This graduate course deals with contemporary German literature. The Max Kade Critic in Residence, Tobias Ruether, will discuss the topic of youth: How are today's writers reflecting on the decades between the student movement and the fall of the Berlin Wall? He will discuss five short novels by Wolfgang Herrndorf, Jochen Schmidt, Helene Hegemann, Botho Strauss and Stefanie de Velasco. The theme in the seminar taught by the Max Kade Writer in Residence, Silke Scheuermann, is that of science and literature: The question is how contemporary lyrical poets are approaching the topic of nature in their writings. The authors discussed will be Raoul Schrott, Ulrike Draesner, Jan Wagner, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Matthias Goeritz and Silke Scheuermann. (Admission for undergraduate seniors who major in German with permission of the Director of Graduate Studies.)