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Undergraduate Course Descriptions

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German | Scandinavian | Swedish

German

110, 120 Elementary German (both sem)
Dialogues, reading selections from print and electronic sources, and grammar exercises for basic communication, a good understanding of the fundamentals of German grammar, and an introduction to the traditions and institutions of the German-speaking countries. For those with no previous training in German. German 110 or equivalent is prerequisite to German 120.

126 Intensive Elementary German (6 cred)
Accelerated, one semester language course for students who want intensive practice in grammar and acquiring basic speaking skills and who have had no previous training in German. Vocabulary quizzes, chapter tests, final. Equivalent of German 110 and 120.

230, 240 Intermediate German (both sem)
Literary and expository texts as well as audio-visual materials prepare students to read and discuss German fiction and non-fiction with understanding and enjoyment. Review of the chief aspects of German grammar. Stresses improvement of reading facility and vocabulary with continued practice in speaking and writing. Prerequisite for 230, German 120 or equivalent; for 240, German 230 or equivalent. German 240 fulfills the Humanities and Fine Arts Language requirement.

246 Intensive Intermediate German (6 cred)
A thorough review of grammar, reading and discussion of texts; emphasis on the cultural background of German-speaking countries. Equivalent of German 230 and 240. German 246 fulfills the Colleges Of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Humanities and Fine Arts Language requirement.

270 From Grimm to Disney: The German Folktale (Gen. Ed.: AL)
This course focuses on selected fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm (Hansel & Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Iron Hans) and Hans Christian Andersen (Little Sea Maid, The Red Shoes), locating them in the 19th-century German or Danish culture of their origins and then examining how they became transformed into perennial favorites of U.S. popular culture through their adaptations by Disney (feature animation films), Broadway (musicals), or bestselling self-help books (Iron John, Women Who Run With the Wolves). As a point of comparison, this course will also introduce popular fairy-tale films of the former East Germany (GDR) from the UMass DEFA archives & library, which present the same stories as popular fare in a Cold War communinist cultural context. Conducted in English.

285 Language Suite Conversation (both sem) (2 cred, with additional 1-cred Honors option)
Designed as part of the living-learning community in Thatcher Language House. Improves knowledge of the German language with emphasis on oral skills. Builds vocabulary, develops ability to understand and communicate more freely by focusing on social and cultural issues. (Fall 2009 Course Site: http://blogs.umass.edu/lktaylor/)

297A Crusades and the Image of Islam
The medieval Crusades and the image of Muslims and Islam in early historiography, theology, and literature, such as The Song of Roland, St. Bernard and Arabic accounts. How European views of Islam and the East contributed to European expansionism and self-definition. Conducted in English.

304 German Film: From Berlin to Hollywood (Gen. Ed.: AT)
A survey of prewar German cinema, including works of great directors who emigrated to the U.S., such as Lang, Murnau, and Lubitsch, followed by the Nazi cinema, post-war cinema in both German states, and in the international media context since German reunification. Conducted in English.

310, 320 Advanced German I, II
Expansion of vocabulary and extensive practice in speaking and writing, grammar review as needed. Prerequisite for 310, German 240 or equivalent; for 320, German 310 or equivalent.

311 Reading German Culture
Introductory course to increase reading comprehension and fluency. Selected literary texts, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. Prerequisite: German 240 or equivalent.

341 Early German Culture (Gen. Ed.: HS)
A broad survey of medieval to early modern German social and cultural history of music, art, architecture and literature, including The Nibelungenlied and Hildegard von Bingen. Conducted in English.

342 Modern German Culture
Social, cultural, and intellectual history of German-speaking countries since the 17th century. Emphasis on great social and political shifts of the rise of the modern state, unification and division of Germany, the phenomenon of urban culture, the emergence of the modern family, the role of women; major intellectual and cultural movements of Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Social Democracy, Jugendstil, 20th-century avant-gardes and right wing reaction leading to National Socialism, and contemporary issues. Conducted in English.

363 Witches: Myth and Reality (Gen. Ed.: I, G)
This course focuses on various aspects of witches/witchcraft in order to examine the historical construction of the witch in the context of the social realities of women (and men) labeled as witches. The main areas covered are: European pagan religions and the spread of Christianity; the "Burning Times" in early modern Europe, with an emphasis on the German situation; 17th-century New England and the Salem witch trials; the images of witches in folk lore and fairy tales in the context of the historical persecutions; and contemporary Wiccan/witch practices in their historical context. The goal of the course is to deconstruct the stereotypes that many of us have about witches/witchcraft, especially concerning sexuality, gender, age, physical appearance, occult powers, and Satanism. Readings are drawn from documentary records of the witch persecutions and witch trials, literary representations, scholarly analyses of witch-related phenomena, and essays examining witches, witchcraft, and the witch persecutions from a contemporary feminist or neo-pagan perspective. The lectures will be supplemented by related material taken from current events in addition to visual material (videos, slides) drawn from art history, early modern witch literature, popular culture, and documentary sources. Conducted in English.

370 19th-Century German Thought: Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Luxemburg, and Freud (Gen. Ed.: I)
Introduction in English to leading German thinkers of the 19th century, mainly Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud, with emphasis on philosophical rather than economic or psychological aspects and on the overall continuity of development. Readings from each. Majors required to read certain texts in German.

372 Vienna 1890-1914 (Gen. Ed.: AL)
Examines art, literature, and music in turn-of-the-century Vienna in a social-historical cultural context with a focus on gender. Multimedia presentations. Conducted in English.

375 Hitler's Myth
Historical, political, economic, and cultural development of National Socialism and its consequences, World War II, and the Holocaust. Readings supplemented by films. Conducted in English.

377 Politics and Culture
East and West Germany in the 1970s: Surveillance, Fear, and Terror? Democracy, Freedom, and Feminism? This course is designed as an introductory seminar to German Cultural Studies. After a brief introduction to methodology and theory and the Post WWII history and the two German states, the course will focus on the 1970s, a time described in recent political and cultural theory as a time of crisis and contradiction. Conducted in English.

379 Germany Today (Gen. Ed.: I)
Historical, political, economic, and cultural aspects of post-war Germany. The development of the two German states as reflected in their different social systems, their literature, arts, education, religious life, media, and their way to unification. Readings in recent German history, essays and novels. German majors required to read texts in German. Conducted in English.

380 Weimar Germany Society and Culture
Germany between WWI and the Nazi takeover, 1919-1933. This class presents an interdisciplinary approach drawing on secondary sources in history and urban and cultural studies, as well as primary sources of various types. Beginning with a basic historical overview, the course then looks at various aspects of Weimar society and culture, including: the aftershocks of war; the Republic as laboratory of democracy; changing social definitions: lifestyle, gender, class, work; poverty, criminality and nationalism; art in society. Conducted in English.

391G German Studies Junior Seminar
This course is designed to introduce majors to a range of issues and approaches central to contemporary German and Scandinavian Studies, while focusing on upper-level writing and analytic skills. We will explore how this interdisciplinary field of study approaches events and artifacts of modern history and art. At the same time, we will develop the writing and analytic skills required to handle advanced study of complex social, historical and creative subject matter. Fulfills Junior Year Writing Requirement with one credit add-on. Conducted in English.

402 Goethe
In this lecture-discussion course we will read and discuss IN German some of Goethe's many late 18th and early 19th century examples of prose, poetry, and drama [excluding Faust = German 412] ranging from the 1774 European literary sensation Die Leiden des jungen Werthers to the enigmatic Novelle of 1828, with selected Sturm und Drang poems (1770-75) and the dramas "Egmont" and "Iphigenie auf Tauris" in between (1775-87).  There will be related opportunities for literary comparisons and other interdisciplinary ventures for extra credit (as Honors or Independent Study projects) on an individual basis. We will collectively treat some of these works with an 'eye' [seeing that fall 2006 is already the 5th 'anniversary' of 9-11 (2001...)] toward Goethe's lifelong fascination with all things 'middle eastern' and particularly his later interest in 'semi-reciprocal west-eastern' influences as well as his concept of 'Weltliteratur.'  All of these aspects are intriguingly manifested in the consummate poems and inter-cultural 'essays' of his "West-östlicher Divan (1819)," which is also part of my own ongoing research and could provide some [modestly funded] hourly editorial work for an interested and motivated student.

413 Romanticism
The literature of German Romanticism in the context of German society and culture at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries.

425 Advanced Composition, Translation, and Conversation
Continuation of 310 and 320. Emphasis on writing German (translation into German and free composition). Prerequisite: German 320 or equivalent.

432 Brecht and Modern Drama
Twentieth-century drama in German, concentrating on Bertolt Brecht, his principal plays and theory (epic theater, estrangement). Post-World-War-II dramatists mainly in relation to tradition created by Brecht: Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Peter Weiss, and some works from East Germany (e.g. Heiner Müller). Prerequisites: German 311 and 310, or equivalent.

433 20th-Century Prose
Authors writing in German include some of the most important of the 20th Century, from Freud and Kafka to Nobel Prize winners. A wide range of figures grappled with the central issues of the age: war, violence and the Holocaust; industrialization, urbanization and the fragmentation of modern identity. Yet innovations in style and critical engagement with European traditions have produced works of profound beauty and world influence. A range of short prose will be treated, with student writing focused on analysis of style in relation to cultural debates of the century. Texts from such authors as Freud, Mann, Kafka, Brecht, Benjamin, Tucholsky, Seghers, Wolf, Grass, Biermann and more contemporary figures representing the increasing diversity of culture in Germany since reunification. Requirements: discussion and presentation; journal and short papers.

497G Readings in Old Saxon (1 cred)
An introduction to the Old Saxon language (its phonology, morphology, and syntax) and to Old Saxon literature. Our focus will be on the Heliand, a Germanic version of the Christian Gospels.

584 The German Language
The origins and history of the German language, its relation to the Indo-European language family, particularly in relation to English. Prerequisite: German 240 or equivalent.

585 Structure of German
The course is an introduction to the phonology, morphology, and syntax of modern German intended for all students of German. Conducted in English

 

Scandinavian

190A Hans Christian Andersen: Tales, Plays, and Prose
A representative sampling from Andersen's tales. Some of the author's lesser-known poems, plays, novels, travel books. All readings and discussion in English.

276 Vikings and Their Stories: Saga Literature (Gen. Ed.: AL)
Readings (in translation) of selected Old Icelandic sagas, whose content and energized style emerged during the first European expansion toward the west. These early "westerns" are excitingly told and will be discussed as regards the stories themselves and in their historical and cultural framework. Conducted in English.

365 Scandinavian Mythology (Gen. Ed.: AL)
The evolution from primitive, shamanistic ritual to the sophisticated, multifaceted cosmology of the Vikings. Emphasis on the various aspects of mythology during the first millennium A.D. The myths and legends associated with members of the Nordic pantheon through written sources, archaeological evidence, and findings in the field of comparative mythology. Conducted in English.

391P Ultima Thule: Polar Exploration and the Heroic Imagination
The quest to reach the Polar regions a century ago was inspired not only by scientific interest in the planet’s last unconquered frontiers, but by a sense of adventure and nationalist competition, in which Scandinavians were prominent players. We will examine the way early polar expeditions were planned, executed and endured. We’ll also examine the ways indigenous populations, especially in Lapland and Greenland, live in these spectacular and dangerous landscapes, which today are profoundly threatened by global warming, as different countries again compete for dominance in the Far North.

391V: Vikings

397V Viking Revival: National Romanticism and the Creation of a Nordic Ideal
An interdisciplinary course exploring the impact of 19th century historical consciousness and the Romantic imagination on the development of a “Nordic ideal.” The course uses literature, philosophy, music, and the visual arts to trace the development of the modern national ideal in Scandinavia ca. 1814-1914. Nostalgic elements include idealization of the Vikings, architectural preservation movements, native myth & folklore, and nature-worship. Potentially less benign are neo-romantic reactions against Realism and Naturalism, feminism and Decadence in the form of masculinity-cults, polar expeditions, Vitalism, and the brutalism inherent in some Modernisms. One objective is to meet majorScandinavian artists such as H.C. Andersen, Kierkegaard, Ibsen, Hamsun, Munch, Grieg, Sibelius. Another is to reflect on what forms of Nordic identity were indigenous in Scandinavian history and culture, to what degree they did / did not resemble the ideal later appropriated by German race-mythologists, and what those differences might mean. Honors students will join the graduate section of the course for extra readings, writing, and meetings with the instructor.

Swedish

110, 120 Elementary Swedish I, II
Introduction to Swedish for students with no previous knowledge of the language. Reading, speaking, and writing emphasized. Swedish 110 or equivalent is prerequisite for Swedish 120.

230, 240 Intermediate Swedish I, II
Vocabulary, grammar, discussion, readings, speaking practice. Some cultural and historical background. Weekly essays in Swedish. Prerequisites: Swedish 110 and 120 for Swedish 230, or Swedish 230 for Swedish 240 or consent of instructor.

397A, 397B Advanced Swedish I, II
Expansion of vocabulary with practice especially in writing and speaking. Grammar review as needed. Introduction to Swedish literature, film, and music focusing on a theme followed through the semester. Prerequisite: Swedish 240 for 397A, or Swedish 397A for 397B, or instructor's permission.