Deutsch 5790/7790--Herbst 2009
East German Literature and Film

Mi 16.30-19.15
485 Manoogian (Japan Zimmer)

Available at the campus bookstore (We will be working very closely with the texts, so you must purchase the editions listed below so that we are all on the same page in class. English translations are on reserve in the library.)

• Jurek Becker. Jakob der Lügner. 1969. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2009.
• Uwe Johnson. Mutmassungen über Jakob. 1959. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2008.
• Monika Maron. Flugasche. 1981. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer, 2002.
• Christa Wolf. Voraussetzungen einer Erzählung: Kassandra. Frankfurter Poetik-Vorlesungen. 1983. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2008.
• Christa Wolf. Kassandra: Roman. 1983. 3rd ed. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2008.
• Thomas Brussig. Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee, Roman. 1999. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer, 2001.
• Claudia Rusch. Meine freie deutsche Jugend. 2003. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer, 2005.

• Berghahn, Daniela. Hollywood Behind the Wall. Manchester UP: 2005 .
• Emmerich, Wolfgang. Kleine Literaturgeschichte der DDR. Erw. Neuausgabe. Berlin: Aufbau 2007
  

Uwe Johnson’s 1959 novel, Mutmassungen über Jakob / Speculations about Jakob, tells the story, from multiple perspectives, of its eponymous hero. The novel’s characters speculate about Jakob Abs, and its complex narrative structure invites and challenges the reader to speculate along with them. Ultimately, the reader comes to see that, while it is impossible to ever know who another is, one can come closer to knowing by asking questions and exploring multiple perspectives.

For the purposes of this seminar, one might read Jakob as a stand-in for the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. Just as those who speak and speculate about Jakob do so in ways that are informed by personal feelings and political agendas, those who tell the story of the GDR do so from myriad standpoints.  From a standpoint in North America, twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, this course will explore the cultural production and cultural legacy of East Germany through the voices of literary texts, films, essays, newspaper articles, and scholarly articles that appeared between the the founding of the GDR in 1949 and the present. Without trying to pin down our object of study, we will discuss the various ways in which literature and film represent and interrogate life in the GDR.

Course topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• the aesthetics and politics of GDR literature and film
• the position of East German Literature and Film within a broader German and international context
• the self-identity of the German Democratic Republic as an anti-fascist state
• utopia and everyday life
• life before, with, and after the Berlin wall
• the relation of the public sphere to the private
• the meaning and depiction of work
• the role of authors and filmmakers in East Germany
• the relationship between the artist and the state
• reasons for leaving vs. remaining in the GDR
• possibilities and spaces for social and political criticism
• the status of women
• representation of gender and gender roles
• the uses and misuses Ostalgie
• the meaning of these texts in the twenty-first century.

In addition to examining cultural texts of a specific period in German history, the course will address the difference representative possibilities of literature and film, as well as critical frameworks that can lead to productive readings of both.

This class will be conducted in German. Attendance and active participation in class discussions are required. You are expected to come to class having read the assignment closely and having done your written work carefully. You will receive a daily participation grade based on a scale of 5 (= prepared, on time, and actively contributing to our discussion) to 0 (=absent).

If you must miss a session, I expect you to inform me of this before class on that day. Absences are excused when due to illness, personal or family emergency, or activities or religious holidays recognized by Wayne State University.

Excessive tardiness and unexcused absences will affect your grade significantly: The first four unexcused absences will result in your final grade being lowered by one-third point (e.g., A- --> B+); each additional unexcused absence will cause the final grade to be lowered by the same amount.

Departmental policy requires all cell phones and pagers to be turned off for the duration of the class period.

The following types of assignments are intended to help you read the texts as closely as possible. This, in turn, will help us in our class discussions and you in your writing. All assignments should be completed before class on the day for which they are assigned. I will not accept homework that is late due to an unexcused absence.

• Reading: you should come to class having read the assignment closely and having thought about both the study questions I give you and those generated by the class.
• Critiques: All students will write three response papers. The papers should be written in German and submitted as MS-Word documents in MLA format, over the course of the semester. For students taking the course for 3 credit hours, the papers should be 350-500 words, and for graduate students taking the course for 4 credit hours 750-1000 words. These assignments are intended to help you to work on your writing skills, to prepare for individual class sessions, and to to help you develop your skills as pracitioners of German studies. You should submit your assignment to Übungen in Blackboard before the class in which we discuss the text to which it relates. I will not accept responses to reading assignments from previous class sessions. I urge you to turn in the first critique by Oct. 1 at the latest, the second one by November 1, and your final one by December 1. I strongly encourage you to write one of the critiques on the text you plan to treat in your final paper and one on the text you treat in your oral presentation. These critiques may (1) take a passage from the work in question, analyze it briefly and explain how it relates to larger issues raised by the work or by the course, or (2) answer one of the study questions that are posted on the blackboard site under Kurs-Materialien, or (3) formulate and ponder a problem raised by the work. If you use secondary materials, you must acknowledge them with a bibliographical entry in MLA format. For all three options it is extremely important that you are precise in your use of language. My hope is that these writing exercises will both prepare you to raise and discuss issues in class and help you to develop ideas for your final papers. These short papers are also intended to help train you in formulating thoughts clearly and succinctly as you might, for example, for grant proposals, conference paper proposals, a publisher's precis. I will comment on the critiques extensively. If you have questions about any of my comments, please do not hesitate to talk to me about them.
• Referate: Students in the course will give one oral presentation. Each presentation should be 10-15 minutes and should include an outline that is posted to the course discussion board on the Sunday before your give your presentation. Topics and possible texts are listed under Hausaufgaben; you should come see me regarding the texts you will cover, as the requirements will differ for graduate and undergraduate students.
• Writing preparation: You will be asked to do a number of assignments related to both our information literacy sessions and your final papers.

Your final assignment for this class will be a research project with a related oral presentation. Undergraduate students and graduate students taking the course for three credit hours will write a 10-12 page paper (not including bibliography or notes) in German. Graduate students taking the course for four credit hours will write papers that are 15-18 pages (not including bibliography or notes).

Following are the dates on which assignments related to this project are due. All written assignments must be submitted through the Übungen link on BlackBoard.

Topic : October 9
Bibliographical Report: October 23
Annotated bibliography: November 6
Outline: November 13
Rough Draft : November 25-30
Research Presentation: December 16
Final Draft : December 18