Schiller (1759-1805)
Spring ‘99
Tues/Thurs 2:55-4:10


 
He grew up in poverty and stayed poor most of his life. He wanted to study theology but his sovereign, the Duke of Wuerttemberg, drafted him into his military academy to study law, then medicine. His first drama made him a household word and a penniless fugitive. The French National Assembly made him, 'sieur Gilles, publiciste allemand', an honorary French citizen. A professor of history at Jena, unsalaried at first, then poorly paid, he succumbed to pneumonia and was in precarious health for the remaining fifteen years. Yet when he died in Weimar at forty-five he left a legacy of poetry and drama, of historical, aesthetic and political writings rivaled in impact and lasting influence only by his contemporary and friend, Goethe.
We will examine his major works against the background of revolutionary turmoil in Europe and the Americas. All texts are read in German, but English translations will be available to serve as study aids. Seminar discourse in English and German.

1.    Schiller / Beethoven  /  Bernstein / Berlin
       An die Freude

2.    Die Tragoedie vom Verlorenen Sohn
        Die Raeuber

3.    "Ich, ein deutscher Juengling"
       Kabale und Liebe

4.    Der kranke Prinz
       Don Carlos

5.    Der Dreissigjaehrige Krieg / A Worm's Eye View
       Wallenstein / Das Lager

6.    Der Dreissigjaehrige Krieg  / A Love Story
       Wallenstein / Die Piccolomini

7.    Der Dreissigjaehrige Krieg  /  A Question of Legitimacy
       Wallenstein /  Wallensteins Tod

8.    Understanding Evil
       Der Verbrecher aus Verlorener Ehre

9.    Essays & Excerpts

10.  1798. Das Balladenjahr

11.  "Was tun, spricht Zeus"
        Gereimtes / Ungereimtes

12.  Die Frau als Koenig
        Maria Stuart
 
13.  Nationaler Befreiungskrieg I.  Gott strafe England
        Die Jungfrau von Orleans

14.  Nationaler Befreiungskrieg II.  Inventing Switzerland
        Wilhelm Tell