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Germanic Languages

GERM 050 [006M]: Literary Fantasy and Historical Reality
Communication Intensive (CI); Literary Arts (LA); North Atlantic World (NA) [GC Aesthetic/Literature]
Clayton Koelb
The seminar will examine the intersection of literary fantasy with historical reality in two ways: first, we'll look at fantastic-looking tales that were actually based on some understanding, however distorted, of historical reality; and then we'll examine stories that seemed utterly fantastic when written but which described events or situations that actually came true later on. Early in the semester, participants will select a topic for their own investigations and develop strategies for research. Work will progress and be evaluated in three stages: a brief written proposal explaining the what, why, and how of the investigation; a more fully argued class presentation in which the preliminary results are offered; and a final essay.

GERM 051 [006E]: Stalin and Hitler: Historical Issues in Cultural and other Perspectives
Global Issues (GL); Historical Analysis (HS) [GC Social Science]
David Pike
This course deals with critical issues, and in the broadest possible context, that dominated the twentieth century: the rise of fascism out of the carnage of World War One and the Bolshevik revolution to which the war and Czarist Russia's involvement in it helped contribute. As the semester unfolds, drawing on a variety of historical and documentary films, and literature (memoirs, novels), we will take a comparative look at singular personalities like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler and examine the role played by such key figures in historical events of this magnitude. More towards the end of the semester, we glance briefly at the situation created in Western and Eastern Europe by the defeat of fascism and contemplate the origins and evolution of the cold war. We conclude with a consideration of the dissolution and democratization of Eastern European countries, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and, against the tragic background of the past, the general for democracy in the future.

GERM 052 [006M]: Canine Cultural Studies
Visual and Performing Arts (VP) [GC Aesthetic/Literature]
Alice Kuzniar
This seminar uses the dog to explore the philosophical, ethical, and imaginary connections and impasses between the human and animal worlds. We shall historicize and theorize man's relationship to the canine species, asking such questions as: when were dogs treated more as pets than workers and why? What does it mean to define the best of human traits--love, faithfulness, and empathy--via the animal other? As literature and the visual arts explore, our relationship to the dog tests the limits of language and representation. Over the semester, in addition to class discussion of materials, students will develop their own research topics.

GERM 053 [006G]: Early Germanic Culture: Myth, Magic, Murder, and Mayhem
Historical Analysis (HS); North Atlantic World (NA); The World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Pre-1700 Western History]
Paul Roberge
This seminar is an introduction to the culture of the Germanic-language areas of northwestern Europe (Germany, Scandinavia, Anglo-Saxon England) from the Middle and Late Roman Empire (100-476 CE) through the Viking Age (traditionally 973-1066 CE). We shall study creation myths and mythic heroes as well examine as the nature of myth (as explanatory stories). From a specimen of sagas, poems, and historical documents (supplemented by inscriptions and charms), we shall explore political and legal structures, the use and abuse of power, gender roles, feuding, the ethos of might-makes-right, and expansionism (e.g., Viking exploration and settlement of North America). All texts are in Modern English translation. Class meetings will focus on analysis of readings, with the instructor providing the historical backdrop. Student will take turns preparing study questions and leading class discussion. Students will also research topics that are germane to the readings and present their findings orally to the members of the seminar.

GERM 055 [006G]: Fantasies of Rome: Gladiators, Senators, Soothsayers, and Caesars
Communication Intensive (CI); Historical Analysis (HS); The World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Pre-1700 Western History]
Clayton Koelb
This seminar will examine how and why enduring cultural fantasies are created, preserved, and altered over time. Our case study will be images of Rome as they have been shaped and reshaped by some of Europe's most influential artists and thinkers. We will look at evidence of many kinds, including poetry, history, philosophy, opera, film -- and even a remarkable forgery -- in an effort to understand how some of the western world's most powerful images have evolved through the ages. Early in the semester, each participant in the seminar will select a topic for investigation in consultation with the instructor and will develop a strategy for research. Students will report on their progress in three stages: first a brief written proposal explaining the what, why and how of the investigation; then a more fully argued class presentation in which the preliminary results of the research are offered; and finally, a completed essay.

GERM 056 [006I]: Germans, Jews, and the History of Antisemitism
Communication Intensive (CI); Historical Analysis (HS); North Atlantic World (NA) [GC Other Western History]
Jonathan Hess
This course seeks to explore the historically difficult position of minorities in the modern world, using the situation of Jews in Germany from the eighteenth century to the Holocaust as a case study. We will approach the topic by examining a variety of materials: drama, film, political tracts, theological treatises, novels, memories, and autobiography. Classes will be principally discussions based on short written assignments prepared by students. In addition to these frequent brief assignments of a few paragraphs, participants will work on a long-tem project that will progress and be evaluated in three stages: a brief written proposal explaining what they want, why, and how of the investigation; a more fully argued class presentation in which the preliminary results are offered; and a final essay. No knowledge of a foreign language is necessary; all works are read in English translation.

GERM 057 [006M]: Monk-Calfs & Dog-Heads, Troglodytes & Hermaphrodites: Monsters in Early Modern Cultures
Literary Arts (LA); North Atlantic World (NA); World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Aesthetic/Literature]
Christopher Wild
In this seminar we will explore the cultures of pre-modern Europe, from the late Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (1400-1750) through the monsters they bear. By blurring the boundaries between human and non-human, natural and un-/supernatural, monsters, as the foreign and other made flesh, make visible the anxieties and crises of a culture. Besides reading scientific, literary, and theological texts, we will analyze pictorial documents such as maps, broadsheets, medical illustrations, and grotesque paintings. Since this course is as much about seemingly distant cultures as it is about understanding our own, we will start out by investigating monsters closer to home, namely those of Hollywood cinema.

GERM 058 [006G]: Love in the Middle Ages
Communcation Intensive (CI); Historical Analysis (HS); The World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Pre-1700 Western History]
Katherine Starkey
This seminar will examine the creation and development of the notion of love in the Middle Ages. In the course of the semester, we will read a selection of love poetry, two courtly romances, a parody of courtly love, and a treatise on love in an effort to understand the roots of one of the most pervasive concepts in the western world today: romantic love. Discussion topics will cover such topical issues as marriage, adultery, violence, power, and gender roles. Early in the semester, each student will select a topic for investigation in consultation with the instructor and will develop a strategy for research. Students will report on their progress in three stages: first a brief written proposal explaining the topic, and the plans for conducting the study; then a more fully argued class presentation in which the preliminary results of the research are offered; and finally a completed essay.

GERM 059 [006E]: Moscow 1937: Dictatorships and their Defenders
Global Issues (GL); Historical Analysis (HS) [GC Social Science]
David Pike
This course offers a novel approach to the study of recurrent problems of enormous consequence: (1) the origins and emergence of dictatorships that engage in grievous practices of repression and mass murder, (2) in what ways these regimes are understood, and by whom, as they develop and "mature‰ ˜ philosophically, ideologically, historically; (3) and how such regimes tend often to be enveloped in justifications by "outside observers" that help keep them in existence. The Soviet Union, particularly during the thirties and the blood purges, serves as the axis. However, a main objective is to use this particular "case study‰ to branch off into different directions of student inquiry. We will attempt to establish prevalent historical opinion about these phenomena in order to contrast ˜ favorably and unfavorable ˜ contemporary treatments of the Soviet Union during these horrible years of bloodshed.

GERM 060 [006K]: Avant-Garde Cinema: History, Themes, Textures
Visual and Performing Arts (VP) [GC Aesthetic - Fine Arts]
Richard Langston
The cinema we frequently encounter in theaters and on television is full of stories comprised of discernible beginnings, middles, and (happy) endings. However, conventional narratives are but one approach to making films. For almost a century, filmmakers have employed the medium of film to explore and broaden the limits of aural and visual perception, to invent new aesthetic forms in motion, to express emotions and desires, and to intervene critically in cultural politics. Students enrolled in this seminar will uncover the history, techniques, and meanings of non-narrative cinema from the twentieth century. Often called "avant-garde," "underground," or "experimental," the films we will discuss are international in scope and represent major chapters in the history of this "minor cinema." Seminar participants will develop in the course of the semester a critical vocabulary for making sense of these works and will articulate their own analyses in writing and their own video essays.

GERM 061 [006M]: Berlin: Old & New Capital: 150 Years of German Culture & Politics
Literary Arts (LA) [GC Aesthetic/Literature]
Siegfried Mews
In the course we will examine one of the chief questions of German history and politics, the striving for national unity- both externally and internally- from 1871 to the end of our century. We will concentrate on how this central question is both reflected and refracted in literary texts, but in adopting an interdisciplinary approach, we will also discuss other forms of artistic expression such as film and opera as well as political and historical documents from various periods that elucidate the European context of the "German question."