LFU:online

The students can elucidate literary and historico-cultural correlations based on examples from representative authors, works and genres; they can describe canonisation processes; they can explain the concurrence of social, literary and historico-cultural (incl. gender specific) developments; they are proficient in independently interpreting literary texts in keeping with standard academic practice.

The term New Objectivity (in German: Neue Sachlichkeit) describes a specific writing style in the literature of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) and in the literature of the First Republic (1918-1938). The ‘new objectivity’ of the literary aesthetic is described as a rejection of psychologisation, subjectivisation and pathos (pre-war literature, expressionism) and an orientation towards a more distanced, objective and matter-of-fact depiction of everyday reality with its modern-day manifestations (e.g. city life, work, sport, media, the ‘New Woman’, leisure culture, and also the First World War, the economic crisis and the politicisation of social life). In the light of the rise of National Socialism, in particular, the not uncontroversial term attracted increased criticism (W. Benjamin). On the basis of poetological and literary-critical essays, we will discuss the term Neue Sachlichkeit and, using both fictional and non-fictional pieces of prose by Erich Kästner, Irmgard Keun, Joseph Roth, Marieluise Fleißer, Gabriele Tergit and Egon Erwin Kisch among others, our aim is to define the themes and literary-aesthetic approaches and correlate these with the literary and social-cultural context.

Introduction given by members of teaching staff, presentation, team work, plenary discussion

Course participation (knowledge of texts, assignments, contributions to discussions), presentation, written proseminar paper (15 pages

Primärliteratur (Auswahl)

Erich Kästner: Fabian (dtv)

Irmgard Keun: Gilgi, eine von uns (UllsteinTB)

Joseph Roth: Das Spinnennetz (dtv)

Marieluise Fleißer:Erzählungen (st)

Eine Auswahl mit Reportagen (G.Tergit, Kisch) wird zu Semesterbeginn zur Verfügung gestellt.

Sekundärliteratur

Johannes G. Pankau: Einführung in die Literatur der Neuen Sachlichkeit. Darmstadt 2010

A pass in the compulsory modules 3 and 7 (BA German Studies 2015 curriculum