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Methodic reflected dealings with literary texts and the development of a reasoned understanding of the text; Reconsider patterns and habits of reading.

Since the Decadence and the Expressionist decade, illness and suffering became defining themes in literature. The depictions oscillated between naturalistic descriptions of reality and immanent criticism of progress optimism. Accordingly, artists were suspected of displaying a pathologically exaggerated subjectivity. These attributions ultimately led to the disastrous term "degenerate art," which National Socialism used to denigrate the artistic avant-garde. This example shows that discourses of disease were and are not merely related to the subject, but always appear to be tied back to a society - today, for example, epidemic phenomena trigger collective fears of doom.

We will examine literary texts that tell of internal and external illnesses, and whose production and reception always interact with processes of social change and concepts of norms and values. Starting from basic theoretical texts (including Susan Sontag's "Illness as Metaphor" and Thomas Anz's "Healthy or Ill?"), the focus will be on the complex social interweaving of art and illness from the late 19th century to the present. 

Selected texts will be used to clarify how discourses of health and illness are expressed at different times and which social phenomena are reflected in literary metaphor when the text leaves the empirical level. In this context, the 'sick' artistic personalities will also be discussed, as well as the so-called poet-doctors (Benn, Döblin, Schnitzler, Hoffensthal, etc.).

Presentation, Discussion, Team work
Others (movies, pictures,…)

Prepared cooperation (readings) and disposition to discuss various matters
Short presentation
Seminar paper

Texts:

Johanna Spyri: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre (1880)
Arno Holz/Johannes Schlaf: Die Familie Selicke (1890)
Oskar Panizza: Das Liebeskonzil (1894)
Gabriele Reuter: Aus guter Familie (1895)
Thomas Mann: Tristan (1903)
Hans von Hoffensthal: Lori Graff (1909)
Thomas Mann: Der Tod in Venedig (1913)
Georg Trakl: Sebastian im Traum (1915)
Franz Kafka: Ein Landarzt (1918)
Joseph Roth: Hiob (1930)
Thomas Bernhard: Frost (1963)
Fritz Zorn: Mars (1977)
Rainald Goetz: Irre (1983)
Bettina Galvagni: Melancholia (1997)
Christine Lavant: Aufzeichnungen aus einem Irrenhaus (2001)
Bettina Spoerri: Herzvirus (2016)

Research Literature:

Thomas Anz: Gesund oder krank? Medizin, Moral und Ästhetik in der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur. Stuttgart: Metzler 1989
Michel Foucault: Die Geburt der Klinik. Eine Archäologie des ärztlichen Blicks. Frankfurt/Main: S. Fischer 1988.
Susan Sontag: Krankheit als Metapher. Aids als Metapher. Frankfurt/Main: S. Fischer 2003

Further relevant literature will be announced in the first session.