GERM 307 The Dialectic of Enlightenment: German Drama 1765-1830 (Not offered 1998-99)

Many of the questions we still grapple with today originated in the tumultuous period from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. It was then that our notion of the primacy of the individual was born, as well as the economic system that has since asserted its almost exclusive dominance. The concept of the nuclear family and its strictly defined gender roles also has its roots in this period. But significant criticism of these ideas and institutions accompanied them from their inception. German drama from around 1765 to 1830 documents and enacts both the celebration and the subversion of Enlightenment ideals. We will explore the contradictions inherent to the emergence of the modern human subject via close readings of dramas by Lessing, Schiller, Kleist, and Büchner, as well as examination of theoretical texts of all sorts from the period. Conducted in German. Requirements: active participation, three 2- to 4-page papers, one 10- to 12-page paper.

NEWMAN