Ateneo - UPO

GERMAN LITERATURE OF THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY

Readings in the order in which the works will be analysed:
• Franz Kafka, La condanna. Will be available on DIR.
• Thomas Mann, La morte a Venezia, Einaudi, 1990 o successive. In the library.
• Arthur Schnitzler, La signorina Else, Mondadori, 1994. In the library.
• Bertolt Brecht, Mutter Courage e i suoi figli, Einaudi, 2001. In the library.
• Heinrich Böll, a short story from Viandante se giungi a Spa. Will be available on DIR.
• Lyrics or prose excerpts from the most significant authors that will be uploaded in DIR during the course.

History of the German literature:
• Elena Ratti, Letteratura Tedesca 2, Alpha Test, 2002, pp. 79-end. In the library.

Ability to:
- delineate the lines of 20th and 21st century German literature and to place authors and movements in relation to their historical and cultural context.
- analyze the texts read.
- process the information received during the course and the readings conducted independently in a critical discourse on the authors and their time.

None. The course is held in Italian. During the lesson some short texts in prose or lyrics in German will also be read, which will be translated by the teacher and analyzed in Italian.

Lectures, critical reading, translation and commentary on texts, use of multimedia materials.

Further information will be provided at the beginning of the course.
The registration on DIR is required. Please check the teacher's page on Upobook regularly.
Non-attending students are requested to contact the teacher in order to get their detailed program by mail. Please read the texts before we will analyze them in the lessons, so you will be able to better understand the explanations and to participate in the discussion.

Oral examination in Italian with questions on the following topics:
- the history of German literature and of the cultural-historical context of single authors and movements - 50% of the evaluation
- the ability to analyze and interpret texts, to express critical judgements, including original ones, to develop a specific critical discourse on single authors or texts linked to the central issues of the course - 50% of the evaluation.
Evaluation will base on the ability to outline the basic lines of the course and of the German literature of the 20th and 21st century, on the knowledge and comprehension of texts and writers also referring to the critical bibliography, and to expose the topics clearly in Italian.

Some of the most significant German authors and movements of the twentieth and twenty-first century will be treated in class on the basis of particularly significant texts, thus integrating the study of literature that students will do independently with the second volume of E. Ratti. This will allow students not only to deepen their knowledge of developments in contemporary German literature, but also to acquire skills in text analysis and to broaden their readings, in order to facilitate the general study of literature and to have a solid knowledge base to face a possible future Triennale and/or Magistrale course which will also include this discipline.

Knowledge of the German literature of the 20th and 21st centuries, as well of the topics and the analyzed texts.
Ability to expose in Italian in a clear and exact way the central issues of the course, with references to the historical, cultural and literary and context of the literary works.