GERM 260 - Developments in German Literature

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2016/17b: Writing Life: Memoirs, Autobiographies and Biographies of East and West Germany. Many genres serve to document the events of a person’s existence-memoirs, (literary) autobiography, and biography - and each has their own conventions and traditions. But what does it mean to write a life? How and why do we remember lives, and how do memory and history intersect in each of these genres? This course explores the relationship between life writing and history in the wake of the division and reunification of Germany. In addition to interrogating the genre conventions that distinguish different kinds of life writing, the course investigates questions of credibility, memory and emotion as well as the relationship between history, personal experience, and nostalgia. Attention will also be given to furthering students’ German proficiency. Readings may include Jana Hensel’s East German memoir Zonenkinder and Florian Illies’ West German pop lit novel Generation Golf. Karin Maxey.

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

Two 75-minute periods.