| Unit name | From Judgement to Trial: Selected Works by Franz Kafka |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GERM20049 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Debbie Pinfold |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of German |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Unit is available as an open unit subject to sufficient (A-level or equivalent) knowledge of German.
A son who unquestioningly carries out the death sentence pronounced on him by his father; a man who is arrested ‘without having done anything wrong’: Kafka’s depictions of helpless individuals caught up in intricate and opaque mechanisms of justice have lost nothing of their power since they were first published in the early twentieth century. In this unit we will first undertake close readings of a selection of Kafka’s shorter fiction dealing with the topic of the law, guilt and punishment (‘Vor dem Gesetz’, ‘Das Urteil’ and ‘In der Strafkolonie’). In addition to developing their personal response to these texts, students will be encouraged to explore multiple critical perspectives on the stories as a means of enhancing their understanding of Kafka’s works and of learning to evaluate critically the scholarship they read. This work will lay the foundations for the second half of the unit, which will focus on the novel Der 'Proceß, 'Kafka’s fullest exploration of the themes of guilt and justice. The unit will be taught through a mixture of informal lectures, seminar discussions, for which students will prepare in advance with the aid of worksheets, and small group work.
The unit aims
By the end of the unit, successful students will be able to:
1. analyse the contents and context of selected German narrative texts, read in the original (or, where appropriate, in translation);
2. critically evaluate selected works of scholarship, to a level appropriate to Level I;
3. work in teams to present primary and secondary literature in clear, concise written form;
4. make confident and critical use of secondary literature to support and develop their own written interpretations of the set texts, as appropriate to Level I;
5. confidently interpret literary texts in a nuanced and academic manner, as appropriate to Level I.
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous sessions and asynchronous activities, including seminars, lectures and collaborative as well as self-directed learning opportunities supported by tutor consultation.
1. One group wiki page, to be written in English (4,000 words max)
2. One 2,000-word essay (60%) ILOs 1, 4 and 5
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. GERM20049).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
