GERST 3225

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - January 31, 2019 7:14PM EST
  • Course Catalog - January 31, 2019 7:15PM EST

GERST 3225
Bestseller

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2018-2019.

Who read what, how, and why in the past? Is reading today categorically different? How does globalization affect what is read by many people locally? Is the vast segment of so-called popular literature merely a product of the "culture industry," or could kitsch, for example, be understood as something more subversive? This class investigates the emergence and historically varying constructions of "imagined communities" of German-speaking readers. Looking at examples of bestsellers from Martin Luther to the present, the course offers an overview of literary and cultural history with a focus on: the history of literacy; literary institutions like authorship, publishing houses, libraries, and literary criticism; the (often gendered) differentiation between high and low/mass culture; various print media; genres like the romance novel, SciFi serials, mysteries, and dystopic thrillers.

When Offered Fall.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: GERST 3070 or GERST 3080.

Distribution Category (LA-AS)
Language Requirement Satisfies Option 1.

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16917 GERST 3225   LEC 001

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  • Taught in German. Prerequisites: GERST 3070 or GERST 3080. Satisfies Option 1 of the language requirement.