01:470:225Fairy Tales Then and Now (3)Analysis of structure, meaning, and function of fairy tales and their enduring influence on literature and popular culture.
Credit not given for both this course and 01:195:246.
01:470:253Tales of Horror (1.5)Tales of horror in literature and film from Brothers Grimm to Alfred Hitchcock. Consideration of historical, political, and psychoanalytical dimensions.
01:470:254From Nietzsche to Superman (1.5)What is popular culture? Examination of this question
through analysis of Nietzsche's "Overman" and its gradual translation
into the American "Superman" hero. Consideration of works
from Nietzsche to Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Bertolt Brecht, Bob Dylan, Stanley
Kubrick, and the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix).
01:470:255The Faust Legend through the Ages (3) Relevance of the Faust theme to Western civilization from biblical days to the present, with emphasis on Goethe's Faust.
01:470:261,262Major German Writers (3,3) Selected masterpieces of German literature from the Middle Ages to the present.
01:470:275Introduction to German Studies (3) Introduction to major cultural movements and pivotal
historical moments in the German tradition examined through literature, painting,
drama, philosophy, music, and film.
01:470:280The Culture of Yiddish: An Introduction (3)An overview of Yiddish, the traditional vernacular language of Ashkenazic Jews, and its culture, from its medieval origins to the present.
Credit not given for both this course and 01:563:245.
01:470:327Writing Travel: Movement, Migration, Mobility (3)Explores the link between narration and mobility; provides overview of the history of travel and the changes in writing travel from the 18th century until today; engages various literary forms and other media (film, art, and music) as well as cartographic tools offered by digital humanities.
Prerequisite: 01:470:232, or simultaneous enrollment in 01:470:231 or 232.
01:470:349Contemporary German Cinema (3) New German cinema as a contemporary mode of artistic expression. Viewing and analysis of films by such outstanding directors as Fassbinder, Herzog, Schloendorff, and Wenders. Emphasis on the "literary" aspects of the German cinema. One section taught in German.
01:470:350The Nazi Period in Film (3) Feature and documentary films dealing with the cultural, historical, and political development of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and its global implications. One section taught in German.
01:470:354Kafka: Secularism, Multilingualism, and World Literature (3)
An introduction to Kafka's work and its impact on world literature.
01:470:356Psy Fi: Literature and Psychoanalysis (3)Key psychoanalytic concepts explored through readings of literature,
film, case studies, and literary theory.
01:470:360Classics of German Cinema: From Haunted Screen to Hyperreality (3)Introduces students to canonical films of the
Weimar, Nazi, and post-war period and reflects on what constitutes the canon
when discussing films, including those of recent vintage. Exploring issues of
class, gender, and oedipal conflict by means of close analysis, the course seeks to sensitize students to
the cultural context of these films and the changing sociopolitical climates
in which they arose. Special attention
will be paid to the issue of film style. Directors include Lang, Pabst, Murnau, Riefenstahl, Staudte, Schloendorff,
von Trotta, Herzog, Fassbinder, Wenders, Haneke, and Dresen.
01:470:364Big Bang: The Literature of Chaos and Order (3)Representations of dramatic upheavals in the physical universe as analogies for crisis and revolution in history, politics, psychology, science, and the arts. In literature and philosophy from the Renaissance to the present.Credit not given for both this course and 01:195:371.
01:470:365,366Literature and Social Change from Nietzsche to Brecht (3,3) Interaction between German literature and society from the unification (1871) and industrialization of Germany to the end of World War II.
01:470:367Self and Society in the Postwar German Novel and Short Story (3) Major prose writers of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland since the end of World War II.
01:470:368Self and Society in the Postwar German Drama (3) Major playwrights of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland since the end of World War II.
01:470:373Bertolt Brecht, Dramatist and Marxist (3) Study of Brecht's epic (Marxist) theater and its impact on contemporary
dramatic theory and theatrical practice; an introduction to Brecht's
poetry of engagement.
01:470:375New Subjectivity in Literature and Film (3)Literature
and film in the context of political, social, and cultural developments
since the late 1960s. Topics include the politics of the personal,
reconciliation with the Nazi past, the "death of literature," and the
rise of German feminism.
01:470:376German Culture through the Arts (3)Introduction to the visual arts, music, and dance created in German-speaking countries in the 19th and 20th centuries. Taught at the Zimmerli Art Museum by a team of curators, art historians, guest musicians, and dance scholars, and with visits to museums and performances in Manhattan.Open to all students; of special interest to those considering enrolling in the German department's Berlin Summer Program.
01:470:380German-Jewish Literature and Culture (3) Survey of German-Jewish culture, 18th century to present. Literature in political-historical context, with some attention to music, philosophy, and film. Special permission required for credit toward major. Credit not given for both this course and 01:563:380.
01:470:381Cultural Foundations of Germany (3) Significant aspects of German civilization from the age of Charlemagne to the unification of Germany in 1870. Focus on the German contribution to music, the arts, the sciences, philosophy, and literature.
01:470:383Germanic Mythology (3) Myths and religious practices of the migration period and the age of the Vikings. Sources: the Eddas, Christian and pre-Christian documents and texts, archaeological finds, place names, modern folkloristic beliefs.
01:470:384Gender and Politics in Yiddish Literature and Culture (3) Traces the cultural dynamics of Ashkenazic Jews in 16th- to 19th-century Europe through Yiddish religious writing, folktales, fiction, memoirs, and poetry. All readings in translation. Prerequisites: 01:563:202, 260, or permission of instructor. Credit not given for both this course and 01:563:384 or 01:988:391.
01:470:385The Changing Image of Women in German Literature (3) Selected works of German literature that convey the experience of women cast into socially prescribed roles.
01:470:388,390,392Topics in German Literature and Civilization (3,3,3)