Check fees and funding for more details.
Undergraduate students, graduate students, PhD candidates, and professionals are welcome. The course is designed for everybody who is interested in literature, creative writing (German language) and exploring Berlin and the near countryside.
Participants in this course should share an inherent interest in the topic and life in Berlin, as well as a willingness to explore their own expressiveness and experience joy in playing with the German language.
Mistakes made in written works will be corrected, but they will not be discussed as part of the course syllabus nor will they be included in the overall assessment of the participant's performance.
Texts for preparation or for background knowledge can also be read in English or in any other language. Texts dealt with during class are discussed on the basis of the original – in German.
Today, as in past centuries, the city of Berlin is a special attraction for creative artists and is also the focus of various novels.
Being in the centre of diversity and migration, social hardship, anonymous city life, facing the consequences of the country's division and the Third Reich – all of these factors lead straight to questions about identity and the meaningful design of "feeling connected“ – a self-determined as well as sustainable way of life.
More and more often, authors also reflect the current trend of retreating to the countryside in order to escape the superficial structures that are prevailing at work and in everyday life. Thus, Berlin should also be considered in relation to its surroundings, i.e. used as a counter image. But how effective does this turn out to be?
The analysis traces both the psychological processes and the desire for a turning point in our society. Biographical and historical backgrounds, the reception of newer books, and references to classical works of literature play a central role.