UCJNUK15 German-Jewish Literature from the 20th century

Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Winter 2021
Extent and Intensity
0/8/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Guaranteed by
doc. Dr. phil. Martin Maurach
Institute of Foreign Languages – Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The subject of this class is an introduction into German-Jewish literature with a focus on the 20th century and the present, based on selected authors and short texts or excerpts. Life and work of the authors are going to be presented in addition to an introduction into the specific problems and controversies of German-Jewish literature and its most important subjects: contacts and differences between cultures, emancipation and assimiliation, social issues, loss of former home countries, anti-semitism, the Shoah ('Holocaust') etc. Against the background of a very ephemeral glimpse into the history of Jewishness in Central Europe some understanding of the fundamental difficulties in defining and delineating a concept of "German-Jewish-Literature" is to be developed. It is planned to present life and works by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Heinrich Heine - as are necessary for an understanding of the pre-history of the 20th century -, Walter Benjamin, Franz Kafka, Hilde Domin und Paul Celan.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction into the history of Jewishness in Central Europe
    2. How to develop a concept of "German-Jewish Literature"
    3. Short genres from contemporary German-Jewish literature: aphorisms by Elazar Benyoëtz, poetry by Hilde Domin
    4. Moses Mendelssohn, G.E. Lessing
    5. Heinrich Heine: Excerpt from "Deutschland, ein Wintermärchen"; poetry
    6. Else Lasker-Schüler: poetry
    7. Franz Kafka and German-Jewish Literature from Prague. Short prose works: "Auf der Galerie"; "Eine kaiserliche Botschaft"
    8. Walter Benjamin: Works of short prose
    9. Poetry by Paul Celan and Erich Fried
    10. Jurek Becker: "Jakob der Lügner". Excerpts from the novel and from the film based on it
    11. Poetry by Ilse Aichinger and Rose Ausländer
Language of instruction
German
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Teacher's information
Presence of students in class, active participation, evt. short presentations or lectures and final examination in written form.
The course is also listed under the following terms Winter 2017, Winter 2018, Winter 2019, Winter 2020, Winter 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Winter 2021, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fpf/winter2021/UCJNUK15