GERST 6050 - [Classicism: Goethe and Schiller]

Fall or Spring. Next Offered: 2019-2020. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Anchor course. All readings in German. Discussion in English and German.

P. Fleming.

This seminar examines Goethe’s and Schiller’s literature and thought through the question: What is Classicism? How does it differ in style, principle, content and form from both what came before (e.g. Sturm & Drang) and after (e.g. Romanticism). The course will thus cover the entire Goethe-Age, with its fulcrum being the unique friendship and literary-critical output of Goethe and Schiller during a little more than a decade (1794-1806). Poetry, drama, and prose (literary and critical) of both authors will be the focus of attention. The seminar will conclude with a look at the aftermath of Classicism: both Romanticism and Goethe’s own late, post-Classical style.