30652 - German Literature 2 (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will have acquired in-depth knowledge about various aspects and problems regarding literary history. The student will have a sound knowledge of the individual authors and works, and will be able to evaluate the literary quality of the works that have been studied, analyzing the texts according to specific critical methodologies.

Course contents

Shoah in German literature

After Auschwitz nothing can be articulated in German without being related to this Zivilisationsbruch (the ‘breaking up of civilisation’) anymore. Yet the post war period up to 1963, when the Auschwitz trials in Frankfurt am Main began, is characterised by (an extensive) silence about the Shoah. With a few exceptions, this also applies to literature itself. Only Jewish-German voices (Wolfgang Koeppen’s 1954 novel Death in Rome is one of the rare exceptions) speak of that for which there is indeed no language at all. The course is devoted to literary and philosophical texts that try to speak about Auschwitz, about the Shoah. Drawing on fundamental considerations, first of all Theodor W. Adorno’s, one main question will be discussed at the beginning of the course and will remain crucial in dealing with all of the selected texts: how can one write after Auschwitz, how can one write about Auschwitz? Beginning with some examples of so-called Holocaust-literature, the course will present and analyse in great detail a selection of representative works. The focus will be on lyrical texts by Paul Celan and Nelly Sachs, on Wolfgang Koeppen’s novel Death in Rome, and, in particular, on Uwe Johnson’s novel Anniversaries/Jahrestage (1970-1983), as well as on the plays which are considered the main examples of documentary theatre: The Investigation/ Die Ermittlung by Peter Weiss (1965) and The Deputy by Rolf Hochhuth (1963).

 

The course will be held in German. Each participant must eitherwrite a home assignment or present a seminar paper. 

The programme for non-attending students has to be arranged with the professor

Readings/Bibliography

 

1) SECONDARY LITERATURE

   

Theodor W. Adorno, "Was bedeutet: Aufarbeitung der Vergangenheit," Gesammelte Schriften 10.2. Kulturkritik und Gesellschaft II: Eingriffe. Stichworte. Anhang by Theodor W. Adorno (Suhrkamp: Frankfurt/Main, 1977) 555-572. http://aawe.blogsport.de/images/Theodor20W20Adorno2020Was20heisst.pdf

Detlev Clausen: Nach Auschwitz, Ein Essay über die Akutalität Adornos aus: Zivilisationsbruch. Denken nach Auschwitz. Hg. von Dan Diner, Frankfurt am Main 1988 S. 54 ff. http://www.comlink.de/cl-hh/m.blumentritt/agr95s.htm

Michael Dallapiazza: Adorno. Aphorismen nach Auschwitz. In: La brevitas dall'Illuminismo al XXI secolo / Kleine Formen in der Literatur zwischen Aufklärung und Gegenwart. Scritti in onore di Giulia Cantarutti / Festschrift für Giulia Cantarutti. A cura di Michael Dallapiazza, Paola Filippi e Stefano Ferrari. Peter Lang Edition 2016, 147-160.

Bernhard Sorg: Deutsche Literatur nach 1945. 9 Seiten. https://www.germanistik.uni-bonn.de/institut/abteilungen/abteilung-fuer-neuere-deutsche-literaturwissenschaft/abteilung/personal/sorg_bernhard/lehrmaterialien/deutsche-literatur-nach-1945.pdf

Aus der folgenden Liste sind 3 Texte für die Prüfung vorzubereiten

Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Hg.) : Literatur und Holocaust (TEXT+KRITIK . Heft 144 ), 1999

Anne D. Peiter: Von der ethnologischen „Peripherie" zum „Zentrum" europäischer Gewalt. Die Auseinandersetzung mit der Shoah in Elias Canettis „Masse und Macht".Zeitschrift für Germanistik.Neue Folge, Vol. 16, No. 3 (2006), pp. 555-567. Disponibile per unibo su jstor!

Jakob Hessing: Aufbrüche. Zur deutsch-jüdischen Literatur seit 1989. In: Handbuch der deutsch-jüdischen Literatur. Herausgegeben von Hans Otto Horch 2016, pp. 244-269. Disponibile per unibo su jstor!

Martin A. Hainz: Die Shoah in der Literatur der Überlebenden. In: Handbuch der deutsch-jüdischen Literatur. Herausgegeben von Hans Otto Horch 2016, pp. 221-243. Disponibile per unibo su jstor!

Julia Hell: Eyes Wide Shut: German Post-Holocaust Authorship. New German Critique No. 88, Contemporary German Literature (Winter, 2003), pp. 9-36. Disponibile per unibo su jstor!

Simone Frieling: Nelly Sachs. Dichterin des Grauens. In: Simone Frieling: Ausgezeichnete Frauen. Die Nobelpreisträgerinnen für Literatur. Marburg: Verlag LiteraturWissenschaft.de 2016. S. 117-134. https://literaturkritik.de/nelly-sachs-dichterin-des-grauens-von-simone-frieling,26725.html

Barbara Wiedemann: „Lesen Sie! Immerzu Nur Lesen“. Celan-Lektüre und Celans Lektüren. In: Poetica 2004, 169-191. Disponibile per unibo su jstor!

Sonja Boos: Paul Celan. In: Speaking the Unspeakable in Postwar Germany: Toward a Public Discourse on the Holocaust. 2014. 19 pagine. Disponibile per unibo su jstor!

Sonja Boos: Uwe Johnson. In: Speaking the Unspeakable in Postwar Germany: Toward a Public Discourse on the Holocaust. 2014. 20 pagine. Disponibile per unibo su jstor!

Michael Dallapiazza: L’inferno è il presente, non l’aldilà. Dante nella letteratura tedesca dell’esilio. In: Unfer- Lukoschik/ Dallapiazza, La ricezione di Dante Alighieri: Impulsi e tensioni. Atti del convegno internazionale di Urbino, München, Martin Meidenbauer 2011, Peregre 2, 129-146.

Thomas Taterka: Dante Deutsch: studi sulla letteratura dei Lager, Viterbo 2002, capitolo primo. Dante Deutsch 1.

Additional literature will be provided during the course

2) PRIMARY TEXTS

Rita Baldoni, “Ilse Weber, L’ultimo Lied. Lettere e poesie da Theresienstadt”, prefazione di Roberto Olla, Salomone Belforte, Livorno 2017.

Uwe Johnson: Jahrestage 1. 1970, o in italiano: I giorni e gli anni, 21 agosto 1967 - 19 dicembre 1967 , traduzione di Nicola Pasqualetti e Delia Angiolini, Roma - L'orma editore, 2014

tree of the following works has to be prepared for the exam, one of these lyrics

Paul Celan, 10 Gedichte, als pdf unter den Materialien „Insegnamenti online“

Nelly Sachs, 10 Gedichte, als pdf unter den Materialien „Insegnamenti online“

Anna Seghers, Das 7. Kreuz, 1942

Rose Ausländer, 10 Gedichte, als pdf unter den Materialien „Insegnamenti online“

Else Lasker-Schüler, 10 Gedichte, als pdf unter den Materialien „Insegnamenti online“; IchundIch. Eine theatralische Tragödie; 1941/1980

Ilse Aichinger, Die größere Hoffnung, 1948

Heinrich Böll, Wo warst du Adam, 1951

Wolfgang Koeppen, Der Tod in Rom, 1954

Guenter Grass, Die Blechtrommel, 1959; Katz und Maus, 1961; Im Krebsgang, 2002

Elias Canetti, Masse und Macht, 1960

Rolf Hochhut, Der Stellvertreter, 1963

Peter Weiss, Die Ermittlung, 1965; Die Ästhetik des Widerstands,1975-1981. Erster Band.

Edgar Hilsenrath, Nacht, 1964; Der Nazi und der Friseur, 1971/1977

Jurek Becker, Jakob der Lügner, 1969; Bronsteins Kinder, 1983

Heiner Müller, Germania. Tod in Berlin, 1956/1971

Christa Wolf, Kindheitsmuster 1976; Stadt der Engel oder The Overcoat of Dr. Freud. 2010

Horst Bienek, Septemberlicht, 1977

Hans Sahl, Wir sind die Letzten, Gedichte, 1991

Robert Schindel, Gebürtig, 1992

Bernhard Schlink, Der Vorleser, 1995

Durs Grünbein: Den Körper zerbrechen. Rede zur Entgegennahme des Georg-Büchner-Preises, 1995

W. G. Sebald, Austerlitz, 2001

Viola Roggenkamp, Familienleben 2004 (Vita di famiglia)

Durs Grünbein, Porzellan - Poem vom Untergang meiner Stadt, 2005

Ursula Krechel, Shanghai fern von wo, 2008; Landgericht, 2010; Geisterbahn, 2018

Maxim Biller, Im Kopf von Bruno Schulz, 2013

Ulrike Draesner, Sieben Sprünge vom Rand der Welt, 2014

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