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Winter Quarter 2008 Course Descriptions

[ Dutch ]. [ German ]. [ Scandinavian ]. [ Swedish ]. [ Yiddish ].

Call numbers can be found on the University Registrar's Web site.

Dutch

There are no Dutch courses offered Winter Quarter.

German

Taught at 9:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 12:30
Introduction to German; development of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing skills and cultural knowledge.
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Please note: Students should attend one of the initial orientation sessions. In this program, students work by appointment with the Center's instructors to set goals and to receive assistance with self-managed learning. Students register for and complete from 1 to 5 credit hours during the quarter. Students who complete 5 hours before the end of the quarter may proceed to 102.51. For more information about the program, visit the Individualized Instruction Web site
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Taught at 8:30 / 9:30 / 10:30 / 11:30
Continued development of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing skills and cultural knowledge.
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Please note:Students should attend one of the initial orientation sessions. In this program, students work by appointment with the Center's instructors to set goals and to receive assistance with self-managed learning. Students register for and complete from 1 to 5 credit hours during the quarter. Students who complete 5 hours before the end of the quarter may proceed to 103.51. For more information about the program, visit the Individualized Instruction Web site
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Taught at 8:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 12:30
Continued development of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing skills and cultural knowledge; grammar review.
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Please note: Students should attend one of the initial orientation sessions. In this program, students work by appointment with the Center's instructors to set goals and to receive assistance with self-managed learning. Students register for and complete from 1 to 5 credit hours during the quarter. Students who complete 5 hours before the end of the quarter may proceed to 104.51. For more information about the program, visit the Individualized Instruction Web site
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Taught MTWRF 12:30 Intensive review of basic structures, vocabulary and skills needed for entry into German 104.
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Taught M W F : 9:00 - 10:18 / 10:30 - 11:48 / 11:30 - 12:48 / 12:00 - 1:18 / 1:00 - 2:18
Vocabulary building, reading, listening and written practice; cultural knowledge.
Texts: Stationen: Ein Kursbuch für die Mittelstufe, and Langenscheidt Standard German Dictionary
Please note: Students should attend one of the initial orientation sessions. In this program, students work by appointment with the Center's instructors to set goals and to receive assistance with self-managed learning. Students register for and complete from 1 to 5 credit hours during the quarter. For more information about the program, visit the Individualized Instruction Web site
Texts: Blickwechsel, German in Review, and Langenscheidt Standard German Dictionary
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C. Vannette, email: vannette.1@osu.edu
M W F 9:30 ~ 10:48
German 201 is a prerequisite for the German major and minor programs and for semester- or year-long study-abroad programs in Germany. To prepare students for either experience, and to encourage continued study of German for all others, the course covers a wide range of important skills and knowledge areas, with attention being paid both to the language and to "content" -- information about Germany, German culture, literature, and socio-political developments in German-speaking countries -- a required skill for prospective teachers and for all others who wish to use German in their careers.
Prof. Taleghani-Nikazm, email: taleghani-nikazm.1@osu.edu
T R 10:30 ~ 11:48
Practice in spoken German on topics of general interest and currrent events.
Prof. Reitter, email: reitter.4@osu.edu
T R 2:30 ~ 4:18 pm
Study of popular culture forms in relation to the artistic, intellectual, historic, and literary traditions of the German-speaking world.
Taught in English. GEC course.
German H263 The Faust Theme -- 5 Credit Hours (GEC course)
Prof. Hammermeister, email: hammermeister.2@osu.edu
M W 9:30 - 11:18
This course will be taught in English. GEC course
Faust, the man who sells his soul to the devil, is one of the few mythical figures created by the modern age. His story has, for hundreds of years, been told and retold in poems, dramas, puppet plays, ballets, novels, paintings, symphonies, book illustrations, operas, and films. Faust's infinite attraction for the arts stems from the very idea he embodies, namely that of struggle. But the forces that are seen at war with each other change with every century, author, and composer. Faith and heresy, hope and nihilism, sensuality and asceticism, love and lust, art and politics -- all of these battle for redemption or damnation in different versions of Faust. This course on the Faust theme will thus shed light on the different ages and mentalities that are expressed in each version. From a close study of transformation of the Faust theme, we will ultimately derive an outline of the cultural history of Germany.
This class approaches the Faust theme from a variety of different angles. We will consider Elizabethan drama (Marlowe), and we will also study the Faust theme in the Arts like painting (Delacroix), etching (Rembrandt), symphonic and operatic music (Liszt, Berlioz, Gounod), as well as film (Murnau). The main focus of the course, however, will be two outstanding works of German literature: Goethe's Faust and Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus.
Prof. Ribaj, email: ribaj.1@osu.edu
T R 1:30 ~ 3:18
This course will be taught in English. GEC course
Origins and highlights of German culture and life as reflected in literary and poetic works, Germanic mythology, religion, and the arts.
German 293 Individual Studies -- 2-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: Written permission of chairperson.
Prof. Spencer, email: spencer.4@osu.edu
T R 12:30 ~ 2:48 pm GEC course
Culture of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany in literature, film, the other arts; the roots of fascism and its echoes in postwar Germany.
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Prof. Taleghani-Nikazm, email: taleghani-nikazm.1@osu.edu
M W F 11:00 - 12:18
German 301 is the first language and cultural skills course on the advanced level. In addition to printed materials, students will utilize web-based resources. Students will explore events, accomplishments, shortcomings, trends, and ideas in German culture, science, politics, and society from the Revolution of 1848 to the end of the Third Reich.
Prof. Malkmus, email: malkmus.1@osu.edu
M W F 10:30~
German-English and English-German translation; texts from diverse areas; emphasis on improvement of German grammar, syntax, idiom, and style; discussion of common translation techniques.
Prof. Reitter, email: reitter.4@osu.edu
T R 4:30 - 6:18 pm
Reading, analysis, and discussion of representative works pertaining to the Holocaust from the perspectives of the German and Ashkenazic traditions.
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Prof. Ribaj, email: ribaj.1@osu.edu
M W F 1:30 ~ 2:48 pm
German 401 is the second language and cultural skills course on the advanced level and builds upon knowledge acquired in German 301. It is meant for students who have begun to master advanced skills in writing, speaking, reading, and listening and are venturing into the complexities and subtleties of the German language. We will review difficult points of German structure, discuss variations in style and regionalisms and work on building vocabulary and using it correctly. Materials used for analysis will include written texts, images as well as music and performance that represent highlights in German culture and history from the early Middle Ages through the beginning of the Second Empire. The comprehensive goal of the course is to enable students to discuss fundamental aspects of early German history in an informed manner and at an advanced level of speaking and writing.
Prof. Mergenthaler, email: mergenthaler.4@osu.edu
T R 9:30 ~ 11:18
Development of German literature in its historical, social, and philosophical context from 1870 to the present. Taught in German.
Many religious ideas have come to us in the form of narratives, like those found in the Bible and the Qur'an. Secular literature has often taken up these ideas and narratives of the sacred in order to investigate or criticize them—or even in order to invent a wholly new religion of art. In this course, we will explore various literary representations and transformations of the sacred by reading and interpreting essays, novellas, short stories, and poems, written in times of crisis and change between 1870 and the present. Students will thereby also gain an overview of literary periods and genres, as well as strenghten their ability to read and write about literary texts in German.
Prof. Grotans, email: grotans.1@osu.edu
T R 6:00 - 7:48 pm
Gruezi! Servus! Tacko! Grüß Gott! Tag! Mojn!
What's the difference and who says what where when? Whence did German arise and how is it related to English? How was German eventually standardized? How is the German today being influenced by globalization?
Take German 530 and find out!
In German 530, we will look at the historical development of the German language and its contemporary manifestations.
The goals of the course are:
1) to introduce you to key linguistic concepts and methodologies;
2) to provide you with an overview of the historical development of the German language and the codification of written and spoken norms;
3) To acquaint you with a number of different German geographical variants, stylistic registers and group languages.
Prerequisite: Ger 401 or permission of instructor. Taught in German.
Can be used to fulfill the requirements for a German major or minor; may be substituted for the Ling 201 requirement for majors.
German 572 German for Research I -- 3 Credit Hours -- G
Prof. Fehervary, email: fehervary.1@osu.edu
ARR
No required text. Satisfactory completion of this course (grade of A or B) may be accepted by the student's dept as evidence of a dictionary reading knowledge in fulfillment of PhD language requirement.
German 573 German for Research II -- 3 Credit Hours -- G
Prof. Fehervary, email: fehervary.1@osu.edu
ARR
No required text. Reading of difficult material at a reasonable rate of speed and with only infrequent use of dictionaries. Completion of this course with grade of A or B may be accepted by the student's Dept. as evidence of a thorough reading knowledge of German.
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Prof. Berman, email: berman.58@osu.edu
W 3:30 - 6:30 pm
Taught in German.

In this seminar we will read autobiographical and fictional material written by Germans who spent extensive time in Africa and the Middle East. The discussion will focus on the image of Africa and the Middle East, the self-image of the German authors, questions of gender and sexuality, and the relation of cultural production to political and economic developments. Narratological questions-perspective, rhetorical devices, and imagery-will be central to the discussion.
The objectives of the course are to critically analyze German images of Africa and the Middle East, as mediated through fiction and non-fiction material; to attain a grasp of key theoretical paradigms crucial to understanding ideological aspects of the texts; to address relevant historical events and developments; to analyze narratological tools used by the authors, and to explore the ideological function of these tools.

Primary sources:
Karl May, Durch die Wüste
Max Eyth, Im Strom unserer Zeit
Franz Kafka, "In der Strafkolonie"
Hugo von Hofmannsthal, "Reise im nördlichen Afrika"
Albert Schweitzer, Zwischen Wasser und Urwald
Corinne Hofmann, Die weisse Massai
Stefanie Zweig, Nirgendwo in Afrika
Caroline Link (film based on Zweig's novel), Nirgendwo in Afrika
Secondary texts:
David Spurr, The Rhetoric of Empire; at SBX
A reader containing texts by, for example, Fatima El-Tayeb, Michael Schubert, Valentin Mudimbe, Edward Said, Sidonie Smith & Julia Watson, and Andrew Zimmermann will be available for checkout in the Germanic department.
Grading and Requirements: Participation (20%); two book reports and oral presentations (40%); final paper (40%; including abstract and bibliography).
Prof. Spencer, email: spencer.4@osu.edu
M W 1:30 ~ 3:18 pm
Development of film from the late nineteenth century to the end of WWII; fundamental elements of film and film analysis, film as an art form, and other aspects of film.
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German 693 Individual Studies -- 2-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: Signature of undergraduate advisor or Graduate Studies Committee chair as applicable.
Prereq: Written permission of department chairperson.
Prof. Hammermeister, email: hammermeister.2@osu.edu
T R 1:30 ~ 3:18 pm
Primary current methodological and theoretical approaches to German literary study and brief consideration of their history: positivism, hermeneutics, formalism, Marxism, structuralism, post-structuralism.
Prof. Mergenthaler, email: mergenthaler.4@osu.edu
T R 3:30 ~ 5:18 pm
Study of major works chosen to present prominent themes and problems and/or important developments within the period.
This course presents a survey of major literary works written between 1400 and 1700, covering the texts on the German M.A. reading list. The focus of this course will be on the relationship between—predominantly Christian—religion and literature in changing historical and political contexts. Authors discussed include Johannes von Tepl, Sebstian Brant, Erasmus von Rotterdam, Martin Luther, Hans Sachs, Andreas Gryphius, Martin Opitz, Paul Fleming, Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen.
Prof. Grotans, email: grotans.1@osu.edu
M W 1:30-3:18 pm
Basic concepts of historical linguistics; the major factors of change in the history of German from Proto-Germanic to the present.
Prof. Malkmus, email: malkmus.1@osu.edu
T 3:30 - 6:30 pm
The picaro (Schelm), a con man and roguish trickster figure who tries to make ends meet by adopting a variety of different social roles, originated as a literary character in Renaissance Spain. Ever since, he and his female counterpart, the picara, have populated, haunted, and undermined the literary imagination of various European cultures. We will have a close look at the origins of the genre and its prehistory in classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, discuss the flourishing of picaresque writing in the German baroque and follow its modifications during the Age of Reason and Romanticism. The main focus of this class will be placed on the so-called Wiederkehr des Schelmen in modern German literature.
German 893 Individual Studies -- 2-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: Permission of chair of Graduate Studies Committee.
Prof. Fehervary, email: fehervary.1@osu.edu
R 3:30 - 6:30 pm
Topics vary in focus and methodology; emphasis may range from individual authors, works, or themes to theoretical or interdisciplinary issues; major research papers.
This seminar will examine contributions by leading women writers to the development of intellectual thought, politics and culture in the twentieth century. Our texts will consist primarily of essayistic writings, but discussion will, and reports and seminar papers can, include consideration of pertinent works of fiction. Sample topics: Ricarda Huch: modernism and World War I; Hannah Arendt: National Socialism and the Holocaust; Anna Seghers: antifascism and culture before and after World War II; Ingeborg Bachmann: the ethics of writing in the nuclear age. Whereas writing by women is often considered as a separate genre or discourse, our seminar will examine how women have shaped the mainstream of intellectual developments in Central Europe and beyond. We will also contextualize the topic in reference to the contributions of leading male writers and intellectuals (e.g. Thomas Mann, Brecht, Jaspers, Habermas, Grass) to the same or similar issues and events, as well as to significant women writers and intellectuals outside the German sphere (e.g. Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beuvoir, Nadine Gordimer).
Requirements: 1 report and a research paper of at least 16 pp. + bibliography.
Texts:
  • Ricarda Huch, Michael Bakunin und die
  • Rosa Luxemburg, Freidenkerin des Sozialismus: Ausgewählte Schriften zur ...
  • Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem
  • Anna Seghers, Hier im Volk der kalten Herzen: Briefwechsel 1947
  • Christa Wolf, Die Dimension des Autors, 2 volumes
  • Ulrike Meinhof, Die Würde des Menschen ist antastbar: Aufsätze und Polemiken
  • Ingeborg Bachmann, Die Wahrheit ist dem Menschen zumutbar
  • Nadine Gordimer, Living in Hope and History: Notes for Our Century

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German 993 Individual Studies -- 1-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: Signature of Graduate Studies Committee chair.
Research for master's thesis.
Research for dissertation purposes only.
Information in this course description bulletin is subject to change.

Scandinavian


Scandinavian 500 The Icelandic Saga -- 5 credit hours (GEC course)
Prof. Kaplan, email: kaplan.103@osu.edu
T R 9:30 - 11:18
Taught in English. GEC arts and hums lit course.
This course introduces students to the classical literature of Northern Europe: the Icelandic Sagas. The sagas have inspired Richard Wagner, Henrik Ibsen, and a long line of poets including William Morris, H. W. Longfellow, W. H. Auden, and Seamus Heaney. We will explore when, how, and why this literature was constructed as 'classical' -- and why, despite this, we don't read sagas in high school. We will also learn about medieval Iceland, a society with a system of representative government unique in medieval Europe and a legal system closely related to our own. Students will find out why blood feud gets a bad rap and how women can dictate the fortunes of men without ever lifting a sword. Students will learn to analyze and interpret sagas both as literary works and ethnographic sources. Most importantly, students will learn how to read and enjoy saga prose, wherein can be found much action, intrigue, revenge, questionable legal tactics, pithy dialogue, and some of the noblest heroes and most imperious and powerful women ever to grace the page.
This course complements Scandinavian 222: Nordic Mythology and Medieval Culture. It may be of particular interest to students of Swedish language, Old English, medieval literature, and the history of law.
There are no prerequisites.
Scandinavian 520 Films of Ingmar Bergman -- 5 credit hours (GEC course)
Prof. Blackwell, email: blackwell.4@osu.edu
M W 1:30 - 3:18 pm
taught in English! GEC course.
Scandinavian 520 has a dual function: to introduce students to the practice of close-reading/viewing of films and to teach them to view these and all other films as products of cultural ideology. To that end, the students are introduced to the critical vocabulary necessary for film analysis - camera angles, shot duration, shot range (close-up, medium, and long shots), image composition including line and lighting, editing techniques including point-of-view, montage, and sound technique including synchronous and non-synchronous sound, voiceover and extra-diagetic sound. But equally important is the emphasis the course places on film in general and Bergman's films in particular as cultural artifacts that both embody and challenge certain prevalent cultural notions. Specifically, the students are encouraged critically to assess film from a post-modernist and feminist theoretical standpoint, to consider the ways in which dominant culture defines not only how we view films but also how we perceive of human identity, human values, human language and discourse, human relations, and, quite simply, human reality in its widest parameters.
Text: photocopy packet.
Investigation of problems in the various fields of Scandinavian literature and philology.
Prereq: Permission of chairperson.
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Swedish

Prof. Blackwell, email: blackwell.4@osu.edu
M W F 11:30 - 12:48 pm
Text: Nya Mål 1: Svenska som andra språk, Kerstin Ballardini, Sune Stjärnlöf, Åke Viberg. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur
Swedish 293 Individual Studies -- 2-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: 104 or equiv or permission of instructor. Taught in Swedish.
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Yiddish

Yiddish is the language of the largest country in Europe; a key to the last thousand years of Jewish life; the language of a great national culture; and the secret of what makes today's Jews the way they are.
Yiddish 101-104 provides a comprehensive foundation in speaking, reading, writing, and comprehending the national language of Ashkenazic Jewry. Yiddish language courses are applicable toward satisfaction of the foreign language requirement.
Instructor tba
MTWRF 11:30~
Yiddish 241 Yiddish Culture -- 5 Credit Hours (GEC course)
Kevin Herzner, email: herzner.1@osu.edu
MTWRF 11:30-
Taught in English . . . GEC course
Introductory survey of political, social, ideological, and religious trends as reflected in Yiddish culture, especially folklore and literature.
Yiddish 293 Individual Studies -- 1-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: Written permission of instructor.
L. Long Van Brocklyn, email: long-vanbrocklyn.1@osu.edu
M W 9:30 - 11:18
GEC course
Introduction to Jewish-American literature; development of expository writing and argumentation skills through systematic and critical reflection upon their own country from the perspective of an ethnic community.
Yiddish 371 Yiddish Literature in Translation -- 5 Credit Hours (GEC course)
Prof. Prof. Miller, email: miller.3@osu.edu
T R 1:30 - 3:18 pm
Taught in English . . . GEC course
Reading, analysis, and discussion of representative works and of the development of major movements and genres in Yiddish literature.
Yiddish 693 Individual Studies -- 1-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: Written permission of instructor.
Prereq: Written permission of dept. chairperson.
Prof. Prof. Miller, email: miller.3@osu.edu
Fridays 12:30-3:30
In-depth study of a selected topic or issue in Yiddish literature, linguistics, or intellectual culture.
Yiddish 998 Research in Yiddish -- 1-10 Credit Hours
Research for thesis purposes only. Prereq: Permission of instructor.
Information in this course description bulletin is subject to change.

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