Graduate Courses

Fall 2012

German 579D: Documentary Film
Conducted in German
Prof. Barton Byg

German 601: Middle High German
Prof. Robert Sullivan

German 697J: Jews and German Culture
Conducted in English
Prof. Jonathan Skolnik

Spring 2012

German 695D: Bodies and Law in German Literature and Thought
Conducted in German
Prof. Elke Heckner

German 697K: Debates and Issues in Modern German History
Conducted in English
Prof. Andrew Donson

German 697R: The Frankfurt School
Conducted in English
Prof. Sara Lennox

Fall 2011

German 584: History of the German Language
Conducted in English
Prof. Frank Hugus

German 697F: DEFA/GDR Films
Prof. Barton Byg

German 793C: German Studies/Cultural Studies
Prof. Sara Lennox

Spring 2011

German 691B: Exile in L.A.
Prof. Jonathan Skolnik

German 791B: Germanness in 18th- and 19th-Century German Literature and Culture
Prof. Kyle Frackman
This course will focus on German-language literature and culture in the long 18th and 19th centuries. In an examination of “Germanness,” we will approach texts from two perspectives: internal and external. First, what did authors, composers, artists, et al. consider to be German and how did they include it or translate it into their work? Second, which works from this period have become staples in conceptualizations of what “German” is?

Fall 2010

German 601: Middle High German
Prof. Robert Sullivan

German 697N: Debating Contemporary Germany (1 cr.)
Prof. Robert Sullivan

German 793A: Expressionism and its Cinematic Legacy
Film / Literature / Poetry / Music / Dance / Painting / Architecture
Conducted in English
Prof. Barton Byg
Course Description: German Expressionism is the most influential form of modernism in the arts produced by German culture in the 20th Century. The course will concentrate primarily on films which have become part of the canon of this movement, but will also give substantial attention to other arts: drama, dance, painting and architecture, music, poetry and prose. In addition, we will consider the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of Expressionism, its relation to historical reality (WWI, leftist movements, Nazism, urbanism and mass culture, etc.), and its legacy after 1945, for example in “Abstract Expressionism,” comic book art, /film noir/ and horror cinema, the “New German Cinema,” and in contemporary phenomena such as the Broadway musical “Spring Awakening,” animation and neo noir. Recommended prior reading: Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler; Eisner, The Haunted Screen; Pinthus, Menschheitsdämmerung (Dawn of Humanity).

German 797E: Migrant Literature
Prof. Sara Lennox

Spring 2010

German 697J: Jews and German Culture
Prof. Jonathan Skolnik

German 697K: Modern German History
Prof. Andrew Donson

German 716: Courtly Lyric Poetry
Prof. Robert G. Sullivan

Fall 2009

German 691F: Graduate Intro. to German Film Studies
Prof. Barton Byg
This course provides an overview of the principal critical and historical issues treated by German film studies as the field has developed since the 1970s. The "canon" of film movements and critical/historical texts will be introduced, as well as challenges to the idea of a "canon" or of a national cinema as a principal focus of study. The field of film studies itself will also be discussed as a phenomenon of cultural history. By studying a variety of film genres, students will gain practice in key methodological approaches (historical, psychoanalytic, feminist, formalist, queer, semiotic, etc.), and will become familiar with the resources and methods available to create their own undergrad film course syllabi. In fall 2009 a number of special events will provide valuable contemporary material for study, such as expected visits to the region by filmmakers Ulrike Ottinger, Harun Farocki, and Andreas Dresen, as well as the Wende Flicks film series and other commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Taught in English. Undergraduates admitted by permission of the instructor.

German 697E: Enlightenment 2.0
Prof. Kyle Frackman
This course will feature an examination of literature of the 18th and early 19th centuries as well as cultural products from the latter part of the twentieth century. The primary focus will be the evolution of intellectual and philosophical notions—e.g., authorship, identity, education, society, the body, (G/)god—between the Enlightenment and our recent entry into the/a digital age. Some of these ideas have been dramatically restructured and/or adapted in our increasingly web-oriented, Western society. Some guiding questions will include: What are the differences between an “individual” of the Enlightenment and one in 2009? How do these individuals express themselves? How much relevance do Enlightenment texts have for people and their increasingly web- and digitally dependent lives today?

German 793C: German Studies/Cultural Studies
Prof. Sara Lennox

Spring 2009

German 585: Structure of German
Prof. James E. Cathey

German 620: Graduate Stylistics
Prof. Kyle Frackman

German 697SV: Schrift und Volk: Literature and the Naton in 19th-Century Germany
Prof. Jonathan Skolnik
This course explores German literature in the age of modern nationalism, investigating intersections of culture and ideology while we read key works by Berthold Auerbach, Theodor Fontane, Georg Foster, Goethe, Heine, Hölderlin, Kleist and others.

German 795T: Transnational Theories and Methodologies
Prof. Sara Lennox

Fall 2008

German 597J: Jews and German Culture
Prof. Jonathan Skolnik

German 601: Middle High German
Prof. Robert G. Sullivan