GERMAN LITERATURE
Oral exam
In order to be admitted to the exam it is necessary to read the works listed below in READINGS.
The course aims to provide basic knowledge of German literary and cultural history, of the characteristic features of its main periods, in particular that of the classical-romantic age and of some prominent authors of this period, ‘classics’ of German literature (such as Goethe, Schiller, Hölderlin, Kleist etc.). The student will acquire the analytical tools to understand the individual works of the authors in question and place them in their respective historical, cultural and literary context. It will be sensitized to the problems of literary and cultural historiography in general and of the periodization of German literature in the specific and enabled to orientate himself autonomously in the field of German Studies in order to be able to identify and eventually specify future research interests.
THE 'CLASSICS' / The German literature (according to Max Kommerell)
When the well-known philosopher Giorgio Agamben, in the Nineties, published, under the title The poet and the unspeakable, a collection of essays on the German literature by Max Kommerell (1902-1944), he called it "the greatest German critic of the twentieth century after Benjamin and perhaps the last great personality of Germany between the two wars that remains to be discovered ". From then on, the interest in this "personality", this multi-faceted intellectual, and for his fascinating and enigmatic literary criticism between science and poetry, grew more and more, and actually stands at the center of interest of experts (and not just experts of German literature). What was Kommerell: a philologist? A psychologist? An anthropologist? And his work: an aesthetic philology? A psychology of power? An anthropology of art?
A peculiar characteristic of Kommerell's critique lies in the fact, repeatedly observed and mentioned (by Agamben and others) - that he "has never expressed himself on his contemporaries", in his curious "fixation" on "classics" (of German but also universal literature), on Goethe and Schiller, Hölderlin and Kleist, Jean Paul and Lessing etc . This might be eloquent about the intentions of his critical project; it is, however, an excellent opportunity to engage again with some of the absolute protagonists of German literature and to reread some of their outstanding works. The course will try to 'discover' Kommerell together with these 'classics', comparing his reading (extravagant, yes, but also very convincing) of Goethe's Faust, of Schiller's Wallenstein; of the dramatic work of Kleist and of the poetic work of Hölderlin with those more conventional and generally accepted.
READINGS
In order to be admitted to the exam it is necessary having read the following works:
1) Secondary Literature
Max Kommerell: Il poeta e l’indicibile. Saggi di letteratura tedesca, a cura di Giorgio Agamben, Genova (Marietti) 1991.
Michele Cometa (a cura di): L’età classico-romantica. La cultura letteraria in Germania tra Settecento e Ottocento, Bari (Laterza) 2009.
2) Primary Literature
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Emilia Galotti, Torino (Einaudi) 1997.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust II. In: Faust, (Rizzoli BUR), 2005.
- I dolori del giovane Werther, Milano (Oscar Classici), 2002.
Friedrich Schiller: Wallenstein, a. cura di M. Mila, Torino (Einaudi) 2007.
Jean Paul: Vita di Maria Wuz, Milano (Lampi di stampa), 2002.
Friedrich Hölderlin: Poesie scelte. Testo tedesco a fronte, Milano (Feltrinelli) 2018.
Heinrich von Kleist: La brocca rotta. Anfitrione. Il principe di Homburg, Milano (Garzanti), 2005.
Lectures
Non-participant students have to prepare for the oral exam:
Zmegac/Skreb/Sekulic, Breve storia della letteratura tedesca, Torino (Einaudi) 1995: pp.105-357.
The lecturer's office hours during term time will be announced on the website of the Department.