Course: War in Czech and German Poetry

« Back
Course title War in Czech and German Poetry
Course code KGER/VP
Organizational form of instruction Seminary
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study 2
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 3
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Hrdličková Jana, doc. Mgr. Ph.D.
Course content
Main subjects of the course 1. Introduction, Choice of Papers, Was ist Krieg. Zur Grundlegung einer Kulturgeschichte des Kriegs by B. Hüppauf 2. The Thirty Years' War and its extensions to 20th century poetry ("The New, Our Thirty Years' War"; Raymond Aron) Andreas Gryphius: "Tränen des Vaterlandes, Anno 1636" as a typical Baroque sonnet Excursion I: Johannes R. Becher: "Tränen des Vaterlandes. Anno 1937 I and II" (Moscow exile; copying of the form, critique of tradition) Excursion II: Ingeborg Bachmann: "Der Vogel" (1956, Austria) 3. Ludwig Uhland: "Der gute Kamerad" (1809), Fráňa Šrámek: "1866" and "Raport" (1906) 4. Expressionist's anticipation of world conflict: Georg Heym: "Der Krieg I" (1911; Umbra vitae 1912) 5. World War I: Georg Trakl: "Grodek" (1914); Bertolt Brecht: "Legende vom toten Soldaten" (1917) 6. Munich. Jaroslav Seifert: "Turn off the lights"/"Zhasněte světla" (1938) and translation of the poem into German (Richard Pietraß); František Halas: The Torso of Hope/Torzo naděje (1938; "Zpěv úzkosti"), Vladimír Holan: Září 1938/September 1938 or Vítězslav Nezval: Historical Image/Historický obraz (Volume 1) 7. Anticipation of World War II in the form of a parody of Goethe's song "Mignon" (Wilhelm Meister): deconstruction of the myth of Italy Erich Mühsam: "Mignon 1925"; Erich Kästner: "Kennst Du das Land, wo die Kanonen blühn" (1927) Excursion: John Heartfiled: "Nach Zehn Jahren: Väter und Söhne 1924" 8. World War II in Czech poetry: František Hrubín: The Night of Job/ Jobova noc (1945); Lidice: Karel Šiktanc: "Heinovské noci" (1962); Miroslav Holub: The So-Called Heart/ Tak zvané srdce (1963): "District Head of the NSDAP"/ "Okrskový vedoucí NSDAP"; Jaroslav Seifert: The Cycle of "The Bombing of the City of Kralup"/ "Bombardování města Kralup" (Being a Poet/Býti básníkem, 1983) 9. World War II in German poetry: Hans Egon Holthusen: Sonnet "Es war mein Blut", Albrecht Haushofer: "Schuld" (Moabiter Sonette, 1946) 10. Hiroshima. František Hrubín: Hirošima (1948); Marie Luise Kaschnitz: "Hiroshima" (Neue Gedichte, 1957) 11. Shoah in German-language poetry: Nelly Sachs: "O die Schornsteine" (1947); Paul Celan: "Todesfuge" (1948). Shoah in Kainar's poem "Such Love"/ "Taková láska" (Czech Dream/ Český sen 1953): song stanza (folk poetry, role of diminutives) 12. After the war, a new war? Austrian author Ingeborg Bachmann and her poem "Alle Tage" (1952). Excursion: Bachmann parody "Herbstmanöver" (1952) 13. Dada, "Konkrete Poesie", protest song: Hugo Ball: "Totentanz 1916"; Ernst Jandl: so-called Sprechgedicht "schtzngrm" (1957); Günter Grass: "In Ohnmacht gefallen" (Ausgefragt, 1967: Vietnam); Jiří Suchý/ Jiří Šlitr: "Oh, I was still alive"/ "Jó, to jsem ještě žil" (1969) contra "Tulip"/"Tulipán"; Karel Kryl: "King and Clown"/"Král a klaun" (1969); Josef Kainar "Bombing Blues"/"Bombardovací blues" ("My Blues"/Moje blues, 1966: Kainar's illustrations); Radůza: "They recruit boys"/"Verbují chlapce" (2018) 14. Summary, outlook

Learning activities and teaching methods
unspecified, unspecified, unspecified
Learning outcomes
Inter arma silent Musae - or just the opposite? Also the lyric, which by its designation recalls lyre-accompanied songs and thus borders on music, is not silent and is often even the literary genre that tries to cognitively grasp the war and the associated suffering first. The seminar will proceed chronologically and take into account wellknown and lessknown lyrical works, especially more recent German-language and Czech literature. It will focus on the war in its various nuances (lamentation of its cruelty, injustice, and inhumanity, relativization or deconstruction of traditionalized values, affliction of its essence, description of battles and civilian life, belief in overcoming its heritage) and illuminate them depending on the form (sonnet, song stanza, free verse, cacophony). It will also address the socio-critical appeal of individual works and the identification of possible (inter)cultural interfaces between them.
Students - are acquainted with the individual stages of the development of German-language and Czech lyrics about the war - can identify the characters of this lyric - are able to interpret selected works with regard to social development
Prerequisites
Good knowledge of German Orientation in literary terminology

Assessment methods and criteria
unspecified
Active participation in seminars, preparation and presentation of a paper, ppt presentation
Recommended literature
  • Baumgart, R. Unmenschlichkeit beschreiben. In: Baumgart, R.: Deutsche Literatur der Gegenwart. München, 1995.
  • Hüppauf, B. Was ist Krieg? Zur Grundlegung einer Kulturgeschichte desKriegs. Bielefeld: transcript, 2013.
  • Solibakke, K. I. Room for conflict. War and Language in Ingeborg Bachmann´s Literature. In: Höller, H., Pöcheim, H., Solibakke, K. I. (ed.): Ingeborg Bachmann. Schreiben gegen den Krieg. Wien, 2008.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester