At the beginning of the 1930s, Walter Benjamin pursued journalistic plans together with Bertolt Brecht and worked for the radio. When the National Socialists came to power, he went into exile in September 1933. In 1939 Benjamin was interned with other German refugees in a collective camp in France. In September 1940 he made a vain attempt to cross the border into Spain. To avoid his imminent extradition to Germany, he committed suicide on September 26, 1940 in Portbou / Spain.
This course follows on from the event from the winter semester, but can also be attended without prior knowledge. In the fourteen weeks of the summer semester, fourteen individual texts by Walter Benjamin are read and discussed. It begins with the text from 1931 “I pack my library out” (Ich packe meine Bibliothek aus) and ends with the posthumously published, historical-philosophical essay from 1940 “On the Concept of History” (Über den Begriff der Geschichte). This seminar aims to improve knowledge in language and literature with the help of accurate text reading.
This course follows on from the event from the winter semester, but can also be attended without prior knowledge. In the fourteen weeks of the summer semester, fourteen individual texts by Walter Benjamin are read and discussed. It begins with the text from 1931 “I pack my library out” (Ich packe meine Bibliothek aus) and ends with the posthumously published, historical-philosophical essay from 1940 “On the Concept of History” (Über den Begriff der Geschichte). This seminar aims to improve knowledge in language and literature with the help of accurate text reading.
- Teacher: Michael Fisch
Hanna Arendt (1906-1975) is one of the great thinkers of the 20th century. An extensive exhibition in the German Historical Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum) in Berlin was dedicated to her life and work. The catalog for this was published in 2020 under the title “Hannah Arendt and the 20th century”. She studied with Martin Heidegger and Edmund Husserl and did her doctorate with Karl Jaspers. In addition to philosophy, she was interested in literature and wrote numerous articles on it. The book about the romantic writer Rahel Varnhagen, planned as a habilitation thesis, was first published in London in 1957 under the title “Rahel Varnhagen, The life of a jeweness” and finally in Germany in 1959 under the title “Rahel Varnhagen. Lebensgeschichte einer deutschen Jüdin”.
Hannah Arendt’s book and the work of Rahel Varnhagen (1771-1833) are assumed as the basis for his lecture. The course reminds the 250th brithday of this extraordinary writer, head of a literary salon and a staunch representative of the Romantic epoch and the European Enlightment, who continued to advocate Jewish emancipation and equal rights for women. As a part of the Critical Complete Edition by Hannah Arendt, the book about Rahel Varnhagen will appear in full for the first time and will be commented on in 2021.
Hannah Arendt’s book and the work of Rahel Varnhagen (1771-1833) are assumed as the basis for his lecture. The course reminds the 250th brithday of this extraordinary writer, head of a literary salon and a staunch representative of the Romantic epoch and the European Enlightment, who continued to advocate Jewish emancipation and equal rights for women. As a part of the Critical Complete Edition by Hannah Arendt, the book about Rahel Varnhagen will appear in full for the first time and will be commented on in 2021.
- Teacher: Michael Fisch
Hubert Fichte was a multi-talent: he was an anthropologist and poet, is considered one of the first pop literary figure as well as an early pioneer in new disciplines such as Oriental Studies and Postcolonial Studies. Above all, he was one thing: different. Sensibility and Sensitivity was central to his work. This was new from the 1960s to the 1980s in German literature. In addition, he traveled in the early 1970s for ethnographic studies in several countries in Middle and South America, in North and West Africa, also in Europe.
Like no other author of his time, he went deeper into the description of foreign cultures, because Hubert Fichte wanted to do more than just observe, he wanted to understand. The experiences of these journeys also flowed into his most extensive literary work, the nineteen-volume cycle of romance »The History of Sensitivity«.
Like no other author of his time, he went deeper into the description of foreign cultures, because Hubert Fichte wanted to do more than just observe, he wanted to understand. The experiences of these journeys also flowed into his most extensive literary work, the nineteen-volume cycle of romance »The History of Sensitivity«.
- Teacher: Michael Fisch