Post ASKbwCX2KrUXj0FcHY by MaxaufderRax@literatur.social
(DIR) More posts by MaxaufderRax@literatur.social
(DIR) Post #ASKafIQ95VEr6zP2MS by CitizenWald@historians.social
2023-02-04T09:06:39Z
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@MaxaufderRax Did you study German literature? What did that entail?
(DIR) Post #ASKbwCX2KrUXj0FcHY by MaxaufderRax@literatur.social
2023-02-04T09:20:53Z
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@CitizenWald Oh yes. I started with Modern German Literary History (from 1401), but ended up with Comparative European Literary Studies with a cultural and media studies twist. My doctoral supervisor was a Rilke and Kafka specialist - habilitated on the "novel of the Goethe period" - perhaps known today as an explorer of the cultural history of the dream.
(DIR) Post #ASKcl3i2tekt8CeQgi by CitizenWald@historians.social
2023-02-04T09:30:06Z
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@MaxaufderRax Ach, so vermutete ich. Das ist ja herrlich! When I was a student, we took (I was a history student, not a Germanist, but I basically took most of the courses required for Germanisten) the whole introductory sequence: 18. Jh. 19. Jh. 20. Jh., then moved on to specialized courses.I am very grateful that I got to know the "canon" from. e.g. Gryphius to Grass. I cannot imagine how I would understand German literature without that background knowledge
(DIR) Post #ASKdHjEK3knFAiKIdc by MaxaufderRax@literatur.social
2023-02-04T09:35:58Z
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@CitizenWald I remember that we had to work through a reading list of about 600 texts (novels, dramas, novellas, poetological writings, etc.) up to the "intermediate exam" (in the 4th - 5th semester). An object of terror. But I had fun with it. And discovered so much.
(DIR) Post #ASKf4OD961XQ7tXjqi by CitizenWald@historians.social
2023-02-04T09:56:00Z
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@MaxaufderRax 600?! Wow. Das ist ja recht viel! In meinem Fall: höchstens all German romantic novels (auch schon viel, aber nicht *so* viel)But yes! Such an exciting process of discovery.I can always return to those texts and see/learn something new(that is why the photo for my Mastodon profile is the old card catalogue Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach a.N. 😄 )Hierbei (aus meiner bescheidenen Sammlung):Ludwig Renn über Gedanke und Tat, Anno 1939
(DIR) Post #ASKg2SnPB9HHil9HO4 by MaxaufderRax@literatur.social
2023-02-04T10:06:50Z
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@CitizenWald Nevertheless, I think that the idea of a compulsory canon is more difficult to convey today than ever before. Because who determines what is part of a canon and why. The educated bourgeoisie needed this for self-assurance and also to exclude others (cf. Bourdieu etc.). What is "necessary"? The question alone is difficult. For how … can joy and interest in knowing, curiosity and a thirst for knowledge be _taught_?How do you open doors without immediately closing them again?
(DIR) Post #ASKhB3S8sA0RgJrbQO by CitizenWald@historians.social
2023-02-04T10:19:37Z
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@MaxaufderRax@literatur.social Totally agree. I raise the question in part for practical reasons (=how can one question the canon if one does not know the canon? --that is actually one of the most serious questions)Thus: of course no compulsory canon (or: "the canon" will change)It's just that a truly modern & contemporary #literature needs to acknowlege the weight of the past
(DIR) Post #ASKiKNFGkpBTcvqlHs by MaxaufderRax@literatur.social
2023-02-04T10:32:29Z
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@CitizenWald Sorry: this thought here still belongs to the one above … On the other hand - and I would like to underline this - #history and #humanities (also: literature and philosophy) today are an important antidote against so many stupidities, dangers and great horrors. They can expose meanness, question supposed certainties, point out commonalities and show alternatives, and so on and so forth. They discuss choices and values and ask what is human.
(DIR) Post #ASKjLV6P7xiuErnwrw by MaxaufderRax@literatur.social
2023-02-04T10:43:54Z
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@CitizenWald All very, very understandable questions. And some of them particularly pressing and urgent in the context of new curricula and upcoming cuts and … changed categories of importance.
(DIR) Post #ASLRytcqHSJdZaZZQW by CitizenWald@historians.social
2023-02-04T19:04:03Z
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@MaxaufderRax Totally agree, of course. I was using "canon" only as a sort of "shorthand."All I am saying is that a knowledge of the broad sweep of cultural history can be important: not just or even for its own sake, but also for the sake of perspective--and a true critical approach. Again: instructive to read figures such as Marx/Engels, Mehring in this regard.