GRST 386 - German Romanticism in Art and Literature

Institution:

Wesleyan University

Subject:

German Studies

Description:

Beginning in 1795, Romanticism has been the name for a proto-modernist urban artistic and intellectual movement centered in Jena, Berlin, and Heidelberg, and inspired by Goethe's novels, Fichte's philosophy, and the French Revolution, that sought to re-enchant the world through the self-effacing powers of communal poetry and philosophy ("sympoetry" and "symphilosophy"). Because of their innovative and sometimes scandalous celebration of deviant forms of living and their fascination with the dark side of civilization, the Romantics were dismissed by authorities like Hegel and Goethe; the latter drew the line between his work and theirs by declaring: "The 'classical' I call healthy, and the 'romantic' I call sick." This course will offer a carefully selected introduction to the Romantic movement in the areas of literature and the visual arts, taking into account also the movement's underlying aesthetic ideas and the special role of musical expression. Topics covered include the poetic-philosophical fragments of Novalis and Friedrich Schlegel; the artistic exchange between poetry and music (e.g., poems by Eichendorff and Brentano, LIEDER by Schumann and Schubert); the literary salon and the beginnings of female authorship (e.g., in letters by Rahel Varnhagen, Dorothea Schlegel, Caroline Schlegel-Schelling); the reception of folk traditions and the collection and production of fairy-tales (the Brothers Grimm); the creation of the fantastic out of a confrontation with modern science and technology (E. T. A. Hoffmann); Romantic inwardness, melancholy, madness, and its artistic articulation (e.g., in paintings by Friedrich and Carus, stories by Tieck and Hoffmann, compositions by Beethoven and Schubert); and Romanticism's decline and its critique (Heine). All readings, papers, and class discussions will be in German.

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Seminar

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wesleyan.edu

Phone Number:

(860) 685-2000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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