the primary sources, features will be identified that allow the classification of Heine, Büchner, and Kleist as precursors of German literary modernism (e.g. language, genre, themes, motives), supported by the use of relevant secondary sources. Students will be expected to be proficient in German as source material will be in German.
This unit aims: • to build on student’s knowledge of early to mid-nineteenth century German literature and thought • to explore literature in its relation to historical developments (social and political history; literary history, e.g. the emergence of literary modernism) • to enhance students’ German language skills, as well as close reading techniques, by the detailed reading of literary texts • to enable students to research secondary sources, to develop critical interpretations of their own, and to present their findings to an audience • to inspire students to work further, and independently, in this and other fields
At the end of this unit successful students will have:
1. knowledge of selected examples of nineteenth-century German literature and its contexts (A3, B8, B4) 2. critical appreciation of literary-historical developments (A3, A5) – and relevant interdisciplinary relationships (A7) 3. employed close reading techniques, cultural concepts of linguistic, literary, historical and intellectual analysis, and independent research (B5, B1 B2) – orally and in writing (C2 and C3)
Weekly 2-hour-seminars, comprising informal lectures, seminar presentations and discussion in weeks 1-5 and 7-11. Week 12, concluding discussion and revision.
• 25% group presentation (group mark), incl. one-page-handout to be submitted on the day of the presentation (1-3) • 75% 4000 word-essay (1-3)
Primary Sources: • Georg Büchner, Werke und Briefe. Münchner Ausgabe (Munich: dtv, 1997). • Heinrich Heine, Sämtliche Schriften, ed. Klaus Briegleb, 6 vols. (Munich: dtv, 2005). • Heinrich von Kleist, Sämtliche Werke und Briefe, ed. Helmut Sembdner (Munich: dtv, 2nd edition 2008) Secondary Reading: • Roland Borgards, Büchner-Handbuch. Leben – Werk – Wirkung (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2009). • Ingo Breuer, Kleist-Handbuch. Leben – Werk – Wirkung (Stuttgart: Metzler, 2009). • Gerhard Höhn, Heine Handbuch. Zeit – Person – Werk (Stuttgart: Metzler, 3rd edition 2004).
