Germanic Studies
Director of Undergraduate Studies and Departmental
Adviser:
Peter Jansen, Wb 215, 702-8547, pjansen@midway.uchicago.edu
Coordinator for Language Courses in German: Hildegund
Ratcliffe, C 505, 702-8017, hratclif@midway.uchicago.edu
Secretary for German in the College: Vreni Naess,
Cl 25F, 702-8494,
v-naess@uchicago.edu
E-mail: german-department@uchicago.edu
World Wide Web: http://humanities.uchicago.edu/humanities/german/german.html
Program of Study
The concentration program for the Bachelor of Arts degree in Germanic studies is intended to provide students with a highly personalized and wide- ranging introduction to the language, literature, and culture of German-speaking countries and to various methods of approaching and examining these areas. It is designed to be complemented by other areas of study, such as anthropology, art history, comparative literature, economics, film studies, history, philosophy, political science, and sociology.
Students planning to concentrate in Germanic studies are urged to spend at least one quarter in a German-speaking country as early in their course of study as possible. The College presently sponsors a spring quarter program in Weimar (for students in their first year of German) and cosponsors, with the Berlin Consortium for German Studies, a yearlong program in association with the Freie Universität Berlin (for students who have completed German 203 or reached an equivalent level of language competence). It is also recommended that all students complete the University's certificate of competency in German.
Program Requirements
Beyond the courses needed to establish a basic knowledge of the German language (German 201 or equivalent), students concentrating in Germanic studies normally take four additional courses in German language, five courses in German literature and culture, and a thesis tutorial. The department wishes to provide students with a variety of courses that both prepare them well for their field of concentration and permit them to pursue special interests in other, but related, areas. Some students may wish to concentrate in Germanic studies, but with a focus in another area. Such students might count some relevant German-oriented courses in other departments in the humanities or social sciences toward the requirements of the concentration in Germanic studies. Students must establish any individual program of study with the assistance and approval of the departmental adviser.
Students may reduce the number of language courses
required for the concentration through placement or accreditation examinations.
A B.A. paper is required for the completion of the concentration in Germanic studies. A proposal should be submitted to the director for undergraduate studies during autumn quarter of the senior year.
Summary of Requirements
German| German 101-102-103 and 201 or German 121-122 and 200 (or equivalent) |
Concentration
|
2 |
German 202-203 (or equivalent) |
|
2 |
German 210, 212 |
|
4 |
German 220 and above (literature and culture) |
|
3 |
German literature and culture courses (may be taken in other departments) |
|
- |
B.A. paper |
|
11 |
Grading. The following policies pertain to grading:
1. Students concentrating in Germanic studies must take a letter grade in all courses taken as part of their concentration requirements.
2. Students not concentrating in Germanic studies and not fulfilling a language requirement have the option of taking courses in the department on a P/N basis.
3. Students with previous background in Germanic studies who register for German 101-102-103 without the permission of the department will be graded only P/N or P/F.
Honors. Special honors are reserved for those graduating seniors who achieve overall excellence in grades for courses in the College and within the concentration, and complete a B.A. thesis that shows proof of original research or criticism. Students with an overall grade point average of at least 3.0 for College work and a grade point average of at least 3.5 in classes within the concentration, and whose B.A. thesis (German 299) is judged superior by the two readers, will be recommended to the Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division for special honors.
Faculty
ANDREAS GAILUS, Assistant Professor, Department of Germanic Studies and the College
SANDER L. GILMAN, Henry R. Luce Professor of the Liberal Arts in Human Biology; Professor, Departments of Germanic Studies, Psychiatry, and Comparative Literature, Committee on Jewish Studies, and the College; Chair, Department of Germanic Studies
REINHOLD HELLER, Professor, Departments of Art History and Germanic Studies, Committee on the Visual Arts, and the College
SAMUEL P. JAFFE, Professor, Department of Germanic Studies, Committees on Jewish Studies, Medieval Studies, and New Collegiate Division, and the College
PETER K. JANSEN, Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Studies and the College
KIMBERLY KENNY, Lecturer for Norwegian, Department of Germanic Studies and the College
HILDEGUND RATCLIFFE, Senior Lecturer, Department of Germanic Studies and the College
ERIC L. SANTNER, Harriet and Ulrich E. Meyer Professor of Modern European Jewish History, Professor, Department of Germanic Studies, and the College
KATIE TRUMPENER, Associate Professor, Departments of Germanic Studies, Comparative Literature, English Language & Literature, Committee on General Studies in the Humanities, and the College
ROBERT VON HALLBERG, Professor, Departments of English Language & Literature, Germanic Studies, and Comparative Literature, and the College
Courses
101-102-103. Elementary German for Beginners. PQ: Knowledge of German not required. No auditors permitted. The aim of the course is to teach students how to communicate in German, and to do so as accurately as possible. It enables them to express ideas in simple sentences, to comprehend ideas expressed through the vocabulary and the structures acquired, to understand simple German prose on nontechnical subjects, and to write short passages about a familiar topic without the help of a dictionary. At the same time, the course seeks to convey knowledge about German-speaking countries and aspects of their everyday culture, and to familiarize the students with major issues of contemporary life in those societies. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
110. Reading German. This course does not fulfill any part of the Common Core foreign language requirement. This course prepares undergraduates with no previous experience in German to do research in German. By the end of the quarter, students should have a fundamental knowledge of German grammar and a basic vocabulary. While the course does not teach conversational German, the basic elements of pronunciation are taught so that students can understand a limited amount of spoken German. Staff. Winter.
121-122. Elementary German. PQ: Placement test or consent of Hildegund Ratcliffe. No auditors permitted. Together with German 200, this sequence fulfills the Common Core foreign language requirement. This sequence is an accelerated version of the German 101-102-103 sequence, building on students' previous knowledge of German. The objectives are identical to those of German 101-102-103. Staff. Autumn, Winter.
200. Intermediate German (Variant A). PQ: German 122. No auditors permitted. Together with German 121 and 122, this course fulfills the Common Core foreign language requirement. The course objectives are identical to those of German 201. Classes conducted mostly in German. Staff. Spring.
201. Intermediate German (Variant B). PQ: German 103 or 122, or equivalent. No auditors permitted. This course fulfills the Common Core foreign language requirement. Intensive review and practice in reading, writing, understanding, and speaking German. Short readings acquaint students with aspects of culture and the current situation in German-speaking countries. Some readings are chosen according to students' interests, with the sections geared to three tracks: humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students should register for the track that corresponds to their interests. Classes conducted mostly in German. Staff. Autumn.
202-203. Advanced Intermediate German. PQ: German 201 or equivalent. No auditors permitted. This course refines skills in reading, writing, understanding, and speaking German. It serves as an introduction to literary analysis through readings of modern German writers and acquaints students with nonfiction writings of contemporary prose, including articles from major German newspapers and magazines. It includes discussion of the current situation in German-speaking countries. Readings are supplemented by audio and visual materials as appropriate. Classes conducted mostly in German. Staff. Winter, Spring.
210, 212. German Conversation and Composition. PQ: German 203 or equivalent. No auditors permitted. This two-course sequence is designed to make the transition from intermediate German to upper-level literature and culture courses. The courses are based on selected readings of increasing length, complexity, and intellectual challenge grouped around a theme chosen by the individual instructor. Classes conducted in German.
210. German Conversation. The course stresses the development of speaking skills through oral presentations and class discussions based on readings, tapes, films, videos, television, and radio programs. Staff. Autumn.
212. German Composition. Special emphasis is placed on writing correct German prose through frequent and varied assignments based on class readings. Staff. Winter.
235. German and Norwegian Literature: Reconnecting Two Germanic Literatures (=GS Hum 209, German 235, Hum 204, Norweg 235). This course explores the intrinsic, yet neglected, relationship between modern German and modern Norwegian literature. Examining the period from approximately 1870 to 1933, we expose not only the undeniable connections between the two modern traditions, but also, in particular, the substantial impact of Norwegian literature's so-called "modern breakthrough" on German literature of the period. Classes conducted in English; texts in English and the original. K. Kenny. Autumn.
240-241-242. First Year Yiddish through Literature I, II, III (=EEuro 240-1-2, German 240-241-242, JewStd 237-238-239, LngLin 240-241-242). PQ: May be taken in sequence or individually. The first quarter is devoted to an overview of Yiddish grammar through the reading of a series of short poems in the original. The second and third quarters are devoted to developing active knowledge of Yiddish through continued reading, grammar drill, and conversational practice. H. Aronson. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
257/457. Manifestations of Modernism: The Year 1913 (=ArtH 267/367, COVA 258, German 257/457). PQ: Any 100-level ArtH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. Classical modernism reached its apogee immediately before World War I. In an effort to review the works, issues, and critical theories of modernism in its multiplicity and diversity, and also to test the historical validity of the concept of modernism, this course examines key defining exhibitions of the 1912 to 1914 period, including the second Post-Impressionist Exhibition in London, the Cologne Sonderbund Exhibition, the first Fall Salon in Berlin, and the Armory show in New York. Works included in these exhibitions, as well as related works and critical responses to them, are considered. R. Heller. Autumn.
262. Scandinavian Silent Cinema (=CMS 222, German 262, Norweg 262, Scand 262). This course introduces both the film production of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark during their "golden age" from approximately 1910 to 1930, and the major issues of silent cinema. We view films by directors such as Christensen, Dreyer, Gad, Sjøstrom, and Stiller in light of both stylistic and political issues of silent film, paying particular attention to such themes as the development of narrative techniques and cinematic styles, the cinematic public sphere, the treatment of gender, and the roles of the actor and the director in the process of film production. We consider the relationship between technology, narration, and national community. H. Herzog. Winter.
268. Multikulturelle Literatur im heutigen Deutschland (=ComLit 312, German 268, JewStd 268/368). PQ: Advanced knowledge of German. The class examines the literary and cinematic cultures of the "New" Federal German State in the light of their representation of "minorities" and the response by those groups. We focus on the "old" minorities (such as the Jews) who take on new meaning in present-day Germany, as well as on the voices of the "new" minorities (such as the African-Germans, Arab-Germans, and Turkish-Germans). We examine the rethinking of the category of "multiculturalism" in Germany after 1989. Texts and films in German. S. Gilman. Spring.
282. Weimar Bodies: Fantasies about the Sexualized Body in Weimar Art, Literature, Science, and Medicine (=ArtH 268, COVA 257, GendSt 268/368, German 282, HiPSS 244). PQ: Advanced standing. Knowledge of German helpful but not required. This class concentrates on defining the relationship between "high" art images of the sexualized human body in avant-garde German culture from 1919 to 1933 and parallel or contradictory representations of the body in the scientific (anthropological, sociological, and biological), as well as the medical illustrations of the same period. The core ideas of the class are drawn from an exhibition of the same name that will be on view at the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art during the length of the course. S. Gilman. Autumn.
284. Representing the Holocaust (=German 284, Hum 275, JewStd 284). This course examines historiographical, literary, and philosophical efforts to grasp the background, meaning, and consequences of the attempt by Nazi Germany at a so-called "final solution" of the Jewish Question in Europe. Attendance at a campus conference on the Holocaust from November 14 through 16 required. E. Santner. Autumn.
296/396. Erzählung und Krise: die deutsche Novelle (1790 bis 1914). PQ: Advanced knowledge of German. How to tell the new and strange, that which cannot be explained in terms of given rules and familiar narratives? The working thesis (or hypothesis?) of this seminar is that the German novella emerges and unfolds precisely in response to this problem of narrating the unknown. We look at various forms of the strange and unknown in novellas written between 1790 and 1914 (revolution, technology, madness, secrecy, etc.); analyze the narrative strategies the texts employ to talk about things one can presumably not talk about; and think about the intertwinement of narrative, social, and psychological crises that is a constant of the genre. Texts are by Moritz, Goethe, Kleist, Tieck, Hoffmann, Büchner, Stifter, Storm, Thomas Mann, Einstein, and Freud. Texts and classes in German. A. Gailus. Spring.
297. Individual Reading Course in German. PQ: Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies. Students must consult with an instructor by the eighth week of the preceding quarter to determine the subject of the course and the work to be done. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
299. B.A. Paper. PQ: Fourth-year standing. Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
310. Old English (=Eng 149/349, German 310). This course aims to provide the student with the linguistic skills and historical and cultural perspectives necessary for advanced work on Old English. C. von Nolcken. Autumn.
352. Deutsche Lyrik des 19. Jahrhunderts. PQ: Reading knowledge and advanced understanding of German and consent of instructor. Selected German poems from the period, beginning with the Romantic movement and ending with impressionism and neo-Romanticism, are analyzed and interpreted in both content and structure, emphasizing their interdependence. While the main objective is a close reading of individual poems, it is hoped that their juxtaposition allows their literary and cultural historical contexts to emerge and illuminate the rich and heterogeneous fabric of the literary period in question. Lectures in German; discussions in German and English. P. Jansen. Winter.
370. Sigmund Freud: Psyche and Society (=German 370, HiPSS 245, Philos 345, SocTh 308). PQ: Advanced standing. This course is an introduction to Freud through an examination of his major works on culture and society. The course examines the dynamic interactions between the individual psyche and society, and it explores the possibility of extending psychoanalytic ideas to the analysis of social, political, and religious experience. Texts include Totem and Taboo, the Schreber Case, Civilization and Its Discontents, Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, and Moses and Monotheism. J. Lear, E. Santner. Winter.
381. Theory and Practice of Literary Translation. PQ: Knowledge of German or other European language, and consent of instructor. Although work in class is predominantly text-based, this is not a "how-to" course. The problematics of the very concept of translation are examined in historical and epistemological terms. Questions of linguistic register, of historical distance (for example, the most advantageous way of rendering a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century text in another language), and genre-specific issues are treated with reference to sample texts. P. Jansen. Autumn.
387. Aesthetic Theories: Lessing to Romanticism (=GS Hum 325, German 387). PQ: Reading knowledge of German helpful. This course introduces students to the major primary works in German aesthetic theory of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. We read texts by Lessing, Herder, Kant, Schiller, Schlegel, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. Some of the issues we consider are the erotic nature of aesthetic attraction, the relationship of art to truth and morality, limits of aesthetic representation, the concept of aesthetic autonomy, and art and ideology. Texts in English and the original. A. Gailus. Spring.
394. Freud and Nietzsche (=Fndmtl 296, GS Hum 383, German 394, Hum 279, JewStd 294/394). This course pursues a comparative analysis of the genesis, structure, and implications of Freudian and Nietzschean thought. Special attention is paid to issues of individual and cultural identiy (sexual, disciplinary, professional, religious, and political) as they emerge from the close reading of two texts: Freud's Moses and Monotheism and Nietzsche's On the Advantages and Disadvantages of History for Life. Texts in English and the original. S. Jaffe. Autumn.
399. Arts of Love and Books of Marriage from Sappho and Solomon to Freud and Lou (=GS Hum 384, German 399, Hum 283, JewStd 296/396). This course seeks to resuscitate a classic gender issue (love and marriage) within the textual, cultural, and historical contexts of two "theoretical" genres that have both reflected and helped to shape it: the ars amandi and the Ehebuch. Texts in English and the original. S. Jaffe. Winter.
400. Franz Rosenzweig (=German 400, JewStd 400). PQ: Reading knowledge of German. E. Santner. Autumn.
475. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (=Fndmtl 278, German 475, Philos 375). PQ: Prior philosophy course. This course begins with a general investigation of the nature of Kant's critical enterprise as revealed in the Critique of Pure Reason and other texts. We then examine selected parts of the Critique of Pure Reason with a view to achieving a fuller understanding of the work. M. Forster. Autumn. (IV)
481. Romantic Idealism: Fichte, Schelling, and Schlegel (=CFS 374, German 481, Hist 254/354, HiPSS 274, Philos 379). Knowledge of German helpful. R. Richards. Autumn.
101-102-103. First-Year Norwegian. This course sequence fulfills the Common Core foreign language requirement. The aim of this course sequence is to provide students with a practical foundation in reading, writing, and speaking Bokmaal, the dominant written and spoken language in Norway, and to introduce them to present-day Norwegian and Scandinavian culture and society. Language labs are at least one hour a week in addition to scheduled class time. K. Kenny. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
204. Intermediate Norwegian. PQ: Norweg 103 or consent of instructor. This course combines intensive review of all basic grammar with the acquisition of more advanced grammar concepts. Students undertake readings pertaining to culture and contemporary Norwegian life, as well as short literary selections. Classes conducted in Norwegian. K. Kenny. Spring.
235. German and Norwegian Literature: Reconnecting Two Germanic Literatures (=GS Hum 209, German 235, Hum 204, Norweg 235). This course explores the intrinsic, yet neglected, relationship between modern German and modern Norwegian literature. Examining the period from approximately 1870 to 1933, we expose not only the undeniable connections between the two modern traditions, but also, in particular, the substantial impact of Norwegian literature's so-called "modern breakthrough" on German literature of the period. Classes conducted in English; texts in English and the original. K. Kenny. Autumn.
262. Scandinavian Silent Cinema (=CMS 222, German 262, Norweg 262, Scand 262). This course introduces both the film production of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark during their "golden age" from approximately 1910 to 1930, and the major issues of silent cinema. We view films by directors such as Christensen, Dreyer, Gad, Sjøstrom, and Stiller in light of both stylistic and political issues of silent film, paying particular attention to such themes as the development of narrative techniques and cinematic styles, the cinematic public sphere, the treatment of gender, and the roles of the actor and the director in the process of film production. We consider the relationship between technology, narration, and national community. H. Herzog. Winter.
297. Individual Reading Course in Norwegian. PQ: Consent of instructor and director of undergraduate studies. Students must consult with the instructor by the eighth week of the preceding quarter to determine the subject of the course and the work to be done. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
262. Scandinavian Silent Cinema (=CMS 222, German 262, Norweg 262, Scand 262). This course introduces both the film production of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark during their "golden age" from approximately 1910 to 1930, and the major issues of silent cinema. We view films by directors such as Christensen, Dreyer, Gad, Sjøstrom, and Stiller in light of both stylistic and political issues of silent film, paying particular attention to such themes as the development of narrative techniques and cinematic styles, the cinematic public sphere, the treatment of gender, and the roles of the actor and the director in the process of film production. We consider the relationship between technology, narration, and national community. H. Herzog. Winter.