Weimar Culture: German Modernity and Its Discontents

Catalog description

The years of the Weimar Republic were the hothouse of German cultural modernity. In a situation of crisis, the time between the end of World War I and the rise to power of National Socialism sees the emergence of new media as radio and film, an ever-accelerating urban life, changing social & gender roles, political radicalisms, as well as different artistic avantgarde movements. Weimar literature breaks from tradition, developing innovative forms to represent this new culture. At the same time, a flourishing journalistic landscape brings about new modes of cultural critique, essayistic theories of modernity, and figures such as the flaneur who reads the modern cityscape. Following a brief introduction to the historical background, we will read two novels of the period, two plays, & a series of selected poems, accompanied by journalistic pieces & representative examples of contemporary literary criticism.