Course: Educational Activities of the Department of German Studies - Lectures and Seminars of Visiting Professors and Associate Professors 1

« Back
Course title Educational Activities of the Department of German Studies - Lectures and Seminars of Visiting Professors and Associate Professors 1
Course code KGN/92AVL
Organizational form of instruction Seminary
Level of course Doctoral
Year of study not specified
Semester Winter and summer
Number of ECTS credits 5
Language of instruction German
Status of course Compulsory-optional
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Fialová Ingeborg, prof. PhDr. Dr.
  • Krappmann Joerg, doc. Mgr. Ph.D.
Course content
Die literarische Utopie By means of detailed analyses of literary texts and their socio-political conditions in the lecture key phases in the changeable genre of utopia will be demonstrated. The main points are: utopian preliminary stages in antiquity, eschatological/chiliastic forms in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance as the first climax of utopia, the emergence of time utopia in the Enlightenment, utopian possibility thinking in modern times, dystopian doomsday scenarios in the 20th century, and feminist utopias/dystopias of contemporary literature.

Learning activities and teaching methods
Lecture
Learning outcomes
Die literarische Utopie The utopia as a literary genre originated in humanism. It was named after the work Utopia, in which in 1516 Thomas Morus contrasted the chaotic political situation of his time with a fictitious regulatory model, which was, of course, immediately problematized in the dialogical layout of the text. He, thus, determined the narrative basic structure of the (not only) literary utopia, which consists of the interplay of a critical analysis of the present and a design of constructive counter-images of historical reality. This structure has remained constant up to the present, despite all criticism of the utopians' escape from reality and despite all changes of the genre up to the dystopias of the 20th century (Semjatow, Orwell, Huxley). The aim of the lecture is on one hand to demonstrate processes of literary history by means of a functional history of utopia and on the other hand to reveal the experimental character and the anthropologically based possibility thinking of utopian writing. However, one may also wonder how utopia can be depicted in an "exciting" way when the as an ideal presented world no longer needs the commitment of a hero and his actions. So where do utopian novels get their "plot" (in Jurij Lotman's sense)?
Competence in interlacing literature and political science; Literary theory especially genre theory and narratology.
Prerequisites
The lecture is intended for all students of M.A. or Ph.D. studium.

Assessment methods and criteria
Mark, Oral exam

Completion requirements will be specified by individual lecturers. The series of lectures will be completed with an oral or written exam.
Recommended literature
  • V závislosti na zvolené epoše, tématu/Depending on the period, topic.
  • Affeldt-Schmidt, Birgit. (1991). Fortschrittsutopien. Vom Wandel der utopischen Literatur im 19. Jahrhundert. Stuttgart: Metzler.
  • Amberger/Möbius (Hrsg.). (2017). Auf Utopias Spuren. Wiesbaden: Springer.
  • Biesterfeld, Wolfgang. (1982). Die literarische Utopie. Stuttgart: Metzler.
  • Hahn/Hausmann (Hrsg.). (2012). Visionen des Urbanen. (Anti-)-utopische Stadtentwürfe in der französischen Wort- und Bidkunst. Heidelberg: Winrer.
  • Morris/Kross (eds.). (2009). The A to Z of Utopianism. Lanham/Toronto: Scarecrow.
  • Saage, Richard. (2006). Utopisches Denken im historischen Prozess. Berlin: LIT.
  • Schölderle, Thomas. (2012). Geschichte der Utopie. Köln: Böhlau.
  • Voßkamp, Wilhelm. (2018). Utopiegeschichte: Zusammenfassender Überblick. In: Ders.: Emblematik der Zukunft. Poetik und Geschichte literarischer Utopien von Thomas Morus bis Robert Musil, 77-91.. Berlin: de Gruyter.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German Literature (2019) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German Literature (2019) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -