GRMN 320
Kafka, Brecht, and Christa Wolf: 20Th
Century Short Prose
Spring 2007
Jutta Ittner
This course is for you if you enjoy
reading stories "with delicate fingers
and eyes," as Nietzsche put it, and
expanding your knowledge of
German culture, or simply wish to
increase your German
comprehension and discussion
skills.
We will explore the aesthetic
richness of Kafka’s Verwandlung and
other stories, parables, surrealist,
and experimental texts by major
contemporary German, Austrian, and
Swiss authors, discuss their
compelling descriptions of German
present and past, and their
provocative ideas.
Since all readings are in German, we
will begin slowly, taking time to
develop your reading skills, and
gradually pick up the pace during the
course of the semester. We will use
an anthology with notes and
glossary which will make your study
easier and more pleasurable.
Texts:
Brigitte M. Turneaure. Im Spiegel der Literatur. Kurzprosa aus dem 20. Jahrhundert. W. W.
Norton & Company; (December 1991) ISBN-10: 0393961826
Franz Kafka. Die Verwandlung. Reclam, Ditzingen (1995) ISBN-10: 3150099005
Books on reserve:
Dimensions2 (An invaluable source for your own literary projects: a bilingual collection of the
latest short fiction of German, Swiss, and Austrian writers.)