Tutors:  Dr Sean Allan (German Studies) & Dr James Hodkinson

Autumn Term (time/day tba)

The aim of the moudle is to intorduce students to a range of German Romantic texts (drama, prose and verse) spanning the perios from the 1770s to the 1850s, and to enable students to engage critically with a variety of literary responses to the ethical, aesthetic and theoretical problems that emerge during this period.

Syllabus - Although texts are listed using teir German titles, all texts are available in English translation.  As such the module assumes NO prior knowledge of German (although reading knowledge of German would be desirable).  Topics and texts to be covered are as follows:

1.   Introduction to German Romanticism: Johann Wolfgan von Goethe, ‘Literarischer Sansculottismus’ (1795); F.W.J. Schelling, ‘Über das Verhältniß der bildenen Künste zu der Natur’ (1807).

2.   The Folk Tradition:  Goethe, ‘Heidenröslein’, (1771) ‘Mailied’ (1771), ‘Erlkönig’ (c. 1782), ‘Einfache Nachahmung der Natur, Manier, Stil’ (1789)

3.   Fragments of the Classics:  Friedrich Hölderlin, Hyperions Schicksalslied (1797-9); Friedrich Schlegel, ‘Über das Studium der griechischen Poeise’ (1797), Fragmente aus dem ‘Athenäum’ (1798)

4.    Containment and Release:  Goethe, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1773); Joseph von Eichendorff, ‘Abschied’ (1815), ‘Sehnsucht’ (1834); Eduard Mörike, ‘Verborgenheit’ (1856)

5.   Exile, Satire and Heroism:  Heinrich Heine, ‘In der Fremde’ (1844), ‘Morphine’ (1856), ‘Der Scheidende’ (1856)

6.   Art and the Artist:  Ludwig Tieck/Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, Herzensergießungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders (1797); Heinrich von Kleist, Cäcilie oder die Gewalt der Musik (1810); E.T.A. Hoffmann, Das Fräulein von Scuderi (1819)

7.   Explorations of the subconscious:  Tieck, Der blonder Eckbert; Chamisson, Peter Schemihls wundersame Geschichte (1814); E.T.A. Hoffmann, Der Sandman (1816)

8.   Staging gender:  Heinrich von Kleist Penthesilea (1807) and Heinrich von Kleist Das Käthchen von Heilbronn (1808)

9.   Revolution:  Friedrich Schlegel, ‘Über die Französische Revolution’ (1798); Kleist, Die Verlobung in St Domingo (1811); Eichendorff, Der Adel und die Revolution (publ. 1866)

10.  Re-appraising German Romanticism:  Goethe (selections); Heine, Die romantische Schule (1836)

Secondary sources:

Sean Allan, The Plays of Heinrich von Kleist,  Ideals and Illusions (1996)
Sean Allan, The Stories of Heinrich von Kleist, The Stories of Henrich von Kleist, Fictions of Security (2001)
J.M. Bernstein, ed., Classical and Romantic German Aesthetics (2003)
Nicholas Boyle, Goethe:  The Poet and the Age,  2 vols (1992-200)
James Engell, The Creative Imagination:  Enlightenment to Romanticism (1981)
Roy Pascal, The German Sturm und Drang (1953)
Siegbert Prawer, ed., The Romantic Period in Germany (1970)
T.J. Reid, The Classical centre:  Goethe and Weimar, 1775-1832 (1980)
Birgit Roeder, A Study of the Major Novellas of E.T.A. Hoffmann (2003)
David Simpson, ed., German Aesthetic and Literary Criticism:  Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Schopenhauser, Hegel (1989)
Kathleen Wheeler, ed., German Aesthetic and Literary Criticism:  The Romantic Ironists and Goethe (1981)