Sommersemester 2012 - Graduate Seminar

Marx remarked in his 18 brumaire of Napoléon Bonaparte, History comes always back twice: first as tragedy, than as farce. Roughly up to the beginning of the 20th century Europe and the United States told and thought their History in terms of antique History that was a basso continuo to all political conflicts and imperial enterprises. Our focus will not be on Greek, but on Roman History. In the United States, as well as in France, Germany and Italy, political realities were spelled out in Roman terms. If most people agreed that History is nothing but a repetion of Roman History, it is very much a question if this is a blessing or a curse. And what Roman History comes back? Is the Roman Republic restored, are the civil wars coming back, or are people to live in an Empire sine fine? It is in literary texts that these questions are most subtly asked and answered. The most interesting and influential texts like Schiller, Kleist, Leopardi, Hugo, Baudelaire, Flaubert, and James will be submitted to a close reading in order to disclose their hidden Roman intertexts.

Graduate Seminar

Dept. of Comparative Literature, summer term 1994.Dept. of Comparative Literature, summer term 1994.

Graduate Seminar

French Department, winter term 1993.

Graduate Seminar

Dept. of Comparative Literature, winter term 1992.

Graduate Seminar

Dept. of Comparative Literature, spring term 1992.

Graduate Seminar

Dept. of Comparative Literature, winter term 1991.

Graduate Seminar

Dept. of Comparative Literature, spring term 1991.

Graduate Seminar

Dept. of Comparative Literature, winter term 1990.