Universität Wien

100110 PS Proseminar: Modern German Literature: German Opera and Pathology (2014W)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 10 - Deutsche Philologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 09.10. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 16.10. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 23.10. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 30.10. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 06.11. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 13.11. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 20.11. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 27.11. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 04.12. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 11.12. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 18.12. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 08.01. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 15.01. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 22.01. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9
  • Thursday 29.01. 16:45 - 18:15 Seminarraum I Germanistik Hauptgebäude, 1.Zwischengeschoß, Stiege 7a über Stiege 9

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Related Fields: German Literature and Cultural Studies; Comparative Literature; Music; Theatre; Gender and Sexuality Studies

Description
During late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Austria, discourses concerning pathology and its relationship to the modern condition flourished. During this same period, opera composers experimented with the representation of pathology, channeling cultural tensions regarding gender, sexuality, race, class, and nationhood onto strange and oftentimes morbid figures on the stage. This course examines a number of these operas and explores their connection to discussions about disease and degeneracy, including sexology and psychoanalysis, and to the modernist aesthetics of Central Europe. Our goal will be to flesh out these works as both representative and constitutive of these discourses. What is it about the opera of this period that lends itself to representations of difference, illness, and excess? This course is conducted in English; no prior knowledge of music or opera is necessary.

Assessment and permitted materials

Assessment will be based upon the following:
Presence and active participation
Class presentation
Final paper

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Objectives:
Introduce opera as a cultural and political art form
Introduce the modernist aesthetics of Central Europe in their social and historical context
Compare literary, visual, dramatic, and theoretical texts to scientific, political, and social discourses of the time period
Examine constructions of pathology and illness, interrogating the relationship between social anxieties and the corporeal body
Discuss shifts in the perception of class, race, gender, and sexuality
Compare representation in opera to other art forms, including fine art, literature, and film

Examination topics

Requirements
Class will include both lecture and discussion. Students will be required to screen material outside of class, and to attend at least one live performance during the semester.

Reading list

Association in the course directory

(I 1231)

Last modified: Fr 06.10.2023 00:14