Germany and Europe: The Cultural Union I

3 credits · Undergraduate

“Europe”, Heinrich Mann once said, “is an invention of poets”. As an early proponent of the Pan-European idea, Mann refers to a long-standing connection between European literary discourse and the condition of the European continent as its topic. Animated by the political clashes that tore apart European lands and cultures over the centuries, especially German and French thinkers articulated their ideas about the possibilities of a peaceful, united continent with a shared culture fostering a strong identity. Today, Europe still wrestles with war and a multitude of identities: a heterogenous continent, an intellectually and culturally diverse union, and a challenging idea for literary studies, philosophy, and political theory. In this course, we will trace the complex plurality of Europe by fusing literary discourse with historical and political narrative. Beginning with an evaluation of the current cultural and political state of Europe, the focus of the seminar will be the interconnectedness of cultural and historical developments in Germany and its larger European context from Romanticism to the twentieth century. Among the authors that we will be discussing are Novalis, Schiller, Goethe, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Gide as well as Heinrich and Thomas Mann. This course is taught in English. All texts will be provided in English translation. No prerequisites. CALENDAR NOTES: This course is the first part of the former full-year course GERM 3400X/Y.06. This course description reflects the entirety of the pair (GERM 3401.03 and GERM 3402.03). EXCLUSIONS: GERM 3400.06 FORMATS: Seminar