DEPARTMENT OF GERMAN STUDIES
SPRING 2008 COURSES
SCROLL DOWN OR SELECT FROM THE FOLLOWING:
FIRST-YEAR
WRITING SEMINARS.
3
credits. No knowledge of German is expected.
GERST
109 FROM FAIRY TALES TO THE UNCANNY: EXPLORING THE ROMANTIC CONSCIOUSNESS
K. Otto,
Coordinator
Section 1, MWF 11:15-12:05, G. Arslan
Section 2, MWF 12:20-1:10, K. Otto
This seminar explores various themes (doubles, madness, incest, alchemy, etc.)
expressing a fascination with the paranormal, the supernatural, and the uncanny
in the German fairy tale and its transformations in Romantic fiction and beyond.
We will look at how literary texts not only reflect values and ideologies of
the culture that produces them, but also serve to reinforce and perpetuate these
values, helping to construct a certain way of looking at, judging and responding
to the world. Reading assignments range from fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm
and short narratives by Romantic writers (e.g., E. T. A. Hoffmann, Tieck, Kleist)
to other traditions, such as tales of Edgar Allan Poe and modern cinematic works.
The emphasis of the course is on improving writing skills.
GERST
112 TERRORISM IN GERMANY: 1967-1977
K.
Otto ,
Coordinator
Section 1, TR 1:25 – 2:40, FP Hugdahl
Section 2, TR 2:55 – 4:10 ,FP Hugdahl
While
1967 is often synonymous with the Summer of Love in both America and Europe,
it also marked the beginning of the increasingly violent protests against the
American war in Vietnam, the European legacies of colonialism and imperialism,
as well as the protests against racial and sexual discrimination and outright
oppression. The situation in Germany was especially explosive because the generational
conflicts behind the students’ protests provoked painful questions about
their parents’ compliance with or involvement in the Holocaust. Recent
and contemporary films, literature, and essays will provide the class with the
means for examining the terror and social unrest initially unleashed by the
Baader-Meinhof gang up until the Autumn of 1977. While focused on a very specific
historical experience, this seminar provides a prescient, scholarly context
for understanding the question of terrorism that dominates the news today.
GERST 114 CHARLATANS, ROGUES,UPSTARTS AND SWINDLERS: THE PICARESQUE IN GERMAN
LITERATURE
K.
Otto ,
Coordinator
TR 11:40-12:55, G. Gemmell
A German Quixote? The picaresque colors many texts in German(ic) literature
from Grimmelshausen to Böll and Grass. This course will explore rogues,
outlaws and swindlers in German literature from the Middle Ages to the Baroque
and into more modern texts. Students will explore a wide range of themes and
elements of the picaresque such as alienation, social/personal notions of identity,
burlesque humor, (mis)education and the outcast. In what ways might the picaresque
novel be an 'anti-Bildungsroman?' What constitutes a picaresque novel/character?
What function does the picaresque element serve in literature, in society?
GERST 170 MARX, NIETZSCHE, FREUD
K. Otto,
Coordinator
MWF 10:10-11:00, A. Linden
To understand—and criticize—contemporary discourses in the core
disciplines of the social sciences, the humanities, and even the natural sciences
it is necessary to have a basic grasp of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. This seminar
introduces: (1) these three revolutionaries who have exerted a massive influence
globally on modern and postmodern thought and practice; and (2) key terms and
analytic models of political economy, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, including
the differences and intersection points among them. Focus is on short texts
or short passages from longer texts, essential to understand their work and
to produce a critical analysis of contemporary world society, politics and culture.
The core problem: Do alternative ways of thinking and acting exist in opposition
to how we always already think and act?
GERST
121 EXPLORING GERMAN CONTEXTS I
4 credits.
Intended for students with no prior experience in German or
with an LPG score below 37 or an SAT II score below 370.
Lectures: R 11:15-12:05 or R 12:20-1:10, G. Lischke, Coordinator
Section 1 MTWF 10:10-11:00, D. Low
Section 2 MTWF 11:15-12:05, J. Schellhammer
Students develop basic abilities in listening, reading, writing and speaking
German in meaningful contexts through interaction in small group activities.
Course material including videos, short articles, poems, and songs provide students
with varied perspectives on German language, culture and society.
GERST
122 EXPLORING GERMAN CONTEXTS II
4 credits.
Prerequisite: German 121 or an LPG score of 37-44 or an SAT
II score of 370-450. Students who obtain an LPG score of 56 or above after German
121-122 attain qualification and may enter the 200-level sequence; otherwise
successful completion of German 123 is required for qualification.
Lectures: T 11:15-12:05 or T 12:20-1:10, G. Lischke, Coordinator
Section 1 MWRF 10:10-11:00, G. Lischke
Section 2 MWRF 11:15-12:05, P. Buchholz
Section 3 MWRF 12:20-1:10, A. Briley
Students
build on their basic knowledge of German by engaging in intensive and more sustained
interaction in the language. Students learn more advanced language structures
allowing them to express more complex ideas in German. Discussions, videos and
group activities address topics of relevance to the contemporary German-speaking
world.
GERST
123 EXPANDING THE GERMAN DOSSIER
4 credits.
Limited to students who have previously studied German and
have an LPG score of 45-55 or an SAT II score of 460-580. Satisfactory completion
of German 123 is qualification in German.
MTWF 11:15-12:05, T. Schneller
Students
continue to develop their language skills by discussing a variety of cultural
topics and themes in the German-speaking world. The focus of the course is on
expanding vocabulary, reviewing major grammar topics, developing effective reading
strategies, improving listening comprehension, and working on writing skills.
Work in small groups increases each student's opportunity to speak in German
and provides for greater feedback and individual help.
GERST
200 GERMANY: INTERCULTURAL CONTEXT
3 credits.
Prerequisite: Qualification in German (GERST 123, LPG scores
of 56-64, or SAT II score of 580-670) or placement by examination. Successful
completion of German 200 fulfills the Arts and Sciences language proficiency
requirement and counts toward the distribution requirement in the humanities.
Section 1, MWF 10:10-11:00, K. Otto
Section 2, MWF 12:20-1:10, A. Rotaru
A content-based language course on the intermediate level. Students examine
important aspects of present-day German culture while expanding and strengthening
their reading, writing and speaking skills in German. Materials for each topic
are selected from a variety of sources (fiction, newspapers, magazines, and
the Internet). Units address a variety of topics including studying at a German
university, modern literature, Germany online, and Germany at the turn of the
century. Oral and written work, individual and group presentations emphasize
accurate and idiomatic expression in German. Successful completion of the course
enables students to continue with more advanced courses in language, literature
and culture.
GERST
204 WORKING WITH TEXTS
3 credits.
Prerequisite: GERST 200, or placement by examination (placement score and CASE).
Satisfies Language Option 1
MWF 11:15-12:05, M. Masulis
Emphasis on improving oral and written expression of idiomatic German. Enrichment
of vocabulary and appropriate use of language in different conversational contexts
and written genres. Material consists of readings in contemporary prose, articles
on current events, videos and group projects. Topics include: awareness of culture,
dependence of meaning on perspective, German news broadcasts, reading German
newspapers on the Internet.
GERST
206 GERMAN IN BUSINESS CULTURE
3 credits.
Prerequisite:proficiency in German (GERST 200, or placement by examination [placement
score and CASE]). Students without previous knowledge of Business German are
welcome.
MWF 1:25-2:15, G. Lischke
Learn German and understand German business culture at the same time. This is
a German language course that examines the German economic structure and its
major components: industry, trade unions, the banking system, and the government.
Participants will learn about the business culture in Germany and how to be
effective in a work environment, Germany's role within the European Union, the
role of the Bundesbank, the importance of trade and globalization, and current
economic issues in Germany. The materials consist of authentic documents from
the German business world, TV footage, and a Business German textbook. At the
end of the course, the external Goethe Institut exam "Deutsch für
den Beruf" will be offered.
GERST
303 ANGELS AND DEMONS IN GERMAN LITERATURE
4 credits.
Taught in German. Prerequisite:GERST 202, 204, 0r 206 or equivalent
or permission of instructor. Maximum of 20 students. This course may be counted
towards the requirement for 300-level language work in the major. Satisfies
Language Option 1
MWF 1:25-2:15, K. Otto
This advanced language course focuses, in both the readings and the discussions,
on the supposedly contradictory concepts of angels and demons. We will see how
they are not only different but also similar. We will have the opportunity to
investigate our belief in angels and demons from a variety of perspectives,
and to investigate how the terms are used in everyday parlance as opposed to,
or in accord with, their original meanings.
GERST
355 POLITICAL THEORY AND CINEMA 4 credits.
(formerly GERST 330) (also COM L 330, FILM 329 and GOVT 370) (CA)
TR 11:40-12:55, G. Waite
W 7:00-9:00pm Film Screening in 165 McGraw Hall
This is an introduction to fundamental problems of contemporary political and
cultural theory, filmmaking, and film analysis, along with their interrelationships.
A particular focus is on comparing European and alternative cinema to Hollywood
in terms of Marxist, feminist, psychoanalytic, postmodernist, and postcolonial
types of interpretation. Explicitly political cinema is compared to more subtle,
subliminal types of ideological transmission. Filmmakers/theorists may include:
D. Cronenberg, T. Conley, M. Curtiz, K. Bigelow, G. Deleuze, R. Fassbinder,
J. Ford, J.-L. Godard, M. Gorris, W. Herzog, A. Hitchcock, A. & A. Hughes,
S. Kubrick, F. Jameson, P.-P. Pasolini, G. Pontecorvo, R. Ray, M. Scorsese,
R. Scott, O. Stone, G. Romero, S. Shaviro, K. Tahimik, M. Viano, S. Zizek. This
is a lecture course but there will be plenty of time for discussion. There are
no prerequisites.
GERST
418 NEW GERMAN LITERATURE: AFTER THE WALL
4 CREDITS. (CA)
Prerequisites: GERST 300-level course taught in German or
equivalent or permission of instructor. Required readings and discussion in
German. Satisfies Option I
TR 10:10-11:25, L. Adelson
Since the Berlin Wall came crumbling down in 1989, contemporary trends in German
literature have often been celebrated as new or even unprecedented. This writing
is at times associated with a turn away from weighty preoccupations with historical
responsibility that had characterized much German literature in the wake of
World War II and the Holocaust. At other times the contemporary preoccupation
with “newness” is seen as a marketing phenomenon in the competitive
world of international publishing, especially after the collapse of communism
in Europe. Given that literary developments in German over the last sixty years
have repeatedly been hailed as marking some type of “new beginning,”
this course explores both striking innovations and subtle continuities in German
literature written since the end of the cold war. Paradoxically, national unification
and transnational phenomena (Europeanization, and globalization, for example)
have all loomed large on the cultural horizons of a changing readership in this
time. Introducing students to representative texts of this new period in German
literary history, the course also invites students to consider how stylistic
features of contemporary literature engage the problematics of innovation in
particular ways. Rather than merely relying on journalists’ categories
for describing the literature at hand (for example, “Wenderoman,”
“Fräuleinwunder,” “neues Erzählen,” or even
“pop”), this course brings renewed curiosity to literary trends
most often celebrated for being “new.” The course emphasizes prose
writing, but some poetry, theater, and other media will also be considered.
Focal readings include selected works by authors such as Christa Wolf, Thomas
Brussig, Botho Strauß, Ingo Schulze, W. G. Sebald, Christian Kracht, Karen
Duve, Judith Hermann, Anne Duden, Hans-Ulrich Treichel, Marcel Beyer, Bernhard
Schlink, Doron Rabinovici, Irene Dische, Elfriede Jelinek, E. S. Özdamar,
Zafer Senocak, Feridun Zaimoglu, Berkan Karpat, José Oliver, Herta Müller,
Terézia Mora, Yoko Tawada, Günter Grass, Uwe Timm, Christoph Hein,
and others.
GERST
419 VIENNA 1900 AND THE CHALLENGE OF MODERNITY
4 credits.
Prerequisites: ANy course at 300-350-level or equivalent advanced
intermediate knowledge of German. Taught in German. Satisfies Option 1.
TR 11:40-12:55, P. McBride
This course focuses on the culture of turn-of-the-century Vienna as a laboratory
for ideas and practices formulated in response to the challenges of modernization
in Western and Central Europe. In particular, we will explore the innovative
experiments that transformed literature and the visual arts between 1880 and
1914; the impact that Freudian psychoanalysis and pre-Freudian psychological
theories had on nineteenth-century notions of subjectivity, language, and morality
(as well as their contribution in spurring innovative modes of writing and representation);
and the ways in which Vienna’s public and private spaces became the site
of conflicting views of modernity in the visions of contemporary architects,
urban planners, and interior designers. Possible texts include works by Musil,
Loos, Canetti, Salomé, Mayreder, Weininger, Hofmannsthal, Kraus, Kafka,
Rilke, Schnitzler, Andrian, Otto Wagner, Freud, Mauthner, Mach, Kokoschka, Klimt,
Wittgenstein.
GERST
426 THE ANIMAL
4 credits. (also COM L 424, ENGL 426 and GOVT 427) (CA)
TR 1:25-2:40, P. Gilgen
In recent years literary representations and philosophical discussions of the
status of the animal vis-à-vis the human have abounded. In this course,
we will track the literary phenomenology of animality. In addition we will read
philosophical texts that deal with the questions of animal rights and of the
metaphysical implications of the “animal.” Readings may include,
among others, Agamben, Aristotle, Berger, the Bible, Calvino, Coetzee, Darwin,
Derrida, Descartes, Donhauser, Gorey, Haraway, Hegel, Heidegger, Herzog, Kafka,
Kant, La Mettrie, de Mandeville, Montaigne, Nietzsche, Ozeki, Rilke, Schopenhauer,
Singer, Sorabji, Sterchi, Stevens, de Waal, Wittgenstein, Wolfe. A reading knowledge
of German and French would be helpful.
GERST
457 IMAGINING THE HOLOCAUST
4 credits. (also COM L 483, ENGL 458 and JWST 458)
T 12:20-2:15, D. Schwartz
What is the role of the literary imagination in keeping the memory of the Holocaust
alive for our culture? We shall examine major and widely read Holocaust narratives
which have shaped the way we understand and respond to the Holocaust. As we
move further away from the original events, why do the kinds of narratives with
which authors render the Holocaust horror evolve to include fantasy and parable?
Employing both a chronological overview and a synchronic approach—which
conceives of the authors having a conversation with one another—we shall
discover recurring themes and structural patterns in the works we read. We shall
begin with first-person reminiscences—Wiesel's Night, Levi's Survival
at Auschwitz, and The Diary of Anne Frank—before turning to searingly
realistic fictions such as Hersey's The Wall, Kosinski's The Painted Bird, and
Ozick's The Shawl. In later weeks, we shall explore diverse kinds of fictions
and discuss the mythopoeic vision of Schwarz-Bart's The Last of the Just, the
illuminating distortions of Epstein's King of the Just, the Kafkaesque parable
of Appelfeld's Badenheim 1939, and the fantastic cartoons of Spiegelman's Maus
books. We shall also include Kineally's Schindler's List, which was the source
of Spielberg's academy award-winning film, and compare the book with the film.
GERST
452 INDEPENDENT STUDY 1-4 credits each term.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Hours to be arranged. Staff.
GERST
454 HONORS RESEARCH
4 credits.
Prerequisite: GERST 453 or equivalent.
Hours to be arranged. Staff.
DUTCH
122 ELEMENTARY DUTCH 4 credits.
Prerequisite: Dutch 121 or
permission of instructor.
MTWR 10:10-11:00, M. Briggs
Intensive practice in listening, speaking, reading, and writing basic Dutch
in meaningful contexts. The course, which is taught in Dutch, also offers insight
into Netherlandic language, culture, and society worldwide.
DUTCH
300 DIRECTED STUDIES
1-4 credits variable.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
TBA, M. Briggs
Individualized advanced Dutch studies. This course aims to provide students
with individualized programs which can be anything from advanced mastery in
any or all skills to the mastery of Dutch for research, literature and history
in support of all disciplines. Taught in Dutch.
SWED
122 ELEMENTARY SWEDISH 4
credits.
Prerequisite: Swedish 121 or permission of instructor.
MTWR 12:20-1:10, L. Trancik
Students in the course develop abilities in listening, speaking, reading and
writing within Sweden's cultural context. Work on the Internet and interactive
computer programs are used in this course.
SPECIAL INTEREST COURSES FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
GERST
632 READING ACADEMIC GERMAN II 3
credits.
Limited to graduate students. Prerequisite: GERST 631 or equivalent.
MWF 9:05-9:55, M. Reich Casad
Emphasis on development of the specialized vocabulary of student's field of
study.
GRADUATE
COURSES
GERST
630 CLASSICISM AND IDEALISM 4 Credits.
Texts in German. Anchor course.
T 12:20-2:15, D. Reese
An
introduction to some of the major poetic and philosophical texts generally considered
to be part of the period of German Classicism (1785-1805), while at the same
time giving reasons to call into question notions of periodization and the canon,
particularly as they have excluded women and lower social classes. In addition
to the basic problem of the appropriation of classic antiquity at a time marked
by the transition to bourgeois modernity, special consideration will be given
to the emergence of modern aesthetic theory. Attention will also be given to
the gender of Bildung and the workings of emergent notions of 'culture' in the
texts. Readings will be taken from the works of Goethe, Herder, Humboldt, Kant,
Moritz, and Schiller among others. While the main focus of the seminar will
be on primary texts, we will also consider contemporary criticism of the concept
of Classicism and its problems.
GERST 634 GERMAN ROMANTICISM
4 Credits
Most readings in German (though some translations exist);
discussion and papers in English. This is a German Department anchor course,
but students from other disciplines are welcome.
T 2:30-4:25, G. Waite
This graduate seminar introduces some major topics and texts in German literature,
art, criticism, political thought, and philosophy from c. 1789 to ca. 1830 in
two basic contexts: Europe between two revolutions and in subsequent critical
theory. The latter may include Marxists (on “the German ideology”
and “flight from reality”), Freudians (on “the uncanny”),
Balibar (on “the internal border” in Fichte), Heidegger (on “the
other beginning” in Hölderlin), Adorno (on “parataxis”
also in Hölderlin), de Man (on “the rhetoric of romanticism”),
Lacoue-Labarthe & Nancy (on “the literary absolute,” following
Walter Benjamin), and Deleuze & Guattari (on “the war machine”
in Kleist). But the primary focus will be on the close reading of texts, especially
literary.
GERST
662 REASSEMBLING CULTURE: MONTAGE AND COLLAGE IN WEIMAR GERMANY (also
VISST 662) 4 credits
W 2:30-4:25, P. McBride
This course will explore montage practices that gained currency in literature
and the arts in Weimar Germany and signaled a shift from a literary culture
predicated on the predominance of writing and the print media to a visual culture
made possible by new technologies. The course will pursue two interlocking objectives.
On the one hand, we will examine montage and collage as labels encompassing
disparate practices of combining, layering, and juxtaposing that destabilized
the boundaries of traditional art forms. On the other hand, we will probe the
hypothesis that montage at this historical juncture also denoted a principle
for forging individual identity in a post-humanist culture, a principle that
facilitated the negotiation of irreconcilable political, ethical, and artistic
demands. In scrutinizing the media contamination that montage and collage enact,
we will interrogate modernist theories of (aesthetic) signification, representation,
and performance in view of the challenges they posed for established relations
between the visual and the verbal, realism and abstraction, ‘high’
art and mass culture. Possible texts include works by Döblin, Schwitters,
Höch, Hausmann, Mann, Brecht, Benjamin, Heartfield, Eisenstein, Vertov,
Lissitzky, Tzara, Serner, Keun, Adorno, Duchamp, and Hans Richter.
GERST
754.1 INDEPENDENT STUDY
1-4 credits.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
Hours to be arranged. Staff
GERST
754.2 COLLOQUIUM
1-4 credits.
F 3:00-5:00
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