Center for Contemporary German Literature, Washington University
Could I teach this class?
GER 528
This seminar will examine texts by German-speaking Jewish writers of the 20th century, concentrating in particular on Jewish experience in Germany and Austria and on the myriad constructions of German-Jewish identity in literature both before and after the Holocaust. We will investigate the cultural discourses that surround the much-debated notion of a "German-Jewish symbiosis" and its redefinition after the Holocaust, as well as a variety of literary texts by authors such as Arthur Schnitzler, Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth, Paul Celan, Jurek Becker, Jean Améry, Edgar Hilsenrath, Robert Schindel, Maxim Biller, Ruth Klüger, Katja Behrens and Barbara Honigmann. Our reading of each writer's work will examine how the text negotiates complex questions of German/Austrian-Jewish idendity, alterity, assimilation and acculturation. We will also focus on issues such as the Jewish contribution to the German cultural canon, German anti-Semitism and Jewish self-hatred, the love-hate relationship with Ostjuden and Yiddish heritage, German-Jewish identity and literary production after the Holocaust and the concept of a "negative German-Jewish symbiosis." Readings in German. Credit 3 units.
GER 528
This seminar will examine texts by German-speaking Jewish writers of the 20th century, concentrating in particular on Jewish experience in Germany and Austria and on the myriad constructions of German-Jewish identity in literature both before and after the Holocaust. We will investigate the cultural discourses that surround the much-debated notion of a "German-Jewish symbiosis" and its redefinition after the Holocaust, as well as a variety of literary texts by authors such as Arthur Schnitzler, Franz Kafka, Joseph Roth, Paul Celan, Jurek Becker, Jean Améry, Edgar Hilsenrath, Robert Schindel, Maxim Biller, Ruth Klüger, Katja Behrens and Barbara Honigmann. Our reading of each writer's work will examine how the text negotiates complex questions of German/Austrian-Jewish idendity, alterity, assimilation and acculturation. We will also focus on issues such as the Jewish contribution to the German cultural canon, German anti-Semitism and Jewish self-hatred, the love-hate relationship with Ostjuden and Yiddish heritage, German-Jewish identity and literary production after the Holocaust and the concept of a "negative German-Jewish symbiosis." Readings in German. Credit 3 units.
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9:38 AM
