 German Courses
61A Modern Metropolis: Berlin
Todd Presner TR 11:00-12:15
This course focuses on the cultural, political, architectural, and urban history of one of the most vibrant and significant cities in the world. As the locus for the two major conflicts of the 20th century (the Second World War and the Cold War), Berlin has played a major role in configuring the modern world. But far from limited to just the 20th century, students will explore Berlin over 800 years using an innovative digital mapping tool called “HyperCities” to understand how Berlin evolved from a fortified mercantile town to a global city. In the process, students will create their own maps using Google and publish hypermedia research projects on the HyperCities platform. No prior computer skills are necessary for this course. 110 Special Topics in Modern Literature and Culture (formerly 116)
The Fall of the Berlin Wall, Twenty Years After
Christine Kanz TR 2:00-3:15
2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. The year 1989 represents a milestone in the history not only of Germany, but of Europe and the world. The Fall of the Berlin Wall also serves as the official date marking the end of the Cold War: the Iron Curtain was lifted, and East met West once again. This lecture will focus on literary, artistic, and cinematic, and televisual representations of cultural identities in Germany after 1989. We will deal e.g. with the following questions: How has German culture changed since the events of 1989? How do citizens of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) look back on their lives under an oppressive regime? How have artists, writers, and directors captured the contradictions and conflicts of the post-Wall and post-Cold War period? How have they created experimental or postmodernist texts and art forms that focus on the events of 1989 and the post-1989 period (as motif, metaphor, allegory, or plot)? What kind of cultural work do aesthetically less advanced texts and movies perform? Readings include texts by T. Brussig, J. Hensel, and P. Schneider; movies to be discussed are "Heroes Like us" and "The Lives of Others" and the documentaries "Leipzig in the Fall" and "The Wall"; art and music examples include graffiti art and East German punk rock. For more information click here. 152 Conversation and Composition on Contemporary German Culture and Society I (formerly 130A)
Magdalena Tarnowska
Requisite: course 6. Structured around themes as they emerge in contemporary German texts ranging from news magazine articles to literature, with emphasis on speaking and writing proficiency. Presentation software featured. 164 Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Studies (formerly 144)
Wolfgang Nehring TR
Presentation of major texts from Romanticism to realism. Works by Kleist, Büchner, Heine, Fontane, and others.
140 Language and Linguistics (formerly 150)
Christopher Stevens TR 12:30-1:45
Requisite or corequisite: course 6. Theories and methods of linguistics, with emphasis on structure of modern standard German, its phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Other topics include diachronic, spatial, and social variation of German (i.e., its historical development, dialectology, and sociolinguistic dimensions). 201C Theories of Literary Interpretation
Christine Kanz M 2:00-4:50
Advanced analysis and discussion of various models of literary interpretation and schools of thought such as hermeneutics, psychoanalytic criticism, social historical approaches, semiotics, structuralism, and poststructuralism. Topics vary with instructor. For more detailed information click here. 260 Seminar: Modern Period
Berlin, Space Theory, and Cultural Studies
Todd Presner W 2:00-4:50
Despite its fraught and deeply layered history, Berlin has played a comparatively small role in the development of “space theory” with cultural studies. One need only think of the significance of Paris for thinkers such as David Harvey or Walter Benjamin, or New York for Michel de Certeau, or Los Angeles for Fredric Jameson and Edward Soja. The purpose of this course is to evaluate the significance of Berlin for understanding the “spatial turn” within cultural studies. To do so, we will turn to several different media, including historical maps and topographies, works of literature, art and architecture, and digital representations of the city. Readings include: E.T.A. Hoffmann, Heinrich Heine, Alfred Döblin, Walter Benjamin, Joseph Roth, Albert Speer, Emine Özdamar, Daniel Libeskind, with additional studies of particular places within Berlin such as the Holocaust memorial, Potsdamerplatz, the Scheunenviertel, and Marzahn as well as representations in new media such as Google Earth and HyperCities. Students will produce and publish their research projects on the HyperCities website.
495 Approaches to Foreign Language Pedagogy
Magdalena Tarnowska
Issues include development of current theories of second-language acquisition, effects of these theories on language teaching, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, assessment techniques, use of multimedia in foreign language pedagogy, and design of syllabi for basic foreign language courses.
Winter 2010 50B Great Works of German Literature in Translation: Romanticism to Present
Hans Wagener MWF 10:00-10:50
Study and analysis of selected masterworks in English translation, including authors such as E.T.A. Hoffmann, Heine, Fontane, Rilke, Kafka, Brecht, Thomas Mann, Hesse, Grass, Böll, and Christa Wolf. 59 Holocaust in Film and Literature
Todd Presner TR 12:30-1:45
History of Holocaust and its present memory through examination of challenges and problems encountered in trying to imagine its horror through media of literature and film. M70 Origin of Language
Christopher Stevens TR 2:00-3:15
Theoretical and methodological issues surrounding origin of language. Topics include evolutionary theory, evolution of man, how language is organized in brain, and science of language, including physiology of speech, phonetics, and comparative reconstruction. 98T Sex and the City in Vienna 1900: Dreams, Anxiety, and Sexuality in Freud and His Circle (CUTF-Course)
Ivett Guntersdorfer/Wolfgang Nehring TR 11:00-12:15
In 1900, Vienna was the capital of the Habsburg dynasty, a vibrant industrial city, and a one of the cultural centers of Europe. This pulsating metropolis was not only a highly developed industrial and commercial city, but also the place of dreams, anxiety and sexuality. This seminar will focus on representations of human emotions in the works of Viennese authors and artists at the beginning of the 20th century. We will closely examine, compare and critique literature and theoretical works, as well as visual art, city planning and architecture. The course will also draw attention to contrasting conceptualizations of emotions in the media, film and theories of the 21st century. Students will also learn vital academic research skills: from the initial step of acquiring knowledge from a variety of different sources through writing a persuasive academic paper.109 Jewish Question and German Thought
Todd Presner M 9:00-11:50
Analysis of works that represent process of Jewish assimilation, disenfranchisement, and extermination, including authors such as Mendelssohn, Heine, Kafka, Paul Celan, Nelly Sachs, Anne Frank, and others. 153 Conversation and Composition on Contemporary German Culture and Society II
Magdalena Tarnowska MWF 1:00-1:50
Requisites: courses 6, 130A. Structured around themes as they emerge in contemporary German texts ranging from news magazine articles to literature, with emphasis on speaking and writing proficiency. Presentation software featured. 165 Introduction to Modern Literature
Wolfgang Nehring TR 9:30-10:45
Analysis of selected modern works written between 1890 and 1945, including texts by authors such as Thomas Mann, Kafka, Rilke, Brecht, and others. C172 Linguistic Theory and Grammatical Description
Robert S. Kirsner TR 2:00-3:15
Requisite: course 150 or Linguistics 20. Problems in structure of Dutch and German, considered from theoretical frameworks such as sign-oriented linguistics, functional linguistics, discourse grammar, and cognitive linguistics. Discussion of formal linguistic approaches. C238 Linguistic Theory and Grammatical Description
Robert S. Kirsner TR 2:00-3:15
Requisite: course 150 or Linguistics 20. Problems in structure of Dutch and German, considered from theoretical frameworks such as sign-oriented linguistics, functional linguistics, discourse grammar, and cognitive linguistics. Discussion of formal linguistic approaches. 258 Seminar: Romanticism
Goethe und die Romantik
Wolfgang Nehring W 2:00-4:50
Die Romantiker haben die Person und die Werke Goethes bewundert und umworben. Zugleich haben sie versucht, ihre eigene Position von derjenigen Goethes abzusetzen. Kein Werk hat wie Goethes Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre romantische Nachfolge gefunden und romantische Kritik angeregt. Goethe stand seinerseits den meisten Romantikern wohlwollend gegenüber, aber er nahm Anstoß an der Tendenz zum Katholizismus, besonders in der Auseinandersetzung um die bildende Kunst. Hier entstanden lang andauernde Kontroversen. Wir wollen im Seminar die Grundprinzipien von Klassik und Romantik erarbeiten sowie literarische und künstlerische Verwandtschaft und Gegensätzlichkeit diskutieren. Goethe, Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel, Tieck und Hoffmann werden mit Theorie und Praxis im Mittelpunkt stehen, aber auch Goethes Nähe zur volkstümlichen (sogen. Heidelberger) Romantik wird in den Blick kommen.
Spring 2010 Tentative Schedule 57 Hollywood and Germany
Andrew Hewitt
Examination of images of Germany generated by Hollywood, cultural/historical interface between Hollywood and Germany, and contemporary critiques of long-standing relationship between these cultural sites. Discussion of how and why cultural stereotypes are generated and maintained, and why film is uniquely powerful tool in ideological discourse. 102 War, Politics, Art
Wolfgang Nehring
Analysis of interrelationship between politics, social conditions, and arts with respect to war. World Wars I and II and German history to be used as model for principal questions of society and philosophical thinking. 104 German Film in Cultural Context: New German Film
Andrew Hewitt
Survey of German film since 1960 in its thematic and stylistic diversity. Films authored by Werner Herzog, Fassbinder, and Margarethe von Trotta are juxtaposed with commercial comedies of 1990s. Film discussions enhanced by interactive media. 111 Thomas Mann, Hesse, Böll, and Grass: German Nobel Prize Winners in Literature in English
Hans Wagener
Survey of Nobel Prize-winning German texts with eye for degree to which these authors' visions reflect Nobel's ideals of peace and progress of human race. Texts include "Weavers" (Hauptmann), excerpts from "Buddenbrooks" (Mann), and "Siddharta" (Hesse). Viewing of films based on "Lost Honor of Katharina Blum" and "Tin Drum." 173 Advanced Study of Modern Literature
Hans Wagener
Requisite: course 130A. Naturalism, Expressionism, and other early 20th-century literary movements and works. 141 Current Topics in Germanic Linguistics
Christopher Stevens
Requisite: course 130A. In-depth investigation of one topic in field of Germanic linguistics, such as phonetics and phonology, morphology and syntax, semantics and pragmatics, social and spatial variation (i.e., sociolinguistics and dialectology of German), or history of German. 202B Readings in Middle High German Literature
James A. Schultz
Introduction to medieval German literature and literary history and to use of contemporary theory in study of medieval texts. Continued practice in reading Middle High German, although most texts to be read in modern translation. 210A Naturalism, Symbolism, and Expressionism
Hans Wagener
Analysis of selected works (poetry, drama, prose) of early modernism from Hauptmann to Kafka. Discussion of sociological spectra and pluralism of styles and forms. 233 Old Saxon
Christopher Stevens
Introduction to study of earliest documents in Old Low German. Readings in "Helíand" and study of "Old Saxon Genesis."
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