Germ 622: und Recht

Fall 2015 Department of German and Scandinavian University of Oregon

M 3:30–6:20 106 FR

Instructor: Prof. Sonja Boos Email: [email protected] Office: 412 Friendly Phone: 6 4083

Office hours: T/Th 12:45–1:45 and by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION From its inception, ancient tragedy sanctioned the legitimacy of the legal procedures of Greek democracy and served as a source of knowledge about those procedures for a theatergoing public. Taking their place in a tradition in which the practice of literature has acted as a model and testing ground for the ideal of a democratic judiciary, various modern prose works and by authors such as Kleist, Brecht, Müller, and Weiss likewise enact the institution or revision of a given legal system. This course will trace the structural and conceptual affinities (and tensions) between law and drama by giving in-depth consideration to ideas and paradigms that pertain to both disciplines. We will then try to answer the question if a work of literature can in any sense be conceived to be inaugurating or establishing a new law.

COURSE LANGUAGE Written assignments and seminar discussions will be conducted in German.

REQUIRED BOOKS (available at Duck Store) 1. Gotthold E. Lessing, Nathan der Weise (Reclam) 2. , Der zerbrochene Krug (Reclam) 3. , Die Maßnahme. Zwei Fassungen (Suhrkamp) 4. Peter Weiss, Die Ermittlung (Suhrkamp) 5. Heiner Müller, Mauser (Rotbuch) 6. , Der Prozess (Fischer)

NOTE: It is essential that you purchase these exact editions of the texts. You need to cite in your papers and in class the same pages or lines as everyone else; moreover, some of these edi- tions have extra materials that I will assign that are not included in other versions of the text.

GRADE BREAKDOWN Participation in seminar 15% In class presentation 15% Research paper – Abstract 15% Research paper – Final 55%

COURSE REQUIREMENTS 1. Reading assignments You are expected to prepare the assigned reading before the class in which it is discussed: take notes, formulate questions that don’t have an obvious answer and upon which you can bring

2 our readings to bear, and bring all of your questions and comments back into the classroom with you—in writing.

2. Discussion Your active and substantial participation each week is crucial for the success of this seminar. In addition to contributing comments and questions to the discussions, I also expect you to be collaborating with the other seminar participants to foster a productive conversation. This often requires us all to be open-minded, humane, and encouraging of one another. Knowing how to listen is as valuable as learning how to argue. It is okay to share incompletely articulated ideas, since uncertainty and skepticism are indispensible tools for attaining new insight and reaching critical breakthroughs. So be generous and patient with yourself and your colleagues.

Excellent class participation entails the following characteristics: precise and original contribu- tions, ability to tie observations to those of other discussants and to course materials, as well as a continuous endeavor to identify and analyze the conceptual implications of the readings.

3. Presentations Each student is required to give one presentation during the course of the term. These presen- tations will provide an introduction to the assigned reading while also expanding and challeng- ing our understanding of it. You are required to present a one-page written outline/synopsis at the time of the presentation. This will make it easier for the other participants to follow your argument. Don’t forget to cite your sources.

4. Research papers Papers are research-based and tend to be formal (i.e. carefully documented with honest, sub- stantive footnotes) and centered on a single significant idea or thesis that relates to the materi- als and problems discussed in class. That being said, you may draw upon materials from the classes, but the idea is for you to identify an original topic on which you want to gain addition- al knowledge and expertise. Papers of at least 14 pages must be double-spaced, and will use a 12-point font (Times New Roman or similar).

I will gladly help you identify and develop an original paper topic that allows you to demon- strate your research skills as well as your understanding of the course theme. Please start thinking about your final essay early and continue to shape the project through the semester. You are required to submit an abstract of your paper by the end of the term so I can give you feedback on it before you submit a final version.

3 ADDITIONAL GROUND RULES 1. Academic Honesty—Avoiding Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct. The University Stu- dent Conduct Code (available at conduct.uoregon.edu) defines academic misconduct. Students are prohibited from committing or attempting to commit any act that constitutes academic misconduct. By way of example, students should not give or receive (or attempt to give or re- ceive) unauthorized help on assignments or examinations without express permission from the instructor. Students should properly acknowledge and document all sources of information (e.g. quotations, paraphrases, ideas) and use only the sources and resources authorized by the instructor. If there is any question about whether an act constitutes academic misconduct, it is the students’ obligation to clarify the question with the instructor before committing or at- tempting to commit the act. Additional information about a common form of academic miscon- duct, plagiarism, is available at www.libweb.uoregon.edu/guides/plagiarism/students.

2. Attendance Three hours per week is a very short amount of time to discuss and digest the sometimes rather difficult materials covered in this seminar. Attendance of class is therefore mandatory. After two absences, the participation grade is reduced by 10% for each additional absence. More than two absences without a documented and acceptable reason will fail the course. The professor must be notified in advance of all absences, which, however, does not mean they are acceptable.

COURSE SCHEDULE

Class 1 (09/28) Einführung

Class 2 (10/05) Aischylos, Die Eumeniden

Class 3 (10/12) Gotthold E. Lessing, Nathan der Weise

Class 4 (10/19) Heinrich von Kleist, Der zerbrochene Krug

Class 5 (10/26) Bertolt Brecht, Die Maßnahme

Class 6 (11/02) Heiner Müller, Mauser

Class 7 (11/09) Franz Kafka, Der Prozess

Class 8 (11/16) Peter Weiss, Die Ermittlung

Class 9 (11/23) Milo Rau, Die Moskauer Prozesse

Class 10 (11/30) Abschlussdiskussion

Abstracts due on 11/30 Final papers due on 12/13

4 BIBLIOGRAPHY (work-in-progress)

Asman, Carrie L., “Theater and Agon/Agon and Theater: Walter Benjamin and Rang,” MLN, 107, 3, German Issue (1992), 606-624 Boos, Sonja, Speaking the Unspeakable in Postwar Germany. Toward a Public Discourse on the Holocaust (Cornell UP, 2015) Bossart, Rolf, ed., Die Enthüllung des Realen. Milo Rau und das International Institute of Political Murder (Theater der Zeit 2013) Calhoon, Kenneth, Affecting Grace: Theatre, Subject, and the Shakespearean Paradox in from Lessing to Kleist (U of Toronto P, c2013) Canaris, Johanna, Mythos Tragödie. Zur Aktualität und Geschichte einer theatralen Wir- kungsweise (Transcript 2012) Corngold, Stanley, Lambent Traces: Franz Kafka (Princeton UP, 2004) Fore, Devin, Realism after Modernism. The Rehumanization of Art and Literature (Columbia UP, 2012) Horsman, Yasco, Theaters of Justice: Judging, Staging, and Working Through in Arendt, Brecht, and Delbo (Stanford UP, 2010) Huizinga, Johan, Homo ludens. A Study of the Play Element in Culture (Beacon 1950) Kilcher, Andreas, et al., “Fechtschulen und phantastische Gärten”: Recht und Literatur (Verlag der Autoren 2013) Schößler, Franziska, Einführung in Dramenanalyse (Metzler 2012) Simons, Oliver, “Theater of Revolution and the Law of Genre—Bertolt Brecht’s The Measures Taken,” The Germanic Review, 84, 4 (2009), 327-352. Lehmann, Hans-Thies, Das postdramatische Theater (Verlag d. Autoren, 1999) Wellbery, David E., “Kleist's The Broken Jug: The Play of Sexual Difference," Reading After Foucault: Institutions, Disciplines, and Technologies of the Self in Germany, 1750-1830, ed. Robert Scott Leventhal (Wayne State UP, 1994) Wesel, Uwe, Geschichte des Rechts. Von den Frühformen bis zur Gegenwart (C.H. Beck c2001) Ziolkowski, Theodore, The Mirror of Justice: Literary Reflections of Legal Crises (Princeton UP 1997)

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