30031 - German Literature 1 (LM)

Learning outcomes

The students must have an in-depth knowedge of the history of German Literature, a critical insight into its most important texts, and they must be able to evaluate their literary qualities and to analyse them in a transational and comparative prespective. At the end of the course they must have acquired the theoretical and methodological tools to be able to discuss, and examine the works included in the syllabus, relating them to their historical and cultural context.

Course contents

Lichtenberg's Notebooks

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799) was an experimental physicist, an astronomer, a mathematician, a practicing critic of art and literature. He is most celebrated, however, for the notes he collected in what he called his Waste Books. With unflagging intelligence and encyclopedic curiosity, Lichtenberg wittily deflates the pretensions of learning and society, examines a range of philosophical questions, and tracks his own thoughts down hidden pathways to disconcerting and sometimes hilarious conclusions. Lichtenberg's Waste Books have been greatly admired by writers as different as Tolstoy,  André Breton and Elias Canetti, while Nietzsche and Wittgenstein acknowledged them as a significant inspiration for their own radical work in philosophy. The record of a brilliant and subtle mind in action, The Waste Books are above all a powerfull testament to the necessity, and pleasure, of unfettered thought.

Literature and science; Dreams (“Im Traum oeffnet sich, so ploetzlich wie der Pfau sein Rad schlägt, der grosse Faecher der Psyche“. Durs Gruenbein, 100 Throughts/100 Notizen. Dream Index). Metaphors (Lichtenberg-Canetti-Gruenbein).

Lichtenberg, Sudelbuecher and Aufsaetze (selection from G.C. Lichtenberg, Schriften und Briefe, hrsg. W. Promies, Hanser Verlag)

Readings, Bibliography:

Primary sources:

Lichtenberg, Sudelbücher (scelta da), in Id., Schriften und Briefe, Bd. 1/2, Hg. von W. Promies, Hanser

C.G. Lichtenberg, Un saggio a scelta;

E. Canetti, Die gerettete Zunge. Fischer Taschenbuch (Teil 1 u. Teil 2, S. 7-92)

E. Canetti, Wortanfälle, in Id., Das Gewissen der Worte, Fischer Taschenbuch, S. 170-174

E. Canetti, Die Provinz des Menschen, Fischer Taschenbuch, S. 9-84, S. 161-162 u. S. 263 (Lichtenberg)

E. Canetti, Das Geheimherz der Uhr, Hanser, S. 43-54

J. Roth, Das journalistische Werk (è il vol. 3 di J. Roth, Werke, hg. v. K. Westermann), S. 3-14 e S. 1032-1034.

A. Döblin, Tre saggi: Lessing in Berlin, in Id., Kritik der Zeit: Rundfunkbeiträge 1946-1952, Walter-Verlag 1992, S. 340-350; in Schriften zu Aesthetik, Poetik und Literatur, S. 119-123; in Kleine Schriften I, S. 173-179 

N. Kermani, Lessings Nathan (Nel volume Toleranz. Drei Lesearten zu Lessings Märchen vom Ring im Jahre 2003, Wallstein, pp. 33-45

Critical sources (partail list) (a complete list will be published by the beginning of the lessons):

G. Cantarutti, Letture di Lichtenberg (Nel volume Teoria e storia dell'aforisma, a cura di U. Eco, G. Ruozzi et alii, Bruno Mondadori, pp.78-105)

G. Cantarutti, I Sudelbücher di Lichtenberg (Nel volume La brevità felice, a cura di M.A. Rigoni, Marsilio, pp.215-239)

W. Helmich, «Fedele per amore». Elias Canetti e le sue lingue materne (Nel volume La lingua salvata, a cura di G. Cantarutti e P.M. Filippi, Ed. Osiride, pp. 57-70)

G. Cantarutti (a cura di), Le ellissi della lingua, Il Mulino 2006, le pp. 163-187

M. Miladinovic Zalaznik/J.G. Lughofer (Hgg.), Joseph Roth. Europaeisch-juedischer Schriftsteller und oesterreichischer Universalist, De Gruyter 2011, S. 47-54

Teaching methods

Seminar lessons. An active partecipation of the students is required.

Assessment methods

The students must be able to contextualize the literary works. They must have read all the primary sources and all the critical texts in the syllabus and must be able to use an appropriate critical language to analyse them, avoiding impressionistic and/or superficial criticism. Students will be required to write an essay on a topic connected with the course to be discussed during the exam.