GERMAN 221: GERMAN EXPRESS 2ND YEAR
Instructor tba
Daily 11:30-1:20, DEN 205
10 credits, sln: 14111, (VLPA)
*add code required

Intensive version of 201 and 202. Stresses development of reading and speaking skills. Limited to students who have demonstrated exceptional skills in first year German.

Please contact your current Germanics Instructor or the Germanics Main Office (uwgerman@u.washington.edu) if you would like to be considered for the course.

 

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GERMAN 311: APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

Section A
Professor Jane K. Brown
MWF 10:30-11:20, DEN 205
5 credits, sln: 14115, (VLPA)

Section B
Professor Sabine Wilke
MWF 9:30-10:20, DEN 213
5 credits, sln: 14116, (VLPA)

This course is designed to introduce students to the various literary genres of the German tradition (lyric, prose, and drama) using examples from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Through lectures and discussions students learn to apply the mechanics of analyzing poetry, prose, and drama to a meaningful interpretation of the individual texts.

Primary language of instruction is German. Course work involves readings (up to 15 pages of text in German for every class meeting), three 5-6 page papers on assigned topics, additional short exercises.

Prerequisite: German 203 or equivalent.

 

 

 

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GERMAN 390: FREUD AND THE LITERARY IMAGINATION
Professor Richard Gray
MWF 10:30-11:20, SMI 211
5 credits, sln: 14118, (VLPA)

QZ AA: Th 10:30-11:20, DEN 317, sln: 14119
QZ AB: Th 10:30-11:20, LAW 118, sln: 14120
QZ AC: Th 10:30-11:20, THO 211, sln: 14121
QZ AD: Th 10:30-11:20, MGH 082A, sln: 14122

Website: http://courses.washington.edu/freudlit

This course examines a set of central themes that emerge from Sigmund Freud’s theories of the dream, the nature of literary creativity, the operation of the human psyche, and the substance of human culture. We will take as our starting point the hypothesis that Freud conceives the psyche as a kind of writing machine, an “author” that produces fictional narratives that share many properties with the prose fiction generated by creative writers. For this reason, our focus throughout the quarter will be restricted to prose narratives. The course will concentrate on literature produced in the wake of Freud’s theories, that is, on texts that consciously or unconsciously develop Freudian ideas. The class is structured around a set of themes that will be developed on the basis of paired readings: in each case we will examine a text or excerpt from Freud’s psychological works in conjunction with the reading of a literary text that exemplifies the issue or issues highlighted in Freud’s theory. Literary works treated include writings by Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Arthur Schnitzler, Robert Musil, Ingeborg Bachmann, and others. Course requirements: regular attendance at lecture and discussion sessions; weekly short writing assignments; 2 short interpretive papers.

 

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GERMAN 395: GERMAN PROCTOR 1ST YEAR
Professor Charles Barrack
TTh 10:30-11:20, SMI 211
2 credits, sln: 14123, (VLPA)

Proctors will receive much practice in conversational German. Students aspiring to become teachers of German will find this course especially useful because they are placed in charge of small groups of participants in German 150, Conversational German Through Films. As proctors they lead the discussions and grade the small group of students under their charge on the basis of their mastery of the vocabulary of the films. Proctors are provided all necessary written materials including discussion questions. Proctors must come to class on time and meet with the instructor briefly when the bell rings while participants in German 150 are watching the films. During these brief meetings, the instructor will make suggestions and discuss problems raised by the proctors. Participants must be advanced students of German, i.e., students who have taken an upper-division composition/conversation course such as 301,302,303,401,403—or had equivalent experience in a German speaking country. Graduate students in Germanics or native speakers are also strongly encouraged to participate if they wish to acquire teaching experience. Proctors are graded on their attendance, proper conducting of group discussion, and punctuality—especially in submitting their grade sheets. German 395 is graded CREDIT/NO CREDIT.

 

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GERMAN 421: STDS 18th C LIT & CULTURE
Professor Hellmut Ammerlahn
MWF 12:30-1:20, DEN 317
5 credits, sln: 14125, (VLPA)

“Original Genius” and German “Storm and Stress.” Cultural, Literary, and Social Rebellion before the French Revolution.

The “Storm and Stress” period (ca 1770-1786) made a name for itself in the history of European youth movements, as it counted writers and musicians of lasting renown among its peers, such as Herder, Goethe, Mozart, and Schiller. The young “original geniuses,” as they called themselves, demanded recognition for their subjectivity and emotional life in an era which had degenerated from inspiring and liberating enlightenment to petrifying rationalism and mechanistic utilitarianism. They inaugurated a cultural and social rebellion which sought to explore nature as an organismic whole as well as mankind’s irrational and super-rational dimensions. They thematized in their works issues of justice, e.g. the personal tragedies of unwed mothers who committed infanticide in a vain attempt to escape social ostracism. The phenomenon of original artistic creativity linked to the danger of titanic overreaching intrigued them.

We shall study in depth Goethe’s novel Die Leiden des jungen Werther, the original version of Faust (“Urfaust”), and Schiller’s drama Die Räuber. Poems, letters, and/or theoretical texts by these authors as well as by Shaftesbury, Herder, Klopstock, Lavater, and Lenz will be included.

Format: Texts and lectures in German, discussions in English or German. Midterm, final, and one class report required.

 

 

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GERMAN 451: GERMAN LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS
Professor Joseph Voyles
Daily 1:30-2:20, DEN 313
5 credits, sln: 14129, (VLPA)

German 451 is an introduction to linguistics in general and an analysis of German in particular. A transformational outline of the grammar of German is given beginning with the phonology and then considering some aspects of the morphology and syntax. Time permitting; a brief introduction to semantics will be given. Class will be conducted in English.

Prerequisite: Students should have had two years of college level German or equivalent.

 

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