GERM 311 Freud and Kafka (Same as Comparative Literature 311) (Not offered 2006-2007; to be offered 2007-2008)
The life and work of Sigmund Freud and Franz Kafka enact some of the tensions that drove the twentieth century: empire vs. national identity, cultural cosmopolitanism vs. ethnic specificity, tradition vs. modernity, social/communal vs.
psychological/individual reality. In some ways these two Jewish men, living in
two imperial cities on the brink of collapse, both writing in German, are remarkably similar. Both struggle with fathers and father figures, both experience deep
ambivalence about the dominant discourse of their spheres, both ultimately
create a radically new intellectual vocabulary that becomes embedded in the
twentieth-century mind. But while Freud strove constantly for public success
within established medical and scientific circles, Kafka wrote under cover of
night and circulated his work only among a few close friends. Freud's German
language is linked to a long tradition of assimilation to the dominant culture;
Kafka's, on the other hand, bespeaks a linguistic marginality matching his ethnic
status. This course will examine prominent and less prominent texts of both figures with an eye toward gaining a better understanding of their sociohistorical,
cultural, psychological, and intellectual-historical significance. We will also explore Freud's and Kafka's influence on the intellectual and popular culture of
subsequent generations. Readings in English.
Format: seminar. Requirements: several brief response papers or postings, two
shorter papers, one longer paper or project.
Prerequisites: One 100- or 200-level literature course. No enrollment limit (expected: 20).