Introduction to major critical concepts and basic methodological issues of literary studies. Diverse reading strategies plus special emphasis on analytical writing about literature. Readings from eighteenth- to twentieth-century literature. Recommended: GERMAN 203.
Forms of Desire: Critical Approaches to German Literature
This course is intended to introduce you to the basic techniques of literary discussion, to develop your ability to interpret by close reading of German literature, and to refine your writing skills. To do so, we will read and discuss a wide range of texts across three centuries (18th-20th) and three genres (lyric, prose narrative, drama). Despite this variety, each of our texts will focus in a different way on the nature of human desire. In each case, we will reflect on the ways that the form of the work at hand inflects and shapes its representation of desire.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Readings and classroom discussion will be in German; writing assignments, in English.
German 203 or equivalent
Class assignments and grading