German Literature and Cinema
Code: 106333 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2504212 English Studies | OT | 3 | 2 |
| 2504212 English Studies | OT | 4 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Bernd Franz Wilhelm Springer
- Email:
- bernd.springer@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
Prerequisites
No prerequisites are required.
Objectives and Contextualisation
- Develop and deepen their understanding of literature and film.
- Develop and deepen critical and argumentative skills and the ability to relate ideas.
- Develop and deepen the capacity for aesthetic experience.
- To develop and deepen the ability to write critical film reviews.
- Linguistic awareness of the student in both the receptive and creative aspects of a text of literary and film criticism.
- To introduce students to strategies for the study of foreign philology.
- To give a global orientation to the literary and cinematographic representation of the history of Central Europe in the 20th century.
Competences
- English Studies
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
- Develop arguments applicable to the fields of literature, culture and linguistics and evaluate their academic relevance.
- Identify and analyse the main currents, genres, works and authors in English and comparative literature.
- Produce effective written work or oral presentations adapted to the appropriate register in distinct languages (except English).
- Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
Learning Outcomes
- Analyse a text or a film under various aspects and synthesise the results of the analysis in an overall interpretation.
- Apply the knowledge and skills acquired to professional and academic activities related to German Literature, History and Culture.
- Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
- Demonstrate a sound knowledge about advanced topics related to the study of literature and culture.
- Distinguish principal ideas from secondary ideas and synthesise their contents in German-language literary texts and films.
- Generate strategies to facilitate the increase and improvement of mutual respect in multicultural environments.
- Have criteria in order to assess the aesthetics of a literary work or film.
- Identify and interpret the symbolic language of a text and a feature film.
- Identify the main genres and the main literary, cultural and historical trends in the German language.
- Make relevant critical assessments based on an understanding of relevant information on topics related to German literature and culture of social, scientific or ethical interest.
- Practise the critical discourse and implement the argumentative processes.
- Recognising theories of other human, artistic, and social areas and applying them to German literature and cinema.
- Use the specific expressive resources of the essay genre.
Content
1.) 1st thematic block: Introduction to the interpretation of film scenes.
2.) 2nd thematic block: Thomas Mann: Death in Venice
a) Interpretation of the novel
b) The idea of the Apollonian and the Dionysian in Nietzsche and Th. Mann
c) The theme of love and the function of beauty in Plato's "Banquet" - comparison with the dialogues of chapters 4 and 5 of Death in Venice
d) Comparison with the film by L. Visconti
3.) 3rd thematic block: The First World War
a) Erich Maria Remarque: 'Nothing New in the West'.
b) Course and consequences of WWI
c) Remarque in the war
d) The Political Background of the Weimar Republic
e) Birth and publication of Remarque's book
f) Verdum: Psychic Effects / Images of the War
g) The political reception of the novel
h) The Logic of War
i) How a Civilian Becomes a Soldier in 'Nothing New in the West' j) Jonathan Shay: Achilles Shay: The War of the Civilians and the War of the Civilians
j) Jonathan Shay: Achilles in Vietnam - Post-Traumatic Stress-Disorder
k) War in European and American cinema
4.) 4th thematic block: What is totalitarianism?
5.) 5th thematic block: The Holocaust / Genocides
a) Becker: Jacob the liar
b) Interpretation of the book
c) Comparison with film versions
d) The Holocaust - history of the genocide of the European Jews during World War 2
e) History of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians
f) The Holocaust in American cinema
g) Christopher Browning: Ordinary Men
h) Harald Welzer: Täter
i) How can normal people participate in genocide?
j) Paul Preston: The Spanish Holocaust
k) Other Genocides: Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia
l) How to install a dictatorship?
6.) 6th thematic block: The post-war generation in Germany - How to live with this past?
a) Bernhard Schlink: The reader
b) Comparison of the book and the film
Methodology
- Masterclasses
- Film analysis
- Text analysis
- Oral presentations by students
- Group work in class
- Virtual Campus
- Tutorial
- Written assignments at home
- Reading at home
- Writing texts
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Viewing a films | 14 | 0.56 | 1, 5, 8 |
| Write a 500-word critical review of a book and two films. | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 2, 7, 5, 10, 11, 9, 8, 12, 13 |
| master classes | 45 | 1.8 | 2, 4, 7, 11, 3, 6, 9, 8, 12 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| give a presentation | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 4, 7, 10, 3, 6, 12 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reed books | 55 | 2.2 | 1, 7, 5, 10, 9, 8 |
Assessment
Evaluation:
Write a question and answer file on the lectures and with a reflection on the topic: What have I learned in this subject (35%).
Give a 15-20 minutes presentation in class (35%)
Write a 500-word critical review of a book and two films (30%).
Single assessment:
Take an exam with 20 questions on the topics covered in class (35%).
Deliver a 15-20 minute presentation on a previously agreed topic in Powerpoint format with audio (35%).
Take an oral exam on the book "Jakob der Lügner" and its two film versions (30%).
VERY IMPORTANT:
The use of electronic devices (mobile phones, laptops, etc.) in class is not allowed! Notes are to be taken on paper. It is compulsory to bring the texts (finished reading) to class every day whose reading is the subject of the class according to the updated schedule.
Active participation in class is compulsory. If physical presence is not possible, it is the student's responsibility to independently procure the material that the teacher has presented in class and is obliged to demonstrate with written work and under the supervision and control of the teacher that he/she has worked on the subject in question autonomously. Absence from class for more than 20% of the lessons (or for more than 20% of the written work on the lessons with absence) must be compensated by an extra paper on a topic from German history or literature of about 5 pages in length. If a student misses more than 40% of the lessons (or the corresponding assignments), the conditions for an evaluation of the student are no longer fulfilled and the mark is either "not evaluable" or is transferred to the single evaluation.
Each of the parts of the continuous assessment and the single assessment must be passed with a minimum mark of 5 (out of 10). If this minimum requirement is not met, the test must be repeated in the make-up weeks. The tests are taken on the date indicated or in the make-up weeks.
At the time of each evaluation activity, the teacher will inform the students (Moodle) of the procedure and date of revision of the grades.
It is necessary to present the exhibitions on the day foreseen in the updated schedule (it is constantly updated!), it is not possible to present exhibitions outside the historical or cultural context. In case of failure to present the exhibition on the scheduled day, this part of the evaluation must be recovered by means of a 15-page text on the same topic in the recovery weeks.
All parts of the assessment must be completed, handed in and passed.
In order to be entitled to a make-up, it is necessary to have an average mark of 3.5 and, in addition, it is necessary to have passed 60% of the evaluation activities with a minimum mark of 5 (out of 10). If the percentage of failed parts exceeds 40%, the subject is failed. In the recovery, each of the evaluation parts must also be passed with a minimum mark of 5 (out of 10), otherwise the subject will be failed.
The languages of the class are Spanish and Catalan.
The languages of the presentations are Spanish, Catalan and English.
The languages of the written work can be: German, Catalan, Spanish, English, French, Italian.
VERY IMPORTANT:
Total and partial plagiarism of any of the exercises will be automatically considered a SUSPENSION (0) of the plagiarised exercise. If the situation is repeated, the whole course will be failed. PLAGIARISING is copying from unidentified sources of a text, be it a single sentence or more, which is passed off as one's own production. It is a serious offence. It is necessary to learn to respect the intellectual property of others and always identify the sources that can be used, and it is essential to take responsibility for the originality and authenticity of one's own text.
In the event that students commit any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation act, this evaluation act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in the assessment acts of the same subject, the final mark for this subject will be 0.
In the event that the tests cannot be taken in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB's virtual tools. Homework, activities and class participation will be done through forums, wikis and/or discussions of exercises through Teams or other platforms, ensuring that all students can access.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make a 15-20 minute presentation in class. | 35% | 9 | 0.36 | 2, 4, 7, 5, 10, 11, 3, 8, 12 |
| Write a 500-word critical review of a book and two films. | 30% | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 7, 5, 10, 11, 3, 8, 13 |
| Write a question and answer file on the lectures and with a reflection on the topic: What have I learned in this subject? | 35% | 10 | 0.4 | 2, 4, 7, 5, 10, 11, 3, 6, 9, 8, 12 |
Bibliography
Th. Mann: Tod in Venedig (1911), Muerte en Venecia, Mort a Venècia, Death in Venice.
E.M. Remarque: Im Westen nichts Neues (1929), Sin novedad en el frente, Res de nou a l'oest, All quiet on the western front.
J. Becker: Jakob der Lügner (1969) Jacob el embustero, Jacob el mentider, Jacob the liar.
Hannah Arendt: Culpa organizada (4 pàgs. en fotocopies).
B. Schlink: Der Vorleser (1995) El lector, The reader
Software
1.) 1st thematic block: Introduction to the interpretation of film scenes.
2.) 2nd thematic block: Thomas Mann: Death in Venice
a) Interpretation of the novel
b) The idea of the Apollonian and the Dionysian in Nietzsche and Th. Mann
c) The theme of love and the function of beauty in Plato's "Banquet" - comparison with the dialogues of chapters 4 and 5 of Death in Venice
d) Comparison with the film by L. Visconti
3.) 3rd thematic block: The First World War
a) Erich Maria Remarque: 'Nothing New in the West'.
b) Course and consequences of WWI
c) Remarque in the war
d) The Political Background of the Weimar Republic
e) Birth and publication of Remarque's book
f) Verdum: Psychic Effects / Images of the War
g) The political reception of the novel
h) The Logic of War
i) How a Civilian Becomes a Soldier in 'Nothing New in the West' j) Jonathan Shay: Achilles Shay: The War of the Civilians and the War of the Civilians
j) Jonathan Shay: Achilles in Vietnam - Post-Traumatic Stress-Disorder
k) War in European and American cinema
4.) 4th thematic block: What is totalitarianism?
5.) 5th thematic block: The Holocaust / Genocides
a) Becker: Jacob the liar
b) Interpretation of the book
c) Comparison with film versions
d) The Holocaust - history of the genocide of the European Jews during World War 2
e) History of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians
f) The Holocaust in American cinema
g) Christopher Browning: Ordinary Men
h) Harald Welzer: Täter
i) How can normal people participate in genocide?
j) Paul Preston: The Spanish Holocaust
k) Other Genocides: Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia
l) How to install a dictatorship?
6.) 6th thematic block: The post-war generation in Germany - How to live with this past?
a) Bernhard Schlink: The Reader
b) Comparison of the book and the film