Undergraduate Course: Goethe and Schiller (ELCG10032)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | European Languages and Cultures - German |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course focuses on a selection of works by Goethe and Schiller which led them to become the most iconic German writers of their time and beyond. The first bestseller novel in Germany was Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werther (1774) and it broke the mould with its controversial theme of suicide. He presents a sentimental, emotional and self-destructive tragic hero as an alternative to heroic masculinity. Both their respective first plays, Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen (1773) and Schiller's Die Räuber (1781), question the place of the "warrior" hero in a modern society. Goethe's knight Götz nobly clings on to the old chivalric ways at the dawn of the modern era of civil justice around the year 1500 in Germany, whereas Schiller's Karl Moor is a new configuration of a deviant tragic hero with vices. Schiller rejects the Aristotelian dramatic tradition by arguing that the suffering of a criminal can be as tragic as that of a virtuous man. Both tragedies gave voice to major changes in German theatre which embraced the spirit of Shakespeare and address the struggle of the self to achieve autonomy. These two plays focus on free will, free action and emancipation from social restrictions. We will also discuss how Schiller develops his ideas on freedom in Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen (1795), an anthropology which concentrates on the aesthetic development of mankind and evolution. This philosophical work reflects on the idea that a cultural and aesthetic education leads to moral and physical freedom. In the final part of the course, you will study the first part of Goethe's most famous work, Faust (1808) -- a "must" for students of German Studies. This will round off our discussion of the effects of education on the individual. The Faustian drive is a desire for the experience and knowledge of the world that knows no boundaries and is uncompromising in its desire for the experience of totality. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | Essential course texts |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Advanced knowledge of spoken and written German and the ability to study German literature in the original language. Ideally, university level German literature courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 2, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2014 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours:Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 1:30 | | |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have:
An understanding and knowledge of key literary and philosophical texts by Goethe and Schiller; eighteenth-century discussions of the role of the hero in society, and the themes of freedom, personal development and the autonomy of the individual
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Assessment Information
One coursework essay: 2- 2,500 words (50%)
One examination: 1 hr 30 mins exam (50%) |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Syllabus
Week 1: The Sentimental Hero
Goethe: Die Leiden des jungen Werther (the revised second edition of 1787)
Week 2: Autonomy through Suicide
Goethe: Die Leiden des jungen Werther (the revised second edition of 1787)
Week 3: The Last Knight Rises and the End of Heroism
Goethe: Götz von Berlichingen (1773)
Week 4: Goethe on Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
Goethe: Götz von Berlichingen (1773)
Week 5: The Immoral and Deviant Hero and Villain
Schiller: Die Räuber (1781)
Week 6: Free Will and Free Action
Schiller: Die Räuber (1781)
Week 7: Autonomy through Aesthetic Education
Schiller: Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen (1795)
Week 8: Autonomy through Knowledge and Experience: the Faustian Drive
Goethe, Faust I (1808)
Week 9: Faust as a Philosophical Text
Goethe, Faust I (1808)
Week 10: Autonomy and Transgression
Goethe, Faust I (1808)
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
FURTHER READING
General
Carlyle, Thomas, On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (OUP, 1906)
Duncan, Bruce, Lovers, Parricides, and Highwaymen: Aspects of Sturm und Drang Drama (Rochester: Camden House, 1999)
Grayling, A. C., What is Good? The Search for the Best Way to Live (London: Phoenix, 2007), pp. 16-25 Sections on Heroic Virtues and Civic Virtues and Socrates [e-reserve scan]
Hill, David (ed), Literature of the Sturm und Drang (Rochester: Camden House, 2003)
Macey, Samuel L., 'The Introduction of Shakespeare into Germany in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century', Eighteenth-Century Studies, 5:2 (1971-1972), 261-69
Martinson, Steven D. (ed), A Companion to the Works of Schiller (Rochester, N.Y.: Camden House, 2005)
Pugh, David V., Schiller's Early Dramas. A Critical History (Rochester: Camden House, 2000)
Sharpe, Lesley (ed), The Cambridge Companion to Goethe (Cambridge: CUP, 2002)
Sharpe, Lesley, Friedrich Schiller: Drama, Thought and Politics (Cambridge: CUP, 2006)
Takeda, Arata, Ästhetik der Selbstzerstörung. Selbstmordattentäter in der abendländischen Literatur (Munich: Wilhelm Fink, 2010)
Die Leiden des jungen Werther
Andree, Martin, Wenn Texte töten: Über Werther, Medienwirkung und Mediengewalt (Paderborn: Fink, 2006), pp. 172-97
Bateley, Edward, 'Werther's Final Act of Alienation: Goethe, Lessing, and Jerusalem on the Poetry and Truth of Suicide', Modern Language Review, 87: 4 (1992), 868-78
Feuerlicht, Ignace, 'Werther's Suicide: Instinct, Reasons, Defense', German Quarterly, 51:4 (1978), 476-92
Gratzke, Michael, 'Werther's Love. Representations of Suicide, Heroism, Masochism, and Voluntary Self-Divestiture', Publications of the English Goethe Society, 81:1 (2012), 26-38
Siebers, Tobin, The Werther Effect: The Esthetics of Suicide, Mosaic, 26:1 (1993:Winter), 15-34
Götz von Berlichingen
Mbakop, Hilaire, Zur Problematik von Freiheit und Individualität. Eine Untersuchung zu Goethes "Götz von Berlichingen" und "Egmont" (Marburg: Tectum, 1999)
McInnes, Edward, 'Moral, Politik und Geschichte in Goethes Götz von Berlichingen¿, Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 103 (1984), 2-20
Wittkowski, Wolfgang, 'Homo homini lupus, Homo homini Deus. Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand als Tragödie und als Drama gesellschaftlicher Aufklärung und Emanzipation', Colloquia Germanica, 20 (1987), 299-324
Die Räuber
Fisher, Jaimey, 'Familial Politics and Political Families: Consent, Critique and the Fraternal Social Contact in Schiller's "Die Räuber"', Goethe Yearbook, 13 (2005), 75-103
High, Jeffrey L. (ed.), Schiller's Literary Prose Works: New Translations and Critical Essays (Rochester: Camden House, 2008)
High, Jeffrey L., et al (eds), Who Is this Schiller Now? Essays on His Reception and Significance (Rochester: Camden House, 2011)
Koc, Richard, 'Fathers and Sons: Ambivalence Doubled in Schiller's Räuber', Germanic Review, 63: 3 (1986), 91-104
Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen
Wilkinson, Elizabeth M., and L. A. Willoughby, On the Aesthetic Education of Man (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967)
Faust I
Alt, Peter-André, 'Mephisto's Principles: On the Construction of Evil in Goethe's Faust I', Modern Language Review, 2011 (106), 149-63
Böhme, Gernot, Faust als philosophischer Text (Die graue Edition, 2005)
Brüning, Gerrit, 'Die Wette in Goethes Faust', Goethe Yearbook, 17 (2010), 31-54
Marotzki, Winfried, 'Der Bildungsprozeß des Menschen in Hegels 'Phänomenologie des Geistes' und Goethes 'Faust', Goethe Jahrbuch, 104 (1987), 128-56
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | DELC Goethe & Schiller |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Eleoma Bodammer
Tel: (0131 6)50 3627
Email: Eleoma.Bodammer@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Fiona Scanlon
Tel: (0131 6)50 3646
Email: Fiona.Scanlon@ed.ac.uk |
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