31350 - German Literature 3

Learning outcomes

Upon the successful completion of the course, students will have acquired a satisfactory knowledge of general issues and individual aspects concerning literary history. They will be able to understand and translate texts from the original. They will also have acquired the basic theoretical knowledge necessary for their critical interpretation, being able to comment on texts and apply specific methodologies for the analysis of literary texts.

Course contents

Herzensbildung: an introduction to Classical-Romantic literature

«Die Liebe, wie sie modern erscheint, ist ein Gesteigertes». Goethe’s much-quoted yet still enigmatic remark of 1807 presents modern love as a phenomenon of growth and intensification, drawing on the vocabulary shaped by contemporary debates on Bildung and the imagery of alchemy. What precisely did he have in mind? Was he thinking of Romantic love? Which experiences and literary works, within and beyond his own historical horizon, can be understood through this phenomenology of love? And if Steigerung defines the affective life of the «modern» age, what alternative conceptions are being implied by contrast? Taking these questions as its point of departure, the course offers an introduction to some of the defining concerns of Classical-Romantic sensibility in German territories.

Following an introductory survey of the literary context, the main genres and authors, we will work through texts (with a penchant for prose) in which Liebe, Freundschaft, and other forms of interaction generate relational constellations ranging from dual utopias to love triangles and affective quartets. We shall seek to explore how Classical-Romantic literature responded to the historical changes of the Revolutionary Age by developing models of formation and sociability (Geselligkeit), while introducing «open» forms that challenged the boundaries of genres and ascribed new value to the fragment and incompleteness. We will then consider the legacy of this literary movement by tracing its reception in nineteenth-century Switzerland through the works of Gottfried Keller as a case study.

 

Readings/Bibliography

Primary texts, recommended editions

Please see also below ('Assessment methods')

 

• Friedrich Schiller, Don Carlos, a cura di Maria Carolina Foi, Venezia, Marsilio, 2004 (or later editions)

• Dorothea Schlegel, Geschichte des Zauberers Merlin, Berlin, Europäischer Verlag. 2012 (o altre edizioni); It. transl. by Silvia Alfonsi, La storia del Mago Merlino, Roma, Studio Tesi, 2022 (or earlier editions)

• Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Die Wahlverwandtschaften / Le affinità elettive, a cura di Giuliano Baioni, traduzione di Paola Capriolo, con testo a fronte, Venezia, Marsilio, 1999 (or later editions)

• Heinrich von Kleist, Die Marquise von O… / La marchesa di O…, a cura di Rossana Rossanda, note di Maria Fancelli, con testo a fronte, Venezia, Marsilio, 1989 (or later editions)

• Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, Die Bergwerke zu Falun, Nachwort und Anmerkungen von Claudia Liebrand, Stuttgart, Reclam, 2021; It. transl. and commentary by Alessandro Fambrini, «Le miniere di Falun», in E.T.A. Hoffmann, I fratelli di Serapione. Racconti e fiabe, a cura di Matteo Galli, tomo 1, Roma, L’Ombra, 2020, p. 175-203

• Ludwig Tieck, Des Lebens Überfluss. Novelle, Nachwort und Anmerkungen von Christian Schmitt, Stuttgart, Reclam, 2023; It. transl. and Introduction by Paola Capriolo, Il superfluo della vita, Milano, Carbonio, 2025 or Ludwig Tieck, Il superfluo della vita, ed. by Nada Carli, testo a fronte, Pordenone, Studio Tesi, 1985

• Gottfried Keller, Der grüne Heinrich [Erste Fassung], herausgegeben von Thomas Böning und Gerhard Kaiser, Frankfurt am Main, Deutscher Klassiker Verlag [Taschenbuchausgabe], 2019 (o earlier editions); It. transl. by Leonello Vincenti, Enrico il Verde, nuova edizione a cura di Serena Burgher Scarpa e Adriana Sulli Angelini, con un saggio di Herbert Marcuse, Torino, Einaudi, 1992

[These lists are open and in progress]

 

Regarding literary history

• Elena Agazzi, «L’epoca romantica. Dallo sviluppo della ‘sfera pubblica’ di fine Settecento agli inizi del Realismo letterario», in Storia della letteratura tedesca. Dal Tardo Illuminismo all’età delle Avanguardie, Torino, Einaudi, 2024, p. 140-154

• Elena Agazzi, «Il transito dalla Mittlere Romantik alla Spätromantik e gli scrittori di confine», in Storia della letteratura tedesca. Dal Tardo Illuminismo all’età delle Avanguardie, Torino, Einaudi, 2024, p. 193-236

• Gabriella Catalano, Goethe, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2014, p. 108-191

• Luca Crescenzi, La letteratura tedesca: secoli ed epoche, Roma, Carocci, 2005 [parts to be announced]
  

 

• Marino Freschi, La letteratura tedesca, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2008, p. 51-102

• Francesco Rossi, L’età romantica. Letteratura tedesca tra Rivoluzione e Restaurazione, Roma, Carocci, 2023 [parts to be announced]

Teaching methods

The course, mainly taught in Italian, consists of sixty hours of lectures and seminars.

Course contents and exam mode of completion are the same for students who do not attend lessons. Students who are partially attending, non-attending, or participating in the Erasmus program or other programs. are kindly requested to make contact in order to arrange an appointment by writing to the following address: guglielmo.gabbiadini@unibo.it

 

Assessment methods

Oral exam in Italian (it may also be taken in German upon request) – questions aimed at assessing:

• the acquisition of the contents presented in class;
  
• the knowledge of at least two of the primary sources that each student is expected to read in full length in German (listed above). The exam will begin with these as free subject of discussion (‘Einsprechthema’)
• the development of critical thinking skills.

Final grading on a 30-point scale (0-17=fail).

Teaching tools

Multimedia.

 

Students with SLDs or temporary or permanent disabilities: we suggest that you contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) and your teacher immediately to work together to find the most effective strategies for attending classes and/or preparing for exams. Any requests for exam accommodations must be made at least 15 days before the date of the exam, by sending an email to the teacher and copying (Cc) the email address disabilita@unibo.it (in case of disability) or dsa@unibo.it (for students with Specific Learning Difficulties).

Office hours

See the website of Guglielmo Gabbiadini