Courses

Courses

Spring 2009

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102. Elementary German II
Birgit Tautz M 8:30 - 9:25, W 8:30 - 9:25, F 8:30 - 9:25 Sills-107
Continuation of German 101. Equivalent of German 101 is required.

102. Elementary German II
Birgit Tautz M 1:30 - 2:25, W 1:30 - 2:25, F 1:30 - 2:25 Sills-111
Continuation of German 101. Equivalent of German 101 is required.

152. Berlin: Sin City, Divided City, City of the Future
Jill Smith M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55 Sills-Smith Auditorium
An examination of literary, artistic, and cinematic representations of the city of Berlin during three distinct time periods: the "Roaring 20s," the Cold War, and the post-Wall period. This course explores the dramatic cultural, political, and physical transformations that Berlin underwent during the 20th Century and thereby illustrates the central role that Berlin played, and continues to play, in European history and culture, as well as in the American cultural imagination. For each time period studied, the course compares Anglo-American representations of Berlin with those produced by German artists and writers, and investigates how, why, and to what extent Berlin has retained its status as one of the most quintessentially modern cities in the world. No knowledge of German is required.

204. Intermediate German II
Jill Smith M 8:30 - 9:25, W 8:30 - 9:25, F 8:30 - 9:25 Sills-207
Continuation of German 203. Equivalent of German 203 is required.

204. Intermediate German II
Jill Smith M 1:30 - 2:25, W 1:30 - 2:25, F 1:30 - 2:25 Sills-107
Continuation of German 203. Equivalent of German 203 is required.

308. Introduction to German Literature and Culture
Steven Cerf T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25 Sills-107
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.

316. Modernism: Modernist Visions
Birgit Tautz M 10:30 - 11:25, W 10:30 - 11:25, F 10:30 - 11:25 Sills-107
Discusses the extent to which modernism, its narratives, philosophy, and arts are tied to the heightened importance of vision and visual technologies around 1900, and examines modernist legacies beyond the confines of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime. Special attention is given to depictions of space (cities, e.g., “exotic lands,” the rural landscape, travel), depiction of protagonists’ interior worlds, so-called new objectivity, and the interrelation of visual arts and narrative, the development of particular visual technologies (e.g., photography, film, commercial galleries, museums, display culture), and avant-garde movements (e.g., Dada). Texts and films by the following authors, artists, filmmakers, and philosophers are read and analyzed in their historical, social, and literary contexts: Kafka, Rilke, Brecht, Benjamin, Modersohn-Becker, Simmel, Freud, Ruttmann, Murnau, Seghers, and Sebald. Combines discussion, analytical and interpretive papers, film showings, and resources of the art museum.

392. Das deutsche Lustspiel
Steven Cerf T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25 Sills-107
An examination of selected masterworks of the rare and problematic German-language comedy from the Enlightenment to Post-Unification in historical and cultural contexts. Particular attention is paid to the comedic works of Lessing, Kleist, Wagner, Hofmannsthal, Zuckmayer, Dürrenmatt and Levy. Three questions are posed: (1) Why are there so few German literary comedies? (2) How did German comedic writers—with their attention to psychological, historical, and sociological detail—form their own tradition in which they responded to each other over two centuries? (3) To what extent did writers from other cultures inspire German comedic playwrights? In addition to a close reading of texts, filmed stage productions and cinematic adaptations are examined.