Bryn Mawr College

Courses

Current Course Schedule

German Language Courses

GERM B&H001, B&H002 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. (Brust, Kenosian, Meyer, Language Level 1)

GERM B&H101, B&H102 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, Schönherr, Seyhan, Language Level 2)

Advanced Language and Literature Courses

GERM H201 Advanced Training: Language, Text, Context
Emphasis on the development of conversational, writing, and interpretive skills through an introductory study of German cultural, intellectual, and political life and history, including literature, film, public debate, institutional practices, mass media, pop culture, cross-cultural currents, and folklore. Course content may vary. (Schönherr, Division I or III)

GERM B202 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, history, 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)

GERM B209 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)

GERM B212 Readings in German Intellectual History
Study of selected texts of German intellectual history, introducing representative works of thinkers such as 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 terminologies of humanistic disciplines in German-speaking countries, and seeks to develop their critical and interpretive skills. Course content varies. Topic for Spring 2010: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and the Rhetoric of Modernity. Previous topics include: The Enlightenment and Its Critics (Meyer, Schönherr, Seyhan, Division III; cross-listed as PHIL B204)

• Topic for Spring 2008: Marx Nietzsche, Freud and the Rhetoric of Modernity
  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) 

GERM H215 Survey of German Literature
This course introduces selected periods and genres of German-language literature in a European and/or global context. Course content varies. (Brust, Kenosian, Division III)

• Topic for Fall 2009: Introduction to Postwar Germany

  The seminar is designed to give a broad overview of the various aesthetic trends which have shaped contemporary German-speaking literature. Focusing on representative works--including prose, drama, and poetry--this course will retrace and engage with the historical role of literature in the German speaking world over time, and access the importance of German literature in the current era of globalization and mass communication. (Brust)

GERM B&H223 Topics in German Cultural Studies
Course content varies. Topic for Fall 2009: Writing Nations: Africa and Europe. Topic for Spring 2010: History in European and Middle Eastern Literature. Previous topics include: Kafka’s Prague; Decadent Munich 1890-1925. (Brust, Kenosian, Division I or III; cross-listed as CITY B247, COML B223, HART B223, and HIST B247)

• Topic for Fall 2009: Writing Nations: Africa and Europe.  This course will explore ideas of nation-building in, as well as the transnational relations between Europe and Africa: nation, state, and nation-state, and their relationship to nationalism as a political theory/ideology. In our discussions, we will investigate ideas of the nation state along the lines of race, class, and gender, while taking into account the roles that politics, economics, history, literature, and modern media play within the formation of nation states. Furthermore, we will scrutinize how contemporary ideas of the European Union, the African Union, and of a Global Union are discursively constructed and possibly conflict with conventional perceptions of nation states. Finally, we will contemplate how globalization challenges nation states. Cross-listed in Comparative Literature. (Brust)

• Topic for Spring 2007: 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 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.

• Topic for Fall 2004: Kafka's Prague: German Writing from the Czech Metropolis
  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 H224 Topics in German Visual Culture
Course content varies. Topic for Spring 2010: New German Cinema. (Brust, Division III)

• 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)

• 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)

GERM B231 Cultural Profiles in Modern Exile: Ethnographies of Memory: Women’s Narratives on Modern Migrancy, Exile, and Diaspora
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 multi-lingualism. Particular attention is given to the psychocultural dimensions of linguistic exclusion and loss. Readings of works by Julia Alvarez, Anita Desai, Sigmund Freud, Milan Kundera, Friedrich Nietzsche, Salman Rushdie, and others. (Seyhan, Division III; cross-listed as ANTH B231 and COML B231)

GERM B245 Interdisciplinary Approaches to German Literature and Culture
Course content varies. (Meyer, Division III; cross-listed as COML B245)

• Topic for Fall 2009: Nation and Identity in Post-War Austrian Literature and Film
• 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

• Topic for Fall 2005: Sexualities and Gender in 20th-Century 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, 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 B262 Film and the German Literary Imagination
Course content varies. Previous topics include: Foreign Affairs: Travel in Post-War German and Austrian Film; Global Masculinities: The Male Body in Contemporary Cinema. (Meyer, Seyhan, Division III) Not offered in 2009-10.

GERM B299 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. Topic for Spring 2009: Middle Eastern Cultures in Contemporary Germany. (Seyhan, Division I or III; cross-listed as CITY B299 and COML B299) Not offered in 2009-10.

• Topic for Fall 2006:  Diaspora Film in Germany
  

  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 B303 Modern German Prose
This course focuses on selected genres, periods, and/or themes in German-language narratives. It also asks about the ways in which narratives create and shape meanings, identities, and histories that both reflect and deeply affect the cultural contexts from which they emerge. The course also situates selected German prose fiction in a European and/or global context. Course content varies. Topic for Fall 2009: Tall Tales: Modern German Prose Fiction 1795-2000. (Meyer, Division III)

GERM B305 Modern German Drama
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: Dangerous Liaisons: Monogamy and Polygamy in Modern German Drama; Faust: Approaches to Legend in Literature, Drama, and Film; Representations of Family in German Drama. (Seyhan, Meyer, Division III; cross-listed as COML B305) Not offered in 2009-10.

GERM B308 Political Transformation in Eastern and Western 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)

GERM B310 Topics in German Literature
Course content varies. Previous topics include: Decadent Munich: 1890-1925. (Kenosian, Division III; cross-listed as CITY B322) Not offered in 2009-10

GERM B320 Topics in German Literature and Culture
Course content varies. Previous topics include: Contemporary German Fiction; Romantic Literary Theory and Literary Modernity; Configurations of Femininity in German Literature; and Nietzsche and Modern Cultural Criticism. (Meyer, Schönherr, Seyhan, , Division III; cross-listed as COML B320, ENGL B320, HART B320, and HEBR B320) Not offered in 2009-10.

• Topic for spring 2007: No Place Like Home: Nostalgia in German and American Literature and Film
  

  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.

GERM B321 Advanced Topics in German Cultural Studies
Course content varies. Topic for Spring 2010: Picturing Gender: Masculinity and Femininity in German Cinema. Previous topics include: Vienna 1900; Berlin in the 1920s; and Kafka’s Prague. (Kenosian, Meyer, Schönherr, Seyhan, Division III; cross-listed as CITY B319 and COML B321)

• Topic for Spring 2005: Berlin in the 1920s
  

  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.

GERM H359 Music—Text—Performance
This course explores the rich and diverse representation of music in all its socio-aesthetic complexity from antiquity to the present. The thematic scope will range from mythological, philosophical, and religious interpretations of music through issues of gender, race, and politics in literature and opera, to theories of media, operatic performances, and psychoanalytical implications of voice and sound. (Schönherr, Division III; cross-listed as COML 359)

GERM B348 Topics in German Art
(Hert, Division III) Not offered in 2007-08

GERM B380 Topics in Contemporary Art
(Saltzman, Division III; cross-listed as HART B380 and HEBR B380) Not offered in 2009-10.

GERM B&H399 Senior Seminar
(Kenosian, Meyer, Schönherr, Seyhan)

GERM B403 Supervised Work
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.

GERM B421 German for Reading Knowledge
This course will provide graduate and undergraduate students with the skills to read and translate challenging academic texts from German into English. We will quickly cover the essentials of German grammar and focus on vocabulary and constructions that one can encounter in scholarly writing from a variety of disciplines. Does not fulfill the Language Requirement. (Kenosian)