Sexuality Wmn's & Gndr Studies 324 - Literature after Fascism: 1945 to 1989

(Offered as GERM 324 and SWAG 324) What does literature look like in the face of and after fascism? As a paradigmatic case study of the relationship between literature and politics, this class investigates how German writers attempted to come to terms with the atrocities committed under National Socialism. If Nazi politics centered on a “purification” of the German nation along racial, sexual, and gendered lines, we will then ask how post-war Germany reworked (and failed to rework) notions of racialization, gender, and nationhood to overcome fascist legacies. How did literary works contribute to the construction of a post-fascist nation and its transition to a liberal democratic state? What has Germany’s “memory culture” allowed for and what has it covered over, in particular with respect to contemporary world politics? To answer this, we will explore the various ways in which German-language authors after 1945 articulated new notions of “Germanness,” masculinity and femininity, as well as normative and non-normative sexualities. Throughout, our focus will be on the possibilities and limits of literature in participating in these processes. Literary works may include texts by Wolfgang Koeppen, Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul Celan, Christa Wolf, Peter Weiss, Hélène Cixous, and Thomas Bernhard. Critical theory, political philosophy, and psychoanalysis will further help us think through fascism and its aftermath, in particular Walter Benjamin, Theodor W. Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Klaus Theweleit, and Alexander and Margarete Mitscherlich. Small-group work and frequent writing exercises will allow students to develop their oral and written fluency in German. Conducted in German.

Fall semester: Professor Jonas Rosenbrück.

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Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: an emphasis on instruction in languages other than English (in particular listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills), oral presentations, group work, short writing exercises, and regular discussion posts.