Unit information: Young Goethe in 2011/12

Unit name	Young Goethe
Unit code	GERM29011
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Davies
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of German
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Goethe’s early works are worth studying not just because of his status as Germany’s foremost literary figure, but because of the range of ideas and means of expression that they span. They are informed by the Enlightenment, but also rebel against its rationalism; they were contributions to the creation of a German national literature although there is little in them that we would define as ‘nationalist’ or ‘patriotic’. They are fired up by the passions of the Sturm und Drang, attracted to genius and to ‘große Kerle’, and yet they are also master¬pieces of sensitivity and control.

This unit will explore the young Goethe’s texts across a spectrum of genres and themes. We will see how he found genius in drama – notably Shakespeare’s – and in architecture, and see how he expressed it in his own poems. Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774) is a powerful exploration of emotion and sensibility in a series of letters. Egmont (1788), on the other hand, places a historical episode on the stage to ask sweeping political questions: what is a hero, and what is freedom? In turn, the early stages of Goethe’s Faust drama, begun in 1770, also demonstrate interest in the ‘großer Kerl’ of the Sturm und Drang, concern with social injustice, and a continued search for new forms of expression.

Unit Aims

• to acquire knowledge of a key author and period in modern German literature
• to consider a set of key literary themes and ask how literature relates to the world around it
• to develop skills in reading literary texts in German, and in using relevant critical literature
• to consider key notions in literary criticism, notably the concepts of genre, genesis, interrelation and reception
• to enable students to develop critical interpretations of their own
• to inspire students to work further, and independently, in this and other fields
• to enhance students’ foreign language skills, close reading skills and powers of analysis, research and presentation

Intended Learning Outcomes

The unit will develop:

• students’ knowledge, understanding and appreciation of a key author and period in modern German literature
• students’ language skills, enhancing their familiarity with literary lexis and register and thus complementing their language classes
• students’ understanding of similarities and differences between literary genres
• students’ experience of key areas of literary scholarship: textual and genetic criticism, close reading, assimilating and interpreting a range of diverse primary and secondary literature
• students’ skills in presenting information and arguments in a structured form, both orally and in writing.

Teaching Information

Seminars, to include ‘mini-lectures’ and non-assessed student presentations

Assessment Information

One of the following:

a) A written assignment of 2000 words and a two hour exam (50% each)

b) A written assignment of 2000 words (25%) and a three hour exam (75%)

c) Two written assignments of 2000 words (50% each)

d) One written assignment of 4000 words

e) One oral presentation (25%) and one written assignment of 2500 words (75%)

Reading and References

Primary Texts: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, Egmont and Urfaust (all available in Reclam). Further texts will be provided in a reader and/or on Blackboard. Introductory Reading: T. J. Reed, Goethe (Past Masters series: Oxford, 1984) Erika and Martin Swales, Reading Goethe: A Critical Introduction to the Literary Work (Columbia, SC, 2001) The Cambridge Companion to Goethe, ed. by Lesley Sharpe (Cambridge, 2002)