DESCRIPTION
Die Schriftsteller können nicht so schnell schreiben, wie die Regierungen Kriege machen; denn das Schreiben verlangt Denkarbeit.
Writers cannot write as quickly as governments conduct war, because writing requires thinking.
Bertolt Brecht

Literature about war is inherently the writer's reflection on war, as the above quote by Brecht indicates. In this seminar during an ongoing pandemic we will focus on representations of war along with suffering, death and trauma in German literature and film. How do German speaking writers and directors reflect on war? Can we identify a changing attitude toward war when we look at German literature from the earliest period up to today? Does writing about war and suffering necessarily expose a conflict between those who plan and those who bear the consequences of war and suffering? How do the writers deal with violence and emotions? How are we, as readers or viewers, influenced by such representations of war and suffering? How does our own experience during a pandemic possibly alter our own understanding of these texts and other media? These are some of the questions that will guide us throughout this course in pursuit of possible answers.

This course strives to provide an overview of German literature and culture from the beginning to today with an emphasis on war.

REQUIRED TEXTS

UNDERGRADUATES	GRADUATES
Hildebrandslied	Hildebrandslied
Grimmelshausen, Simplicissimus (excerpts)* Audio	Grimmelshausen, Simplicissimus* Audio
Ein Söldnerleben im Dreißigjährigen Krieg (excerpts)	Ein Söldnerleben im Dreißigjährigen Krieg (excerpts)
Gedichte der Barockzeit zum Krieg	Gedichte der Barockzeit zum Krieg
	Rilke: Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke
Jünger, In Stahlgewittern (excerpts)	Jünger, In Stahlgewittern (excerpts)
Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues*	Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues*
Jüngere Gedichte zum Thema Krieg	Jüngere Gedichte zum Thema Krieg
Brecht, Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder*	Brecht, Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder*
Kluge, Der Luftangriff auf Halberstadt am 8. April 1945 (excerpts)	Kluge, Der Luftangriff auf Halberstadt am 8. April 1945*
	Sebald, Luftkrieg und Literatur*
	Böll, Der Engel schwieg*
Böll, Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa und andere Erzählungen*	Böll, Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa
Nöstlinger, Maikäfer flieg*	Grass, Im Krebsgang*
	Franck, Die Mittagsfrau*
*buy
link to online bookstore with undergrad books	link to online bookstore with grad books

GENERAL LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
-Recognize and identify key concepts and periods of German literary history
-Demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills
-Collaborate and perform effectively in team activities

SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
-Identify significant works of German literature from the earliest periods through today relating to war
-Discuss theoretical writings on war and if and how attitudes towards war have changed.
-Prepare a bibliography and compose a convincing essay (MLA style)
-Demonstrate German language skills by expanding vocabulary through the reading of higher level German texts.

ASSESSMENT
A variety of tools will help me to assess your progress in this course: from short pop quizzes, response papers, a book review, bibliography, a Power Point Presentation, and a research paper with a literary analysis, to a final exam, with a short answer section and an essay question, all in German, will provide feedback on your performance in this class. Since I am using a grading software, students will have the opportunity to keep track of their progress from week to week.

PARTICIPATION / PREPARATION / ATTENDANCE POLICY / MISSED CLASSES FOR UNDERGRADUATES
Participation and preparation count as 10 % of your grade. When you attend class, have your assignments prepared, such as readings, presentations, and writing assignments. I might check your reading comprehension with small quizzes. Even though this class will mostly meet via Zoom, your visible presence is required.

You will have an initial 28 points in your participation/preparation account, with two points per class/week; if you are present and prepared you receive full participation/ preparation credit for that class session. For every class you are not present I will deduct one point. You cannot earn preparation/participation points if you are not present; if you have not prepared your assignments you may not earn full credit.
Regular attendance is essential. THERE ARE NO MAKE-UPS for missed quizzes and other assignments. On rare occasions when absence is unavoidable due to  illness or family emergency, I may require proof of your reason of absence before we discuss the possibility of make-up work.

If you miss more than 20 % of class time, you will receive an automatic "F", regardless of the quality of your work.

GRADING FOR UNDERGRADUATES

Participation/Preparation (incl. quizzes, translations etc.)	10%
Response papers, Book Review	30%
Oral presentation (Power Point Referat)	20%
Bibliography - MLA style	10%
Essay (schriftliche Hausarbeit)	30%

GRADING FOR GRADUATES

Oral presentation (Power Point Referat)	20%
Response Papers, Book Review	25%
Article Reviews	15%
Essay (schriftliche Hausarbeit)	40%

The Grading Scale is the standard +/- scale used by the university.

A+ 97-100	A 93-96	A- 90-92	B+ 87-89	B 83-86	B- 80-82
C+ 77-79	C 73-76	C- 70-72	D+ 67-69	D 63-66	D- 60-62
F 59 below

ASSIGNMENTS
Prepare to read a lot for this course. You will also have to present a PowerPoint, prepare a bibliography, write a book review and an essay. All assignments listed on the syllabus are to be prepared for the day they are listed. You will probably spend about four to six hours work outside of class for each class session. This includes preparing reading and writing assignments.

*Power Point Presentation FOR UNDERGRADUATES AND GRADUATES
You will prepare a Power Point presentation of about 20 minutes in length including a handout for. For this Power Point Referat, you will present on a work (book or film) about war that you are not reading in class. You will also prepare your bibliography on that same work, as well as your research essay (schriftliche Hausarbeit).
PREPARE YOUR BOOK REVIEW FOR THE DAY YOUR POWER POINT PRESENTATION AS AN ADDITIONAL HANDOUT.
You will be evaluated on handout, content, grammatical accuracy, delivery, and the presentation overall.
Hints for your presentation:
*Be ready to talk for at least 20 minutes, run a test presentation in order to prepare for your actual Referat.
*You may not just read from the slides.
*Slides should be a backdrop for your presentation.
*Make use of photos, illustrations, maps etc. in your slides, but do not overdo it. Refrain from sound effects or other distracting features.
*Make sure that your presentation does not contain any spelling or grammatical errors.
*Make sure that your handouts contains all important information so it can serve all students in order to review for the final.
*Save your PPT as a pdf file and upload it to the course wiki.

*Response Papers FOR UNDERGRADUATES AND GRADUATES
You will prepare a number of two- to three-page-response papers on the readings, and upload to the course wiki.. Please submit your response papers to the course wiki at the latest before the day before the next class session, so that you can read all response papers and leave a comment on each response paper before our actual class meeting. This will help us with the discussion of the texts during our sessions.

Hints for a response paper:
*A response paper is not an academic paper.
*A response paper is not a summary of what happened.
*A response paper is a reflection of your engagement with the text.
*What points of view representative of the time can you detect in the text - what attitudes, values, concepts, and possibly belief systems do you recognize?
*What is your personal point of view on these aspects?
*How has this text possibly altered your own personal point of view regarding your initial reading of the text and your world view at large?

*Bibliography FOR UNDERGRADUATES ONLY
You will prepare a bibliography on recent scholarly research on one work / topic from German literature dealing with war. You will prepare the bibliography on the same work as your PPT Referat and your essay.
UNDERGRADUATES: Your bibliography has to contain at the least 10 -15 articles and/or books.
If you are lost where to begin, start here.

*Book Review FOR UNDERGRADUATES AND GRADUATES
You will write a review of one additional work that we do not read as a group.
Your choice of work has to be approved by me.
Your Power Point presentation, bibliography, and essay may be on the same work.
You should count on a minimum of two to three pages for this assignment (double-spaced, MLA style).
Please familiarize yourself how to write a review.
PREPARE YOUR BOOK REVIEW FOR THE DAY YOUR POWER POINT PRESENTATION AS A pdf HANDOUT and upload to the course wiki.

*Article Review  FOR GRADUATES ONLY
You will write reviews of three scholarly articles / book chapters and present on them briefly in class (no longer than 5 minutes). The reviews has to fit on ONE page. List on the top the bibliographical entry and make copies for all class members. Please familiarize yourself how to write a review. Consult an academic journal such as the German Quarterly. Please submit your article review also on the course wiki page.

*Essay FOR UNDERGRADUATES AND GRADUATES
Your schriftliche Hausarbeit (essay) will be a research paper on at least one work dealing with war. You may also compare and contrast more than one work with each other. Please discuss your essay topic with me.

All your written assignments have to be typed using German characters: Please make sure that you use in your writing the appropriate German characters (ss for ß or ue for ü etc are not acceptable). If you need help how to type German characters, please consult this link.

All assignments have to be double spaced and follow MLA Style (please follow this link to view a sample heading and a works cited page). Mark the total of your words at the end of your essay. Please prepare your assignments on time and note that I will not accept any excuses for the lateness of your written work because of any kind of computer related problems. Assignments are due at the beginning of class.

UNDERGRADUATES: Your essay should be between 8-10 pages in length (MLA Style follow this link to view a sample heading and a works cited page, double spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point font). You have to consult at least three secondary sources (scholarly research articles / books). You may use internet pages as an additional source, but articles from newspapers or wikipedia are not scholarly research articles. Scholarly articles accessed by means of the library web page are valid secondary sources (research articles). If you are not sure, please check with me.

GRADUATES: Your essay should be between 14-18 pages in length (MLA Style follow this link to view a sample heading and a works cited page, double spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point font). You have to consult at least ten secondary sources (scholarly research articles / books). You may use internet pages as an additional source, but articles from newspapers or wikipedia are not scholarly research articles. Scholarly articles accessed by means of the library web page are valid secondary sources (research articles). If you are not sure, please check with me. Submit your final essay via email.

*Final exam
There will be NO final exam, rather regard your final essay as a cumulative learning experience for this course.

STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
Students are expected to be familiar with and adhere to the official Code of Academic Conduct provided in the Online Catalog.

STATEMENT ON DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS
Contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) as detailed in the Online Catalog.

PREGNANT STUDENT ACCOMMODATIONS
Title IX protects against discrimination related to pregnancy or parental status. If you are pregnant and will need accommodations for this class, please review the University’s FAQs on the UAct website.

RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES
Under the Guidelines for Religious Holiday Observances, students should notify the instructor in writing or via email during the first two weeks of the semester of their intention to be absent from class for religious observance. The instructor will work to provide reasonable opportunity to complete academic responsibilities as long as that does not interfere with the academic integrity of the course. See full guidelines at Religious Holiday Observances Guidelines.

UAct STATEMENT
The UAct website provides an overview of The University's expectations regarding respect and civility.

SEVERE WEATHER PROTOCOL
Please see the latest Severe Weather Guidelines in the Online Catalog.

STATEMENT ON COVID-19

All University faculty, staff, and students are expected to maintain a commitment to the health and safety of our campus community. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, specific health and safety standards are in place to minimize exposure and community spread on campus. In the interest of your health and safety and that of all UA students, faculty and staff, the University reserves the right to change the mode of instruction or schedule of instruction at any time, based upon prevailing public health and other guidance. While the method of delivery may change, educational instruction and opportunities will continue. As such, the University will not provide a refund of tuition, in whole or in-part, based on any such changes. Detailed information on changes in format or schedule can be found at studentaccounts.ua.edu and financialaid.ua.edu.

All students must be familiar with and abide by the requirements outlined in the UA Return Plan | UA System Comprehensive Health and Safety Plan. Students must (1) wear a mask or face covering at all times while participating in face-to-face class; (2) adhere to social distancing standards; and (3) comply with all other health and safety restrictions. If a student refuses to comply with the requirements, the student will be asked to leave the class and reported for a conduct violation. Unless a student has an exemption from the requirement to wear a face covering, (more information can be found at ods.ua.edu/covid-19-disability/), the student will be reported to Student Life for further disciplinary action. More information on these requirements and UA Healthcheck system and screening can be found at healthinfo.ua.edu/returnplan. You are expected to visit the site and comply with all noted requirements related to in-person class attendance.

SEMESTERPLAN

TEXTE (Auswahl):

Autor	Text	Links
Anonym	Hildebrandslied	Engl. translation; mehr ahd Texte;
Anonym	Rolandslied
Anonym	Nibelungenlied
Wolfram von Eschenbach	Willehalm
Varia	Kreuzzugsdichtung (~ 1200 - 1400)
Anonym	Warhaffttige: Zeyttungen Von der Belegerung vnnd eynemung der Statt Neuß [...], (1586) auf "PDF- Dokument anzeigen" klicken!
Peter Suchenwirt	Peter Suchenwirt's Werke aus dem vierzehnten Jahrhunderte : ein Beytrag zur Zeit- und Sittengeschichte siehe Kapitel 4 (Von hertzog Albrechts ritterschaft) zum Kapf gegen Preussen und Litauer (~1380)
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen	Der Abentheuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch (1668) The Simplicissimus Project - The Adventurous Simplicissimus (Engl.)	XLibris; XLibris Kurzinhalt;   Über Grimmelshausens Simplicissimus. - Ringvorlesung Uni Kiel: Romane von der Antike bis zum 19. Jahrhundert. pdf; Deutsche Nationalbibliothek - Lit zu Grimmelshausen;
Andreas Gryphius	Tränen des Vaterlands (1636)
Daniel Casper von Lohenstein	Cleopatra (1661)
Daniel Casper von Lohenstein	Arminius und Thusnelda (1689)
Martin Opitz	Trostgedichte in Widerwärtigkeit des Krieges (1633)
Maurus Friesenegger	Tagebuch aus dem 30jährigen Krieg: Nach einer Handschrift im Kloster Andechs (1627-1648)	Leseprobe (pdf)
Peter Hagendorf	Ein Söldnerleben im Dreißigjährigen Krieg (Auszug, pdf) (1627-1633)	Buchbesprechung: Jan Peters (Hrsg.): Ein Söldnerleben im Dreißigjährigen Krieg (GEO);
Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim	Preußischen Kriegslieder in den Feldzügen 1756 und 1757 von einem Grenadier ()
Paul Gerhardt	Neujahrsgesang ()
Matthias Claudius	Kriegslied (1782)
Friedrich von Schiller	Wallenstein (Wallensteins Lager , Die Piccolomini, Wallensteins Tod) (1799)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe	Kampagne in Frankreich (1792)
Heinrich von Kleist	Die Hermannsschlacht ()pdf Die Hermannsschlacht
Carl von Clausewitz	Vom Kriege (1832) pdf
Bertha von Suttner	Die Waffen nieder! (1889)
Theodor Fontane	Vor dem Sturm (1878)
Rainer Maria Rilke	Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke (1899)
Erich Maria Remarque	Im Westen nichts Neues ()
Ernst Jünger	In Stahlgewittern ()
Georg Trakl	Grodek ()
Karl Kraus	Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (1922)
Bertolt Brecht	Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (1939)	Links zum Text;
Arnold Zweig	Erziehung vor Verdun ()
Alexander Döblin	Wallenstein ()
Ricarda Huch	Der Dreißigjährige Krieg
Hans Carossa	Tagebuch im Kriege (Rumänisches Tagebuch)
Hartlaub	Im Sperrkreis. Aufzeichnungen aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg 1950
Wolfgang Borchert	Draußen vor der Tür ()
Erich Kästner	Sergeant Waurich ()
Dieter Noll	Die Abenteuer des Werner Holt (1960)
Günter Grass	Die Blechtrommel ()
Heinrich Böll	Der Engel schwieg ()
Heinrich Böll	Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa ()
Heinrich Böll	Wo warst du, Adam? ()
Hans Erich Nossack	Der Untergang (1961)
Alexander Kluge	Der Luftangriff auf Halberstadt am 8. April 1945 (1977)
Christa Wolf	Kassandra (1983)
W. G. Sebald	Luftkrieg und Literatur (1999)
Christine Nöstlinger	Maikäfer, flieg! (1973)
Dieter Forte	Der Junge mit den blutigen Schuhen (1995)
W. G. Sebald	Austerlitz (2001)
Jörg Friedrich	Der Brand. Deutschland im Bombenkrieg 1940-1945 (2002)
Günter Grass	Im Krebsgang (2002)
Anonyma	Eine Frau in Berlin (2003)
Tanja Drückers	Himmelskörper (2003)
Uwe Timm	Am Beispiel meines Bruders (2003)
Walter Kempowski	Alles umsonst (2006)
Bernhard Schlink	Die Heimkehr (2006)
Julia Franck	Die Mittagsfrau (2007)
Herta Müller	Die Atemschaukel (2009)
Arno Surminski	Winter Fünfundvierzig oder Die Frauen von Palmnicken (2010)
Olga Grjasnowa	Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt (2012)
Jenny Erpenbeck	Gehen, ging, gegangen (2015)

SPRICHWÖRTER
Krieg sät Krieg.
Krieg frisst Gold und scheißt Kieselsteine.
Wer Krieg predigt, ist des Teufels Feldprediger.
Nach dem Kriege stellen sich viele Helden ein.
Böser Nachbar, ewiger Krieg.


SPRACHE UND WÖRTERBÜCHER
LEO Deutsch-Englisch-Deutsch
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, ausführlichstes Wörterbuch zur deutschen Sprache
Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch von Matthias Lexer
Mittelhochdeutsche Wörterbuch von Georg Friedrich Benecke, Wilhelm Müller und Friedrich Zarncke (=BMZ)
Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch ausgezeichnetes Wörterbuch, besonders für Fachsprachen
Was ist die deutsche Sprache? CD- 2, Frühneuhochdeutsch (Prof.Dr. Karl-Dieter Bünting, Uni Essen) Klicken und hören!

MITTELALTER
Literatur des Mittelalters (750 -1500) Epochenübersicht
Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters erster Überblick
Kursmaterialien zur Seite oben vermittelt Grundlagen
Literaturgeschichte des Mittelalter ein kurzer Überblick (Spickzettel)
Spätmittelalter

FRÜHE NEUZEIT: Europa im 16. Jahrhundert
Quellenautopsien Datenbank: Europäische Geschichte Historisches Seminar München
Early Maps mit Regina Europa
Druckgraphische Buchillustrationen des 15. Jh. hervorragende Quelle für Illustrationen
Media History Timeline, 15th / 16th century
Erfinder und Meister

WEITERE EPOCHEN / LITERATURGESCHICHTEN / BIOGRAPHIEN
Literaturepochen (Literaturwelt) ausführlicher guter Überblick
Literaturepochen (Vocke) kürzer
Literarische Epochen von 1600 bis 1933 (Xlibris) ausgezeichnet und ausführlich, leider erst ab 1600
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie informiert über bedeutende Personen, die vor dem Jahr 1900 verstorben sind

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