This course introduces students to the study of literature through a focus on canonical and popular literary texts and its culturel contexts. The Calssroom interaction will be in German. Course readings, presented in the form of short texts or excerpts. They are taken from a range of literary genres, including poetry, plays,  the short story and the novel, and cover the major literary periods from the 18th to the 20st centuries. A focus throughout the course: developing language tools to read, understand and critically interpret German literary texts and to effectivly communicate ideas about those texts orally and in writing.   At the end of this course, the students will learn:

• Be cognizant of the varietes of ways in which the main themes of the culture are reflected in everyday cultural patterns.
• Develop, through reading selections that provide insights into historical, social, and political, structures of the country, a backround sufficient to facilitate subsequent reading  on level B1; B2.