Knowledge of German, Swiss and Austrian literary history between 1700 and 1900 Stylistic and rhetorical analysis skills of novel and literary texts in general Correlation skills between fictional events and characters and social current affairs Knowledge of literary theories of interpretation Critical skills (thematic criticism, reader response criticism, formalism)

Literature and rights. The course builds on the Law and Literature field of study, an interdisciplinary field that has grown since the 1960s and 1970s and uses both legal studies and literary studies to explore the boundaries and shared terrain of both subjects. Its origins are mostly in America, but a separate field of European law and literary studies has also developed, drawing on poststructuralist and postmodern traditions. Some of the key debates – such as rhetoric versus reason – are ancient philosophical debates. The course will focus above all on the aspect of rhetoric in a philosophical and aesthetic sense: the so-called Law in literature, in fact ("law in literature") deals with the more literal understanding of the figures of legislators or lawyers and of legal concepts in popular narrative and cultured; the relationship between interpretation of literary texts, aesthetics of the texts and message; law and justice in a utopian and dystopian sense; crime, punishment and racial justice and the romantic conception of maternal and paternal and of the possibility of a "secure life". The course will therefore introduce students to the concepts of law, legality and justice and the relationship with the depiction of the judicial system and the categories of justice in German literature with three temporal focuses: the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Wende between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and the Weimar period. Particular attention will be paid to works that stage real and figurative crimes and judicial trials, analyzing how these works can play or have played a catalyzing function of opinions for the social issues considered most urgent and how a higher aesthetic value of the texts develops and intensify the sense of social criticism of the texts.

Students will have the ability to collect and interpret data relating to the course topics.

They will be able to use advanced critical texts for study and read texts on historical-cultural topics with sufficient agility.

They will also be able to understand aesthetically complex texts.

Students will be able to express independent analyzes and judgments supported by correct historical, theoretical and cultural reflections and to connect the critical judgment on artistic works to their socio-cultural value.

Students will be able to communicate information, judgments and ideas to interlocutors, both specialists and non-specialists, with sufficient language skills.

They will also acquire sufficient skills in technical language (cultural, literary, socio-political) to clearly structure an illustrative speech on the specific topic (education and political and socio-anthropological development).

Students will be able to search for the information necessary for the critical analysis of the period covered, and then select the information most useful for enriching their knowledge.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Teaching

The teaching of the course will partly use (especially at the beginning) frontal lessons in the classroom alternated (at a later stage) with moments of direct experimentation by the students obtained through the production of written, oral and multimedia papers to be discussed in classroom. The teaching and learning process is dynamic and requires the active participation of students. (Active Learning)

Innovative teaching methods

Flipped learning

Active learning 

Role play 

Multimedia learning 

Course books

F. Schiller, Criminale per infamia 

Heinrich von Kleist, Michael Kohlhaas, La brocca spezzata 

J. von Eichendorff, Das Schloss Dürande (q.ed)

Th. Fontane, Sotto il pero (Sellerio)

A. Zweig, La questione del sergente Grischa (q.ed)

J. Wassermann, Il caso Mauritius (Newton Compton)

L. Frank, L’origine del male (Del Vecchio Editore); Il ritorno di Michael (Del Vecchio Editore)

F. Kafka, Il processo (q.ed)

R. Huch, Il caso Deruga (L'Orma)

J. Roth, Il peso falso (Adelphi)

A. Doeblin, Le due amiche e il loro delitto (q.ed)

F. Glauser, Il sergente Studer (Schlumpf Erwin Mord), Il Cinese (Sellerio)

F. Werfel, Il colpevole non è l’assassino, ma la vittima (TEA)

Un adeguato compendio di testi brevi e di testi teorico-critici verrà inoltre fornito a lezione. Tra i testi più importanti sull’argomento si segnalano:

F. Schiller, Die Schaubühne als eine moralische Anstalt betrachtet.

Theodore Ziolkowski, The Mirror of Justice: Literary Reflections of Legal Crises

F. Ost, Reconter la loi, 2001

Sansone A., 2001, Diritto e letteratura. Un’introduzione generale, Milano, Giuffrè

Belloli P.G., 2001, Fenomenologia della colpa. Freud, Heidegger, Dostoevskij, Milano, Giuffr

Basi storico-culturali si ricavano dai testi:

K. Petersen, Literatur und Justiz in der Weimarer Republik, Metzler

H. Mueller-Dietz, Recht und Kriminalität in literarischen Spiegelungen

Th. Rasehorn, Justizkritik in der weimarer Republik, das Beispiel der Zeitschrift

Assessment

Students will read the texts commented on in class (excerpts or short complete texts) taken from the list. They will also choose two "long" texts/authors to be treated in more depth through a comparative essay to be submitted at the end of the course. The choice will be made during the course in agreement with the teacher. In the final exam they will comment on the texts covered in class, demonstrating that they have read them in full, integrating and analyzing the texts both from a historical-literary and aesthetic point of view, and with an analysis of cultural elements relating to law and justice.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Assessment

In the final exam they will comment on the texts covered in class, demonstrating that they have read them in full, integrating and analyzing the texts both from a historical-literary and aesthetic point of view, and with an analysis of cultural elements relating to law and justice.

For their preparation to be evaluated as sufficient, students will have to demonstrate that they have read entirely - and understood - both the theoretical texts and the obligatory novels and those they have chosen and that they know how to place the authors in their historical-literary context. Specifically, they will be able to combine the concepts of justice, social responsibility, rights, law and rhetoric with situations described in novel texts. They will demonstrate that they can place the texts in the most appropriate literary genres (historical, legal, Detektivroman)

For their preparation to be evaluated as good, students will have to demonstrate that they have read entirely - and understood - both the theoretical texts and the novels, that they know how to place the authors in their historical-literary context, and that they can connect theoretical and historical knowledge - literary studies with critical judgment on texts. Specifically, they will be able to combine the concepts of justice, social responsibility, jurisprudence and rhetoric with situations described in novel texts. They will demonstrate that they can place the texts in the most appropriate literary genres (historical, legal, Detektivroman)

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.