Weimar Culture
Laboratory of Modernity
Washington University
German 4103, Spring 1997
Lutz Koepnick
Course Description
The seminar explores a variety of cultural responses to processes of social and technological modernization during the Weimar period. Special attention will be given to the impact of World War I on the vocabulary of Weimar writers, to the heated debates about mass culture and so-called Americanization, to the role of the "new woman" and to conflicting constructions of gender identity, to the challenges of modern visual culture and Bauhaus architecture, to different visions of future communities, and to the cultural agendas of the so-called conservative revolution and to the rise of fascism. Writers, artists, filmmakers and intellectuals discussed include--among others--Franz Kafka, Ernst Jünger, Hermann Hesse, Irmgard Keun, Fritz Lang, Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Gropius, Bertolt Brecht, Thomas Mann, and Leni Riefenstahl. Discussion, readings, and papers in German. Some readings in English.
Papers and Assignments
1. Presentations: Participiants will be asked to provide one in-class presentation on selected material.
2. Seminar Papers: Participants will be asked to compose 6 two page essays.Required Texts
Hesse, Hermann. Der Steppenwolf
Kafka, Franz. In der Strafkolonie
Keun, Irmgard. Das kunstseidene Mädchen
Kracauer, Siegfried. Das Ornament der Masse
Mann, Thomas. Mario und der Zauberer
Toller, Ernst. Masse MenschA collection of readings (marked "[Rd.]" in the syllabus) will be available in a reader to be purchased in the German Department.
Screenings
Screening sessions take place on Mondays, 5pm, in Ridgley 219.
All films are also on two-hour reserve in Olin Library.2/10 Karl Grune, Die Straße (1923)
3/17 Fritz Lang, Metropolis (1927)
4/14 Slatan Dudov, Kuhle Wampe (1932)
4/21 Leni Riefenstahl, Das blaue Licht (1932)Grade Breakdown
Oral participation: 30%
In-Class Presentation: 20%
Written Work: 50%Seminar Sessions
Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:30-4:00 pmOffice Hours
Ridgley 422
Tu 4:15-5:30 & Th 1:15 - 2:15Telephone / Email
314.935.4007
lkoep@artsci.wustl.edu
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week One
Introduction
1/14
Introduction1/16
Stephen Lamb & Anthony Phelan, "Weimar Culture: The Birth of Modernism" [Rd.]
Detlev Peukert, "Krisenjahre der Klassischen Moderne" [Rd.]
Week Two
War, Revolution, and Their Aftermath / 1
1/21
Franz Kafka, In der Strafkolonie1/23
Ernst Toller, Masse Mensch I
"Spartacus Manifesto" (1918) [Rd.]
Week Three
War, Revolution, and Their Aftermath / 2
1/28
Ernst Toller, Masse Mensch II
Rosa Luxemburg, "Founding Manifesto of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD)" [Rd.]1/30
Ernst Jünger, Der Kampf als inneres Erlebnis (sel.) [Rd.]
Ernst Simmel, "War Neuroses and 'Psychic Trauma'" [Rd.]
Week Four
The Debates Around Mass Culture: Democratization or Bastardization? / 1
2/4
Adolf Behne, "Die Stellung des Publikums zur modernen deutschen Literatur" [Rd.]
"Umfrage: Warum schreiben Sie keine Filme" [Rd.]
M. M. Gehrke / Rudolf Arnheim, "Das Ende der privaten Sphäre" [Rd.]2/6
Johannes Molzahn, "Nicht mehr lesen! Sehen!" [Rd.]
Siegfried Kracauer, "Kaliko-Welt"
---, "Die kleinen Ladenmädchen gehen ins Kino"
Week Five
The Debates Around Mass Culture: Democratization or Bastardization? / 2
2/11
Karl Grune, Die Straße I
Siegfried Kracauer, "Kult der Zerstreuung"2/13
Karl Grune, Die Straße II
Week Six
"Americanism"
2/18
Rudolf Kayser, "Amerikanismus" [Rd.]
Stefan Zweig, "Die Monotonisierung der Welt" [Rd.]
Friedrich Sieburg, "Anbetung von Fahrstühlen" [Rd.]2/20
Selected drawings by George Grosz, Karl Hubbuch, and Paul Gangolf [Rd.]
Adolf Halfeld, "Amerika und die neue Sachlichkeit" [Rd.]
Otto Alfred Palitzsch, "Die Eroberung von Berlin" [Rd.]
Felix Stössinger, "Die Anglisierung Deutschlands" [Rd.]
Week Seven
Modern Culture and Its Discontents: Expectations and Disappointments / 1
2/25
Hermann Hesse, Der Steppenwolf I2/27
Hermann Hesse, Der Steppenwolf II
Week Eight
Modern Culture and Its Discontents: Expectations and Disappointments / 2
3/11
Hermann Hesse, Der Steppenwolf III3/13
Hermann Hesse, Der Steppenwolf IV
Week Nine
Modern Culture and Its Discontents: Expectations and Disappointments/ 3
3/18
Fritz Lang, Metropolis I
Andreas Huyssen, "The Vamp and the Machine" [Rd.]3/20
Fritz Lang, Metropolis II
R. L. Rutsky, "Metropolis, Nazism, and Modernism" [Rd.]
Week Ten
Modern Culture and Its Discontents: Expectations and Disappointments / 4
3/25
Gina Kraus, "Die Frau in der modernen Literatur" [Rd.]
Max Brod, "Die Frau und die neue Sachlichkeit" [Rd.]
Alfred Döblin, "Das Ewig-Weibliche meldet sich" [Rd.]
Alice Rühle-Gerstel, "Zurück zur guten alten Zeit?" [Rd.]
Elsa Herrmann, "This is the New Woman" [Rd.]3/27
Irmgard Keun, Das kunstseidene Mädchen I
Week Eleven
Modern Culture and Its Discontents: Expectations and Disappointments/ 5
4/1
Irmgard Keun, Das kunstseidene Mädchen II4/3
Irmgard Keun, Das kunstseidene Mädchen III
Week Twelve
Building a New Society: Architectural Cures and Domestic Anxieties
4/8
Bruno Taut, "A Program for Architecture (1918)" [Rd.]
Walter Gropius, "Program of the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar (1919)" [Rd.]
Adolf Behne, "Funktion und Form" [Rd.]4/10
Hannes Meyer, "Die Neue Welt" [Rd.]
Walter Gropius, "Geistige und technische Voraussetzungen der neuen Baukunst" [Rd.]
Bruno Taut, "Ästhetik der Architektur" [Rd.]
Bruno Taut, "The New Dwelling: The Woman as Creator" [Rd.]
Grete Lihotzky, "Rationalization in the Household" [Rd.]
Week Thirteen
Contested Communities
4/15
Thomas Mann, Mario und der Zauberer4/17
Slatan Dudov and Bertolt Brecht, Kuhle Wampe
Marc Silberman, "The Rhetoric of the Image" [Rd.]
Week Fourteen
Fatal Attractions: Conservative Revolution and Fascist Modernism
4/22
Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, "Das dritte Reich" [Rd.]
Heinz Henkel, "Geburt einer neuen Kultur" [Rd.]
Alfred Rosenberg, "Kultur und Macht" [Rd.]
Ernst Jünger, Der Arbeiter (sel.) [Rd.]
Walter Benjamin, "Theories of German Fascism" [Rd.]4/24
Leni Riefenstahl, Das blaue Licht
Eric Rentschler, "A Legend of Modern Times: The Blue Light" [Rd.]