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Syllabus

Stellar Site

Provides the opportunity to discuss, orally and in writing, cultural, ethical, and social issues on a stylistically sophisticated level. Explores representative and influential works from the 19th century to the present, through literary texts (prose, drama, poetry), radio plays, art, film, and architecture. Investigates topics such as the human and the machine, science and ethics, representation of memory, and issues of good and evil. Includes works by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Kafka, Brecht, Dürrenmatt, Süskind, and W.G. Sebald. Topics and authors vary from term to term. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor. Taught in German.

Topic for Fall 2014: Murder, Madness, Mysteries

The course examines stories of murder and madness in nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature as manifestations of the increasingly antagonistic relationship between individual and society. Various authors' portrayals of good and evil will be discussed as well as moral and social implications. The course treats texts in various genres, such as short stories, dramas, novels and films, published from the early nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth. In this way, the course will acquaint students not only with some of the most sinister, riveting, and eerie texts ever written in the German language, but also with some of the most important periods of German literary history. This course seeks to refine students' perception of literary style, enable students to discuss, orally and in writing, ethical and social issues on a stylistically sophisticated level, and furnish students with a principal vocabulary and style of literary analysis, Taught in German.

Class to be conducted entirely in German.

Enrollment limited to 18 for pedagogical reasons. Preference will be given to pre-registered students, including pre-registered undergraduates who were cut from the same class the previous semester due to the enrollment cap. Please note that you have to attend the first day of class to maintain your preference level. In case of overenrollment, preference will be given in the following order: declared majors, declared minors, declared concentrators, continuing students, sophomores, juniors, freshmen, seniors and graduate students.

Units: 3-0-9(U)

HASS-H