Yesterday’s literature in foreign language classes through Deutschland V: Phantasie und Wirklichkeit (1960)

Abstract

From the 1950s onwards, literature began to lose its role as a linguistic reference in foreign language classes in Europe, as new methodological trends followed one after the other, leading to the particular situation of today, with publishers’ adherence to the guidelines of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. In order to gain a better understanding of the role of literature in foreign language classes before all these changes took place, this paper analyses a very specific sample and focuses on a textbook representative of the traditional methodology of grammar and translation used for the teaching of German as a foreign language in the 5th year of the French secondary school, entitled Phantasie und Wirklichkeit.

Specifically, it aims to identify and analyse the literature presented in this book, the fifth volume of Collection Deutschland, published by the Paris-based Masson et Cie Editeurs in the 1940s, when Franco-German relations were still delicate and German was still considered the language of the enemy. For this purpose, after the necessary introductions to the collection and the handbook, the literary content in terms of themes, texts and authors is first determined, and then an assessment of these is offered before reaching the final evaluations regarding the learning purposes pursued by the authors of the handbook, referring both to the German language and to the German national character.