Sylabus
1) Introduction to the course and to the historical context of the considered literature; details about course organization.
2) Introduction to the category of the Unheimlich and its link to the Fantastic genre Lecture: S. Freud, The Uncanny (Das Unheimliche) E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Sandman (Der Sandmann)
3) Definition of the Fantastic genre Lecture: Todorov, The Fantastic E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Deserted House (Das öde Haus)
4) Pieces of art and ancient worlds in Fantastic tendencies of the Spätromantik Lecture: J. v. Eichendorf, The Marble Statue (Das Marmorbild)
5) Introduction to German Fantastic Literature and its links to Fin de Siècle Positivism Lecture: G. Meyrink: The Automobile (Das Automobil) K. H. Strobl, The Triumph of Mechanics (Der Triumph der Mechanik)
6) Fantastic motifs and aesthetic of the Femme Fatale H. H. Ewers, The Spider (Die Spinne) E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Story of the Lost Reflection (Die Geschichte vom verlorenen Spiegelbilde)
7) The Doppelgänger H. H. Ewers: The Student of Prague (Der Student von Prag) (Film
1913) O. Wilde, The picture of Dorian Grey
8) Distortion of time and space in fantastic literature K.H. Strobl: The Wicked Nun (Die arge Nonne) E.A. Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher
9) From the manor to the metropolitan landscape Lecture: Georg Simmel: The Metropolis and Mental Life (Die Großstädte und das Geistesleben) P. Leppin, Severin‘s Journey into the Dark (Severins Gang in die Finsternis)
10) Fantastic, utopias and heterotopias Lecture: Foucault, Michael, The Other Spaces: Utopia and Heterotopia A. Kubin, The Other Side (Die andere Seite) (chapters 1/2/3)
11) Fantastic and Prague G. Meyrink, The Golem (Der Golem) Illustrations: Richard Teschner, Alfred Kubin, Hugo Steiner-Prag
12) Elements of fantastic literature in Franz Kafka’s work…? Lecture: F. Kafka, A Country Doctor (Ein Landarzt); The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung)
Anotace
The course focuses on German and Austrian Fantastic literature in the years 1900-1930 and is divided into three sections. The first seminaries are dedicated to a definition of the genre according to the categories of unheimlich and ‘uncertainty’ addressed by Sigmund Freud and Tzvetan Todorov respectively. The seminaries from 4-7 are dedicated to German and Austrian literature concerning some of its multiple nuances, while the last sessions focus on the connection between the Fantastic genre and the tropes of ‘Magic Prague’. Since course is held in English, references to British and North American literature will also be part of the program, which also has a comparative approach in this regard. Both the sessions on Austrian and German literature in general and the sessions concerning
Prague’s landscape take into account the socio-political events linked to the creation of fantastic atmospheres in the considered texts. Aim of the course is for the students to acquire a clear knowledge of motifs, mechanisms and styles related to the treated genre, but also to develop a critical awareness of the connection between the Fantastic and a certain socio-cultural atmosphere, being the course, as well as the origins of the genre, focused on a very peculiar historical moment of German and Austrian history.