GRM1065 - Introduction to German Literature and Film

MQF Level

Duration and Credits

Semester 2

4 ECTS

Mode of Study

Part-Time Day

This study-unit explores the interplay between German-language literature and its film adaptations, spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. Open both to students of German and of all faculties as well as the general public, it is designed to introduce important German-language texts and their cinematic interpretations.

Through close reading and analysis of selected excerpts, the study-unit will examine how German literary works have been adapted for the screen, exploring questions of fidelity, interpretation, and creative transformation. In parallel, the study-unit will provide foundational tools for analyzing literary texts and films as two different types of media, for example narrative structure, visual composition, and thematic development.

Moreover, the study of text and film adaptations will serve as a lens to discuss important phases in German history, for instance the Golden Twenties, the aftermath of World War II, GDR history and contemporary topics such as globalization, migration and digitalization.

By bridging literature and cinema, this study-unit fosters a deeper understanding of how cultural, historical and artistic narratives intersect and evolve across media, offering insights into developments of German-language culture over time.

No knowledge of German is required.

Main Reading List

Sch枚nfeld, Christiane: The history of German Literature on Film. Bloomsbury 2023.
Hayward, Susan: Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge 2023.
Sch枚nfeld, Christiane/Rasche, Hermann: Processes of transposition: German literature and film. Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi 2007.
Donahue, William Collins: Bernhard Schlink鈥檚鈥楴azi鈥� novels and their films. New York: Palgrave MacMillan 2010.
Wolf, Franziska: Precarity in Burhan Qurbani鈥檚鈥楤erlin Alexanderplatz鈥� (2020). The German quarterly 2024, Vol. 97 (1), p. 59-74.
Griggs, Yvonne: The Bloomsbury Introduction to Adaptation Studies: Adapting the Canon in Film, TV and Popular Culture. Bloomsbury 2016.

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Please check your eligibility to join this short course and time-tabling details with the Faculty of Arts. The short course will only be delivered subject to a minimum number of applications being received.

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Study-unit Aims

Familiarize students with significant German literary works and their film adaptations of the 20th and 21st centuries;
Provide tools to critically examine the relationship between literature and film;
Explore German history and cultural developments of the 20th and 21st century;
Connect literary and cinematic studies to demonstrate the development of German-language fiction and its artistic and cultural significance.

Learning Outcomes: Knowledge and Understanding

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

Name German-language literary works of the 20th and 21st centuries;
Identify the cultural and historical contexts reflected in literary works and their adaptations;
Discuss the theoretical and practical challenges of adapting literature to film.

Learning Outcomes: Skills

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

Analyze both literary texts and films;
Compare narrative structures and visual compositions in literature and their screenplay adaptations;
Use analytical tools to critically engage with texts and their media transpositions;
Engage in discussions about the interplay between literature and film and their broader socio-cultural implications;
Use relevant academic sources to deepen the analysis of adaptations;
Demonstrate an understanding of German history and culture as reflected in literature and cinema.

Non EU Applicants:

EUR260

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