You cannot escape German Romanticism. Not just because of Beethoven's omnipresent musical version of Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy", or because of Edgar Allan Poe's indebtedness to the gothic tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann, or because of Disney World with its logo inspired by Neuschwanstein castle. The impact goes even deeper: When you listen to film music, more often than not you will be listening to something deriving from a musical tradition which ultimately goes back to Richard Wagner. And even when you take a picture of a sunset, you will continue a visual tradition heavily indebted to the German painter Caspar David Friedrich. On the other hand, German Romanticism has often been associated with reactionary ideas, nationalism, and fascism - after all, Hitler was in many ways a Romantic. Thus this course has multiple purposes: First, we will focus on (short) German writings, namely essays, poems, songs, tales, and fairy tales between 1795 and 1848 - texts of stunning boldness, stimulating imaginative power, and often thought-provoking irony. We will also interpret them within the context of contemporary developments in philosophy, music and especially the visual arts. Finally, we will discuss some lasting cultural and political repercussions of German Romanticism both in Germany and abroad, including its liberating and dangerous aspects.