Topics in Prose Fiction : World Literature and the Art of Beginning

The beginning of a story or a novel, marks a delicate threshold. It signifies both the entrance into a fictitious world and the advent of a new order. Narrative openings not only determine a story’s further course and continuation, they also offer fundamental insights into the logic of narration as such. In order to address all of these questions properly, a selection of canonical works of German and European literature will be the basis of discussion. The course will be taught in German and English. Readings are available in German and English.