Abstract

What I am going to ask myself in this paper consists of two questions, which are interrelated: (1) How should the discipline “Anglistik” be reconstructed from a theoretical point of view under consideration of intellectual and social history? (2) In which way can this reconstruction have an effect on teaching English literature in universities? In answering the first question let me begin with a short outline concerning the ideological history of “Anglistik” from the 19th century to the present day. This short and rough outline shall help to explain, why there is the obvious deficiency in theory, which nobody can deny who knows German Anglistik from within (I). Then I proceed in listing the necessary elements of a rational Anglistik, which have to be integrated into the discipline of the future. This description deals with the theoretical and teleological aspects of the reconstruction (II). In the last section I try to warrant my proposition to reconstruct Anglistik by an example, which has the task to demonstrate the interrelation of literary history, intellectual and social history within the discipline (III).