GERMAN LITERATURE II
Learning outcomes of the course unit
The aim of the course is to introduce to the main authors and movements of the German literature in so-called Goethezeit, contextualizing them in the complex cultural and political history.
This course allows the students:
- to come into contact with the principal authors, and current works of literature in German language in the Goethezeit, considering historical context, politics, aesthetics.
- to become familiar with the literary text, both in Italian translation as in the original German version, appreciating the specific linguistic and structural complexity.
- to expand their knowledge on the subjects and texts dealt through the use of stand-alone bibliography.
- to Identify the salient features of the language of literature, putting them into the curriculum of their studies in order to capture the diversity and complexity of the concept 'German language'.
Course contents summary
The course will consider some important authors and works in German literature between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, focusing on the so-called Goethe age.
The programme will be available both on the website of the Area of Foreign Languages and Literatures in paper form, and by the teacher at the end of the course.
-J. W. v. Goethe, Die Leiden des jungen Werther
- E.T.A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann
-H. v. Kleist, Michael Kohlhaas
The course will consist of lectures during which the works, in part provided by the teacher, will be introduced and analyzed. At the meantime the student learns how to deepen and extend in autonomy the content of the topics covered in class.
Assessment methods and criteria
The knowledge gained during the course will be assessed through an oral exam in Italian and German, which will ensure the following skills:
- knowledge of the movements, authors and works discussed in class and graded in their historical and cultural context;
- The processing capability of the course content, aimed at the formulation of judgments that also means the retrieval of information that expand the content itself;
- The ability to apply these skills to the analysis of literary texts, their contextualization in the historical and cultural origin and related issues;
- The oral proficiency in the German language corresponding to level B2 of the Common European Framework, demonstrated at the time of reading and translation into Italian of a short excerpt from a work of German literature of the period in question.
In the oral test will be adopted the following evaluation criteria:
- Evaluation insufficient, less than 18/30: lack of knowledge about basic content of the course, inability to articulate a proper Italian expression, to make independent judgments on issues and to recognize the specificity of literary texts, failure to reach the B2 level of the Common European Framework in oral proficiency in German.
- Sufficient assessment, from 18 to 23/30: demonstrated knowledge of the core content of the course, treating it in a proper Italian expression, ability to make independent judgments on the issues discussed recognizing the specificity of the literary text and to retrieve information that expand such content, reached level B2 of the Common European Framework in oral proficiency in German;
- good asessement, 24 to 27/30: fulfillment of the requirements listed above at a discrete level or good;
- High evaluation, between 28 and 30/30 with honors: fulfillment of the requirements listed above to an optimum level or excellent.