Faculty of Arts & Sciences

Development of reading proficiency for students with little or no knowledge of German. Emphasizes translation of academic German prose into English.

Aims at enhancing students' proficiency in all four skills, with special emphasis on speaking/discussion. The course also offers a thorough grammar review. Course materials consist of literary and non-literary texts and films that address a broad range of cultural topics.

A complete second-year course in one term for students with a basic knowledge of German. Focuses on enhancing students' proficiency in all four skill areas with special emphasis on speaking/discussion. Extensive vocabulary-building exercises, a thorough grammar review, and an introduction to various cultural topics of the German-speaking countries through the use of literary and non-literary texts, Internet, multimedia resources, and film.

Advanced instruction in German through systematic study of the rules of grammar, their nuances, and their exceptions. Application of this knowledge through readings of short selections of sophisticated texts (Goethe, Kant, Kleist, Heine, Marx, Nietzsche, Kafka, Mann) prepares students for courses and other work requiring advanced German reading comprehension. This course is prerequisite to advanced German speaking and writing, which students can then pursue in German 62.

Immersion into German language and culture through German Kabarett of the 20th century. Introduction to the writing and performance techniques of German cabaret artists, including the analysis of comedic skits, political and social satire, parody, and humorous poetry. The final project involves a performance of a Kabarett revue.

The course focuses on central texts in 20th-century German literature. Readings include works by Freud, Rilke, Kafka, Brecht, Celan, Bachmann, Bernhard, Jelinek, and Muller. The course provides an historical overview, introduces core concepts in literary analysis, and sharpens German reading and writing skills.

Advanced reading in topics not covered in regular courses.

This course examines female expression in literature from the German speaking area in the Middle Ages and comprises Yiddish literature as well as Middle High and Middle Low German texts. We focus on thorough close readings and the history of textual transmission in secular and religious spheres. The women's voices shall be enacted in a performance at the end of the term.

Major movements in German literature and thought from the mid-18th to early 19th century: Enlightenment, Sentimentalism, Storm and Stress, Classicism, Romanticism. Readings include Kant, Klopstock, Lessing, Goethe, Lenz, Schiller, Holderlin, Kleist, Schlegel, Novalis.

Examines the Western secular tradition through the work of three seminal figures whose critiques of religion - in social and political theory, philosophy, and psycho-analysis and anthropology - are motivated by ethical concerns. Introductory readings of Kant, Hegel, and Feuerbach ground analysis of Marx's, Nietzsche's, and Freud's ethical atheism. Students do not develop or debate formulae for behavior, but rather become critically aware of ethical considerations that underlie actions and that are negotiated vis-a-vis prevailing moral codes. Readings include The German Ideology, The Communist Manifesto, The Gay Science, Beyond Good and Evil, On the Genealogy of Morals, The Anti-Christ, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Totem and Taboo, The Future of an Illusion.

Addresses Mann's short stories and novellas (in translation) individually and as a body of work, as well as in their various literary, cultural, intellectual, and historical contexts. Texts: "Death in Venice," "Tonio Kroger," "Tristan," "Disillusionment," "Little Herr Friedemann," "Gladius Dei," "The Blood of the Walsungs," "Disorder and Early Sorrow," "Mario and the Magician," among others. Term papers may address stories discussed in class or one of Mann's novels (e.g. Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus).

This course traces the infamous bloodsucker's bite-marks through European literature from the 18th to the 21st century, exploring how the notion of vampirism is inextricably linked with the emergence of what Michel Foucault has termed `biopolitics'. How do the `body politic' and a vampiric aesthetics mutually condition each other? We pursue this question by engaging in a dialogue between literature, film, science, and critical theory. Authors include Goethe, Byron, Hoffmann, Baudelaire, Stoker, Nietzsche, Doblin, Tawada.

Tracing the emergence of German colonial aspirations from mid-nineteenth century to nostalgic recollections of the colonies after World War I, the course examines novels, short stories, autobiographical and travel writings, essays, films, propaganda and advertising. These materials are selected to shed light on controversies about key terms such as imperialism, colonialism, decolonization, racism, and genocide. Attention is also paid to the implications of the colonial past for German society today.

In reading through major works of literature and philosophical prose, this course critically interrogates the persistent fascination that ancient Greek literature and culture exerted on the modern German imagination from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Areas of discussion include antiquarianism, the formation of national identity, genius and the classical tradition, pedagogy and politics, aesthetics and reception theory. Cross-listed with Comparative Literature.

The course will explore the interplay between innovation and tradition in German poetry from 1770 to the present, focusing on such topics as originality and authenticity, difficulty and hermeticism, and poetic responses to crisis. Authors include Goethe, Holderlin, Heine, Morike, Droste, George, Rilke, Benn, and Celan.

Examines selected major works, including poetry, essays on art, literature, and science, dramas, and at least one novel.

Explores German literature from the Wendezeit to the present, focusing on a number of texts that we will define as `body literature' or `corpoetics'. Rather than directly addressing the fall of the Wall, these texts employ a transgressive poetics that tears down the walls between text and body in the search for authentic communication.

Close study of Sebald's narrative and poetic works, as well as a selection of his scholarly essays, against the backdrop of recent literary theory.

In this language course, the students learn how to read and understand Middle High German literature. We work closely with a range of texts (poetical, religious, scientific), translating and analyzing them as well as discussing their cultural context.

Examines pre-Christian religions of the Germanic peoples, with an emphasis on Old Norse sources (especially Snorra edda, and eddic and scaldic poetry) but also with references to non-Scandinavian materials (e.g.Heliand; Old English metrical charms).

Individualized study of a Scandinavian language at the elementary, intermediate and advanced levels. Contact hours with language coach. Emphasis on literacy. Any language not listed as a course is taught under this number.

Individualized study of Finnish at the elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. Contact hours with a language coach. Emphasis on literacy.

Advanced reading in topics not covered in regular courses.

Group or individual tutorial designed to supplement course work and to develop analytical techniques.

Examines the historical events in Europe A.D. 800 to A.D. 1100, and the resulting heroic legacy in medieval poetry and Icelandic sagas. The course focuses on Viking Age figures as warriors, kings, poets, outlaws and adventurers; pre-Christian religion, the Viking raids and the Norse experience in "Vinland" carefully considered.

Builds on Scandinavian 160a, continuing the language study and cultural survey of the first term, but now considers mythological texts relating to Viking religious life, mainly selections from the prose and poetic Eddas. Special attention is paid to scholarly tools and debates concerned with the interpretation of these cultural monuments.

Continuation of the basic course focusing on a basic mastery of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. During spring term, the emphasis is on more advanced conversation and an exploration of Sweden's culture and civilization through selected texts and video. By semester's end, students will be able to carry on conversations in everyday Swedish, read news articles, and write letters and produce substantial creative work.

In this fourth semester Swedish course, the theme is immigration and emigration from a Swedish perspective. We will be studying the Swedish emigration to America in the 19th century, both in fiction and through letters sent home to Sweden, the so-called amerikabrev. Modern day immigration will be discussed through recent authors who have written about their experiences moving to Sweden. We will also be following the political debate about immigration through reading news stories and opinion pieces.