Module description
Since the Middle Ages, Germany has been part of wider transnational networks of commerce, religion, diplomacy, scholarship, exploration, tourism and migration that have involved encounters with other peoples, languages and customs. This module explores ways in which German literature and culture, at different points in its long history, has engaged with these networks and has imagined the resulting encounters with nations, cultures and languages beyond its boundaries, both in Europe and further afield. Always bearing in mind that these encounters take place as much in the imagination as in reality, we will study a range of texts and other forms that represent journeys, whether real or imagined, and we will consider what light can be shed on these by critical theories that explore ideas of otherness, boundaries and identities.
Assessment details
1200-word commentary (30%) and 2500-word essay (70%)
Educational aims & objectives
The module aims to enable students to understand German-language texts and other cultural materials that represent real and imagined journeys to foreign lands. The material for discussion will be drawn from a range of periods of history from the Middle Ages to the present day. (The periods represented in any given iteration of the module will vary.) This primary material will be accompanied by examples of theoretical debates concerning the representation of foreign cultures and peoples. The module’s chief aims will be to enable students to develop an understanding of:
- how networks of travel and movement, both real and imagined, have been constructed in literary and other cultural forms
- how real and imagined encounters with other cultures and cultural differences have been constructed in literary and other cultural forms
- how these constructions have differed through history and can be understood through historical contextualization
- how we can reflect theoretically on real and imagined encounters with other cultures
In these ways the module will contribute to students’ cultural competency, both with regard to the German-speaking lands and other regions of contact, and to their comprehension of how cultural understanding is subject to historical change. All primary materials will be available in German and English, so enabling students at various levels of German language competency to extend their linguistic proficiency.
Learning outcomes
The key learning outcomes of the module will be to:
- develop understanding and carry out analysis of complex literary texts, other cultural forms and concepts relating to real and imagined travel literature from a range of historical periods
- understand and apply methods for situating these materials and ideas in their appropriate historical and cultural contexts
- critically reflect on key established and competing theories concerning cultural difference conduct and communicate autonomous research on the material and theories, both in group situations (seminars)
- and in individual assessed work
- develop skills that enhance employability in the following areas: German language skills, ability to analyse and
- research complex materials and evidence, communication skills, and cultural competency
Teaching pattern
Two hours per week
Suggested reading list
Primary materials are likely to include:
- Theoretical readings on travel writing and Orientalism
- Extracts from two early modern accounts of visting London
- Selections from Adam Olearius, Vermehrte Newe Beschreibung Der Muscowitischen und Persischen Reyse (The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors)
- Christian Reuter, Schelmuffskys warhafftige curioese und sehr gefaehrliche Reisebeschreibung zu Wasser und Lande (Schelmuffsky’s Truly Curious and Very Dangerous Account of his Travels by Water and on Land)
- Selections from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Italienische Reise (Italian Journey)
- Selected letters from Italy, The Flight to Italy. Diary and Selected Letters
- Selected poems from Goethe’s West-Östlicher Divan (West-Eastern Divan) and extracts from his notes and essays on the collection
- Thomas Mann, Death in Venice
The exact reading list will be confirmed before the start of term.
You will need to obtain your own copy of the text by Thomas Mann. (Other material will be available online or in extracts.)
- Thomas Mann, Der Tod in Venedig (Frankfurt a.M: Fischer, 2017). ISBN: 978-3-596-90407-5
OR
- Thomas Mann, Death in Venice, trans. by David Luke (London: Vintage, 2001). ISBN: 978-0099428657