29077 - German Literature (1) (LM)

Course contents

 

Shoah in German literature

 

Even though nothing can be articulated in German after Auschwitz without being related to this break in civilization/ Zivilisationsbruch, the years up to 1963 (the beginning of the Auschwitz processes in Frankfurt am Main) are characterized by (extensive) silence about it. With a few exceptions, this also applies to the literature itself. Only Jewish-German voices (Wolfgang Koeppen’s novel The Death in Rome from 1954 is one of the rare exceptions) speak of that for which there is of course no language at all. The course is devoted to literary and philosophical texts that try to speak about Auschwitz, about the Shoah. The question that will be discussed at the beginning of the course, based on fundamental considerations, above all from Theodor W. Adorno, and which will be above all the texts dealt with, is: how can one write after Auschwitz, how can one write about Auschwitz? The works presented in the course and analyzed in great detail want to be understood representatively, beginning with some examples of the so-called Holocaust-literature. The focus will be on the lyrical texts of Paul Celan and Nelly Sachs, Wolfgang Koeppen's novel The Death in Rome and in particular Uwe Johnson' s novel Anniversaries/Jahrestage (1970-1983) and the dramas which are understood as documentary theater: The Investigation/ Die Ermittlung of Peter Weiss (1965) and The Deputy of Rolf Hochhuth (1963).

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

Testi obbligatori di critica:

-Gnani, Paola: Scrivere poesie dopo Auschwitz : Paul Celan e Theodor W. Adorno. 2010 (disponibile unibo come ebook)

-Michael Dallapiazza, «L’Inferno è il presente, non l’aldilà». Dante nella letteratura tedesca dell’esilio. In: M. Dallapiazza e Rita Unfer Lukoschik: La ricezione di Dante Alighieri: Impulsi e tensioni. Atti del convegno internazionale di Urbino, München 2011, il testo sarà messo a disposizione tra i materiali.

- 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!

In più, a scelta, due brevi testi da questa lista:

-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: Speaking of the Noose in the Country of the Hangman. Theodor W. Adorno. 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!

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

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

Letture

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

Infine, della seguente lista sono richiesti 3 testi, di cui almeno uno di poesie, in traduzione italiana :

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

Paul Celan, 10 poesie,

Nelly Sachs, 10 poesie,

Anna Seghers, Das 7. Kreuz, 1942/ La settima croce

Rose Ausländer, 10 poesie,

Else Lasker-Schüler, 10 poesie,

Nelly Sachs : Epitaffi scritti sull’aria/ Grabschriften in die Luft geschrieben. Traduzione e cura di Chiara Conterno con un saggio di Walter Busch e una nota introduttiva di Ferruccio D’Angeli. 2013

Ilse Aichinger, Die größere Hoffnung, 1948

Heinrich Böll, Wo warst du Adam, 1951 / Dov'eri Adamo?

Wolfgang Koeppen, La Morte a Roma, 1954

Guenter Grass, Die Blechtrommel, 1959; Katz und Maus, 1961; Hundejahre 1963; Im Krebsgang, 2002; Il tamburo di latta; Gatto e topo o Il gatto e il topo Anni di cani;Il passo del gambero

Elias Canetti, Masse und Macht; Massa e potere 1960

Rolf Hochhut, Der Stellvertreter; Il Vicario 1963

Peter Weiss, L‘istruttoria, 1965; Die Ästhetik des Widerstands,1975-1981. Erster Band.

Edgar Hilsenrath, Nacht, 1964, Notte; Der Nazi und der Friseur, Il Nazista & il barbiere 1971/1977

Jurek Becker, Jakob der Lügner, Jakob il bugiardo1969;

Christa Wolf, Kindheitsmuster 1976, Trama d'infanzia;

Bernhard Schlink, Der Vorleser, 1995; A voce alta

W. G. Sebald, Austerlitz, 2001

Viola Roggenkamp, Familienleben 2004 (Vita di famiglia)

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