Featured Courses for Spring 2023
GERMAN 89S: Ethical Dilemmas in Philosophy and Literature
Mon/Wed 10:15-11:30am
Prof. Henry Pickford
GERMAN 210: Intermediate Conversation Practice
Tues 7:00-8:15pm
Prof. Nick Jones
Develop speaking skills for everyday language interactions, including expressing opinions and formulating arguments. Grade based on participation, vocabulary quizzes, role plays. Prerequisite: German 101 and 102 (or equivalent). Enrollment in German 203 or 204 encouraged but not necessary. Does not satisfy the foreign language requirement, or requirements for German major/minor.
German 262: Romantic Fairy Tales: Literary and Folk Fairy Tales from Grimms to Disney
Wed/Fri 10:15-11:30am
Prof. Jakob Norberg
German fairy tales of the Romantic era, including both the "literary fairy tales" by known authors and the "folk fairy tales" commonly deemed children's literature. Comparisons to other fairy tale traditions, notably by Perrault and Basile, providing a broader context and perspective. Comparison to the Disney contributions elucidating our own preconceptions and prejudices. Special attention to the literary, feminist, and historical elements of the fairy tale genre. Taught in English.
GERMAN 266S: Virtual Realities: Collective Dreams from Plato to Cyberspace
Tu/Th 12:00-1:15pm
Prof. Sarah Pourciau
What is "virtual reality"? If something is real, isn't it also always actual, and if virtual, only almost or nearly real? What strange, hybrid no-mans-land lies midway between truth and illusion, and how can we learn to navigate inside this space? The puzzle is an old one, even if the technology we call VR is new. In this course, we will read, watch, and play our way through some of the most powerful attempts to understand humanity's penchant for collective dreaming: from Plato's allegory of the cave, to the immersive spectacles of baroque theater, to the ghostly realms of gothic literature and modern film, to the invention of cyberspace and parallel universe games.
GERMAN 306S: Advanced German II: Text and Context
Mon/Wed 3:30-4:45pm
Prof. Amy Jones
Development of advanced German language proficiency, with particular attention to written expression. Emphasis on stylistic variation, complex grammatical structures, and lexical sophistication (vocabulary building). Analysis of authentic texts from a variety of genres will provide the basis for practice in creative, descriptive, narrative, argumentative, and analytical writing. Prerequisite: German 204 or equivalent. Not open to native speakers of German.
GERMAN 310: Advanced Conversation Practice
Tues 7:00-8:15pm
Prof. Nick Jones
Practice speaking in wide array of formal and informal situations. Expand vocabulary and idiomatic speech. Topics include current events, practical needs, German culture, using authentic texts from variety of media and genre. Grade based on participation, quizzes, presentations. Prerequisite: German 204 (or equivalent). Does not satisfy the foreign language requirement, or requirements for German major/minor.
GERMAN 340S: Contemporary Culture through the German Media Landscape
Wed/Fri 3:30-4:45pm
Prof. Andrea Larson
This course examines contemporary cultural trends in German society through the lens of the German media landscape. Students will continue to develop their competencies in German at an advanced level by discussing and analyzing current issues and debates, with an emphasis on vocabulary building through oral and written response and analysis. Topics will vary based on current events, but may include politics, arts and entertainment, business, education, multiculturalism, Germany’s role in Europe and the world, among others. Recommended prerequisite: German 303, 305, 306, or permission of instructor.
GERMAN 381S: Mapping Jewish Modernism
Tu/Th 12:00-1:15pm
Prof. Kata Gellen and Prof. Saskia Ziolkowski
Students research Jewish modernism through questions of geography and movement, pointing to the many places where modern Jewish art has been created and the experiences of migration, exile, diaspora, and resettlement that shaped this work. We discuss the varieties of ways that different art forms, including literature, theater, music, art, film, architecture, and dance, can be mapped. We analyze mapping in terms of the movements of people (artists, authors, and directors), of objects (paintings, literature, performances, and films), and within the works themselves. Work with the Rubenstein Library will lead to projects that contribute to an exhibit in Perkins Library and a digital site.
GERMAN 387: Germany Confronts Nazism and the Holocaust
Tu/Th 1:45-3:00pm
Prof. Kata Gellen
The ways in which official German culture comes to terms with its Nazi past. Background reading in history and politics; primary focus on films, dramas, novels, and poetry, as well as public memorials, monuments, and museums. Authors treated include: Wolfgang Borchert, Rolf Hochhuth, Peter Weiss, Ruth Klüger. Taught in English.
GERMAN 425S: German Underworlds
Tu/Th 3:30-4:45pm
Prof. Sarah Pourciau
This course will investigate German theories about what lies beneath: is it hell or the subterranean foundations that keep our world from collapsing? A product of nature or culture? The origin of art or the death of all that is human? And should we go looking for it under mountains, or at the center of the modern city? We will take our examples from the German literature, film, and philosophy of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and we will use them to pose questions about the role of unseen depths in the history.