|
Germanic Studies Director of Undergraduate Studies and Departmental Adviser: 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. Study Abroad 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. There are four options: (1) A program in Vienna is offered each autumn quarter. It includes three courses of Western Civilization, as well as German language instruction on a variety of levels. (2) In the spring quarter, an intensive language program in Cologne is available to students who have completed German 10200, 10300, or 10201. Students in this program are expected to complete the second year of the language. (3) The College also cosponsors, with the Berlin Consortium for German Studies, a yearlong program at the Freie Universität Berlin. In this program, students have the opportunity to study as regularly registered students at the Freie Universität or to take classes at other Berlin universities. To be eligible, students must have completed the second year of German language courses or an equivalent, and should have completed all general education requirements. (4) Students who wish to do a summer study abroad program can apply for a Foreign Language Acquisition Grant (FLAG). These grants are administered by the College and provide support for a minimum of eight weeks of study at a recognized summer program abroad. Students must have completed German 10300 or its equivalent to be eligible for FLAG support for the study of German. Proficiency Certificate It is also recommended that all students concentrating in Germanic studies complete the College's Second Language Proficiency Certificate in German. Students are eligible to take the exams that result in the awarding of this certificate if they have completed courses beyond the second year of language study and have subsequently spent a minimum of one quarter abroad in an approved program; FLAG students are also eligible. The Proficiency Certificate is documentation of advanced functional ability in German in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Program Requirements Beyond the competence needed to meet the College language requirement, students concentrating in Germanic studies normally take six additional courses in German language, six courses in German literature and culture, and a thesis tutorial. 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 satisfy the required language courses for the concentration through placement or accreditation examinations. B. A. Paper. The B.A. paper normally is a research paper of a minimum of twenty-five pages. While the paper may be written in either English or German, it must include a bibliography that makes ample use of German language sources. Students must submit an outline of their B.A. paper to their faculty adviser by the end of their junior year. Summary of Requirements College demonstrated competence in German Language equivalent to one year of college-level study Requirement Concentration 3 GRMN 20100, 20200, 20300 (second-year German)† 3 GRMN 21100, 21200, 21300 3 from GRMN 22000-22099 3 courses in German literature and culture (may be taken in other departments) GRMN 29900 (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 German who register for German 10100-10200-10300 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. paper 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. paper (German 29900) is judged superior by two readers, will be recommended to the Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division for special honors. Faculty Catherine baumann, Senior Lecturer, Department of Germanic Studies and the College Andreas Gailus, Assistant Professor, Department of Germanic Studies and the College 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 General Studies in the Humanities, Jewish Studies, and Medieval Studies, and the College KIMBERLY KENNY, Lecturer in Norwegian, Department of Germanic Studies and the College DAVID J. LEVIN, Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Studies, Committee on Cinema and Media 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, Committee on Jewish Studies, and the College; Chair, Department of Germanic Studies CHENXI TANG, Assistant Professor, Department of Germanic Studies and the College Katie Trumpener, Professor, Departments of Germanic Studies, Comparative Literature, and English Language & Literature, Committees on General Studies in the Humanities and Cinema and Media Studies, and the College Robert von Hallberg, Professor, Departments of English Language & Literature, Germanic Studies, and Comparative Literature, and the College Courses Courses numbered 10000-19900 are introductory courses. Courses numbered 20000-29900 are intermediate, advanced, or upper-level courses and are intended for undergraduates. Courses numbered 30000 and above are graduate courses and are available to undergraduate students only with the consent of the instructor. Undergraduates registered for 30000-level courses will be held to the graduate-level requirements. To register for courses that are cross listed as both undergraduate and graduate (20000/30000), undergraduates must use the undergraduate number (20000). German First-Year Sequence 10100-10200-10300. Elementary German for Beginners I, II, III. PQ for GRMN 10300: GRMN 10100-10200 or 10201, or placement, or consent of language coordinator. No auditors permitted. The goal of this sequence is to develop proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking for use in everyday communication. Knowledge and awareness of the different cultures of the German speaking countries is also a goal. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring; 10300 also Autumn, Winter. 10201. Elementary German. PQ: Placement or consent of language coordinator. No auditors permitted. This is an accelerated version of the GRMN 10100-10200 sequence for students with previous knowledge of the language. Staff. Autumn, Winter. 13100. Reading German. PQ: Knowledge of German not required. No auditors permitted. This course does not prepare students for the competency exam. 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. Second-Year Sequence 20100. Deutsche Märchen. PQ: GRMN 10300 or placement. No auditors permitted. A comprehensive look at German fairy tales, including their origin and reception, structure and role in German nineteenth-century literature, as well as their adaptation as children's books in German and English and film interpretations. This course also includes a review and expansion of German grammar, with an emphasis on the verb. Staff. Autumn, Spring. 20200. Deutsch-Amerikanische Themen. PQ: GRMN 20100 or placement. No auditors permitted. Issues may range from print or other media, to social topics such as family roles or social class, to literary genres such as exile or immigrant literature. Review and expansion of German grammar continues, with an emphasis on case. Staff. Autumn, Winter. 20300. Kurzprosa aus dem 20: Jahrhundert. PQ: GRMN 20200 or placement. No auditors permitted. A survey of short fiction in the twentieth century, including investigations of historical and cultural events of the time. Advanced review of German grammar through the study of special topics such as the passive or an overview of prepositions. Staff. Winter, Spring. Third-Year Sequence 21100, 21200. Die Gattungen. PQ: GRMN 20300 or placement. GRMN 21100 and 21200 may be taken in sequence or individually. No auditors permitted. Overview and analysis of genre, including portraits, narrative, reviews, arguments, drama, and poetry, through a variety of activities such as close reading, writing, and oral presentations. Staff. 21100: Autumn, Spring. 21200: Autumn, Winter. 21300. Deutschland im 20. Jahrhundert. PQ: GRMN 21100 or 21200, or placement. No auditors permitted. Cultural, historical, or societal issues are investigated through a variety of texts, including historical documents, journalism, literary texts, secondary literature, biographical materials, and film. Staff. Spring. Languages Across Chicago (LxC) LxC courses have two possible formats: an additional course meeting during which students read and discuss authentic source material and primary texts in German; or a course in another discipline (such as history) which is taught entirely in German. LxC courses are cross-listed in Germanic Studies and the secondary department. Prerequisite German language skills depend on the course format and content. LxC courses maintain or improve students' German language skills while giving them a unique and broadened perspective into the regular course content. Advanced Undergraduate Courses in German 22001/32000. Kleist-Stifter-Keller. PQ: Advanced standing. Nineteenth-century German literature is dominated not by the novel, as in France and England, but by the novella. In this seminar, we examine the work of three writers to articulate the poetics of this genre and reconstruct the social, political, and aesthetic problems in response to which the genre took shape. A. Gailus. Autumn. 22002/32200. Literatur und Medien. PQ: Advanced standing. This course serves a dual purpose: it introduces students to media theory and media history, and it probes the potential of media-theoretical approaches for reading literary texts. Texts are by Herder, Goethe, Rilke, Benjamin, Brecht, McLuhan, and Kittler. C. Tang. Winter. Advanced Undergraduate Courses in English 22400/32400. Introduction to Middle High German and Early New High German Texts and Cultures (=GRMN 22400/32400, LGLN 25000/35000). 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 (e.g., Hartmann von Aue, Gregorius, Johannes de Tepla, der Ackerman, and the anonymous Faustbuch of 1587). S. Jaffe. Autumn. 23100/33100. Art and Film in the Weimar Republic (=ARTH 26000/36000, CMST 22100/32100, COVA 26300, GRMN 23100/33100). This course explores the visual culture of Weimar, Germany, with particular focus on the fine arts and more popular imagery, the intersections with Weimar Cinema, and their interactions with the contemporary social and political milieus. We consider such art and film movements as expressionism, dada, and neo-objectivity; artists' groups encompassing the Bauhaus, the November Group, and the Association of Revolutionary Visual Artists of Germany; artists ranging from George Grosz and Otto Dix to Kurt Schwitters and Wassily Kandinsky; and films including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, M, and Kuhle Wampe. Screenings required. R. Heller. Autumn. 23500. Reconnecting Two German Literatures: Norwegian and German (=GRMN 23500, GSHU 22200, HUMA 20400, NORW 23500). With the exception of an occasional Ibsen drama, Norwegian literature is seriously neglected by contemporary readers and critics outside of Scandinavia. The goal of this course is to reconnect Norwegian literature to its more mainstream Germanic kin, namely, German literature. We examine examples of ground-breaking Norwegian literature from the period 1860-1910, known as the "Modern Breakthrough"; and German literature from the same period. Working comparatively, we assess the nature of the relationship between these texts, as well as the relationship between the two national literatures. Readings come from Ibsen, Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Kielland, Hamsun, and Kafka. K. Kenny. Winter. 23600/33600. Thomas Mann and the Legacy of Humanism. Among German writers and thinkers of recent vintage, it was perhaps Thomas Mann who (in his fiction, essays, and polemics) best represented the legacy and cause of humanism in its vicissitudes through the mid-twentieth century. The aim of this course is to explore the dimensions and complexity of Mannian humanism. We consider Mann's re-reading and reformulation of nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, contemporary critiques of Mann's own history, and humanism as an ideology. S. Jaffe. Winter. 23700. The Divided Heaven: The 1960s in West Germany and the German Democratic Republic (=CMST 22700/32700, GRMN 23700/41400, GSHU 21200/31200). PQ: Knowledge of German. The building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 cemented the division of Germany but it also, paradoxically, catalyzed a period of aesthetic experimentation and political ferment in West Germany and in the GDR. Beginning with the differing accounts of l961 produced on either side of the Wall, this course compares the cultural life of both Germanies, as manifested in literature and in film. Our focus is at once on aesthetic questions (i.e., late modernism, New Waves, and the relationship between avant-garde and documentary impulses) and artistic attempts to process social and political developments (i.e., the generation gap; the new, divided topography of Berlin; the Auschwitz trials, new discussions of fascism and Stalinism; and the student and feminist movements). K. Trumpener. Spring. 23800/33800. Staging Femininity: Gender as Spectacle in Opera and Film (=CMST 22300/32300, GNDR 23800, GRMN 23800/33800, MAPH 33500, MUSI 22800/31900). This course explores the relationship between cultural production and gender identity. We read a broad range of texts from contemporary cultural, performance, and film theory (e.g., Judith Butler, Catherine Clement, Mary Ann Doane, Susan McClary, Laura Mulvey, and Slavoj Zizek) and examine a number of symptomatic films and operas where gender norms become apparent through their exaggeration, violation, or suspension. Films by Josef von Sternberg (The Blue Angel, 1930), Busby Berkeley (The Gang's All Here, 1943), King Vidor (Gilda, 1946), Werner Schroeter (Death of Maria Malibran, 1972), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Lili Marleen, 1980), and Jean-Jacques Beineix (Diva, 1982); operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Marriage of Figaro), Gaetano Donizetti (Lucia di Lammermoor), and Giacomo Puccini (Turandot). Texts in English. D. Levin. Spring. 24500/34500. Franz Rosenzweig's Concept of Revelation (=GRMN 24500/34500, HIJD 34000, JWSC 33600, RLST 20900). PQ: Third- or fourth-year standing. We consider the epistemological and theological significance of Rosenzweig's concept of revelation. The readings focus on pertinent essays, letters, and, above all, on the second book of this magnum opus, The Star of Redemption. E. Santner, P. Mendes-Flohr. Winter. 24800. Franz Kafka (=FNDL 21800, GRMN 24800). This course is centered on close readings of several of Kafka's stories and short prose as well as his novel The Trial. Among the topics are the nature of literary interpretation, Kafka's view of culture and language, art and theology, art and psychology, and modernity in literature. Although selected secondary readings are considered, the main emphasis is on close readings of the assigned texts. D. Wellbery. Autumn 25000/45000. Musil: The Man Without Qualities (=FNDL 22000, GRMN 25000/45000, SCTH 41500). Robert Musil's unfinished novel, The Man Without Qualities, which is one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century German literature, paints a haunting, bleak portrait of modern life. This course offers a close reading of the work with an eye to understanding the political, amorous, and scientific aspects of the modern condition, as Musil sees it. The course is conceived as a pendant to last year's course on Mann's The Magic Mountain, but does not presuppose familiarity with that work. M. Lilla. Autumn. 25200/35200. Kierkegaard (=CMLT 24500/34500, GRMN 25200/35200, MAPH 35000, SCTH 41400). The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55), a relatively obscure figure in his own times, made a tremendous impact on twentieth-century philosophy. This course seeks to work out Kierkegaard's significance for modern thought by locating his aesthetics, ethics, and theology within the general context of the erosion of romantic-idealistic discursive networks in the 1840s. The focus is on the most productive period of his philosophical thinking from The Concept of Irony (1841) to the Postscript (1846). Students interested in reading Kierkegaard in the original will have the opportunity to receive instruction in the Danish language after each seminar session. C. Tang. Spring. 26100/36100. Kitsch (=GRMN 26100/36100, GSHU 28200/38200, SLAV 28600/38600). This course explores the concept of kitsch (and its attendants: camp, trash, and the Russian poshlost) as it has been formulated in literature and literary essays and theorized in modern critical thinking. The course is discussion intensive with readings from Theodor Adorno, Clement Greenberg, Robert Musil, Hermann Broch, Walter Benjamin, Vladimir Nabokov, Milan Kundera, Matei Calinescu, and Tomas Kulka. No prior experience of kitsch is necessary. M. Sternstein. Spring. 26200. Goethe. This course introduces students to the entire range of Goethe's writings. Readings include Die Leiden des jungen Werther, Iphigenia auf Tauris, and Faust I, as well as selected poems and autobiographical and scientific writings. D. Wellbery. Winter. 26300. Kontexte der frühen Musikethnologie (=GRMN 26300, MUSI 23000/33000). PQ: GRMN 20200 or equivalent. This seminar attempts to illuminate the emergence of scientific ethnomusicology at the end of the nineteenth century by focusing on the complex links between the fragmentation of the senses (newly available to scientific analysis) and the persistence of discursive entities such as "origin, " "race," and "history." We explore the ways in which this ambivalent modernity helped to shape a discipline that has become an integral part of contemporary musicology. Classes conducted in German; texts in German and English. S. Klotz. Autumn. 26700/36700. Literature of the Nazi Occupation of Norway (=GRMN 26700/36700, NORW 26700, SCAN 26700). The German Occupation of Norway, which lasted from April 9, 1940, to May 7, 1945, is indisputably the most significant event in modern Norwegian history. The aim of this course is to use literature of and about this period to characterize the Occupation experience in Norway. While our texts come primarily from Norwegians (e.g., Vessaas and Hoel), one novel is German (Siegfried Lenz) and another American (Steinbeck). K. Kenny. Autumn. 27200. Civilization and Its Discontents (=FNDL 27900, GRMN 27200). Neither keyword of the sociohistorical and rhetorical topos, "culture" (Kultur) and "civilization" (Zivilisation), has stood so high and at the same time so low in the esteem of intellectuals and thinking people as it does at present. Similar and allied contrapositions may be observed in the usage of Freud and his contemporaries in the first half of the past century and extending even further back, to the mid-eighteenth century. Our course aims to clarify somewhat, by way of careful textual studies, the meaning of this ambivalence as it is worked out (and through) in Freud's classic analysis and psychoanalysis of "civilization and its discontents." S. Jaffe. Winter. 28800. Power and Resistance: East Germany in Eastern Europe (=GRMN 28800, HUMA 26800) When the Eastern bloc collapsed in 1989, many understood this historical change as a liberation from repressive regimes. Viewing socialist states "from above" (as occupation regimes that were supported largely by Red Army tanks), this approach does little to explain the sudden, almost noiseless implosion of the socialist states in 1989, let alone their long-term stability. Focusing on the dissident culture of East Germany, this course examines some of the inner binding forces that held socialism together for more than forty years but also slowly eroded it. Moreover, our analyses of different forms of resistance and complicity developed in East German literature, film, underground art, queer culture, political theory, and so on, will take issue with the general assumption that intellectuals in East Germany were more conformist than their Eastern European counterparts. Placing East German dissident culture in the context of cultural productions from Czechoslovakia and Poland, we expose the historical specificity of the GDR as a state between East and West, fascism and socialism. The course is framed with a discussion of concepts of power and resistance developed inside and outside of a socialist context (texts by Wolf, Fühmann, Hein, Kirsch, Brasch, Bahro, Havel, Milosz, Michnik, Hrabal, Foucault, Kristeva, and Adorno; films by Wajda, Forman, and Beyer). A. Pinkert. Winter. 29600/39600. Kafka in Prague (=CZEC 27700/37700, GRMN 29600/39600, GSHU 27900/37900). The goal of this course is a thorough treatment of Kafka's literary work in its Central European, more specifically Czech, context. In critical scholarship, Kafka and his work are often alienated from his Prague milieu. The course revisits the Prague of Kafka's time, with particular reference to Josefov (the Jewish ghetto), das Prager Deutsch, and Czech/German/Jewish relations of the prewar and interwar years. We discuss most of Kafka's major prose works within this context and beyond (e.g., The Castle, The Trial, and the stories published during his lifetime), as well as selected critical approaches to his work. M. Sternstein. Winter. 29700. Reading and Research 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. 29900. 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. Norwegian 10100-10200-10300. First-Year Norwegian I, II, III. It is the aim of NORW 10100, 10200, and 10300 to provide students with minimal proficiency in the four language skills: speaking, reading, writing, and listening with a special emphasis on speaking. To achieve these goals, we undertake an overview of all major grammar topics and work to acquire a substantial vocabulary. K. Kenny. Autumn, Winter, Spring. 20100. Intermediate Norwegian. PQ: NORW 10300 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 reading of a contemporary novel. Classes conducted in Norwegian. K. Kenny. Winter. 23500. Reconnecting Two German Literatures: Norwegian and German (=GRMN 23500, GSHU 22200, HUMA 20400, NORW 23500). With the exception of an occasional Ibsen drama, Norwegian literature is seriously neglected by contemporary readers and critics outside of Scandinavia. The goal of this course is to reconnect Norwegian literature to its more mainstream Germanic kin, namely, German literature. We examine examples of ground-breaking Norwegian literature from the period 1860-1910, known as the "Modern Breakthrough"; and German literature from the same period. Working comparatively, we assess the nature of the relationship between these texts, as well as the relationship between the two national literatures. Readings come from Ibsen, Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Kielland, Hamsun, and Kafka. K. Kenny. Winter. 26700. Literature of the Nazi Occupation of Norway (=GRMN 26700/36700, NORW 26700, SCAN 26700). The German Occupation of Norway, which lasted from April 9, 1940, to May 7, 1945, is indisputably the most significant event in modern Norwegian history. The aim of this course is to use literature of and about this period to characterize the Occupation experience in Norway. While our texts come primarily from Norwegians (e.g., Vessaas and Hoel), one novel is German (Siegfried Lenz) and another American (Steinbeck). K. Kenny. Autumn. 27000. Contemporary Norwegian Novel (=NORW 27000, SCAN 27000). The aim of this course is to derive an image of contemporary Norway through the texts of its current novelists. Using these novels as our guide, we consider the enormous changes occurring in Norway over the last twenty years. K. Kenny. Spring. 29700. Reading and Research 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. Scandinavian 26700. Literature of the Nazi Occupation of Norway (=GRMN 26700/36700, NORW 26700, SCAN 26700). The German Occupation of Norway, which lasted from April 9, 1940, to May 7, 1945, is indisputably the most significant event in modern Norwegian history. The aim of this course is to use literature of and about this period to characterize the Occupation experience in Norway. While our texts come primarily from Norwegians (e.g., Vessaas and Hoel), one novel is German (Siegfried Lenz) and another American (Steinbeck). K. Kenny. Autumn. 27000. Contemporary Norwegian Novel (=NORW 27000, SCAN 27000). The aim of this course is to derive an image of contemporary Norway through the texts of its current novelists. Using these novels as our guide, we consider the enormous changes occurring in Norway over the last twenty years. K. Kenny. Spring.
|
