PDF version of this chapterCourses of Instruction
German (GERM)
The terms indicated are expected but are not guaranteed. For the courses offered during any given term, consult the Schedule of Classes.
020x Course in Reading German (2, FaSpSm) (half-course on load) For graduate students who wish help in meeting the German reading requirement for the Ph.D. degree. Emphasis on development of reading skills. Not available for degree credit. Graded CR/NC.
025x Course in Reading German (2) (half-course on load) Continuation of 020x. Reading selections appropriate to candidate’s major field. Not available for degree credit. Graded CR/NC.
101 German I (4, FaSpSm) Introduction to modern German. Oral practice, listening and reading comprehension. Basic structures necessary for simple spoken and written expression.
102 German II (4, FaSpSm) Continuation of German I. Introduction to German culture. Prerequisite: GERM 101.
201 German III, Conversation and Composition (4, FaSp) Intermediate German. Increasing emphasis on listening and speaking skills and a review of basic structures of German. Discussion of cultural aspects. Prerequisite: GERM 102.
221 Conversational German IV (4, FaSp) Conversational German in a variety of topical settings and vocabulary domains. Prerequisite: GERM 201.
270x Germanic Mythology: Gods, Magicians, and Dragons (4) Approaches to the study of myth; survey of the gods and myths of early Germanic peoples; lectures and readings of medieval texts and modern analyses. In English. Not available for credit to German majors.
275 German Intellectual Perspectives (4) Gateway to the Bachelor of Arts in German. Introduces one of the strengths of the German intellectual tradition, the interplay between literature (especially the novel) and philosophical or psychological theory. Texts by Kant, Nietzsche, Freud, Kafka, Mann, Brecht, and Grass.
310 Business German I (4, Sp) Introduction to German business language structure including correspondence and oral communication. In German. Prerequisite: GERM 201.
311 Business German II (4, Fa) Continuation of GERM 310. Terminology and style of commercial and legal texts, analyzed and applied in oral and written work. In German. Prerequisite: GERM 201.
315 German Phonetics and Pronunciation (4) Introduction to German phonetics: intonation, pronunciation, “Prosodik”; theoretical background (physiology of articulation and psychology of intonation) and practical exercises; differentiation between High German and dialects.
320 Composition and Conversation on Contemporary Affairs (4) Practice in oral and written German, emphasizing contemporary cultural and social developments in the German-speaking countries of Europe. In German. Prerequisite: GERM 221.
325 Composition and Conversation in Cultural History (4) Practice in oral and written German, emphasizing the cultural history of the German-speaking countries of Europe. In German. Prerequisite: GERM 221.
330 Introduction to Literary Studies (4) Review of essential literary terms, concepts, and critical methods through analysis and discussion of selected primary and secondary works. In German.
335 Applied German Drama (4, max 8) Works of a German playwright in their social and cultural context, leading to a dramatization of one of the works. In German.
340 German Prose Fiction from Goethe to Thomas Mann (4) Examines German prose fiction from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries, with particular emphasis on how narrative texts are constructed. In English.
346 German Folklore and Popular Culture (4) Survey and analysis of folklore and cultural phenomena, including tales, legends, and myths; folk and popular music; beliefs and customs. In English.
351 Colloquium on Drama (4) German drama from the 18th century, with emphasis on modernism (since Büchner) and the 20th century avant garde styles: Expressionist, Epic, Grotesque, Documentary, and Sprechtheater. In German.
352 Colloquium on Poetry (4) Definition and analysis of lyric genre through a study of major poets, such as Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Rilke, and Hofmannsthal; poetic traditions from the 17th century to the present. In German.
353 Colloquium on Prose (4) Study of German prose from the 18th century to the present; emphasis on narrative and thematic perspectives in relation to social change and on modernism since Kafka. In German.
360 20th Century German Prose: Texts and Films (4) Aesthetic and historical analysis of major German 20th century novels, complemented by brief study of cinematic adaptation of each text. Texts in English; films with subtitles.
370 Literature and Culture in Vienna at the Turn of the Century (4) Literature, culture, and society in Vienna 1890-1925; works by figures such as Schnitzler, Hofmannsthal, Kafka, Musil, Kraus, Schönberg, Kokoschka, Freud, Wittgenstein, and others. In English.
372 Literature and Culture in Berlin of the 1920s (4) Literature, culture, and society through works by figures such as Kaiser, Toller, Brecht/Weill, Piscator, Th. Mann, Doeblin, Lukacs, Heidegger, etc. Films: Caligari, Metropolis, Berlin, M, Blue Angel. In English.
390 Special Problems (1-4) Supervised, individual studies. No more than one registration permitted. Enrollment by petition only.
410 Profile of German Literature I (4) Survey of major trends in German literature within their historical and cultural contexts from the beginnings to the Baroque period. In German.
420 Profile of German Literature II (4) Survey of major trends, figures, and authors in German literature and culture of the 18th and 19th centuries within the European context. In German.
430 Age of Goethe (4) Background and significance of the period; lyrics, major dramatic and prose works from 1770-1832; Storm and Stress; Classicism; Goethe and Schiller. In German.
440 Women’s Literature in Germany I (4) Reading and analysis of medieval texts from German-speaking countries, written by and about women: science, love, poetry, letters, drama, mysticism, romance. Conducted in German.
445m Eurocentrism (4) (Enroll in COLT 445m)
460 Expressionism to the Present (4) Representative authors and works since 1910; World War I, Expressionism, New Objectivity, World War II; literature after 1945: East and West, Swiss and Austrian.
465 Germany East and West (4) Study of the ideological, economic, social, and cultural differences between East and West Germany between 1945 and 1990 and their impact on today’s unified Germany. In English.
466 The German Speaking Nations (4) Focus on the culture, history, and society of Austria, East and West Germany, and Switzerland. In German.
470 Advanced Composition and Stylistics (4) Development of competence in written expression; fundamentals of style in expository writing. In German.
490x Directed Research (2-8, max 8) Individual research and readings. Not available for graduate credit. Prerequisite: departmental approval.
499 Special Topics (2-4, max 8) Intensive study of selected topics or regions.
508 Bibliography and Research Techniques (4) Bibliographic sources, reference works and periodicals, standard bibliographic formats; research methods and the writing of genres, stylistics, and textual interpretation.
510 Methods of Literary Criticism and Linguistic Analysis (4) Historical perspective on critical methods such as genre poetics, hermeneutics, Marxist and Freudian theories, structuralism, reception-aesthetics, literary semantics, pragmatics, and text linguistics.
515 History of the German Language (4) Principal linguistic, cultural, and geographical factors that have determined the modern language; lectures and readings. Conducted in English. Prerequisite: departmental approval.
517 German Dialects (4) Survey of the history of German dialects and their relationship to the standard language; analysis of contemporary German dialect texts, oral and written.
520 The Structure of Modern German (4) A descriptive survey of German phonology, morphology, and syntax, with some attention to contrasting structures in English and problems encountered by the language learner. Prerequisite: five semesters of German.
525 Linguistic and Rhetorical Analysis of German Literary Styles (4) Psychological and sociological background of language structure and individual style, using a newly developed psycho-linguistic analytical methodology. Prerequisite: five semesters of German.
530 Old High German (4) Reading of selected texts; the second consonant shift; comparative study of the dialects; importance of Old High German for the development of the German language.
535 Middle High German Language (4) Descriptive and historical grammar of Middle High German, stressing its relationship to modern German. Reading materials chosen from the courtly period.
536 Middle High German Literature (4) Literary developments of the courtly period in their cultural context, based upon readings in the original from minnesong, the courtly and heroic epics. Prerequisite: GERM 535 or departmental approval.
540 Late Middle Ages Through the Reformation (4) Late courtly lyrics, folksong, Meistergesang; the mystics; humanism; religious polemics and Reformation literature; school drama; popular theater; chapbooks; early novel.
545 Age of the Baroque (4) 16th century background: literary reforms; lyrics from classicist Petrarchism to Marinism; development of the theater from the English troupes to operatic gala; trends in the novel.
550 Enlightenment Through Storm and Stress (4) Literary reformers; Lessing, Pietism, theodicy, rationalism; nature poetry; the revolt against rationalism; the drama of Storm and Stress; the Hainbund; early works of Goethe and Schiller.
560 Classicism (4) The background of German Klassik; its literary, philosophical, and cultural significance; its influence on German literature; Goethe, Schiller and their collaboration; Weimar.
565 Romanticism (4) The German Romantic movement as opposed to the classical period; the representatives of its early, high, and late stages; Hölderlin, Kleist, Heine.
570 Early 19th Century (4) Continuation of Classicism and Romanticism; Jean Paul; Grillparzer, Hebbel, Wiener Volkstheater, Biedermeier; revolt against Classicism and Romanticism; Young Germany; Vormärz; Büchner, Grabbe, Heine.
575 Realism Through Turn of the Century (4) Poetic realism in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany from 1850; the program and drama of naturalism; fin de siécle and Neo-Romanticism; Schnitzler, Hofmannsthal, George.
580 Expressionism to 1945 (4) Cultural, political, and literary background of Expressionism; main representatives; relationship to the fine arts; New Objectivity; division of literature after 1933.
581 Weimar Culture (4) A historical topic-oriented exploration of cultural activities in Weimar Germany. Examination of reflections of the social-political experience of the period in literary (essay, cultural critique, investigative reporting) and pictorial (painting, sculpture, photography, film) discourse.
585 Contemporary German Literature since 1945 (4) The authors and themes characteristic of German literature after World War II; new developments in the German novel; drama and lyrics in East and West.
590 Directed Research (1-12) Research leading to the master’s degree. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.
595ab Directed Readings (2-4, 2-4)
599 Special Topics (2-4, max 8) Special topics such as concepts of government, roots of fascism, and ideologies of Hegel, Marx, Wagner, Nietzsche in German literature.
610 Seminar in Lessing (4)
620 Seminar in Goethe (4)
630 Seminar in Schiller (4)
635 Seminar in Kafka (4)
636 Seminar in Thomas Mann (4)
637 Seminar in Brecht (4)
640 Seminar in the Drama (4)
650 Seminar in the Novel (4)
660 Seminar in the Lyric (4)
670 Seminar in the Novelle (4)
680 Seminar in German Linguistics (4) Prerequisite: GERM 520; fluency in German.
695 Topics in German Literature and Culture (4) Advanced studies in the history and analysis of German literature and/or culture.
790 Research (1-12) Research leading to the doctorate. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department. Graded CR/NC.
794abcdz Doctoral Dissertation (2-2-2-2-0) Credit on acceptance of dissertation. Graded IP/CR/NC.