This is a preliminary syllabus. It is designed to introduce the course and provide basic information to help you decide whether or not you wish to take this seminar.
Last updated: 5 January 2006.
| Issues in Weimar Republic Culture |
Ah, Weimar. Germany's first experiment in real democracy, in effect it lasted only 14 years and 81 days. Preceded by a horrible world war, marked by economic and political upheaval, followed by the darkest chapter in German history. And in the midst of all this a site of artistic and cultural growth, change, and modernization. In short, an amazing 14 years.
We cannot hope to cover Weimar Republic culture in its entirety in one semester. We will therefore be focusing on certain issues or topics that are of particular interest. Our guiding concept, however, will be to answer at the end of the term a question that will be posed at the beginning of the term: what is the essential quality of Weimar Republic culture, its sine qua non without which it loses its uniqueness? This may well be an impossible question to answer, but thinking about it should prove to be challenging.
The weekly meetings will be devoted to issues of importance that come up whenever Weimar Republic culture is discussed. Tentatively, those issues will be: modernism in Weimar; Neue Sachlichkeit; politics and culture; conservative revolution; new media (radio and film); reportage; gender and the metropolis. This list will be refined and more explicity articulated by late December 2005.
In addition to the items listed below, there will be a number of shorter readings (feuilleton articles from the 1920s, more recent scholarly articles, book chapters etc.) available online, on reserve at Porter Library, or as a courseware package.
The following books are currently in print and are therefore required reading for the course. The books will not be available at the UW Bookstore (the prices are too high there); instead, students are encouraged to purchase these books themselves either in Germany or through an online bookseller. Not all German online book merchants ship to Canada, however. Three good sources are: www.buch24.de (12 Euros per order), www.libri.de (25 Euros per order), and www.amazon.de (13 Euros per order plus 2.50 Euros per book).
- Baum, Vicki. Menschen im Hotel. KiWi Taschenbuch. ISBN 3462031767. EUR 8.00.
- Brecht, Bertolt. Der Ozeanflug. Die Horatier und die Kuriatier. Die Maßnahme. edition suhrkamp. ISBN 3518102222. EUR 6.50. (We will be reading Der Ozeanflug.)
- Döblin, Alfred. Die Geschichte vom Franz Biberkopf. Reclam. ISBN 3150098106. EUR 2.10.
- Kästner, Erich. Fabian. Die Geschichte eines Moralisten. dtv. ISBN 3423110066. EUR 8.00.
- Keun, Irmgard. Das kunstseidene Mädchen. Edition mit Materialien. Klett Verlag. ISBN 3123511413. EUR 5.60.
- Mann, Thomas. Unordnung und frühes Leid. Erzählungen 1919-1930. Fischer Verlag. ISBN 359629441X. EUR 8.90. (We will be reading Unordnung und frühes Leid and Mario und der Zauberer.)
If you have another copy of the work, feel free to use it. All works will be on reserve at Porter Library.
Unlike most of your other grad seminars at UW, this one will be housed in UW-ACE (see the note on the right-hand side). Seminar participants complete a variety of learning tasks:
- Diskussionsvorlagen,small group projects on an assigned topic intended to provide all participants with background information and Gesprächsstoff;
- an online Discussion Forum which is used to continue class discussions on certain topics;
- two shorter writing assignments (book and/or article reviews);
- one major writing assignment (a term paper).
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"Diese Angaben sind wie immer ohne Gewähr." |
A final note: it's early November as I write this, and with the snows of winter come not only cold winds but - sometimes - a change of heart. In other words, it can happen that I change my mind and, as a result, change the structure of this course. If that does happen I'll pass the word as quickly as possible. I doubt very much, however, that I will change my mind with regard to the main reading list above. At most, one novel might be substituted for another, but at the moment I like the list I've given you (it is a little heavy on what some academics dismiss as Trivialliteratur, but they are all fun, interesting reads, in my humble opinion).