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Semester 1

Culture, Modernity and the City in the Weimar Republic (ELCG08013)

Subject

European Languages and Cultures - German

College

CAHSS

Credits

10

Normal Year Taken

2

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Visiting Students should have German-language skills at CEFR level B1 or above. Entry to this course may be subject to a language test on arrival and is at the discretion of the course organiser. **Please see Additional Restrictions below**

Course Summary

This course examines how encounters with the modern city are represented in Weimar Republic culture, focusing on a selection of Bertolt Brecht's poems (1918-32), Fritz Lang's film 'M: Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder' (1931) and Irmgard Keun's novel 'Das kunstseidene Mädchen' (1932). The course prepares students for Honours-level study by training them in how to analyse these cultural representations and how to contextualize them using primary and secondary materials, including some materials that they have located independently.

Course Description

In the Weimar Republic, urbanization was accompanied by rapid technological change and modernization, with the growth of motorized transport, the advent of the radio and the spread of cinema, and an increasingly sophisticated advertising industry. We will investigate how Brecht, Lang and Keun depict the modern city as a site of opportunity, risk and danger; how the characters in their works navigate its streets; what these characters' experiences reveal about gender, class and power relations; and how the characters and/or their communities deal with existential threats, ranging from the fight for economic survival to serial murder. We will investigate how Brecht's political poetry takes a clear stance in favour of Communism, alongside the more subtle ways in which the economic dislocation and political instability of the final years of the Weimar Republic are reflected in Lang's film and Keun's novel. Students will learn how to analyse the style and themes of literature and film from the Weimar Republic, and how to contextualize them using primary sources in print collections and digital databases (the Bundesarchiv picture database; Deutsches Historisches Museum: Lebendiges Museum Online). Students will be trained in these research techniques in a workshop in week 2, before applying the techniques in their group presentation and end-of-course essay. The course thus prepares students for Honours-level study, including the independent research that they will undertake for long essays and dissertations. Course schedule: 1. The Coldness of the City: Course Introduction and Bertolt Brecht's Poetry 2. Workshop on Researching Weimar Culture: Sources and Contexts. Core text: Brecht's 'Ballade von der Kindesmörderin Marie Farrar'. 3. Poverty and Politics: Bertolt Brecht's Poetry. We will analyse a selection of the following poems in class: 'O Falladah!', 'Die Nachtlager', and the cycle 'Proletarische Wiegenlieder' (comprising four poems). Students will be asked to think about how they might contextualize these poems using the resources introduced in week 2. 4. Poetry in Context: Group PowerPoint Presentations. Additional session in week 4: screening of Fritz Lang, 'M: Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder'. 5. Crime, Surveillance and Detection: 'M: Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder'. 6. The Murderer as Victim? 'M: Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder'. 7. Female Agency, Fashion and Film: Part I of Irmgard Keun's 'Das kunstseidene Mädchen'. Female Experiences of Berlin: Part II of 'Das kunstseidene Mädchen'. 9. Performing Domesticity: Part III of 'Das kunstseidene Mädchen'. 10. Comparative Criticism: Essay Preparation Session

Assessment Information

Written Exam 0%, Coursework 100%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Restrictions

Visiting Students must also take German 2 Language (ELCG8008) as a co-requisite.

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