German Culture and Civilization of the 20th Century

German 305 and Honors 274

Spring 2002

 

Gabriele Dillmann

Assistant Professor of German

Department of Modern Languages

Office Hours: TBA

Fellows Hall, 3rd Floor

Tel.: x6226

Dillmann@denison.edu

http://www.denison.edu/~dillmann

 

Classrooms and Times: Fellows 305, MWF 11:30-12:30

 

Class Web Site: www.denison.edu/~dillmann/274

 

Required and Reference Texts: (most of these will be available on library’s reserve shelves)

 

*Burns, Rob. German Cultural Studies

Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany

Reinhardt, Kurt.  Germany 2000 Years. Vol. I and II

Kracauer, Siegfried, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film

Kaes, Anton, Jay Martin, and Dimendberg, Edward (eds.), The Weimar Republic Sourcebook

Willet, John. The Weimar Years:A Culture Cut Short

Kershaw, Ian (ed.), Weimar: Why did German Democracy Fail?

Goldhagen, Daniel, Hitler’s Willing Executioners

Gaardner, Jostein. Sophie's World (Fiction/Introduction to Western Philosophy)

Joachimides, Christos M., Rosenthal, Norman, and Schmid, Wieland (eds.), German Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1905-1985

Ehrlich, Doreen, The Bauhaus

 

*Course Textbook

 

Primary Literary Works

 

Mann, Thomas, Mario and the Magician

Borchert, The Man Outside

Celan, Paul, “Death Fugue”

Nelly Sachs,Rose Ausländer,Ingeborg Bachmann, a selection of poems

Brecht, Bertholt, The Jewish Wife

Bachmann, Ingeborg, The Book of Franza

Wolf, Christa, Cassandra

Dürrenmatt, Friedrich, The Physicists

Plenzdorf, Ulrich, The New Sufferings of Young Werther

Schneider, Peter, The Wall Jumper

 

Class reader compiled by professor – for individual texts see below

 

German 305 – Students will read all the primary texts above in German.

 

Course Breakdown:

 

30% Final or Paper (12-15 pages)

20% Midterm

25% Participation

25% Presentations

 

Course Description:

 

This course explores German culture and history through the mirrors of social movements and of artistic and intellectual creation. The word German denotes the language of a civilization, the language as a unifying phenomenon of cultural identity, which means that the cultures of what we now refer to as Germany, Austria and Switzerland will be represented in this course. German literary works by such authors as Thomas Mann, Celan, Brecht, Bachmann, Plenzdorf, Dürrenmatt and more, will be read and closely analyzed in terms of their specific contextual meaning. Students will learn to “read” a text critically and learn to appreciate the powerful implications that texts can carry. The methodology applied rests on the German tradition of hermeneutic inquiry: the outcome of our understanding, the answers we receive, will depend on the types of questions we ask. Together, we will reflect on the questions we ask and on the answers we receive.

 

Program:

 

Historic Overview from the beginnings

 

First World War and The Weimar Republic

 

1.     History 1914-1933

2.     Culture

Art:                  Expressionism, Dada, New Objectivity

                        Film: Metropolis

Architecture:    Bauhaus

Music:             Richard Strauss, Arnold Schönberg

Literature:        Thomas Mann, Mario and the Magician

Philosophy:     Martin Heidegger

 

The Third Reich

 

1.     History of the Third Reich 1933 –1945

2.     Fascism:  J.P. Stern, "Hitler. The Führer and the People," (excerpts)

Film:                Leni Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will (individual scenes)

3.     Holocaust and War

Literature:        Paul Celan, "Death Fugue"

                        Bertolt Brecht, "The Jewish Wife"

                        Borchert, The Man Outside

4.     Resistance             "The White Rose" and "The Red Chapel"

5.     The Christian Churches in the Third Reich

Martin Bonhoefer

6.     Cultural Politics of the National Socialist Party

Art:                  "Degenerate Art" and Third Reich Art

Architecture, Philosophy, Music

 

Germany after 1945

 

1.     Destruction and New Beginning, Economic Miracle

2.     The Beginnings of the German Federal Republic (West)

3.     The Beginning of the German Democratic Republic (East)

4.     The Divided Germany

5.     West German, Austrian, and Swiss Literature

Group 47, Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul Celan, Nelly Sachs, Rose Ausländer

Trümmerliteratur Literature "of" the Ruins

Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Physicists

Ingeborg Bachmann, The Case of Franza

6.     The Sixties: Protest Movements

7.     The Seventies: New German Film

Film:    Herzog, Fassbinder, Wenders, Doerrie

8.     Guest Workers in Germany

Social Criticism: Günter Wallraff, Ganz Unten

Film:    H.W. Fassbinder: Ali, Angst essen Seele auf

Literature:  Rafik Schami: “Literature of the Affected”

9.     Culture in the German Democratic Republic

Literature:        Christa Wolf, Cassandra

                        Ulrich Plenzdorf, The New Sufferings of the Young Werther

10.  From Coexistence to Reunification

Literature:        Peter Schneider, The Wall Jumper

11.  Germany and Austria as Multicultural Societies

      Literature:        Emine Özdamar, Aysel Özakin, Chino Chinello, Zafer Sendocak

                              Rafik Schami, Aras Ören

      Film:                Doris Doerrie, Happy Birthday, Türke

12.  Contemporary German, Austrian, Swiss Art

13.  Contemporary German Film