Literature – German History

Assigned Reading (for reference):
A Concise History of Germany (Fulbrook), pages 13–22
Germany: 2000 Years (Reinhardt), pages 89–110 and 152–157
Selected passages of the Nibelungenlied (follow link to access English translation available online via Project Gutenberg):
Stanzas 1–8 (from First Adventure: Kriemhild’s Dream)
Stanzas 86–104 (from Third Adventure: How Siegfried Came to Worms)
Stanzas 814–850 (from Fourteenth Adventure: How the Queens Berated Each Other)
Stanzas 861–876 (from Fourteenth Adventure: How the Queens Berated Each Other)
Stanzas 891–905 (from Fifteenth Adventure: How Siegfried was Betrayed)
Stanzas 1526–1543 (from Twenty-Fifth Adventure: How the Knights All Fared to the Huns)
Stanzas 1572–1585 (from Twenty-Fifth Adventure: How the Knights All Fared to the Huns)
Works Cited & Suggested Reading and Viewing:
(From Lesson Summary)
Lang, Fritz. The Nibelungen, Part I and II. (Film, 1922–24).
Elias, Norbert. Power and Civility. New York: Pantheon, 1982.
Gentry, Francis G. “Die Rezeption des Nibelungenliedes in der Weimarer Republik.” In Das Weiterleben des Mittelalters.
—, and James K. Walter, eds. German Epic Poetry. Vol. 1. New York: Continuum, 1995.
Härd, John Evert. Das Nibelungenepos: Wertung und Wirkung von der Romantik bis zur Gegenwart. Tübingen: Francke, 1996.
Jackson, W. T. H. The Meaning of Courtly Love. Albany: SUNY Press, 1968.
Solomon, Robert C. Love: Emotion, Myth, and Metaphor. Garden City: Anchor, 1981.
Thomas, J. W. Tannhäuser: Poet and Legend. With Texts and Translations of his Works. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1974.
Wunderlich, Werner, ed. Der Schatz des Drachentöters: Materialien zur Wirkungsgeschichte des Nibelungenliedes. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1977.
Instructions:
When you can accomplish the learning objectives for this lesson, you should begin work on the Lesson 3 essay described below. You may use any assigned
readings, your notes, and other course-related materials to complete this assignment.
This essay should be about 750 words long, typed, and double-spaced; use 12-point font and one-inch margins on all sides. When finished, you will upload
your Word (.doc) or Rich Text (.rtf) file electronically for instructor grading. See the “How to create and upload documents” section below for specifics on how
to label and submit your essay.
In your essay response, be sure to refer not only to the commentary, but also to the reading assignments and possibly even to information found in the
suggested readings listed at the end of each lesson. Provide specific examples to support your statements. Also, review the essay grading criteria before you
begin working, to know how your work will be assessed.
The Lesson 3 essay is worth 100 points and should address the following topic:
Discuss the tension in the “Song of the Nibelungen” between Germanic warrior culture and courtly culture. How does this tension manifest itself in the
themes and characters of the epos? What role did the Nibelungelied play during the German nationalist movement of the 19th century?