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School of Modern Languages & Cultures: Department of German

Heroes and Myths of German History

About this Module

The course aims to acquaint you with public representations of historical events and figures that have played a central role in shaping notions of German national identity. These include, for instance, the myth of Frederick II (“the Great”) of Prussia and of Prussia itself, Luther and the Reformation, and the Faust figure, which was used to construct the image of a faustisches Deutschland. Of these topic areas, you will study two in detail, investigating literary and political texts, as well as films and pictorial representations. By the end of the course you should have become familiar with two major themes of German historical self-perception and with techniques for analysing these in diverse media (historical documents and research literature, text, film, pictorial representations).

Topics running in 2012-13: to be announced

Teaching and Learning

Most teaching and all assessment of this module will be in German. The module will consist of two components. The main part of each component will involve plenary sessions and seminars. Seminars, conducted in German, will be structured around student presentations in German, followed by questions and discussion also in German. Assignments will consist of one guided commentary in German for each of the two components of the module.  Support will be offered to help you to prepare presentations and summative assessed work.  This module is capped at 40.  Attendance will be monitored in all teaching sessions.

Summative Assessment

  • 2000-word guided commentary I in German (50%)
  • 2000-word guided commentary II in German (50%)

Recommended Texts 

Term 1

  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust I (1808)
  • Peter Gorski: Faust I (Film, 1961)
  • Klaus Mann: Mephisto (1936)
  • Istvan Szabó: Mephisto (Film, 1981)
  • William Shakespeare: Hamlet (1598-1602)
  • The Book of Job 

Term 2

  • Heinrich von Kleist: Die Hermannsschlacht (1808)
  • Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: Das Leben der Anderen (Film, 2006)
  • Uli Edel: Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex (Film, 2008)

Co-ordinator:

To be confirmed.