160362 KO Comparative Literature and "histoire des mentalités":"Frauenromane"in the Age of Bismarck a.Victoria (2009S)

Particular attention will be devoted to the use of Biblical and literary references in the two novels in question. A good introduction to theory and methods can be found in Peter Dinzelbacher (Hg.), Europäische Mentalitätsgeschichte, Kröner 2008. The Reclam edition of Effi Briest (1996) has useful notes by Walter Scharfaschick. The best preparation for reading a Prussian author is to be found in Thomas Mann's essay, written in a period of nationalist frenzy but unsurpassable in its psychological penetration, Friedrich und die große Koalition. Participants should make a point of obtaining the Penguin Classics edition of Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1998/2003), not only because of its bibliography, its notes by Tim Dolin and its introduction by Margaret R. Higonnet, but also because it offers probably the best text of a novel which Hardy modified, sometimes considerably, from one edition to another.