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Literature
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| Course Information |
| Undergraduate Syllabus |
| Graduate Syllabus |
| Bibliography |
| Art Works |
| Suggested Topics for Seminar Paper |
Course Information and Syllabi, Fall 2002
Description
The 1920s were fascinating, intense, outré years--they are not called "Roaring" by chance. Numerous Western cultures including both Germany and the United States experienced a time of social and political upheaval as well as extremely high cultural production. In Germany writers such as Kafka, Hesse, Brecht, Döblin and the Mann brothers (Heinrich and Thomas) were prolific; art flourished in both Germany and Austria in the works of Grosz, Kokoschka, Kollwitz, Kirchner, Klimt, Schiele, Beckmann, Dix, Marc, Kandinsky, Ernst, Gabriele Münter and Hannah Höch; and the cinema enjoyed an unusual concentration of talent in directors such as Fritz Lang, F.W. Murnau, G. W. Pabst, Josef von Sternberg, and Robert Wiene. Architecture saw the founding of the Bauhaus as well as the Modern Movement with designers such as Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and Moholy-Nagy, while music also underwent radical changes in the compositions of Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg.
Many of these artists, writers and directors knew one another, and the ideas of modernism, expressionism, and dadaism crossed over disciplinary boundaries. With the increasing importance of film, automobiles, and the telephone, both communication and mobility were enhanced; the overall pace of life quickened, especially in large cities such as Berlin, and social and political unrest spread more easily. Because of this interconnectedness inherent to the period, we will look not only at literature, but also at film, art and architecture in an attempt to understand the era in all its complexity. The political struggles that ultimately resulted in National Socialism and the challenges to social mores (homosexuality, feminism, abortion rights, etc.) emerge from the various works of art and films. The Weimar Republic lasted only 14 years, but they were dynamic enough to give the impression today that the Weimar years lasted much longer. And in an oblique way they have, because many of the ideas and perceptions carried over, after World War II, into the second half of the 20th century and even into the 21st.
Texts
At Alabama Bookstore (Univ. Blvd):
Brecht, Bertolt. The Threepenny Opera. NY: Grove, 1960.
Hesse, Hermann. Demian. NY: Dover Thrift , 2000.
Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. NY: Dover Thrift, 1996.
Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories. NY: Vintage, 1989.
Kaes, Anton, et al., eds. The Weimar Republic Sourcebook. (Two copies also available on reserve at Gorgas Library)
Available from the Supe Store:
Mann, Heinrich. The Blue Angel (Professor Unrat), and Sternberg, Josef von. The Blue Angel (screenplay). Photocopied text. Check under course number GN403, or request that a copy be printed.
Reserve
Most of the texts are on overnight reserve at Gorgas Library in both German and English. German copies of works can also be purchased from IBIS:
Barbara Kerce
International Book Import Service
161 Main Street, P.O. Box 8188
Lynchburg, TN 37352-8188
Tel. 800-277-4247, Fax: 931-759-7555
Email: ibis@ ibiservice.com
URL: www.ibiservice.com
Course Requirements
Students will be expected to prepare all readings prior to class and to participate actively in discussions. Each student will do a 15-minute slide presentation on a selected artist, write a final seminar paper of 10-15 pages, and take a final exam. The final grade will be based on these elements, according to the following breakdown:
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Slide presentation |
10% |
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Seminar paper |
35% |
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Final exam |
35% |
|
Class participation |
20% |
Graduate students will prepare a slide presentation on an artist, write a longer final research paper (c. 20 pages), and do some extra secondary reading, but will not take the final exam.
Syllabus Fall 2002
| August | |
| 27 | Introduction to the course: overview of politics, social issues, and art Film: Cabaret. 1972. Dir. Bob Fosse. 128 min. Based on Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin and John van Druten's play. |
| September | |
| 3 | The Legacy of the Great War Reading: Kaes, Sourcebook.
Ch. 1 and Ch. 2, (intro.only, pp. 35-6) Film: "Artists at War 1914-1918" (documentary). 55 min. |
| 10 | Modernism: Part 1 Reading: Heinrich Mann (DLB,
on reserve) |
| 17 | Film: The Blue Angel 1930. Dir. Josef von Sternberg. 106 min. Reading: Joseph von Sternberg (World Film Directors, on reserve) 24 Modernism: Part 2 Reading: Max Brod "Franz Kafka's Posthumus Writings" (1924) in Kaes, Sourcebook, pp. 510-12 Film: Documentary on Kafka (Ten Great Writers: Franz Kafka) 59 min. |
| October | |
| 1 | Modernism: Part 3 Reading: Franz Kafka (Encyclopedia of German Literature, on reserve) |
| 8 | Hermann Hesse. Demian. (1919) Reading: Hermann Hesse (DLB, on reserve) Film: The Haunted Screen: Weimar Cinema (documentary overview) |
| 15 | Expressionism and the Cinema, Part I. Reading: Kaes, Sourcebook, Ch. 25 Film: Nosferatu. 1922. Dir. F.W. Murnau. 64 min. |
| 22 | Expressionism and the Cinema, Part II. Film: Metropolis. 1926. Dir. Fritz Lang. 115 min. Guest Speaker: Beau Watkins |
| 29 | Expressionism and Art Film: Expressionism (documentary). 60 min. Artists: Grosz, Schiele, Beckmann, Kirchner, Marc, Kokoschka, Kollwitz |
| November | |
| 5 | Dada and Surrealism in Art Reading: Kaes, Sourcebook, Ch. 19 Film: Dada and Surrealism (documentary). 60 min. Artists: Klimt, Schwitters, Hanna Hšch, Gabriele MŸnter, Dix, Kandinsky |
| 12 | Modernism and the Political The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (1928) Reading: Kaes, Sourcebook,
Ch. 21 and Ch. 23 (pp.576-77 only) Film: The Threepenny Opera. 1931. Dir. G. W. Pabst. 113 min. |
| 19 | Individual and Society: the Artist and Homosexuality
Guest Speaker: Dr. Gamin Bartle Reading: Thomas Mann (DLB,
on reserve) Film: Documentary on Thomas Mann (FHS, 45 min.) |
| 26 | Individual and Society: the New Woman and Berlin Readings: Kaes, Sourcebook, Ch. 8, 16, 22 Film: Pandora's Box. 1928. Dir. G.W. Pabst. 110 min. |
| December | |
| 3 | Modernism and Architecture Reading: Kaes, Sourcebook, Ch. 17 Film: Bauhaus, The Face of the 20th Century (documentary). 50 min. Film: Air, Light, and Utopia: The Modern Movement in Architecture (documentary). 53 min. |
| Texts: Kaes, Sourcebook = Kaes, Anton, and Martin Jay and Edward Dimendberg, eds. The Weimar Republic Sourcebook. (2 copies on reserve in Gorgas) DLB = Dictionary of Literary Biography (essays on Brecht, Th. Mann, H. Mann, and Hesse on reserve in Gorgas) Encyclopedia of German Literature: Biographical essay on Kafka on reserve Essay on Weimar Republic (handout) The Blue Angel / Professor Unrat by Heinrich Mann and The Blue Angel filmscript by Josef v. Sternberg are published together in a single volume. Because the work is out of print, it is available only as a photocopy from the Supe store. Check under GN403; if there are none on the shelf, request that a copy be printed. |
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