GER256

The nineteenth century saw the profound transformation of Germany and Austria at all levels of society. The Napoleonic Wars, the failed revolutions of 1848, the ascent of Prussia and the divisions within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the crumbling of feudalism and the emergence of nationalism, scientific advances, and industrialization contributed to the rethinking of political, economic, and social roles, the relationship between the human and the natural worlds, and the nature of reality itself. The course focuses on the investigation of the materiality of the human condition through selected literary, artistic, journalistic, and other texts of the period. Prerequisite(s): GER 233.