Unit name | Literature and Politics, 1800-1871 |
---|---|
Unit code | GERM22039 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Davies |
Open unit status | Open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of German |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
1800-1871 were eventful and formative years in the history of Germany. Beginning with invasion by Napoleon in the century's first decade and the ejection of the French in 1813-1815, this was the period in which several efforts were made to define the German nation and to unite it, in both its politics and its culture. Cultural nationalism, expressed and discussed in literary works, went alongside the political nationalism that saw its goals achieved with the unification of Germany in 1871.
In this unit we will investigate political developments in this crucial historical period alongside representative examples of its literature, asking how literary texts both formed and responded to historical events at different times and in different parts of Germany and Austria. Close attention to individual literary texts will accompany a thorough study of the historical episodes that led up to the creation of the first German nation state.
Successful students will:
Normally one lecture hour and one seminar hour per week across one teaching block (22 contact hours), often with student presentations. In units with a smaller number of students the lecture hour may be replaced by a second seminar or a workshop. Units involving film may require students to view films outside the timetabled contact hours.
One 2000-word essay plus 2-hour exam (50% / 50%)
Introductory reading:
Germany 1800-1870, ed. by Jonathan Sperber (Oxford, 2004)
Stefan Berger, Germany: Inventing the Nation (London, 2004)
H-J. Hahn, German Thought and Culture: From the Holy Roman Empire to the Present Day (Manchester, 1995), esp. chapters 3, 4 and 6
A New History of German Literature, ed. by David E. Wellbery and others (Cambridge, MA, 2004), esp. pp. 505-11, 516-21, 526-31, 556-72 and 577-81: bite-sized introductory essays.
Literary set texts:
Franz Grillparzer, König Ottokars Glück und Ende
Heinrich Heine, Deutschland. Ein Wintermärchen