BOOKPACKING BERLIN
- life and literature in a city at the heart of History
This new USC class will launch in July / August 2026.
In this class, students will spend a month in Berlin, ‘bookpacking’ a selection of Berlin novels from Isherwood’s iconic ‘Goodbye to Berlin’ to the spy fiction of the 1960s. At the heart of the class will be Hans Fallada’s ‘Alone in Berlin’, a 20th century classic which tells the story of an elderly couple’s campaign of quiet resistance against the Nazi regime.
This class will use Berlin fiction to explore the broad sweep of 20th century history, encompassing profound moral questions about the nature of governance and the choices we all make as citizens in the political sphere. It will offer an immersive experience: we will walk the streets of the city, exploring novels on the ground, tracing the story of the city from Babylon Berlin to the fall of the Wall and beyond.
This will be a GE-B class, open to all. It is co-sponsored by the Department of English and the Department of History, and will meet major requirements for English, Narrative Studies and History. Student applications are due via the STA portal mid February 2026. Watch this space for news of informational sessions in early February 2026.
