Contemporary German Literature and New Trends in the Development of the German Language.

The aim of the educational programme, which will be organised in the form of a full-day workshop, is to provide secondary school teachers of German with an insight into current trends in German literature and the German language. In a total of five blocks, the lecturers will focus on the latest literary works, the specifics of literary use in the Internet age, the genre of the crime novel, translations of selected works into Czech, the topic of language culture and critical reflection on language use by the professional and general public, the specifics of the language of the young generation and the society-wide discourse on so-called political correctness.

The course is offered as part of the project NPO - Transformation USB, reg. no. - NPO_JČU_MSMT - 16608/2022.

1) Contemporary German Literature (120 minutes) - lecturers: Jürgen Eder, Daniel Musílek

The aim of this seminar is to introduce participants to the most recent works of German literature and to the changes in literary circulation linked to the digitalisation of this environment. The production and reception of literature were forced to take new paths – from readers to texts existing only in digital form, from new forms of traditional literary criticism such as booktube to performance, stand-up, poetry slams. An important aspect in this reflection on new forms of literature and its reception is the question: How to attract even younger generations, who, after all, are said to "no longer read", as a reading audience?

2) Crime Novel in Contemporary German Literature and Film (120 minutes) – lecturer: Jürgen Eder

The aim of this seminar is to introduce participants to the genre of the crime or detective novel in the context of German literature, where it has virtually no tradition to date, apart from earlier examples such as E.T.A. Hoffmann or Theodor Fontane. At the beginning of the 21st century, however, German crime fiction is thriving and competitive on the international scene. One of its most striking features is regionalisation – There are few regions, provinces, areas in Germany, Austria and Switzerland that do not already have their own detective series. This applies to both literary and media productions, e.g. TV evergreens such as the cult series Tatort.

3) Translations of the latest German literature into Czech (60 minutes) - lecturers: Markéta Ederová, Daniel Musílek

The aim of this seminar is to introduce participants to translations of contemporary German literature into Czech. Depending on the interest of the participants, the workshop may then include a closer discussion of selected passages of individual works, specific problems in translation and the degree of its success. Various formats of presenting contemporary German literature (in the original and in translation) in the Czech Republic will also be presented: book festivals, author and translator readings, awards, and anti-awards for translation, etc.

4) New Trends in German Language Development (120 minutes) – lecturer: Christine Pretzl

The aim of this seminar is to acquaint the participants with the new tendencies that the German language is "confronted" with on a pragmatic level - with traditional possibilities and newer necessities in expressing various communicative intentions and, above all, with the critical assessment of their appropriateness or inappropriateness by the professional and general public. Each year, the Gesellschaft für Deutsche Sprache selects a "Word of the Year" (Wort des Jahres) based on the many proposals submitted, which reflects the social situation in a specific or original way and documents the close interplay between language and culture/mentality. The parallel competition Unwort des Jahres, on the other hand, focuses on problematic linguistic creations or strategies of manipulation in communication and aims to make language users more reflective and sensitive in their use of language. Last but not least, the seminar will focus on the language of the young generation (Jugendsprache), new expressions, global unification and specifics. This part will certainly be very beneficial for the revitalisation of teaching in secondary schools.

5) Contemporary German and Political Correctness (60 minutes) - lecturer: Markéta Ederová

This part will be a continuation of the previous seminar and focus on the topic of language culture and critical reflection on language use - both towards greater "political correctness" and towards its emphatic rejection. In addition to interesting examples from the history of efforts to sensitise communication through language and to raise general awareness of the power of words, new "cases" of political correctness will be discussed, which are perceived very negatively by a large part of the public as a kind of language police. A very interesting aspect here is the relatively different nature of the public discourse on this issue in Germany and the Czech Republic.

Mgr. Monika HOSNEDLOVÁ
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.