Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

www.unc.edu/depts/german

CLAYTON KOELB, Chair

Professors

Jonathan Hess (3) 18th-Century Studies, German-Jewish Cultural History, Aesthetics and Literary Theory, Philosophy and Literature

Clayton Koelb (4) Modern Literature (Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka), Literary Theory, Philosophy and Aesthetics, Comparative Literature

David Pike (8) 20th-Century Literature, East German and Soviet Culture and Politics

Paul T. Roberge (9) Historical Linguistics, Older Germanic Dialects, Comparative Germanic Grammar, Pidgins and Creoles, Afrikaans, Language, Ethnicity, and Politics

Associate Professors

Richard Langston (6) Postwar and Contemporary Literature, Avant-Garde Studies, Popular Culture and Literature, Literary and Cultural Theory

Kathryn Starkey (10) Medieval Literature, Visuality and Textuality, Gender and Sexuality, Historical Linguistics, Older Germanic Dialects

Assistant Professor

Anna Parkinson (18) 20th- and 21st-Century Literature and Culture, Psychoanalysis, Feminist and Queer Theory, Critical Theory, Film Studies, Minority Literature and Culture

Lecturer

Christina Wegel (11) Drama and Theater, Theater Productions and Music in the Foreign Language Classroom, Contemporary Literature

Associated Faculty

Helga Bister (2) Dialectology, Contact and Sociolinguistics, Applied Linguistics

Dan Thornton (17) Postwar German and Austrian Literature, Expressionism, Neue Sachlichkeit, Golden Age and 20th-Century Dutch Literature, Holocaust Studies, Jewish Literature in the Diaspora

Professors Emeriti

Walter K. Francke

Richard H. Lawson

Siegfried Mews

Christoph E. Schweitzer

Sidney R. Smith

Petrus W. Tax

The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures offers graduate programs leading to the degrees of master of arts and doctor of philosophy. Students concentrate in either German Literature and Culture, or Germanic Linguistics.

PLEASE NOTE: At this time the department is accepting applications for the German Literature and Culture program only.

The faculty welcomes and encourages the pursuit of interdisciplinary interests, and students regularly take courses offered by other academic units in the University (e.g., the Curriculum of Comparative Literature, the Program in Cultural Studies, and the departments of History, Linguistics and Communication Studies). Students regularly take advantage of courses taught in literary and cultural theory in other departments, and the faculty also encourages students to take courses at nearby Duke University. Within the broad requirements of The Graduate School and the department, every effort is made to meet the student's individual needs. The department ordinarily expects at least one year of teaching experience as part of the graduate program, and provides rigorous training in German language teaching methodology (GERM 700).

Prospective students should examine the document, "Guide to Graduate Studies in German," which describes departmental curricula and requirements in detail. It is available on the Web at www.unc.edu/depts/german.

Master of Arts in Germanic Languages

Admission: Applicants normally should have completed an undergraduate degree with a major in German or a related field.

Requirements: The M.A. degree is designed to be completed in four semesters. A minimum of 30 semester hours (typically ten courses) is required, and must include GERM 700 and 993 (M.A. thesis credit), as well as GERM 501 (Structure of German) and GERM 502 (Middle High German). Either 501 or 502 will be offered every year, on a rotating basis. (In special circumstances, where scheduling makes it difficult for both of these courses to be taken in the M.A. curriculum, students may, in consultation with the director of graduate studies, either substitute another course for 501 or 502 or take either 501 or 502 during the first year of Ph.D. coursework.) Ordinarily it is expected that M.A. students will write a minimum of three substantial course papers during the first year.

Students concentrating in German literature and culture are also required to take GERM 615 and 616 and a comprehensive M.A. examination, ordinarily at the beginning of the fourth semester. The reading list for the examination should consist of a list of at least 25 titles, compiled by the student in consultation with his/her advisor, and representing all the major periods and genres of German literature. The 25 titles may include as many works from the GERM 615–616 reading lists as the student and advisor deem suitable. The GERM 615–616 syllabi are included in the "Guide to Graduate Studies in German."

Courses numbered at the 400 level may count toward the M.A. degree only with special approval of the director of graduate studies.

The M.A. thesis is based on the respective student's research and should be approximately 45 pages in length; the final version of the thesis needs to be formally approved by the student's advisor and the two committee members and is due no later than the last day of classes of the fourth semester.

Doctor of Philosophy in Germanic Languages

Admission: Applicants normally should have completed a master's degree in German or the equivalent. Only those students who have demonstrated academic excellence at the M.A. level will be admitted to the Ph.D. program.

Requirements: The Ph.D. requires a total of 24 semester hours beyond those required for the M.A. This typically amounts to six courses beyond the M.A. degree (if received from UNC-Chapel Hill) and six hours of dissertation credit (GERM 994). For the most part, Ph.D. students pursue individualized programs of study.

Students concentrating in German literature and culture elect courses in consultation with their advisor so as to gain exposure to different periods (medieval, early modern, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries) and to a variety of critical approaches to the study of literature and culture. Ph.D. students are expected to enroll in no fewer than four courses (beyond those required for the M.A.) for which a substantial term paper is required.

Courses numbered at the 400 level may count toward the Ph.D. degree only with special approval of the director of graduate studies.

Students who have earned M.A. degrees at other institutions should consult with the director of graduate studies regarding the transfer of credit. Students from other institutions take GERM 700 during their first year of teaching at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Ph.D. students must demonstrate reading knowledge of one foreign language (other than German) deemed relevant to a particular course of study. This is usually French, but students may petition the department to substitute another language. Students normally take the Ph.D. examination at the end of the second year of doctoral studies. The Ph.D. examination allows students to investigate areas of particular interest (from which a dissertation topic will emerge), while it observes The Graduate School's requirement of comprehensiveness.

To be admitted to candidacy for the degree of doctor of philosophy, students must have completed all course work, fulfilled the foreign language requirement, passed the PhD examination, and developed a satisfactory dissertation prospectus. All students must write an acceptable dissertation based on independent research.

Financial Aid

The department nominates outstanding students for competitive nonservice fellowships awarded by The Graduate School. In order to be fully considered for these competitive fellowships, applicants should ensure that all application materials arrive by January 1. A varying number of teaching assistantships are awarded annually to qualified graduate students. Duties involve teaching German at the elementary or intermediate level, or leading recitations (in English or in German) for large undergraduate lecture courses on German literature, culture and philosophy. The department recommends those receiving assistantships for special tuition awards, including remission of out-of-state tuition. To receive priority consideration for such departmental financial aid, applications must be received by January 31.

The duration of financial aid is usually two years at the master's level and three to four years at the doctoral level. However, reappointment and continuation of support depend critically on satisfactory academic progress and performance of duties (where applicable).

Graduate students are also encouraged to apply for external fellowships (e.g., Fulbright, DAAD) that will enable them to spend a year in residence at a German university. The Graduate School offers dissertation fellowships on a competitive basis to support dissertation research both on- and off-campus.

UNC–Tübingen Graduate Exchange Program

Each year, the department selects one graduate student to go to Tübingen, Germany, to take part in an educational and teaching exchange program. A graduate student from Tübingen spends the year studying at UNC-Chapel Hill, teaching in the German department, and living in the UNC German House as a resource person.

Library and Research Facilities

The University library has outstanding holdings in German literature, Germanic linguistics, literary theory and general linguistics, with further materials available from nearby Duke University (especially valuable for the Jantz Collection of Baroque Literature and German–Americana). A good collection of basic reference works and standard editions is available to students in the department reading room. The language laboratory has not only instructional tapes but also much other recorded material, such as German plays, songs and dialect recordings.

Literature and Culture Courses for Graduates and Advanced Undergraduates

*Courses numbered 620-689 may be taken for three credit hours (final examination required) or students may concurrently enroll in GERM 705 for one additional credit hour. The four-credit-hour option requires a term paper and is available to German department graduate students only.

615 [111] HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE I (3). Prerequisites, GERM 301, 302 and 303, or equivalent and permission of the instructor. First part of a two-semester sequence offering students a comprehensive, text-based survey of German literary history from the High Middle Ages to the present.

616 [112] HISTORY OF GERMAN LITERATURE II (3). Prerequisites, GERM 301, 302 and 303, or equivalent and permission of the instructor. Second part of a two-semester sequence offering students a comprehensive, text-based survey of German literary history from the High Middle Ages to the present.

*625 [115] EARLY MODERN LITERATURE (3). Prerequisites, GERM 301, 302 and 303, or equivalent (if taught in German) and permission of the instructor. German literature of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Close readings, lectures and discussions of representative texts.

*630 [120] 18TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3). Prerequisites, GERM 301, 302 and 303, or equivalent (if taught in German) and permission of the instructor. Literature in the Age of Enlightenment. Close readings, lectures and discussions of representative texts.

*640 [125] EARLY 19TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3). Prerequisites, GERM 301, 302 and 303, or equivalent (if taught in German) and permission of the instructor. Literature of the Romantic period. Close readings, lectures and discussions of representative texts.

*645 [130] LATER 19TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3). Prerequisites, GERM 301, 302 and 303, or equivalent (if taught in German) and permission of the instructor. Literature of Realism, Naturalism and related movements. Close readings, lectures and discussions of representative texts.

*650 [135] EARLY 20TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3). Prerequisites, GERM 301, 302 and 303, or equivalent (if taught in German) and permission of the instructor. Major figures of the period from the turn of the century to World War II. Close readings, lectures and discussions of representative texts.

*655 [140] LATER 20TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3). Prerequisites, GERM 301, 302 and 303, or equivalent (if taught in German) and permission of the instructor. Literature since World War II in both the Federal Republic and the former GDR. Close readings, lectures and discussions of representative texts.

685 EARLY 21ST-CENTURY GERMAN LITERATURE (3). Literature since German unification in 1989. Close readings, lectures and discussions of representative texts.

Courses for Graduates

700 [205] FOREIGN LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY: THEORIES AND PRACTICE (3). For prospective teachers of German. Required of all teaching assistants. Fall.

703 [206] ADVANCED TOPICS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE PEDAGOGY (3). Prerequisite, GERM 700. This seminar provides experienced teaching assistants the opportunity to revisit the fundamentals in foreign language pedagogy while exploring in greater depth advanced issues like content-based instruction, technology and supervising.

705 [115E] ESSAY COURSE (1). Corequisite, a German Department course numbered 620–689. Courses numbered 620–689 may be taken in conjunction with GERM 705 for one additional credit hour. Requires a term paper. Available to German Department graduate students only.

820 [210] TOPICS IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE (3).

825 [215] TOPICS IN EARLY MODERN LITERATURE (3).

830 [220] TOPICS IN 18TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3).

840 [225] TOPICS IN EARLY 19TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3).

845 [230] TOPICS IN LATER 19TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3).

850 [235] TOPICS IN EARLY 20TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3).

855 [240] TOPICS IN LATER 20TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3).

860 [250] TOPICS IN AESTHETICS AND CRITICISM (3).

865 [245] TOPICS IN GERMAN CULTURAL STUDIES (3).

870 [246] TOPICS IN GENDER STUDIES (3).

875 [247] TOPICS IN GERMAN JEWISH STUDIES (3).

880 [248] TOPICS IN GERMAN CINEMA (3).

896 [299] INDEPENDENT READINGS (Var.). Prerequisite, permission of the instructor and the director of graduate studies. Special readings and research in a selected field or topic outside the scope of current course offerings.

980 [345] SEMINAR IN GERMAN LITERATURE (3).

985 [361] SEMINAR IN GERMANIC LINGUISTICS (3).

993 [393] MASTER'S THESIS (Var.).

994 [394] DOCTORAL DISSERTATION (Var.).

Courses in Dutch for Graduates and Advanced Undergraduates

402 [105] ELEMENTARY DUTCH (3). Rapid introduction to modern Dutch with emphasis on all fundamental components of communication.

403 [106] INTERMEDIATE DUTCH (3). Prerequisite, DTCH 402 or equivalent. Focuses on increased skills in speaking, listening, reading, global comprehension and communication. Emphasis on reading and discussion of longer texts.

404 [107] ADVANCED INTERMEDIATE DUTCH (3). Prerequisite, DTCH 403 or equivalent. Aims to increase proficiency in language skills (reading, speaking, writing) and is constructed around a series of themes meant to introduce students to Dutch society, culture, and history.

405 TOPICS IN DUTCH CULTURE: A LITERARY SURVEY (3). Prerequisites, DTCH 404 or equivalent, ability to read and speak Dutch at intermediate to advanced level. Introduction to Dutch literature from Middle Ages to the present. Survey of topics in Dutch culture.

Courses in Norwegian for Graduates and Advanced Undergraduates

402 [181] ELEMENTARY NORWEGIAN (3). Rapid introduction to modern Norwegian with emphasis on all fundamental components of communication.

404 [182] INTERMEDIATE NORWEGIAN (3). Prerequisite, NORW 402 or equivalent. Focuses on increased skills in speaking, listening, reading, global comprehension and communication. Emphasis on reading and discussion of longer texts.