Pop and Literature After 1968
GRST 362
Spring 2015 not offered
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This course will explore a type of postwar German literature called Popliteratur. Drawing on the Beat poets, pop art, popular culture, and, in particular, American and British underground music and D. J. culture, Popliteratur first emerged in the wake of the antiauthoritarian revolts of 1968 and had its most productive decade in the 1990s. More elusive than any determinate genres, Popliteratur encompasses a variety of expressive forms, ranging from the collage to the novel. Texts classified as Popliteratur experiment with inherited literary forms; embrace new media; undermine the value hierarchy between high and low cultures; are often concerned with an ecstatically experienced present rather than the past; affirm a consumerist and brand-aware life-style; are obsessed with quoting, collecting, cataloging, and archiving knowledge of music, fashion, films (and related popular cultural codes); incorporate deconstructive theories of gender and subjectivity; and, finally, undermine the predominant aesthetic, moral, and political values represented by the media and education establishment.
Our two main interests in this seminar will be (1) to situate Popliteratur in its relevant historical, cultural, and political contexts and thus to better understand German culture and society after the decisive generational caesura of 1968; (2) to analyze the immanent poetics of Popliteratur: According to what principles is a pop-literary text constructed and what is its mode of signification. In other words, how does it remain meaningful as literature even as established norms of literary form are rejected? |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA GRST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (GRST-MN)(GRST) |
Major Readings:
Hubert Fichte, DIE PALETTE (ISBN-13: 978-3596158539)
Rainald Goetz, RAVE (ISBN-13: 978-3518397374)
Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre: SOLOALBUM (ISBN-13: 978-3462034967)
Thomas Meinecke, TOMBOY (ISBN-13: 978-3518396186)
Christian Kracht, FASERLAND (ISBN-13: 978-3423129824)
Kathrin Röggla, IRRES WETTER (ISBN-13: 978-3596151318)
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Examinations and Assignments:
Four essays (with rewrites), one final paper (8-9 pages). |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
All readings and discussions in German.
This course applies to the Literature concentration for the German Studies major. |
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