Skip to main content

The German Novelle

Overview

  • Credit value: 15 credits at Level 5
  • Convenor: to be confirmed
  • Prerequisite: German 3
  • Assessment: a 2500-word essay (100%)

Module description

In this module we address a key form in German literature which has no direct equivalent elsewhere in Europe: the Novelle. This short narrative form differs sharply from the short story, because it presupposes a tightly controlled thematic and narrative structure and usually has a central ethical message. It has aptly been described as ‘a brief compass’.

We will examine the changing significance of this form in the history of German, Austrian and Swiss literature, and focus on several of the best known writers of Novellen in German, including:

  • Goethe
  • Eichendorff
  • de la Motte Fouqué
  • Stifter
  • Keller
  • Storm
  • Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
  • Lou Andreas-Salome
  • Thomas Mann.

All the texts chosen are short but very rich in content. They can therefore easily be read in advance of the sessions and studied in depth. You should read the texts in German, as we will study them in narrative and linguistic detail.