GERST 3640 - [Me, Myself, I: Subjects of Literature]

(crosslisted) COML 3689
(LA-AS)

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

A. Schwarz.

When did the Self become a central topic for literature? When did fiction begin to describe the individual, its soul and psychic life? This course will trace the history of the individual in German and European literature from the 18th to the 20th century. Topics include: the relationship between literature and psychology; the individual as a social being (family dynamics); the individual as genius (inspired productivity); the suffering individual (extreme emotions). Authors: Novalis, Hölderlin, Goethe, Hoffmann, Balzac, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Büchner, Schopenhauer, Musil, Freud, Kafka, Sartre, Frisch, Auster et al. Readings and discussions in English.