GERST 6370

Nineteenth Century Fiction: Writing Revolution, 1830-1848

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2021-2022.

This German anchor course takes a close look at the crucial but often overlooked period "Vormärz" (1830-48) and its most representative, though loosely defined literary movement "Junges Deutschland." Writing after the deaths of both Goethe and Hegel, the authors under investigation arrive after "the end of the artistic period" (Heine), confronted at once with the specter of being epigones and the possibilities of a new, politically engaged literature. The course will discuss the emergence of different modes of political literature, both in canonical genres such as poetry and drama as well as in more intimate ones (the letter) and more public, popular ones (newspaper essays, travel reports). Taking explicit stands against the politically conservative restauration moving across Europe, the authors of the Vormärz experiment with the possibilities and limits of literature to form an oppositional force and to reshape societal ideas. Authors may include: Heinrich Heine, Ludwig Boerne, Betinna von Armin, Georg Buechner, Friedrich Hebbel, Karl Gutzkow, Annette von Drose-Hülshoff, Louie Aston, and Christian Diedrich Grabbe.

When Offered Spring.

Comments Anchor course.  Readings in German; discussion in English and German.

View Enrollment Information