ENG 380.91 German Literature in Translation (World Literature): Home

The aim of this course is to familiarize you with the important works, themes, historical events and literary terminology of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, showing how literary forms express German culture unique to these periods. We shall examine literature of the period through aesthetic, sociological, philosophical, ethical, political and/or historical lenses. Starting with the of writings of Schnitzler and Freud and continuing with Zweig and Musil, we will trace the development of German letters from the early Austro-Hungarian to the period before and during World War I through the writings of Hesse and Remarque.

By the end of the course students should have a sound knowledge of the following concepts: Realism, Naturalism, drama, novel, Zeitgeist, black Pedagogy and other concepts essential to the literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Furthermore, students should have a firm understanding of the social, philosophical, economic and political events and trends in Germany as they are manifested in the works read.