The College Catalogue

First-Year Seminars

For a full description of first-year seminars, see the First-Year Seminar section.

27 {1027} c. From Flowers of Evil to Pretty Woman: Prostitutes in Modern Western Culture. Fall 2012. Jill Smith. (Same as Gay and Lesbian Studies 27 {1027} and Gender and Women’s Studies 27 {1027}.)

[29 {1029} c. Historians, Comediennes, Storytellers: Women Filmmakers in the German-Speaking Countries. (Same as Film Studies 29 {1029}, Gay and Lesbian Studies 29 {1029}, and Gender and Women’s Studies 29 {1029}.)]

German Literature and Culture in English Translation

[151 {1151} c - ESD. The Literary Imagination and the Holocaust.]

[152 {1152} c - IP, VPA. Berlin: Sin City, Divided City, City of the Future.]

153 {1153} c - IP. Kafka and YouTube. Fall 2012. Michael Huffmaster.

The works of Franz Kafka, seen as paradigmatic of early twentieth-century literary modernism, have inspired thousands of videos on the twenty-first-century Internet platform YouTube from dozens of cultures around the world. Takes this astounding phenomenon as a springboard to explore both the workings of Kafka’s poetics and the nature of new media. Examines seminal Kafka texts with the aid of literary theoretical concepts such as defamiliarization, performativity, iterability, and dialogism, as well as linguistic concepts such as deviation, point of view, and speech and thought representation. Analyzes video adaptations of Kafka’s works on YouTube in light of features specific to the filmic medium, such as editing, staging, cinematography, spectator position, and sound. Uses YouTube as a case study to investigate the nature of new media, considering concepts such as hypertext and cybertext. Viewings of feature-length film adaptations of Kafka’s novels—Orson Welles’s The Trial (1962) and Michael Haneke’s Das Schloß (The Castle, 1997)—to gain a deeper understanding, through contrastive analysis, of the specificities of contemporary digital media. Such a comparative, cross-medial approach illuminates characteristic features both of Kafka’s work and of new media while offering unique insights into the traditional humanistic concern of textual interpretation. No knowledge of German is required.

154 {1154} c. Sport in Twentieth-Century Central European Literature and Film. Spring 2013. Edward Muston.

An in-depth study of the intersection between sport and works of art. Uses literary texts and films to explore the way sport has shaped German, Austrian, and Swiss societies, while also considering the contemporary fascination with sport in an intercultural context. Considers German sport clubs, body-culture (Körperkultur), the relationship between sport and fascism, and the role of sport in shaping and expressing national identity. By considering sport comparatively in other cultures, more general questions concerning what can be learned from sport, what values it instills, and how its thematization changes works of art will be raised. Materials could include texts by Brecht, DeLillo, Handke, Harbach, James, and Kracauer, as well as films by Eastwood, Horman, Riefenstahl, and Stölzl. No knowledge of German is required.

[156 {1156} c - ESD, VPA. Nazi Cinema: Propaganda or Entertainment?]

Language and Culture Courses

101 {1101} c. Elementary German I. Every fall. Fall 2012. Birgit Tautz.

German 101 is the first course in German language and culture and is open to all students without prerequisite. Facilitates an understanding of culture through language. Introduces German history and cultural topics. Three hours per week. Acquisition of four skills: speaking and understanding, reading, and writing. One hour of conversation and practice with teaching assistant. Integrated language laboratory work.

102 {1102} c. Elementary German II. Every spring. Spring 2013. Michael Huffmaster.

Continuation of German 101. Equivalent of German 101 is required.

203 {2203} c. Intermediate German I: Germany within Europe. Every fall. Fall 2012. Jill Smith.

Continued emphasis on the understanding of German culture through language. Focus on social and cultural topics through history, literature, politics, popular culture, and the arts. Three hours per week of reading, speaking, and writing. One hour of discussion and practice with teaching assistant. Language laboratory also available. Equivalent of German 102 is required.

204 {2204} c. Intermediate German II: German History through Visual Culture. Every spring. Spring 2013. Jill Smith.

Continuation of German 203. Equivalent of German 203 is required.

205 {2205} c - IP. Advanced German Texts and Contexts. Every year. Fall 2012. Edward Muston.

Designed to explore aspects of German culture in depth, to deepen the understanding of culture through language, and to increase facility in speaking, writing, reading, and comprehension. Topics include post-war and/or post-unification themes in historical and cross-cultural contexts. Particular emphasis on post-1990 German youth culture and language. Includes fiction writing, film, music, and various news media. Weekly individual sessions with the Teaching Fellow from the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität-Mainz. Equivalent of German 204 is required.

291c–294 {2970–2973} c. Intermediate Independent Study in German. The Department.

299 {2999} c. Intermediate Collaborative Study in German. The Department.

Literature and Culture Courses

All courses require the equivalent of German 204.

308 {3308} c - IP. Introduction to German Literature and Culture. Every year. Spring 2013. Michael Huffmaster.

Designed to be an introduction to the critical reading of texts by genre (e.g., prose fiction and nonfiction, lyric poetry, drama, opera, film) in the context of German intellectual, political, and social history. Focuses on various themes and periods. Develops students’ sensitivity to generic structures and introduces terminology for describing and analyzing texts in historical and cross-cultural contexts. Weekly individual sessions with the Teaching Fellow from the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität-Mainz.

[313 {3313} c - IP. German Classicism: Love and Passion.]

[314 {3314} c - IP. German Romanticism.]

315 {3315} c - IP. Realism and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century German Literature and Culture. Fall 2012. Michael Huffmaster.

What is revolution? What forms has it taken within German-speaking society and culture? Examines a variety of literary, cultural, and social texts from 1830 to 1900 in their broader cultural, artistic, philosophical, and political contexts. Beyond discussing the effects (both positive and negative) of the Industrial Revolution, discusses three other forms of revolution that emerge in nineteenth-century German discourse: (1) political revolution (the formation of German national identity; the rise of the socialist movement); (2) artistic revolution (the search for an artistic direction at the end of the Age of Goethe; the tensions between social realism and romanticism); (3) sexual revolution (scientific interest in “normal” vs. “abnormal” sexual behavior; the advent of the women’s movement and the questioning of gender roles). Authors/artists may include Heine, Büchner, Hebbel, Hauptmann, Andreas-Salomé, Fontane, Wagner, Marx and Engels, Bebel, Simmel, Kollwitz, Krafft-Ebing.

316 {3316} c - IP. German Modernism—Urbanity, Interiority, Sexuality. Spring 2013. Jill Smith.

Examines works of modern German literature, art, music, and film in their historical and social contexts. Analyzes the narrative modes used to deal with the interiority of modern protagonists and explores the particular urban settings in which works were conceived: Munich, Prague, Zurich, and Berlin. Familiarizes students with the intellectual history of the period by discussing the extent to which modernist writers were influenced by Nietzschean and Freudian thought and the questions of morality, sexuality, and pleasure raised by both of these thinkers. Asks why modernism is (or is perceived to be) rooted in urban settings, and how modernism became politicized during the Weimar Republic, as writers witnessed and sought to respond to the rise of Fascism. Contemporary artistic movements such as Expressionism, Dadaism, and Neue Sachlichkeit; literary texts by Brecht, Wedekind, Kafka, Mann, Rilke, Lasker-Schüler, and Kästner; musical works by Berg, Schoenberg, and Weill; and relevant films of the period.

[317 {3317} c - IP. German Literature and Culture since 1945.]

[321 {3321} c - IP. Before and After the Wall: East German Traditions in Literature, Culture, and Film.]

390–399 {3390–3399}. Seminar in Aspects of German Literature and Culture.

Work in a specific area of German culture not covered in other departmental courses, e.g., individual authors, movements, genres, cultural influences, and historical periods.

[391 {3391} c - IP. Mysticism and Modernist Ethics.]

394 {3394} c. Contemporary Austrian Literature, Drama, and Film. Spring 2013. Edward Muston.

Examines essential works of post-1945 Austrian literature, drama and film. Explores how Austrian artists attempt to come to terms with the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the legacy of collaboration with the Nazi regime. Also considers how works of art both support and call into question Austria’s cultural and national identity in terms of gender and ethnicity. Texts by Bachmann, Bernhard, Handke, Jelinek, and Mayröcker, films by Glawogger, Haneke, Kusturica, and Spielmann. All materials and course work in German.

395 {3395} c - IP. Myths, Modernity, Media. Fall 2012. Birgit Tautz.

Explores the important role that myths have played in German cultural history. While founding myths of Germanic culture (e.g., Nibelungen) are considered, focuses especially on myth in relation to fairy tales, legends (including urban legends of the twentieth century), and borderline genres and motifs (e.g., vampires, witches, automatons), as well as on questions of mythmaking. Examines why modern culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, which seemingly neglects or overcomes myths, heavily engages in mythicization of ideas (e.g., gender roles, the unnatural) and popularizes myths through modern media (film, television, the Internet), locations (e.g., cities) and transnational exchange (Disney; the myth of “the Orient”). Aside from short analytical or interpretive papers aimed at developing critical language skills, students may pursue a creative project (performance of a mythical character, design of a scholarly Web page, writing of a modern fairy tale).

[396 {3396} c - IP. Vienna, 1890–1914.]

397 {3397} c - IP. Global Germany? Fall 2013. Jill Smith.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the concomitant end of the Cold War ushered in what many cultural critics call “the era of globalization.” An exploration of how contemporary German culture (1990–present) grapples with both the possibilities and uncertainties presented by globalization. Examines a myriad of cultural texts—films, audio plays, dramas, short fiction, novels, photographs, websites—as well as mass events (i.e., the Love Parade, the 2006 World Cup) within their political, social, and economic contexts to show how Germany’s troubled past continues to affect the role it plays on the global stage and how its changing demographics—increased urbanization and ethnic diversity—have altered its cultural and literary landscape. Critically considers issues such as migration, terrorism and genocide, sex tourism, the formation of the European Union and the supposed decline of the nation-state. Frequent short writings, participation in debates, and a final research project based upon a relevant topic of individual interest are required.

[398 {3398} c - IP. Colors: Signs of Ethnic Difference 1800/1900/2000.]

401–404 {4000–4003} c. Advanced Independent Study and Honors in German. The Department.

405 {4029} c. Advanced Collaborative Study in German. The Department.