Undergraduate Program in German

Selected Undergraduate Course Offerings (100 - 200 level)

Courses taught in German | Courses taught in English | Current Courses

Courses taught in English

131S. Romantic Dreams and Ironies

The modern self emerging from the French Revolution into the intellectual ferment of the 1790s; new modes of knowledge (aesthetics, anthropology, linguistics); new literary forms (novel, fragment); the struggle to ground values in history. Major figures: Novalis, Tieck, F. Schlegel, Kleist, Hoffmann, with Heine and Eichendorff looking back from a perspective drenched in Romantic dreams and ironies.

157S. Literary Imaginings of the Good Life

Seminar on the ways in which literature shapes and is shaped by our quest for social ideals. Open only to students in the FOCUS Program.

158S. Berlin in the Twentieth Century

Uses literature, film, art, architecture, and history to trace the periods of Berlin's development in the twentieth century (Imperial, Weimar Republic, Nazi, Communist, Berlin Republic) in order to understand both the rich cultural and intellectual heritage and the troubling legacies that mark the new Berlin. Special attention to ethical questions posed by the Holocaust. Provides background for understanding the historical dimensions to recent developments such as Christo's Wrapped Reichstag; the Jewish Museum and the debate on the German Holocaust Memorial; the Neue Wache; the Potsdamer Platz; and the film Run Lola Run. Taught in English. Open only to students in the FOCUS Program.

165. The Vikings and Their Literature

Introduction to Old Norse (heroic) culture through the rich literature of the Viking Age. The course is taught and all readings are in English. Among other things, we will consider the mythology of ancient Scandinavia, aspects of viking cultural expansion and history, the heroic Germanic ethic and its place in the lives of the characters in the sagas, and the question of the accuracy of the sagas as a window to the times. We will emphasize reading and interpretation in the context of the collision between the ancient Viking ethic and the "new" Christian ethic.

Ancient Germanic heroic literature, including Beowulf and other Old English heroic tales, the Hildebrandslied, Heliand, and Nibelungenlied in the ancient German tradition, and Egil's Saga, Njal's Saga, Saga of the Volsungs, and Grettier's Saga in the ancient Norse tradition. Norse mythology (prose Edda) a key point of reference, and tacitus' Germania providing a historical background. The heroic ethic and the definition of manliness, codes of personal honor, leadership and fealty, family and feuding practices, and the tragic Germanic dilemma.

170. The Devil's Pact: Faust and the Faust Tradition

Selling souls to the Devil, from England's Christopher Marlowe to Germany's Goethe and beyond. Wrestling with the problem of evil, and getting past it, to the problems of knowledge, experience, and redemption, exploring why the Faust story keeps on being retold. Readings and discussion in English.

173. Romantic Fairy Tales: Literary and Folk Fairy Tales from Grimms to Disney

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.

182. Classics of Western Civilization: The German Tradition

Introduction to German intellectual traditions that have proven highly influential both within Europe and beyond. Readings typically include Lessing, Moses Mendelssohn, Kant, Goethe, Humboldt, Hegel, Heine, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and Benjamin. Readings and discussions in English.

183. The Existentialist Imagination

Philosophical and literary engagements with fundamental issues of individuality, authenticity, absurdity, finitude, and commitment. Readings primarily from the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century: Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Rilke, Kafka, Hesse, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus.

185. Vocation, Professionalism, Ethics: Conflicted
Middle-Class Subjectivity in the Novel, 1800-1924

Ethical conflicts in nineteenth century middle-class society as represented in the development novel (Bildungsroman); different models of political, aesthetic, and religious vocation studied in relation to the rise of nineteenth and twentieth century professionalism and social conformism.

186. Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

A critical examination and assessment of the thought of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud: revolutionary theory and practice; nihilism and the challenge of overcoming it; the hidden foundations of the self and of culture.

270. Consciousness and Modern Society

The German tradition of political theory conceptualizing social transformation through consciousness both of alienation and of ethical ideals; the ongoing debate between activist and radically critical perspectives. Marx, Nietzsche, Lukacs, Freud, Benjamin, Adorno, Marcuse, and Habermas.

280S. Music in Literature and Philosophy: 1800-1945       

This seminar explores the representation of music as a social and psychological force in literary and philosophical writings in Germany between 1800-1945. We study how writers (Kleist, E. T. A. Hoffmann, Tolstoy, Thomas Mann), philosophers and critics (Schopenhauer, Hanslic, Nietzsche, Adorno), and a few major composers (Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, Mahler, and Schoenberg) interact in conceiving and reorienting music's formal-epistemological and psychological, and socio-cultural role during this period.      

285S. Science and Technology in 19 th Century German Culture

An interdisciplinary examination of science and technology in 19th century Germany. Main emphases will include literature and science writing by literary figures (typically Goethe, Novalis, Kleist, Stifter, and/or Musil), the social history of technology, the history of science (especially physics, with some anthropology and biology), and philosophy (such as Humboldt, Marx, Nietzsche, Mach, Helmholtz, Weber). Special attention to the German historical context as seen from contemporary American and German scientific and theoretical understandings, for instance chaos, objectivity, truth. Course to be taught in English, with an optional German section for those reading in the original. The course qualifies as an STS course for curriculum 2000.

299S. Seminar in German Studies

A review of current debates and historical perspectives in the German cultural field, structured through contributing disciplines: social and economic history, political theory and history, literature, fine arts, music, philosophy, and religion. Team-taught, involving a wide range of faculty in the German Studies Program.