GERM 209
Green Germany: Literature, Film, and the Environment
Last Offered Spring 2020
Division I
This course is not offered in the current catalog or this is a previous listing for a current course.

Today, Germany is known as a world-wide leader in environmental policies, sustainable energy, and conservation efforts. This “green” culture, however, is not a new phenomenon, but has long constituted an essential part of German identity. In this course, we will trace Germany’s relationship with the environment over the course of 200 years of cultural production. Among other things, we will consider the Romantic fascination with the sublime powers of an uncontrollable wild nature, discuss the ecological underpinnings of Nazi ideology, analyze the effects of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl on German society, and read about the role recycling currently plays as a practice of integration for refugees. Including texts and films by Alina Bronsky, Ilija Trojanow, Ludwig Tieck, Christa Wolf, Rainer Maria Rilke, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, and Doris Dörrie. Taught in German.