Undergraduate Course: The Cult of Feeling: Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und Drang and Early Romanticism (Ordinary) (ELCG09003)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This seminar will focus on the development of the literary culture of feeling in Germany from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, and the connections between the following literary movements: Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und Drang and early Romanticism. Empfindsamkeit or Sentimentalism, with its liberation of the senses and emotions, and its emphasis on the private expression of feeling and reflective inwardness, can be viewed culturally as a counter-discourse to the Enlightenment (rationalism). It was followed by the Sturm und Drang movement in the 1770s and 80s that ran parallel with the final stages of Sentimentalism, but gave voice to an externalized expression of the struggle of the self to achieve autonomy, which challenged social and political boundaries and introduced literary reforms. The 1790s saw the birth of German Romanticism, a movement that developed the philosophical understanding of the relationship between the self and the world, which foregrounded the aesthetic and spiritual aspects of the human experience.
This course examines the ways in which the concept of the hero changes from the 1770s to around 1800, and will cover topics such as the senses and the body, power and punishment, language and gesture, fathers and sons, and the Romantic new mythology project. The key texts will be: Goethe¿s Götz von Berlichingen (1773) and Die Leiden des jungen Werther (1774), Lenz¿s Der Hofmeister (1774) and Anmerkungen übers Theater (1774), Schiller¿s Die Räuber (1781) and Novalis¿ Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802).
The course-specific learning goals are (1) to introduce you to the debates relating to the role of the emotions in the second half of the eighteenth century; (2) to explore the role of the autonomous individual in the selected plays and novels of this period; (3) to develop your skills in appreciating and discussing literary texts.
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| Course description |
Not entered
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | Ordinary students and visiting students who are studying in Edinburgh. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | In order to be eligible to take 4th Year Options, Visiting Students should have the equivalent of at least two years of study at University level of the appropriate language(s) and culture(s). |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
| By the end of this course students will be expected to demonstrate sound knowledge and understanding of the development of writing in 18th century Germany from the Age of Sensibility to Romanticism; to construct coherent arguments which demonstrate an awareness of the problems and issues posed by the key texts by major figures of the period; to recognise a Cult of Feeling which spans most of the 18th century; to foster an understanding of the literary text as a source for the study of cultural and intellectual history; to demonstrate a high level of expression in both written and oral presentations and to offer alternative perspectives and show an awareness of contrasting viewpoints.
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Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Eleoma Bodammer
Tel: (0131 6)50 3639
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Fiona Scanlon
Tel: (0131 6)50 3647
Email: |
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