LT 412 - German Literature from Wolfgang Borchert to Judith Hermann: A Creative Approach to Selected German, Austrian and Swiss Masterpieces of the Last 60 Years

The course gives a survey of the most significant literary genres, issues and developments in German speaking countries from 1945 to the present. Prose works, poems and two stage plays by fascinating authors such as the Nobel Prize winners Nelly Sachs, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Müller will be discussed in this course. The aim of the course is to provide a guide through the extraordinary literary landscape of the two Germanys, Austria and Switzerland between 1945 and the present. Fundamental questions such as “What is literature?” and “What is the point in writing?” will inspire us to study the poetry and fictional works in their historical context as well as to consider their topicality and significance across time. We will use the means and methods of literary criticism to evaluate subject matter, motif, style, attitude and technique, but also consider creative pieces (poems, short-stories or mini-dramas) as an appropriate form of literary work and pertinent response to the literature.