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Lecturer(s)
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Krappmann Joerg, doc. Mgr. Ph.D.
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Course content
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Nineteenth-Century Literature: From Early Realism to the Transition to Modernism During the nineteenth century, European literatures developed the concepts and models of Realism that shaped literary writing until the beginning of the twentieth century and continue to influence contemporary literature. This period saw the emergence of numerous novels and short stories that are now regarded as part of world literature. An inevitably incomplete list includes The Charterhouse of Parma (Stendhal, 1839) and Madame Bovary (Flaubert, 1857) in French literature; Oliver Twist (Dickens, 1837), Moby-Dick (Melville, 1851), and Middlemarch (George Eliot, 1871) in English-language literature; Fathers and Sons (Turgenev, 1861) and Anna Karenina (Tolstoy, 1878) in Russian literature; as well as the works of Božena Němcová, Jan Neruda, and Alois Jirásek in Czech literature. German-language literature likewise produced realist works that remain part of school curricula, continue to be adapted for film and television, and have become an integral part of the broader cultural canon. A distinctive feature of German-language Realism is that works of international significance were produced in all three German-speaking literaturesGerman, Austrian, and Swiss. The lecture will therefore examine both the common features and the distinctive characteristics of these different traditions of German-language Realism. Following a predominantly chronological approach, the lecture traces the literary developments that led to the emergence and gradual differentiation of Realism, which first established itself programmatically in Germany after the Revolutions of 1848. Attention will be devoted both to this central phase and to the question of Early Realism (Mörike, Stifter) in the first half of the nineteenth century, as well as to the relationship between Late Realism (Fontane, Raabe, Ebner-Eschenbach) and the literary movements of Modernism that began to emerge towards the end of the century. The lecture thus covers the period from the transitional era around 1800 to the turn of the twentieth century, forming a conceptual bridge between two key milestones in European cultural history.
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Lecture
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Learning outcomes
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The lecture provides students with an overview of the literary developments that led from the transitional period around 1800, representing the first phase of modernity, to its second phase around 1900. It also introduces students to the transformation of the poetics of knowledge, namely the shift in emphasis from philosophy to the natural sciences.
Students will gain an overview of the development of nineteenth-century German-language literature from early Realism to the transition to Modernism. They will be able to identify the principal poetic and aesthetic characteristics of Realism, place major authors and literary works within their historical and cultural context, and compare the distinctive features of Realism in German, Austrian, and Swiss literature. They will also develop an understanding of the relationship between Realism and the emerging literary movements of Modernism.
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Prerequisites
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No specific prerequisites.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Oral exam
Successful completion of an oral examination (approximately 30 minutes), during which the individual topics covered in the lecture will be discussed. The examination will also be based on an individual reading list compiled by students from the recommended bibliography provided. Throughout the lecture, specific literary texts will be recommended and discussed for each thematic unit.
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Recommended literature
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(1983). DTV Atlas deutsche Literatur.
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Balzer, Bernd. (2012). Einführung in die Literatur des Bürgerlichen Realismus.. Darmstadt.
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Baßler, Moritz. Deutsche Erzählprosa 1850-1950. Berlin. 2015.
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Plumpe, Gerhard. (2007). : Realismus als literarische Epoche. In: Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft. Berlin.
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Ritzer, Monika. (2007). Realismus als ästhetischer Begriff. In: Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft. Berlin.
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