26020 - German Women's Literature

Learning outcomes

The student acquires in-depth knowledges of German women's literature. He is able to use practical methodologies for the analysis and the interpretation of the literary text.

Course contents

 

 

Paul Celan and German-language poetry after 1945

Paul Celan is arguably the most important German-language poet after 1945, and he is also the most (and sometimes maliciously) misunderstood poet. His work, which is neither hermetic nor incomprehensible, cannot be assigned to any movement. It seeks dialogue with the German audience about the unspeakable, Auschwitz, which its poems nevertheless attempt to put into words. This dialogue was denied by the public and by most literary critics until Celan's death in 1970. German-language poetry after 1945, with its undoubtedly outstanding personalities, cannot be adequately assessed without looking at Celan's work. And every poetry of this time must be measured against Adorno's sentence, which is mostly misunderstood and reductively quoted, that writing poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. In the course, Celan's most important poems are compared with works by Günter Eich, Ingeborg Bachmann, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Gottfried Benn and others, based on Adorno's sentence and Celan's own theoretical statements on the possibilities of the poem as a medium of communication.

Readings/Bibliography

Testi obbligatori di critica:

 

 -Michael Dallapiazza/ Claudio Santi: Storia della letteratura tedesca, vol. 3, Il Novecento. 3. Ed. 2005, Laterza. P. 179-197

 -Sonja Boos: Speaking the Unspeakable in Postwar Germany, Toward a Public Discourse on the Holocaust, Cornell Univ.Press 2015, Paul Celan

 -Paola Gnani: Scrivere poesie dopo Auschwitz. Paul Celan e Theodor W. Adorno, Giuntina, 2010

ulteriore materiale sarà distribuito all'inizio del corso. è consigliato preparare una tesina

Letture

Oltre alle poesie trattate nel corso, devono essere preparate

- Poesie di Paul Celan, scelta (testi bilingue), sarà messo a disposizione all’inizio del corso

più due a scelta tra queste raccolte:

-Tamar Radzyner, Nulla voglio dirti, a cura di Michael Dallapiazza e Giulia Fanetti, Portatori d'Acqua, Pesaro 2021. Poesie bilingue.

- Ingeborg Bachmann, Anrufung des großen Bären/ Invocazione all'Orsa maggiore 1956

- Gottfried Benn: Poesie Statiche (testo bilingue. Einaudi), 1948

Teaching methods

seminar lessons

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an oral interview. During the interview the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated . The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to move within the sources and bibliographical material in order to be able to identify in them the useful information that will enable to illustrate the similarities and cultural areas of the discipline. The achievement of an organic vision of the issues addressed during the classes and their critical use, which demonstrate ownership of a mastery of expression and specific language, will be assessed with marks of excellence. Mechanical and / or mnemonic knowledge of matter, synthesis and analysis of non-articulating and / or correct language but not always appropriate will lead to discrete assessments; training gaps and / or inappropriate language - although in a context of minimal knowledge of the material - will lead to votes that will not exceed the sufficiency. Training gaps, inappropriate language, lack of guidance within the reference materials offered during the course will lead to failed assessments.

Office hours

See the website of Michael Gottlieb Dallapiazza