GRMN 0309
EscapetoLife:Exile Experiences
Escape to Life: Exile Experiences 1933-1945
"Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience," writes Edward Said in the opening lines of his Reflections on Exile. This course focuses on the condition of exile and takes as its main example the migrations in Germany between 1933 and 1945. It investigates exile as a defining experience and examines the dialectical relationship between imagined/remembered homelands and transnational identities and between language loss and bi-and multilingualism. We will not only read works of prominent literary figures like Mann, Brecht, Seghers, and Keun, but also investigate the exile experience of "ordinary people" who, after all, formed more than 90% of all exiled persons, as it is portrayed in memoirs, autobiographical novels, interviews, and documentaries. 3 hrs. lect.
"Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience," writes Edward Said in the opening lines of his Reflections on Exile. This course focuses on the condition of exile and takes as its main example the migrations in Germany between 1933 and 1945. It investigates exile as a defining experience and examines the dialectical relationship between imagined/remembered homelands and transnational identities and between language loss and bi-and multilingualism. We will not only read works of prominent literary figures like Mann, Brecht, Seghers, and Keun, but also investigate the exile experience of "ordinary people" who, after all, formed more than 90% of all exiled persons, as it is portrayed in memoirs, autobiographical novels, interviews, and documentaries. 3 hrs. lect.