Learning in Department of European Studies Seminar

News of Russia's invasion of Ukraine is reported almost daily, but how much do we really understand about these countries? In 1920, Joseph Roth, a German-language author and journalist active in the first half of the 20th century, wrote an article for a Berlin newspaper about Ukraine's independence from Russia and its division by civil war. In the article, Roth introduced the boom in Ukrainian ballet and circus in Germany at the time, and also reported on the current situation in which the traditional culture of the Ukrainian people is being used, distorted, and emphasized in the Western world for profit-making purposes. The full-length novel "Endless Escape" that Roth wrote after this article is about a soldier who escapes from a Russian concentration camp. During his long wanderings, his feelings for his fiancee in Vienna gradually turn into a longing for the Western world itself. However, that longing also becomes suspended in the air, and he realizes that he is "extra."
In fact, Roth himself was from the outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and was in the same position as the Ukrainians who are subjected to the misunderstanding of the Westerners, and the protagonist of the novel who feels like an "extra". Through literature, we can hear the voices of nameless people who are subjected to such prejudice and misunderstanding. At the same time, we are reminded that what we know about Russia and Ukraine from the daily news reports is only one side of the story.

In this seminar, we read poems, essays, novels, etc. from German-speaking countries in the original text and discuss the contents. In the spring semester, we start by reading shorter texts. For example, we choose a few pages from Hermann Hesse's collection of short stories "Märchen" and discuss the symbolism of the motifs in the work. In the fall semester, we read longer works, but we ask the students what they want and choose works that interest them. In the seminar, students research and present the background of the author related to the work, related works, and the culture and history of the time. We sometimes watch films derived from literature, and when I read the newspaper article about Roth, I looked up Ukrainian folk dance and folk costumes on the Internet. By reading and discussing works from various perspectives in this way, I hope that students will develop the ability to read critically. If you stop and think carefully while reading a text in any language, not just German, you will realize that there is not just one way to read it, but that there are many different ways to interpret it.