 
 
|
German Language Courses
001, 002.
Elementary German
Meets five hours a week with the individual class instructor, two
hours with student drill instructors. Strong emphasis on communicative
competence both in spoken and written German in a larger cultural
context. (Kenosian)
101, 102. Intermediate German
Thorough review of grammar, exercises in composition and conversation. Enforcement of correct grammatical patterns and idiomatic use of language. Study of selected literary and cultural texts and films from German-speaking countries. Two semesters. (Kenosian, Meyer)
Advanced Language and Literature Courses
201. Advanced Training: Language, Text, Context
Emphasis on the development of conversational, writing and interpretive skills
through an introductory study of German political, cultural and intellectual
life and history, including public debate, institutional practices, mass
media, cross-cultural currents, folklore, fashion and advertising. Course
content may vary. (Schönherr, Seyhan, Division III)
202. Advanced Training: Introduction to German Studies
Interdisciplinary and historical approaches to the study of German language and culture. Selected texts for study are drawn from autobiography, anthropology, Märchen, satire, philosophical essays and fables, art and film criticism, discourses of gender, travel writing, cultural productions of minority groups, and scientific and journalistic writings. Emphasis is on a critical understanding of issues such as linguistic imperialism and exclusion, language and power, gender and language, and ideology and language. (Meyer, Division I or III)
209. Introduction to Literary Analysis: Philosophical Approaches to Criticism
A focus on applications and implications of theoretical and aesthetic
models of knowledge for the study of literary works. (Seyhan,
Division III; cross-listed as Comparative Literature 209
and Philosophy 209)
212.
Readings in German Intellectual History: Marx Nietzsche, Freud
and the Rhetoric of Modernity
Study of selected texts of German intellectual history, introducing
representative works of Theodor W. Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Walter
Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, Jürgen Habermas, Georg W. F. Hegel,
Martin heidegger, Werner Heisenberg, Immanuel Kant, G.E. Lessing,
Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Friedrich Schiller and Ludwig
Wittgenstein. The course aims to introduce students to an advanced
cultural reading range and the languages and terminology of humanistic
disciplines in German-speaking countries, and seeks to develop
their critical and interpretive skills. (Seyhan, Division III;
cross-listed as Philosophy 204)
223. Topics in German Cultural Studies
Course content varies. Previous topics include: Kafka's Prague;
Decadent Munich 1890-1925.(Kenosian, Schlippahacke, Division I or
III; cross-listed as COML B223, HIST 247, and HART B223)
Topic for
Fall 2007: German-Jewish Literature and
Culture
This course will explore the conflicted
negotiation of German-Jewish identity in the late 18th, 19th,
and 20th centuries in the German-speaking world. It will focus
on the unique contributions that Jewish writers and artists have
made to German culture while also exploring what it means to
be "other" within the mainstream culture. We will read
and interpret works of philosophy, psychoanalysis, literature,
poetry, and music, as well as films. Course will be taught in German.
(Schlippahacke; offerered at Haverford
College)
Topic
for Spring 2008: Crime and Detection in German
Literature
The "Krimi,"
or crime narrative, is perhaps the most popular genre in contemporary
Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Narratives of crime and
detection involve the reader or spectator intimately in the
unfolding of the plot via the desire to uncover hidden truths.
The fascination with crime and the thrill of detection inform
narratives as diverse as classical detective novels and psychoanalytical
"case studies." This course will focus on the tropes
of crime and detection in order to explore the workings of narrative
and genre. The "Krimi" likewise provides a lens through
which the crimes of history can be narrated and analyzed. Within
this frame, we will read texts from a wide variety of literary
periods (the late Enlightenment, nineteenth-century poetic realism,
modernism, and postmodernism) as well as a Freudian case study.
We will also screen Fritz Lang's classic film of crime, M,
the recent Oscar-winner The Lives of Others, as well as
popular television "Krimis." Close readings of these
workds will be framed within discussions of historical contexts
within the German-speaking world. Course will be taught in German.
(Schlippahacke; offerered
at Haverford College)
227. Topics in Modern Planning: European Metropolis
(Hein) Not offered in 2007-08
231. Cultural Profiles in Modern Exile
This course investigates the anthropological, philosophical, psychological, cultural and literary aspects of modern exile. It studies exile as experience and metaphor in the context of modernity, and examines the structure of the relationship between imagined/remembered homelands and transnational identities, and the dialectics of language loss and bi- and multilingualism. Particular attention is given to the psychocultural dimensions of linguistic exclusion and loss. Readings of works by Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Milan Kundera, Salman Rushdie, Julia Alvarez, Anita Desai and others. (Seyhan, Division III; cross-listed as Anthropology 231 and Comparative Literature 231) Not offered in 2007-08.
245. Interdisciplinary Approaches to German Literature and
Culture: Sexuality and Gender in German Literature
and Film
Course content varies. Previous topics include: Women's Narratives
on Modern Migrancy, Exile and Diaspora; Sexuality and Gender in
German Literature and Film. (Meyer, Seyhan, Division III; cross-listed
as COML B245)
Topic
for Fall 2007: Sexuality
and Gender in German Literature and Film
This seminar concerns itself with discourses on sexuality and gender advanced
by German and Austrian literature and film in the 20th century. Our analyses
of the visual and narrative construction of sexuality and of masculinity and
femininity will be framed by the discussion of theoretical texts by authors such
as Sigmund Freud, Siegfried Kracauer, Michel Foucault, Luce Irigaray, Helene
Cixous, Adrienne Rich, Teresa De Lauretis, Judith Butler, Jessica Benjamin, Judith
Halberstam, and Tim Dean. We will screen G.W. Pabst's "Pandora's Box," Leontine
Sagan's "Maedchen in Uniform," Liliana Cavani's "The Night Porter," Rainer
Werner Fassbinder's "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant," Valie Export's "Menschenfrauen," and
Michael Haneke's "The Piano Teacher." We will read literary texts by
Arthur Schnitzler, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, Ingeborg Bachmann, Verena Stefan,
and Elfriede Jelinek. Class discussions will be held in English. For German speakers,
additional sessions conducted in German will be offered on a regular basis. (Division
III; cross-listed with Feminist and Gender Studies and with Film Studies.)
Topic
for Fall 2006: Nation
and Identity in Post-War Austrian Literature
262. Global Masculinities: The Male
Body In Contemporary Cinema
This course will explore masculinity in a variety of national cinemas.
what are the parameters for representations of male bodies in contemporary
film? How do cinematic representations of male bodies differ from
those of female bodies? Have the modes representations shifted
with the rise of "global cinema"? How have the phenomena of feminism,
post-feminism, migration, globalization and new media influenced
contemporary representations of maleness? We will examine these
questions through an analysis of a variety of films that reflect
the contours of "global cinema." (Schlipphacke , Division III;
cross-listed as Comparative Literature 262)
299. Cultural Diversity and Its Representations
A focus on representations of “foreignness” and “others” in
selected German works since the 18th century, including
works of art, social texts and film, and on the cultural productions
of non-German writers and artists living in Germany today. (Seyhan,
Division I or III) Not offered in 2006-07.
305. Modern German Drama: Faust: Approaches to Legend in Literature,
Drama and Film
Theory and practice of dramatic arts in selected plays by major
German, Austrian and Swiss playwrights from the 18th century to
the present.
Course content varies. Previous topics include Representations
of Family in German Drama.
(Meyer, Seyhan, Division III)
308.
Political Transformation in Eastern and Wester Europe: Germany and
Its Neighbors
This course examines the many recent changes in Europe through the lens of German
politics. From the two world wars to the Cold War to the East European revolutions
of 1989 and the European Union, Germany has played a pivotal role in world politics.
We will identify cultural, political and economic factors that have shaped this
role and analyze Germany's actions in the broader context of international politics.
(Hager; cross-listed as POLS 308)
320. Topics in German Literature: No Place Like Home:
Nostalgia in German and American Literature and Film
Course content varies. Previous topics include Romantic
Literary Theory and Literary Modernity, The Experience
of the Foreign in German Culture, Configurations of Femininity
in German Literature, and Nietzsche and Modern Cultural Criticism.(Meyer,
Schlipphacke, Seyhan, Division III; cross-listed
as COML B320, HEBR B320 and HART B320) Not offered in 2007-08.
321B.
Advanced Topics in German Cultural Studies: Kafka's Prague
Course content varies. Previous topics include: Masculinity and Femininity in
German Cinema; Berlin in the 1920's; Vienna 1900; and Gender in German Literature
and Film, 1900-2000. (Kenosian, Division III; cross-listed as CITY 319)
321H. Literature and New Media
The emergence of new acoustic, visual, and electronic media
since the late 19th-century has dramatically changed the
status of writing, textuality and literature. Focusing on
modernist as well as contemporary texts, the seminar will
reconstruct the changing intermedial relationship between
the book and its technologically advanced “other” from
the print-based medium to the latest digital “hypertext” novel. (Schönherr)
329.
Wittgenstein
(Koggel, Division III; cross-listed as PHIL 329) Not offered
in 2007-08
348.
Topics in German Art
(Hert, Division III) Not offered in 2007-08
380.
Topics in Contemporary Art
(Saltzman, Division III; cross-listed as HART 380 and HEBR 380) Not offered
in 2007-08
399. Senior Conference (staff)
403. Independent Study (staff)
In addition to courses that focus on the study of German language,
culture and civilization offered by the Department of German, courses
relating to any aspect of German culture, history and politics
given in other departments can count toward requirements for a
major or minor in German Studies. This is particularly true of
courses in Comparative Literature, Feminist and Gender Studies,
Film, Growth and Structure of Cities, History, History of Art,
Music, Philosophy, Politi- cal Science and Theater.
Topics
for 2007/08
212.
Readings in German Intellectual History: Marx Nietzsche,
Freud and the Rhetoric of Modernity
Mondays:
1:00-3:30 pm (Spring Semester 2008)
Azade Seyhan
Study of selected
texts of German intellectual history, introducing representative works of G.
E. Lessing, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Schiller, Georg W. F. Hegel, Karl Marx,
Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Martin Heidegger, Werner Heisenberg, Theodor
W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Hannah Arend and Jürgen
Habermas. The course aims to introduce students to an advanced cultural reading
range and the languages and terminology of humanistic disciplines in German-speaking
countries, and seeks to develop their critical and interpretive skills. (Meyer,
Schönherr, Seyhan, Division III; cross-listed as Philosophy 204)
GERMAN
245 Interdisciplinary Approaches to German Literature
and Culture
Mondays: 1-3:00 pm (Fall Semester 2007)
Imke Meyer
Course content varies. Topic for Fall 2007: Sexuality and Gender
in German Literature and Film. Previous topics include: Women's
Narratives on Modern Migrancy, Exile and Diaspora; Nation and
Identity in Post-War Austria. (Meyer, Seyhan, Division III; cross-listed
as COML B245)
GERMAN
321 Advanced Topics in German Cultural Studies: Kafka's
Prague
Tuesdays: 2-4:00 pm (Spring Semester 2008)
David Kenosian
Course content varies. Previous topics include: Masculinity
and Femininity in German Cinema; Berlin in the 1920s; Vienna
1900; and Gender in German Literature and Film, 1900-2000. (Kenosian,
Division III; cross-listed as CITY B319)
Topics for 2006/07
GERMAN 223 Global Masculinities: The Male Body in Contemporary Cinema
Mondays: 7-9:30 pm (Spring Semester 2007)
Heidi Schlipphacke
This course will explore masculinity in a variety of national cinemas. What are the parameters for representations of male bodies in contemporary film? How do cinematic representations of male bodies differ from those of female bodies? Have the modes of representation shifted with the rise of a notion of a "global cinema"? How have the phenomena of feminism, post-feminism, globalization and new media influenced contemporary representations of maleness? We will read seminal Western texts on masculinity and visual representation (Lessing, Freud, Lacan, et al) as well as texts focusing on non-Western masculinities (Sinha, Eng, et al), and queer masculinities (Dean, Lane et al). Films by Alexander Payne, Andrei Zvyagintsev, R.W. Fassbinder, Park Chan-wook, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Pedro Almodóvar, Yang Zhang, Alain Berliner, Nicole Kassell, among others.
GERMAN 320: No Place Like Home: Nostalgia in German and American Literature and Film
Tuesdays: 2:00-4:00 pm (Spring 2007)
Heidi Schlipphacke
This course will focus on nostalgia and its emotions in contemporary German-language and American cultures. We will compare the notions of nostalgia and home in the Western culture most burdened by its recent history (Germany) with their cultural manifestations in the United States, a nation defined by its rejection of history. Nostalgia has been called an "historical emotion" that is quintessentially European (Svetlana Boym). Yet the American theorist Fredric Jameson has shown how nostalgic artifacts prevail in contemporary American culture. Within the history-laden space of modern Europe, nostalgia reflects a desire for a lost home, yet the revival of nostalgia in American culture might likewise represent a longing for history. Although the longing for an untainted past or home is common to both cultures, post-fascist German culture must resist the desire for a time of innocence preceding Nazism, for this form of nostalgia would constitute forgetting. In this course, we will analyze theoretical texts (Boym, Georg Lukacs, Peter Brooks, Jean Starobinski, Arjun Appadurai, Frederic Jameson, et al), literary works (Robert Menasse, Birgit Vanderbeke, Michael Cunningham, Art Spiegelman, et al), and films (David Lynch, Todd Haynes, Wolfgang Becker, Ernst Marischka, et al) from the American and German-language contexts, reflecting on the ways in which globalization has further complicated notions of home.
Topics for 2004/05
GERM 223/CITIES 230:Kafka's Prague: German Writing from the Czech Metropolis
Prof. David Kenosian
Class time: M 1:00-3:30 (Fall 2004)
Between 1880 and 1930, Prague became a city of stark contrasts for German writers native to the city, above all for German-speaking Jews such as Franz Kafka. As one of the urban centers of central Europe, Prague offered access to cultural innovations unfolding across Europe. But at the same time, urban renewal challenged the Germans' sense of belonging and their belief in historical progress. We will look at the literary visions of the city and modern life forms to see how German writers attempted to negotiate the rapidly changing cultural landscape of Prague. We will take an interdisciplinary approach to this question and related topics such as utopias/dystopias of the home, the function of the fantastic, the role of contending notions of community, and the quest for an imaginary or intellectual home as an expression or antithesis of nationalism.
GERM 245/COML 245: Sexualities and Gender in 20th-Century German Literature and Film
Prof. Imke Meyer
This seminar concerns itself with discourses on sexuality and gender advanced by German and Austrian literature and film in the 20th century. Our analyses of the visual and narrative construction of sexuality and of masculinity and femininity will be framed by the discussion of theoretical texts by authors such as Sigmund Freud, Siegfried Kracauer, Michel Foucault, Luce Irigaray, Helene Cixous, Adrienne Rich, Teresa De Lauretis, Judith Butler, Jessica Benjamin, Judith Halberstam, and Tim Dean. We will screen G.W. Pabst's "Pandora's Box," Leontine Sagan's "Maedchen in Uniform," Liliana Cavani's "The Night Porter," Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant," Valie Export's "Menschenfrauen," and Michael Haneke's "The Piano Teacher." We will read literary texts by Arthur Schnitzler, Robert Musil, Thomas Mann, Ingeborg Bachmann, Verena Stefan, and Elfriede Jelinek. Class discussions will be held in English. For German speakers, additional sessions conducted in German will be offered on a regular basis. Cross-listed with Feminist and Gender Studies.
GERM 299: Diaspora Film in Germany
Professor Azade Seyhan
Cross-listed with Comp Lit. Limited to 15.
The contemporary heirs to the New German Cinema have emerged from the diverse diaspora communities permanently settled in reunited Germany. Since the end of the Cold War, more than seven million residents from various national backgrounds have made Germany their home. Though for the large part politically disenfranchised, these émigrés, exiles, guest workers, and refugees have embraced various forms of "cultural citizenship." Their artistic productions have lent a variegated vitality to German art, literature, theater, and, most significantly, film. Films by non-German writer/directors have greatly contributed to what is arguably the most creative epoch of German film since the New German Cinema. In this course, we'll study how questions of national and ethnic identity, cultural and linguistic heritage, community and personal memory, and exclusionary representations of others are articulated and critically analyzed in feature, documentary, and essay films by both German and non-German directors. Critical texts on film as well as diaspora literature will constitute the basis for class discussion and writing assignments. There will be weekly film screenings. Those taking the course for German credit will have additional two hours for further discussion and will view newer films without subtitles. Critical Texts: Iain Chambers, Migrancy, Culture, Identity (Selections); Timothy Corrigan, The New German Film: The Displaced Image (Selections); Thomas Elsaesser, New German Cinema: A History (Selections); Sabine Hake, German National Cinema (Selections); Amin Maalouf: On Identity (Selections); Hamid Naficy: An Accented Cinema (Selections). Theoretical texts by W. Benjamin, S. Freud, G. Deleuze, F. Guattari, J. Lacan, S. Zizek. Sample Films: Fatih Akin, Kurz und schmerzlos (Short and painless); Solino; Im Juli (In July); Yilmaz Arslan, Yara (The Wound); E. K. Ataman, Lola and Billy the Kid; Tevfik Baser, Forty Square Meters of Germany; Lebe wohl, Fremde (Farewell, Stranger); Harun Farocki, How to Live in the German Federal Republic; Still Life; R.W. Fassbinder: Ali, Angst essen die Seele auf (sic.) (Ali, Fear Eats the Soul); Peter Sehr, Das serbische Mädchen (The Serbian Girl); Kadir Sören, Winterblume (Winter Flower). Requirements: Regular class and film attendance; Shared responsibility for each film discussion (groups of 2-3); Film Journal (critical entries for each film); Final Paper on a Comparative topic.
GERM 321/CITY 319: Berlin in the 1920s
Prof. Meyer
This course will concern itself with films and literary works produced in and about Berlin in the 1920s, as well as the broader socio-historic context in which these works are situated. We will examine competing political discourses in the Weimar Republic and ask how and to what extent the unstable social and political climate of the time period is reflected in films, theater, and novels. Our discussions will be supported by theoretical texts by Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin, Peter Gay, and Anton Kaes. We will screen Robert Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" and "M," Walter Ruttmann's "Berlin: Symphony of a City," Joseph von Sternberg's "The Blue Angel," G.W. Pabst's "The Threepenny Opera," and Leontine Sagan's "Maedchen in Uniform." We will read literary texts by Bertolt Brecht, Marieluise Fleisser, Alfred Doeblin, and Erich Kaestner.
 Home
|
