Alternative Facts: P. Handke

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

COURSE GOALS & APPROACH In this course for graduate students, we will start with reading four works of prose from Handke’s golden age of fiction (1970-1981), based on which we will attempt to understand the specific genius of Handke as a fiction writer. Then we will read the five main works in his Serbian nonfiction cosmos, and follow him on his trajectory into what Reinhard Mohr, writing in Der Spiegel, called "intellectual, artistic and moral bankruptcy.“ We will ask ourselves: Fiction vs. nonfiction – how clear is this distinction in Handke’s work? Are there certain specifics of his approach to fiction writing that stand in the way of his writing nonfiction? We will ask the age-old question, as pertaining to Hamsun or Caravaggio: Does the personal moral turpitude of great artists stain the greatness of their art? And in Handke’s case: Do not just the moral, but the literary deficiencies of his literary non-fiction stain his prose masterpieces? But our central focus will lie on Handke as a pioneer in the war on facts and the new age of political propaganda we are living in. While studying his decade-long radical Serbian intervention, we will concentrate on establishing parallels to and gaining new insight into our contemporary political situation, and under-standing Peter Handke’s role in the genesis of a new reality. The course will take a student-centered approach. Each student will create a medium-length, informative presentation (Referat) on one book from the syllabus during the semester, which we will use as a starting point for lively discussions. The times and topics will be decided during the first week of classes. Students will receive guidelines and feedback for these speaking events. During the semester, they will write two shorter interpretive and / or creative essays and a longer final paper offering analysis and hopefully original insight into the main questions outlined at the top of this section. We will spend one course session in a Zoom discussion with Peter Schneider, a previous Writer-in-residence at Georgetown, who is actually mentioned – in a derogatory fashion – in „Gerechtigkeit für Serbien“ and wrote one of the first critical responses to the book in Der Spiegel.