GERM 260 - Developments in German Literature

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2018/19b: Expressing the Inexpressible: Lyric Poetry from Goethe to Tawada. Our explorations center around how lyric poetry radically pushes the conventions of language in an attempt to articulate experiences beyond the reach of words, be it the ecstasy of Romantic love, or the catastrophes of the twentieth century. We begin with the period of “Storm and Stress” in the eighteenth century, when the modern notion of “the lyric” was invented by the young Johann Wolfgang Goethe. We then follow the twists and turns of this genre’s development up to the present, including its playful subversion in the Dada movement, its reinvention of in the wake of the Holocaust by poets such as Paul Celan, and its contemporary invigoration in the work of experimental, polyglot poets such as Yoko Tawada. Assignments include short analytic essays as well as creative writing and translation. Elliott Schreiber.

Prerequisite(s): GERM 230, GERM 240, or the equivalent.

Two 75-minute periods.