The Hidden Word: Post-War Germany Through the Lens of Ulla Hahn

The poet and novelist Ulla Hahn (b. 1945) ranks among Germany’s best-known living writers. Yet, her work remains largely untranslated and thus little known outside the German-speaking world. In this course, we will read her 2001 novel Das verborgene Wort (The Hidden Word) in the original German. The book is the first of an autobiographical tetralogy and beautifully illustrates issues of gender, class, post-war trauma and Germany’s so-called Wirtschaftswunder (“economic rise”) following World War II. We will read the entire novel slowly and carefully, paying particular attention to the nuances of Hahn’s poetic prose style. Since the novel contains sentences in the Cologne dialect (Kölsch), the instructor will provide explanations and an introduction to the regional culture. Based on the novel, we will also discuss the larger historical and cultural context of Germany post-WW II.

The course is open to both undergraduate and graduate students and class discussion will be in English, but advanced reading knowledge in German is required. The course will be useful to students who wish to expand their German-language skills and learn about West Germany in the 2nd half of the 20th century.