Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis The literature of the Renaissance and the baroque is of special significance for the formation of political, social and religious ideas after the Reformation and the devastations of the Thirty Years' War, and at the beginning of the Enlightenment. These experiences are still relevant in German speaking countries today. Students will study selected writings of Opitz, Gryphius, von Lohenstein, Grimmelshausen, Reuter and Leibniz in their European context and focus on important emerging issues like the responsible individual, war, death and eternity, the transition from alchemy to modern science, and the acquisition of the European literary heritage.
Assessment Written (4000 words): 70% + Examination (1 hour): 30%