126-463 Literary Controversies

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This subject will only be run if there is a minimum of six participants.

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Subject Description

Two controversies from the recent history of Germany and Austria form the centre-piece of this subject: The debate surrounding the best known writer from the former GDR, Christa Wolf, and the outrage that ensued following the publication in 1983 of a play by Thomas Bernhard, the most important of Austria's postwar writers. Literature thus amounts to much more than an instrument of benign enjoyment as it assumes a central place in societies seeking - through intellectual debate - to confront the realities of, respectively, a communist and a fascist past. Documentary material on video will be used to highlight the authors and issues in question. The famous 'historians' debate', which flared up again in Germany at the beginning of 1994 in the context of Spielberg's film 'Schindler's List', will also represent a focal point of interest in the course. Students who complete this subject should: be acquainted with recent German writing and recent German literary crises; be able to assess and appreciate the impact literature has on society; have enhanced the ability to discuss, analyse and evaluate complex ideas in German; have become acquainted with recent critical theory and methodology.

Assessment

Written work up to a maximum of 5000 words for MA, 4000 for 4th year and 3000 for 3rd year.

Prescribed Texts

Additional texts to be advised. Film: Steven Spielberg, Schindler's List.

• Wolf, Christa, Der geteilte Himmel. dtv 915.
• Bernhard, Thomas, Heldenplatz. Suhrkamp 997.