A Fuchs: The Self and the Other in Contemporary German Travel

A Fuchs: The Self and the Other in Contemporary German Travel Narratives
Professor Anne Fuchs:
The Self and the Other in Contemporary German Travel Narratives Course Outline with Presentation Topics
Week 1 and 2: Introduction: Travel Writing: Themes and genres
Daniel Kehlmann, Die Vermessung der Welt
Essential reading: Daniel Kehlmann, Die Vermessung der Welt
Discussion topics:
1. Narrative Perspective
2. Explain the title with reference to the two main protagonists.
3. Find out some basic background information on Gauss and Alexander
Humboldt.
Presentation topics:
4. Discussing Mary Louise Pratt’s notion of the planetary consciousness,
analyse to what extent Humboldt represents this idea.
5. Compare and contrast Humboldt’s and Gauss’ respective understanding
of science.
6. Discuss Humboldt’s encounter with the other in this narrative.
7. Compare and contrast Humboldt’s journey through South America with
his later journey through Russia.
Essential secondary reading:
Fuchs, Anne, “Reiseliteratur”. In: Dieter Lamping et al. (ed.), Handbuch der
literarischen Gattungen (Stuttgart: Kröner Verlag, 2009), pp. 121-129.
Hulmes, Peter and Tim Youngs (2002), ‘Introduction’. In: Peter Hulmes and Tim
Youngs (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing (Cambridge:
Cambridge UP: 1-16.
Pratt, Mary Louise: Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Tranculturation (London:
Routledge, 2008).
Recommended Secondary Reading:
Geier, Manfred: Alexander Humboldt – eine biographische Skizze. In: Nickel,
Gunther (ed) (2008), Daniel Kehlmanns “Die Vermessung der Welt” –
Materialien, Dokumente, Interpretationen. Frankfurt a. M.: RoRoRo: 62-77.
1
A Fuchs: The Self and the Other in Contemporary German Travel Narratives
Mania, Hubert (2008), Carl Friedrich Gauß – eine Annäherung. In: Nickel,
Gunther (ed) (2008), Daniel Kehlmanns “Die Vermessung der Welt” –
Materialien, Dokumente, Interpretationen. Frankfurt a. M.: RoRoRo: 47-61.
Marx, Friedhelm, Die Vermessung der Welt als historischer Roman. In: Nickel,
Gunther (ed) (2008), Daniel Kehlmanns “Die Vermessung der Welt” –
Materialien, Dokumente, Interpretationen. Frankfurt a. M.: RoRoRo: 169-185.
Preusser, Heinz-Peter (2008), Zur Typologie der Zivilisationskritik. Was aus Daniel
Kehlmanns Roman Die Vermessung der Welt einen Besteller werden ließ. In: Text
+ Kritik 177: 73-85.
Schaumann, Caroline (2009), Who Measures the World? Alexander von
Humboldt's Chimborazo Climb in the Literary Imagination. The German Quarterly
82/4: 447-468.
Urry, John (1992), The Tourist Gaze.
Societies. London: Sage: 1-16.
Leisure and Travel in Contemporary
Week 3: Ilja Trojanow EisTau: travel and the environment
Essential reading: Ilja Trojanow, EisTau:
Presentation topics:
1. Discussing Enzensberger’s Theorie des Tourismus, analyse to what extent
Trojanow’s novel offers a critique of tourism.
2. Discuss the motif of glacial ice in this narrative.
3. Discuss the environmental discourse in this travel novel.
Essential secondary reading:
Enzensberger, Hans Magnus, Eine Theorie des Tourismus. In: derselbe,
Einzelheiten I&II. Hamburg: Spiegel Edition 2006/07 (available on module
website)
Recommended reading:
Goodbody, Axel (2007), Nature, Technology and Cultural Change in 20th century
German Literature. The Challenge of Eco-Criticism. Basingstoke: Palgrave/
Macmillan.
Goodbody, Axel (ed.) (2002), The Culture of German Environmentalism. Anxieties,
Visions, Realities. New York: Berghahn, 2002.
2
A Fuchs: The Self and the Other in Contemporary German Travel Narratives
Week 4 and 5: W. G. Sebald Die Ringe des Saturn: archaeological travel through
Suffolk
*Essential Reading: W. G. Sebald: Die Ringe des Saturn
Presentation topics:
1. Discuss the function of the extensive description of Rembrandt’s Anatomy
Lesson for the narrative as a whole.
2. Discuss the descriptions of the local landscape and its interconnectedness with
world history.
3. Paying special attention to the narratives about Joseph Conrad, Roger
Casement and Edward Fitzgerald, discuss the function of biography in this
narrative .
4. Paying particular attention to the narrator’s engagement with Chinese history
and the motif of silk, discuss the critique of colonialism in this narrative
Essential secondary reading:
Cosgrove, Mary (2007), Sebald for our Time: The Politics of Melancholy and the
Critique of Capitalism. In: Anne Fuchs and J. J. Long (eds), W. g. Sebald and the
writing of History. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann: 91-110.
Fuchs, Anne (2007), ‘Ein Hauptkapitel der Geschichte der Unterwerfung’:
Representations of Nature in W. G. Sebald’s Die Ringe des Saturn’, in: Anne Fuchs
and J.J. Long (eds), W. G. Sebald and the Writing of History. Würzburg:
Königshausen & Neumann: 121-138.
Hoorn, Tanja van, “Der ‘Engel der Geschichte’ erzählt W.G. Sebalds Die Ringe des
Saturn in Stefan Börnchen and Georg Mein (eds.), Weltliche Wallfahrten: Auf der
Spur des Realen (Paderborn: Fink, 2010), 221-34.
Long, J. J. (2007), W. G. Sebald’s Miniature Histories. In: Anne Fuchs and J. J. Long
(eds), W. g. Sebald and the writing of History. Würzburg: Königshausen &
Neumann: 111-121.
Long, J. J., “W.G. Sebald the Anti-Tourist,” in Marcus Zisselsberger (ed.), The
Undiscover’d Country: W.G. Sebald and the Poetics of Travel (Rochester, NY:
Camden House, 2010), 63-91.
WEEK 6: reading week
Weeks 7 and 8: Wolfgang Büscher, Berlin-Moskau: Eine Reise zu Fuß
*Essential reading: Wolfgang Büscher, Berlin-Moskau: Eine Reise zu Fuß
Presentation topics:
3
A Fuchs: The Self and the Other in Contemporary German Travel Narratives
1. Discuss the motivation for and function of the Fußreise in this narrative.
2. Discuss the encounter with otherness in this narrative.
Recommended secondary reading:
Kaschuba, Wolfgang, “Die Fußreise: Von der Arbeitswanderung zur bürgerlichen
Bildungsbewegung”. In: Hermann Bausinger, Klaus Beyrer and Gottfried Korff
(eds.), Reisekultur: Von der Pilgerfahrt zum modernen Tourismus (Munich: Beck,
1991), 165-73.
Amann, Wilhelm (2010), ‘Solvitur ambulando: Pilgerräume bei Werner Herzog,
“Vom Gehen im Eis” und Wolfgang Büscher “Berlin - Moskau”’. In: Stefan
Börnchen and Georg Mein (eds.), Weltliche Wallfahrten: Auf der Spur des Realen
Paderborn: Fink: 259-70.
Week 9 and 19: Juli Zeh, Die Stille ist ein Geräusch
*Essential Reading: Juli Zeh, Die Stille ist ein Geräusch
Presentation topics
1. Discussing the notion of ‘dark tourism’, analyse Zeh’s ´motivation for her
trip.
2. Analyse Zeh’s engagement with the traces of warfare in Bosnia.
Recommended Secondary Reading
Foley, Malcolm and John Lennon: Dark Tourism. The Attraction of Death and
Disaster (London: Continuum, 2004)
Lützeler, Paul Michael, Bürgerkrieg global. Menschenrechtsethos und
deutschsprachiger Gegenwartsroman. (Munich: Fink, 2009)
Zeh, Juli, Treideln: Frankfurter Poetikvorlesungen ( Schöffling & Co, 2013)
4