This seminar will focus on the rise of Realism and the wake of Romanticism in the German-language literature of the second half of the nineteenth century. Emphasis will be on the delineation of realist literary strategies, with a special focus on the genre of the novelle; on the political and historical complicities of the movement in terms both overt (e.g., the rise of nationalism, colonialism) and indirect (e.g., visual practices, gender politics); the relation to other cultural fields (e.g., historiography, education, museum culture); and the relation to other nineteenth-century realist movements in England and France. We will also be asking why Romanticism, the supposedly superceded movement of the earlier part of the century, continued to haunt Realism throughout the period of its cultural dominance. Although mostly focused on our primary texts, we will also consider various theoretical approaches to the problem of realism in general. Authors to be read include Büchner, Stifter, Storm, Keller, Meyer, Fontane, and Raabe: readings will be available in both German and English, and all discussion will be in English.

Eric Downing is Professor of Comparative Literature and Adjunct Professor of Classical Studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and will be the Spring 2007 Craig Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Department of German. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. His primary literatures are German, classical Greek, and Latin, and his research has included articles on classical literary theory, Greek drama, Roman elegy, and ancient-modern relations, as well as studies devoted to nineteenth-century literary realism and twentieth-century modernism.

Language of Instruction: English

Readings: available in both German and English