HISTORY OF GERMAN CULTURE MOD. 2

The course of History of German Culture (1 and 2) belongs to the curriculum German Literature of the Master's Degree Programme European, American and Postcolonial Language and Literature. According to the aims of the Master's Degree and to the areas Literatures and Cultures, the course provides the ability to consolidate advanced critical and methodological instruments and a solid knowledge of literary texts and debates in their cultural and historical context.

Aims of this course are 1) the ability to analyse critically some of the most significant thoretical and literary texts of the cultural debates about "Kulturkritik" in the German-speaking countries from the French Revolution until the Fall of Berlin Wall; 2) the comprehension of these debates in their cultural and historical context; 3) the ability to consolidate critical and methodological instruments; 4) the ability to comprehend and analyze texts and contexts in a competent and autonomous way; 5) the ability to perfectionate comunication and production in the original language by an accurate reading of the texts, the discussion and presentation in class and and a detailed study of scientific writing in German; 6) the ability to write a well-discussed and formally correct scientific paper in German; 7) the ability to discuss with international lecturers in seminars and workshops about the subjects of the course.

Degree in Modern languages according to the rules of the course LLEAP.
Other students and Erasmus students are kindly asked to contact the lecturer.

1789-1989: Civilisation and its Discontent. The phenomenon of "Kulturkritik" in German Culture from the French Revolution until the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

At the end of the Enlightenment, and particularly after the French Revolution and The Terror regime, some German and Austrian authors develop a strong critique against Rationality, which is no longer seen as an instrument of Knowledge but critically considered as an instrument of Power. During the last 200 years very different writers like Friedrich Schiller, Heinrich von Novalis, Thomas Mann, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Sigmund Freud and Botho Strauss expressed this antirationalistic and antimodern attitude in their works or as well a critique to this attitude. The module aims to offer an introduction to German "Antimodernism" from the French Revolution until today and to analyse some key texts of these intellectual tendencies with regard to content and style.
The course will be divided into three parts:
1. Kulturkritik and the French Revolution: Schiller and Novalis;
2. Kulturkritik and Nationalism (with regard to the World Wars), with particular attention to the Wiener Moderne: Freud, Hofmannsthal, Mann;
3. Kulturkritik and national identity in the contemporary age: Botho Strauß.
The course will concentrate on the critical potentialities of these texts but also highlight their not always unproblematic results.

1.
Friedrich Schiller: Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen, in einer Reihe von Briefen (ed. Reclam or online text:
http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Schiller,+Friedrich/Theoretische+Schriften/%C3%9Cber+die+%C3%A4sthetische+Erziehung+des+Menschen+in+einer+Reihe+von+Briefen );
Novalis: Fragmente und Studien, Die Christenheit oder Europa, Reclam, Stuttgart 1986, pp. 67-89 (or online text:
http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Novalis/Essay/Die+Christenheit+oder+Europa );
Thomas Mann: Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen, Fischer, Frankfurt a.M. 2001 (capitolo „Bürgerlichkeit“, pp. 120-165);
Hugo von Hofmannsthal: Das Schrifttum als geistiger Raum der Nation, in: Hofmannsthal, Hugo von: Reden und Aufsätze, in: ders.: Gesammelte Werke in zehn Einzelbänden, a cura di Bernd Schoeller con la collaborazione di Rudolf Hirsch, Frankfurt a.M. 1979, vol. 3, pp. 24-41 oppure testo online: http://ds.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/viewer/image/97830/1/ );
Sigmund Freud: Das Unbehagen in der Kultur, in: Studienausgabe IX , Fischer, Frankfurt a. M. 1970,(or Reclam edition);
Thomas Mann: Deutschland und die Deutschen, in: Essays (vol. 5: Deutschland und die Deutschen 1938-1945), a cura di Hermann Kurzke e Stephan Stachorski, Frankfurt a.M. 1996, pp. 260-281;
Arthur Schnitzler: Das Wort/Professor Bernhardi/Fink und Fliederbusch, in: Gesammelte Werke. Die dramatischen Werke, Bd. 2, Frankfurt a.M. 1981;
Botho Strauss: Anschwellender Bocksgesang (8.2.1993, online: http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13681004.html );
Botho Strauss: Der letzte Deutsche (2.10.2015, online: http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/index-2015-41.html ).
2.
Olivier Agard/Barbara Beßlich (Hrsg.): Kulturkritik zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich (1890–1933) in SCHRIFTEN ZUR POLITISCHEN KULTUR DER WEIMARER REPUBLIK, Peter Lang,Frankfurt a.M. 2016, vol. 18 (pp. 9-21; 291-305);
Barbara Beßlich: Wege in den „Kulturkrieg“. Zivilisationskritik in Deutschland 1890-1914, Darmstadt 2000, (pp. 1-44);
Stefan Breuer: Ästhetischer Fundamentalismus. Stefan George und der deutsche Antimodernismus, Darmstadt 1996 (Einleitung, pp.1-10; Präludium, pp. 11-19; Drittes Kapitel: Die Kultur und ihre Feinde, pp. 184-240, Die Paradoxie des ästhetischen Fundamentalismus, pp. 241-244);
Barbara Beßlich/Cristina Fossaluzza: Kulturkritik der Wiener Moderne (1890-1938), Winter, Heidelberg 2019 (p. 2-21).

As regards the Sekundärliteratur, Science Language students only have to read the following texts:
Olivier Agard/Barbara Beßlich (Hrsg.): Kulturkritik zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich (1890–1933) in SCHRIFTEN ZUR POLITISCHEN KULTUR DER WEIMARER REPUBLIK, Peter Lang,Frankfurt a.M. 2016, vol. 18 (pp. 9-21; 291-305);
Barbara Beßlich/Cristina Fossaluzza: Kutlturkritik der Wiener Moderne (1890-1938), Winter, Heidelberg 2019, pp. 2-21.

Moreover, for students who cannot attend the lessons:
Georg Bollenbeck: Eine Geschichte der Kulturkritik. Von Rousseau bis Günther Anders, Beck, München 2007.

An oral exam divided into different parts:

Module 1:
- a translation of a text passage from German into Italian;
- a general check about the whole programme;
- a brief presentation of a paper written in German (5-10 pages).

Module 2:
- a translation of a text passage from German into Italian;
- a general check about the whole programme;
- a brief presentation of a paper written in German (10-15 pages).

Science Languages students:
- a translation of a text passage from German into Italian;
- a general check about the whole programme.
For Science Language students the exam can be held in Italian.

Front lectures, seminar and presentations in class by students (Referate).

1. An introduction to scientific writing will be a part of this course.
2. Students who cannot attend the lessons are kindly requested to contact the lecturer in the office hours.

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development