Germanic Studies

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 Cologne (for students in their first year of German). The College also 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). Beginning in the fall of 1999, a program in Vienna will be offered each autumn quarter. It will include three courses of Western Civilization, as well as a German language course offered on the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels. It is also recommended that all students complete the College's Second Language Proficiency Certificate in German.

Beyond the competence needed to meet the College language requirement, students concentrating in Germanic studies normally take five additional courses in German language, seven 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.

Concentration

3	German 201-202-203 (second-year German)†
2	German 210, 212
4	German 220 and above (literature and culture)
3	courses in German literature and culture (may be taken in other departments)
-	B.A. paper
12

† Credit may be granted by examination.

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 two readers, will be recommended to the Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division for special honors.

101-102-103. Elementary German for Beginners. PQ: Knowledge of German not required. No auditors permitted. German 103: Placement or consent of language coordinator. 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; German 103 will also be offered Autumn, Winter.

110. Reading German. 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. Spring.

121-122. Elementary German. PQ: Placement test or consent of language coordinator. No auditors permitted. This 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.

201. Intermediate German. PQ: German 103 or 122, or equivalent. No auditors permitted. 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. Classes conducted mostly in German. Staff. Autumn, Spring.

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. Autumn, Winter; 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.

243. Judaic Civilization III: Pariahs, Parvenus, and the "People of the Book:" The German-Jewish Experience (=German 243, Hum 202, JewStd 202/312). The aim of this course is to explore interactions between Jews and Christians in Germany from the sixteenth through the twentieth century. We discuss the pressures exerted upon Jewish people over this long historical period and, more importantly, the latter's resourceful and creative responses to such pressures. Among authors read are Moses Mendelssohn, Immanuel Kant, Heinrich Heine, G.W.F. Hegel, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Rahel Varnhagen, Karl Marx, Hannah Arendt, Sigmund Freud, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, and Yehudah Amichai. S. Jaffe. Spring.

267/367. Norwegian Literature of the Occupation (=German 267/367, Norweg 267, Scand 267). This course considers Norwegian literature composed both during and after the German Occupation from April 9, 1940, to May 7, 1945, and seeks to characterize the Occupation experience in Norway. Texts include Sigurd Hoel's Meeting at the Milepost, Aksel Sandemose's The Past is a Dream, Tarjei Vesaas' The House in the Darkness, and Sigrid Undset's Happy Days in Norway. K. Kenny. Autumn.

268/368. Multikulturelle Literatur im heutigen Deutschland (=German 268/368, 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. It focuses on the "old" minorities (e.g., the Jews) who take on new meaning in present-day Germany, as well as on the voices of the "new" minorities (e.g., 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. Winter.

270. Realitätsverlust: Deutsche Prosa der Jahrhundertwende. PQ: Advanced knowledge of German. Is it possible to "fall out of the world?" To experience a radical break in one's sense of reality and still speak, still write? German prose authors of the last turn of the century returned to such experiences of psychic catastrophe with obsessive regularity. Through close readings of prose texts by Kafka, Hofmannsthal, R. Walser, and Schnitzler, among others, we examine this obsession and try to situate it within the context of other cultural, social, and political currents. Readings and discussion in German. E. Santner. Winter.

271/369. As the Century Turns: German and Scandinavian Art and Culture around 1900 (=ArtH 270/370, German 271/369). PQ: Any 100-level ArtH or COVA course. Offered in conjunction with companion courses in German and Norwegian literature. Decadence and death, anxiety and decay, sickness and neurosis, sexuality and anarchy, renewal and rebirth, vitalism and health, secession and renaissance, new life and new art: these are among the concerns that marked art and culture around 1900 in Germany and Scandinavia as one century ended and a new one came into being. This course focuses on the career, work, and milieu of Edvard Munch as a means of investigating the close artistic, literary, and musical relationships between Northern and Central Europe. Ranging from Arnold Böcklin, Christian Krohg, and Gustav Klimt to Henrik Ibsen, Knut Hamsun, Thomas Mann, and Stefan George, we trace the thematics of the turn-of-the-century. R. Heller. Winter.

272/373. Reading Course: As the Century Turns, German and Scandinavian Art and Culture around 1900. PQ: One year of college German or the equivalent and concurrent enrollment in German 271/369. As part of the Languages Across the Curriculum program and in conjunction with German 271/369, we read and analyze works from and about the German turn-of-the-century. Texts in German; discussion in German and English. K. Kenny. Winter.

281/362. Henrik Ibsen: Father of Modern Drama (=GS Hum 241/347, German 281/362, Norweg 281, Scand 281). In this course we consider examples from every phase of Ibsen's career: the early nationalist verse plays, the well-known "problem" dramas, and the later psychological plays. Texts include Peer Gynt, A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, and John Gabriel Borkman. K. Kenny. Spring.

285. The Modernist Child (=ComLit 249, Eng 249, GS Hum 216, German 285). PQ: Knowledge of German helpful but not required. Drawing both on modernist classics and on children's literature, this course explores the experience and meaning of childhood in early twentieth-century Europe. Our course focuses on texts from Britain and from Central Europe, comparing the ways they describe children's relationship to the city and to family life, the acquisition of language, and the experience of socialization. Texts by Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginia Woolf, May Sinclair, Dorothy Richardson, E. Nesbit, A. A. Milne, P. L. Travers, Frank Wedekind, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Thomas Mann, Erich Kästner, Bertolt Brecht, and Ödön von Horváth. Texts in English and the original. K. Trumpener. Spring.

288/388. Literary Expressionism (=GS Hum 219/319, German 288/388). PQ: Reading knowledge of German and consent of instructor. Representative examples of the literary component of the movement that flourished between 1910 and 1925 are read, analyzed, and discussed, both with regard to their intrinsic merit and peculiarity and in light of the cultural, social, and political context from which they arose. An attempt is also made to examine literary expressionism as part of a historical continuum, to link it to its precursors and to show its effects on subsequent literary developments. Drama and lyric poetry are the genres in which expressionism found its most characteristic reflection and they constitute most of the reading list, but narrative prose and expository writings are not excluded. Some readings in German; classes conducted in English. P. Jansen. Autumn.

292/392. Freud as Humanist (=GS Hum 276/376, German 292/392, JewStd 292/392). PQ: Reading knowledge of modern German helpful. The aim of this course is to situate Freud within the tradition of humanism and, in so doing, to complicate the historical profile of "humanism" as well as "Freud." The latter is read as an interpreter and critic in the sense of the nineteenth-century humaniora; as a reconstructionist in the sense of nineteenth-century historiography; and as an ambivalently humanistic moralizer, politicizer, and liberalizer of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century psyche. One hour of discussion in German optional. S. Jaffe. Spring.

294. The Sublime, the Fantastic, and the Uncanny (=GS Hum 231, German 294). An exploration of three major topics of extraordinary experience in literature and theory. Fascination with these topics has led to imaginative speculation and rational experimentation about notions of the capacities and limitations of the human mind. The course retraces one trajectory of speculative reflection from the eighteenth to the twentieth century as it passes through critical philosophy, fantastical tales, psychoanalytic theory, expressionist novels, and beyond. Authors include Kant, Freud, Hoffmann, Gotthelf, Kafka, and Meyrink. Works of film, music, and art are also considered. Texts in English and German; classes conducted in English. E. Schwab. Autumn.

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.

324. Introduction to Middle High German and Early New High German Texts and Cultures (=German 324, LngLin 350, MdvStd 324). PQ: Consent of instructor. Basic reading knowledge of modern German. This course serves as an introduction to classic Middle High German and Early New High German texts and as an introduction to pre-modern textual and cultural studies in general. Readings include selections belonging to texts and traditions that bridge the gap between pre-modernity and modernity, for example, Hartmann von Aue, Gregorius, Johannes de Tepla, der Ackerman, and the anonymous Faustbuch of 1587. S. Jaffe. Autumn.

349. Eastern European New Waves (=CMS 244/344, ComLit 220/320, EEuro 249/349, German 349, Russ 349). PQ: Knowledge of an Eastern European language or (film) culture helpful but not required. Throughout Eastern Europe, New Wave filmmaking emerged in the late 1950s as part of a larger political and cultural de-Stalinization process and in response to earlier modes of Communist film culture. This course follows the attempts of filmmakers to reform socialism (and the cinema as an institution), and their search for a form adequate to describe political life and historical experience in their full complexity. Screenings include films from Poland (Wajda, Zanussi, Skolimowski, and Kieslowski); the Soviet Union (Kalatozov, Paradjanov, and Kozintsev); the German Democratic Republic (Wolf, Beyer, and Klein); Hungary (Jancsó, Makk, Kovács, Meszáros, and Tarr); Czechoslovakia (Nemec, Forman, Chytilová, and Jakubisko); and Yugoslavia (Makavejev). Films subtitled. K. Trumpener. Spring.

374. Dr. Faust and His Women: Three Variants (=Fndmtl 279, GendSt 274, GS Hum 390, German 374). PQ: Consent of instructor. Reading knowledge of modern German helpful but not required. Starting with a comparative analysis of "Dr. Faust's women" in the anonymous Faustbuch of 1587, Goethe's Faust I and II, and Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus (1947), this course attempts to explore the psychoanalytical, cultural, and sociopolitical dimensions of thematic material that cuts across the boundaries between pre-modernity, modernity, and post-modernity. S. Jaffe. Winter.

379. Representing the Holocaust. PQ: Restricted to graduates and advanced undergraduates. 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. E. Santner. Winter.

101-102-103. First-Year Norwegian. 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. Winter.

267. Norwegian Literature of the Occupation (=German 267/367, Norweg 267, Scand 267). This course considers Norwegian literature composed both during and after the German Occupation from April 9, 1940, to May 7, 1945, and seeks to characterize the Occupation experience in Norway. Texts include Sigurd Hoel's Meeting at the Milepost, Aksel Sandemose's The Past is a Dream, Tarjei Vesaas' The House in the Darkness, and Sigrid Undset's Happy Days in Norway. K. Kenny. Autumn.

272. Reading Course: As the Century Turns: German and Scandinavian Art and Culture around 1900 (=Norweg 272, Scand 272). PQ: One year of college-level Norwegian or the equivalent, and concurrent enrollment in German 271/369. As part of the Languages Across the Curriculum program and in conjunction with German 271/369, we read and analyze works from and about the Norwegian turn-of-the-century. Included are readings by Ibsen and Hamsun, and art historical and critical writings by Andreas Aubert and Jens Thiis. Texts in Norwegian; discussion in Norwegian and English. K. Kenny. Winter.

281/362. Henrik Ibsen: Father of Modern Drama (=GS Hum 247/347, German 281/362, Norweg 281, Scand 281). In this course we consider examples from every phase of Ibsen's career: the early nationalist verse plays, the well-known "problem" dramas, and the later psychological plays. Texts include Peer Gynt, A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, and John Gabriel Borkman. K. Kenny. Spring.

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.

267. Norwegian Literature of the Occupation (=German 267/367, Norweg 267, Scand 267). This course considers Norwegian literature composed both during and after the German Occupation from April 9, 1940, to May 7, 1945, and seeks to characterize the Occupation experience in Norway. Texts include Sigurd Hoel's Meeting at the Milepost, Aksel Sandemose's The Past is a Dream, Tarjei Vesaas' The House in the Darkness, and Sigrid Undset's Happy Days in Norway. K. Kenny. Autumn.

272. Reading Course: As the Century Turns: German and Scandinavian Art and Culture around 1900 (=Norweg 272, Scand 272). PQ: One year of college Norwegian or the equivalent and concurrent enrollment in German 271/369. As part of the Languages Across the Curriculum program and in conjunction with German 271/369, we read and analyze works from and about the Norwegian turn-of-the-century. Included are readings by Ibsen and Hamsun, and art historical and critical writings by Andreas Aubert and Jens Thiis. Texts in Norwegian; discussion in Norwegian and English. K. Kenny. Winter.

281. Henrik Ibsen: Father of Modern Drama (=GS Hum 247/347; German 281/362, Norweg 281, Scand 281). In this course we consider examples from every phase of Ibsen's career: the early nationalist verse plays, the well-known "problem" dramas, and the later psychological plays. Texts include Peer Gynt, A Doll's House, Ghosts, Hedda Gabler, and John Gabriel Borkman. K. Kenny. Spring.