6 ECTS credits
160 h study time
Offer 1 with catalog number 1015304ANR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.
This course aims at familiarizing the beginning students with the literary and cultural-historical context of the German speaking countries, based on a selection of historical and more recent texts of different genres and published in different media. Geography, politics, history and culture are interconnected in the approach. Attention is paid to the different German speaking regions, their multilingual and multicultural history and society.
Chapters include medieval literature, the baroque period, the time of Goethe and Schiller, the "Gründungszeit", World War I and II, the BRD versus DDR, literature from Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, and the "Wende", with a critical awareness for dynamics of exchange, innovation and impact on later periods.
This course forms the basis for further courses in literary history and literary studies in German.
The course is taught in German. Students are intensively supervised and supported in their acquisition of the German language.
Students can download the two digital course books Kulturgeschichte des deutschen Sprachraums and Deutschsprachige Literatur seit 1945 via Canvas or they can buy a paper version at the VUB Standaard bookshop.
The novels by Brussig and Fürstenberg are also available at the VUB bookshop.
The students get an overview of the weekly course material at the beginning of each semester and have to read and prepare the indicated texts each week in advance.
Background information is given by the lecturer during class and the students are urged to actively participate in the discussion of the texts. Therefore, regular attendance of the classes – either on campus or online – is strongly encouraged. The active participation during class is taken into account as permanent evaluation for the final grade of this course.
Students can
- Identify connections and developments in the cultural and literary history.
- Express reading experiences in own words and critically reflect on the subjective impression of the texts.
- Apply the basic concepts of literary theory to the analysis of the texts.
- express oneself orally in correct German at a basic level.
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 80% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 20% of the final mark.
Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:
Both oral exams can be taken in the examination period of August. Only the failed exam has to be taken anew in August. Students have to pass both oral exams in order to pass the full course unit.
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Philosophy and Moral Sciences: default (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: German-French (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: French-Italian (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: French-Spanish (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Dutch-English (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Dutch-French (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Dutch-Italian (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Dutch-Spanish (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Dutch-German (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: Italian-German (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: German-Spanish (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: English-German (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: English-French (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: English-Italian (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Linguistics and Literary Studies: English-Spanish (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Applied Language Studies: Nederlands-Duits (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Applied Language Studies: Frans-Duits (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Applied Language Studies: Engels-Duits (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Applied Language Studies: Duits-Spaans (only offered in Dutch)
Preparatory Programme Master of Arts in Linguistics and Literary Studies: one language - TTK (only offered in Dutch)
Preparatory Programme Master of Arts in Linguistics and Literary Studies: one language (only offered in Dutch)
Preparatory Programme Master of Arts in Linguistics and Literary Studies: one language - after third lng (only offered in Dutch)