Does literary fiction inform us about history and/or our contemporary society? This module will evaluate

historiographic metafiction in the context of fictionalised historical events and figures via the study of a selection of contemporary works of literature. We will contextualise this literature historically and aesthetically, examining the relationship between fact and fiction. History reflected through the medium of family stories by way of fictional and biographical narratives and the ‘story telling approach’ to the life of historical figures and social historical situations form the basis of this module. Special attention will be paid to variations of postmodern writing styles including the trauma associated with recent German history; the collective past as a source of inspiration for the present; and the debate on the borderlines between the historical versus the imagination in the search for ‘truth’.

What are the central aims of this module?

1. To familiarise students with innovative works of postmodern literature;
2. To facilitate a critical understanding of the significance of diverse social and political historical events/phenomena for today’s German speaking culture;
3. To raise awareness about the plurality of postmodern literary styles.

• Demonstrate their knowledge of contemporary German novels in their historical context by analysing works of literature in depth, demonstrating an awareness of their formal characteristics and place them in a contemporary and historical context in written form.
• Analyse and critically discuss German contemporary texts by actively engaging in class discussion.
• Analyse selected works from a variety of critical points of view.
• Use appropriate registers when communicating knowledge and understanding of the course material.

Weekly Lecturers and seminars. Depending on the topic some lectures might be short presentations followed by class discussions and debates. Students are expected to read the selected primary works to enable them to contribute actively to the discussions. To facilitate the discussion, some lectures will be complemented by film screenings. 

Personal and transferable skills

• Construct a well-structured argument in written and verbal form and contribute to group debate.
• Use communications and information technologies for the retrieval and presentation of information.
• Work independently, demonstrating initiative, self-organisation and time management.

Generic and intellectual skills

• Gather, organize and deploy evidence, data and information from a variety of sources.
• Develop a reasoned argument, synthesize relevant information and exercise critical judgement.
• Reflect on their own learning and make use of constructive feedback. 

Presentation (formative): Oral seminar presentation

Essay Outline(formative): Extended coursework essay outline with literature review

Coursework Essay (2,500 words) (summative): 100%

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

Students achieving an overall pass mark will not be required to re-sit any failed components. Students failing the module overall will have the opportunity to re-sit the module during the university re-sit examination period in August. The re-assessment takes the form of an essay (maximum mark: 40%).

The following topics/selected works will be discussed

Introduction

• An overview of postmodern literatur  
• Literary memory and Vergangenheitsbewältigung. The Trauma of National Socialism and its effect on today’s Germany.
• Perpetrators or Victims? Contemporary views

Günter Grass, Im Krebsgang

• Günter Grass, Mein Jahrhundert (Extract)
• Why now? Why should an author lay bare their haunting past? Memory and truth.
• Narrative techniques and genre
• Historical context – figures and events
• Victimisation, responsibility and guilt
• The ficitonal versus the factional
• Implications for the presence – right-wing terror and the dangers of the Internet
• Günter Grass memoirs -  Beim Häuten der Zwiebel (extracts)

Uwe Timm, Am Beispiel meines Bruders

• Narrative techniques - a meandering path through Timm's memories
• Historical context -  German Nationalism and SS-Ideology  
• Characterisation of protagonists
• `The Brother` as mirrored through authentic sources
• Dreams; textual analysis
• Traumatisation of the children during (the) war 

Primary Texts

Uwe Timm, Am Beispiel meines Bruders, Kiepenheuer+Witsch, 2003

Günter Grass, Im Krebsgang, Göttingen, Steidl Verlag, 2002

Topic specific readings, materials and viewings for the seminars and coursework essays, with guiding questions and detailed instructions, will be provided on Learning Central.

Secondary Texts

Aleida Assmann 1999: Erinnerungsräume. Formen und Wandlungen des kulturellen Gedächtnisses. München ( C. H. Beck) 1999

Aleida Assmann: Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit. Erinnerungskultur und Geschichtspolitik. C.H.Beck, 2. Auflage 2004

Paul Brodowsky, Thomas Klupp(Hrsg.): Wie über die Gegenwart sprechen? Überlegungen zu den Methoden einer Gegenwartsliteraturwissenschaft. Frankfurt am Main 2010

Michael Heinlein: Die Erfindung der Erinnerung. Deutsche Kriegskinder im Gedächtnis der Gegenwart. transcript Verlag Bielefeld 2010

Günter Grass, Beim Häuten der Zwiebel, Göttingen, Steidl, 2006

Ingeburg Schäfer/Susanne Klockmann: Meine Mutter mochte Himmler nie. Geschichte einer SS-Familie. Rohwolt 1999

Grünberg Kurt: Tradierung des Nazi-Traumas und Schweigen. In: I. Özkan, A. Streeck-Fischer, U. Sachsse

(Hrsg.), Trauma und Gesellschaft. Vergangenheit in der Gegenwart. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2002.

S.36

Braun Michael (Hrsg.): Die Medien, die Erinnerung, das Tabu: „Im Krebsgang“ und

„Beim Häuten der Zwiebel“ von Günter Grass. In: Tabu und Tabubruch in Literatur

und Film. Würzburg (Königshausen&Neumann) 2007.

Fricke Hannes: Günter Grass: Im Krebsgang. Der Zwang, Zeugnis abzulegen, und die

virtuelle Realität. In: Romane des 20. Jahrdunderts, Band 3. Stuttgart. Philips Reclam

jun. GmbH&CO 2003

Youngman Paul A: The Realization of a Virtual Past in Günter Grass’s Crabwalk. In:

Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature. Volume 32, Issue 1. 2008.

Finlay Frank/Cornils,Ingo: (Hrsg.): (Un)erfüllte Wirklichkeit. Neue Studien zu Uwe Timms Werk. Würzburg. (Königshausen & Neumann) 2006

Bartels Gerrit: „Ich wollte das in aller Härte.“ Ein Interview mit dem Schriftsteller Uwe Timm. In: TAZ Nr. 7156. 13.09.2003

Dunker Axel: Die Anwesende Abwesenheit. Literatur im Schatten von Auschwitz. München (Wilhelm Fink Verlag) 2003

Hielscher Martin: Uwe Timm. München (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag) 2007

Marx  Friedhelm (Hrsg.): Erinnern, Vergessen, Erzählen. Beiträge zum Werk Uwe Timms. Göttingen (Wallstein Verlag) 2007