2015 autumn courselist

Courses - Autumn 2015

Please note that this webpage will be updated as information becomes available

For GE courses, please check out our General Education Web page.


German 1101.01 • German I

4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE Foreign Language course
Introduction to language and culture of the German-speaking world, with emphasis placed on the acquisition of basic communication skills in cultural context. CEFR Levels A1/A2. Not open to native speakers of this language through regular course enrollment or EM credits, or to students with 2 or more years of study in this language in high school, except by permission of dept.

Text: ISBN 978-3-468-96993-5  Berliner Platz 1 Neu: German for Beginners: Student Pack PLUS, English Edition


German 1102.01 • German II

4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE Foreign Language course
Continued development of German-language skills and cultural knowledge for effective communication. Emphasis on more advanced language structures, sustained interactions, reading and writing. CEFR Levels A2/B1. Not open to native speakers of this language.
Prereq: 1101.01, or 4 sem cr hrs of 1101.51.
Texts: ISBN 978-3-468-96993-5  Berliner Platz 1 Neu: German for Beginners: Student Pack PLUS, English Edition; ISBN 978-3-468-96994-2  Berliner Platz 2 Neu: Deutsch im Alltag: Student Pack PLUS; and ISBN 978-0-934034-38-8  English Grammar for Students of German*, fifth edition.


German 1103.01 • German III

4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE Foreign Language course
Development of skills for independent use of German. Discussions, presentations, writing, & listening/viewing activities that address topics of contemporary German-speaking world. CEFR Level B1. Not open to native speakers of this language through regular course enrollment or EM credit.
Prereq: 1102.01, or 4 sem cr hrs of 1102.51, or 1266.
Texts: ISBN 978-3-468-96994-2  Berliner Platz 2 Neu: Deutsch im Alltag: Student Pack PLUS and ISBN 978-0-934034-38-8  English Grammar for Students of German, fifth edition.


German 1101.51 • 1102.51 • 1103.51  Self-paced Individualized

GE Foreign Language course
each course is 4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015


German 2101 • Texts and Contexts I: Contemporary German Language, Culture and Society

Grzybowska | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Development of communication skills and knowledge about recent social, cultural, and political developments in German speaking countries through texts, media and film; CEFR level A2/B1. Closed to native speakers of this language.
Text: Tschick, by Wolfgang Herrndorf, isbn 978-3871347108
Prereq: 1103.01 or 1103.51, or equiv, or permission of instructor. No audit. FL Admis Cond course.


German 2102 • Texts and Contexts II: 20th-Century German Language, History and Culture

Heck | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Continued development of communication skills; gain an understanding of major social and cultural developments in 20th century German history through texts, media, film. CEFR level B1/B2. Closed to native speakers of this language.
Prereq: 2101 or equiv, or permission of instructor. FL Admis Cond course.
Texts:
ISBN 978-3-19-011657-7  Hering,  Matussek & Perlmann-Balme, Übungsgrammatik für die Mittelstufe. Hueber Verlag, 2009.
ISBN 978-3-12-676615-9  Mittelpunkt B2 + C1 Redemittelsammlung, Klett Verlag, 2008. 


German 2251 • Grimms' Fairy Tales and their Afterlives ~ German Literature and Popular Culture

Reitter | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

In the present course, we will be trying to understand the meaning and the enduring appeal of one of Germany’s greatest successes in the realm of cultural exportation—a book whose circulation figures are exceeded in Western culture only by those of the Bible, namely, Grimms’ fairy tales.  This will mean asking a series of interlocking questions.  How did the fairy tales come about?  What were the aims of their compilers?  How do the tales play to those aims?  How do they exceed them?  How do the tales tend to work structurally?  What have their social and psychological effects been?  How have they helped shape—and been reshaped by—popular cultures outside Germany, like popular culture in the U.S.  In reckoning with these questions, we will be enlisting the help of a parade of great critics, including Vladimir Propp, Bruno Bettelheim, Erich Auerbach, and Jack Zipes.
Required Texts:
Jack Zipes, The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
Assigned films will be available at drm.osu.edu
Other readings will be posted on Carmen.
All works in English translation; taught in English.
Repeatable to a maximum of 9 cr hrs. GE lit course.


German 2252H • The Faust Theme

Cancelled! | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Major versions of the Faust story, their socio-cultural context, and their symbolic expression of recurring human concerns. Taught in English.
Prereq: Honors standing, and English 1110.01 (110) or equiv, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 263H. GE lit and diversity global studies course. EN Admis Cond course.
Texts: Marlowe: Doctor Faustus; Goethe: Faust; Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray.


German 2350 • Introduction to German Studies

Byram | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

This course provides a broad introduction to German history and culture and to the field of German Studies. Taught in English, it is an ideal course for students considering a major or minor in German, or for those with a general interest in German-language history and culture.

The course will have four components

  • lectures on history (social, cultural, political, and linguistic)
  • lectures on contemporary German-language society and culture
  • discussion about works of literature, film, philosophy, art, music, etc.
  • introductions to methods for studying language and culture

In the end, students will have a broad overview of German-language history and culture and a catalog of questions that will include tools for analyzing everything from medieval sagas to television shows, political speeches to the words they use.
Taught in English.
Required books (in recommended English editions):
Das Niebelungenlied: The Lay of the Niebelungs.Oxford Classics, ISBN 978-0199238545
The Sorrows of Young Werther. Oxford Classics, ISBN: 978-0199583027
These books are also available as open-access editions, or contact instructor for information about German or German-English editions.
Recommended book:
Mary Fulbrook, A Concise History of Germany, ISBN: 978-0521540711


German 2451 • Hollywood: Exiles & Émigrés

Richards | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE course: Visual and Performing Arts
German cinema has played an influential role in the development of international film genres since the silent period. The so-called Golden Age of German Expressionist film greatly influenced Hollywood filmmaking in many genres: the Western, the gangster film, the horror film, film noir, the animated cartoon, and others. In this class we shall be looking at examples of films made in Hollywood which bear the stamp of German influence, partly through the emigration of leading figures from the German cinema. We shall also be looking at films made in Germany which either thematize aspects of German culture or provide evidence for the fact that influence is not something which flows in only direction.

This course assumes no prior knowledge of German, German films, or film theory in general. It is taught in English and all films shown in class will have subtitles.


German 3101 • Texts and Contexts III: Historical Perspectives

Heck | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Development of intermediate/advanced communication skills; broadening of cultural and historical knowledge through interaction with literary and non-literary materials informed by historical perspective; CEFR level B2. Closed to to native speakers of this language.
Prereq: 2102 or equiv, or permission of instructor. FL Admis Cond course.
Texts:
ISBN 978-3-19-011657-7  Hering,  Matussek & Perlmann-Balme, Übungsgrammatik für die Mittelstufe. Hueber Verlag, 2009.
ISBN 978-3-12-676615-9  Mittelpunkt B2 + C1 Redemittelsammlung, Klett Verlag, 2008.


German 3200 • Cinematic Adaptations ~ Topics in German Literature, Art and Film

Revesz | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Focused exploration of topics in German literature, art, and film as expressions of culture in a transnational context, aimed at improving students' critical comprehension and communication skills.
Textbooks:
Büchner, Georg. Woyzeck.  Reclam.  ISBN 3150184207
Schlink, Bernhard. Der Vorleser. Diogenes, 1997. ISBN 3257229534
Schnitzler, Arthur. Traumnovelle. Suhrkamp,  2010. ISBN 3518189139
Prereq: 2102 or equiv, or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 6 cr hrs. Admis Cond course.


German 3252 • The Holocaust in Literature and Film

Richards | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Reading, analysis, and discussion of representative works pertaining to the Holocaust from the perspectives of the German and Ashkenazic traditions. Taught in English.
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for 399, or Yiddish 3399 (399). GE lit and diversity global studies course.


German 3300 • Vergangenheitsbewältigung: Coming to Terms with the Nazi Past ~ Topics in German Culture Studies, Social and Intellectual History

Revesz | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Focused exploration of topics in the development of German-language culture and intellectual history. Content geared toward improving students' critical comprehension and communication skills in German.
Textbooks:
Frisch, Max. Andorra. Suhrkamp, 1995. ISBN 3518367773
Schlink, Bernhard. Der Vorleser. Diogenes, 1997. ISBN 3257229534
Course Packet: available at Foreign Language Publications (198 Hagerty Hall)
Prereq: 2102 or equiv; or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 6 cr hrs. Admis Cond course.


German 3353 • German Intellectual History: Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud

Cancelled | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015  

GE Cultures and Ideas course.

Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud are essential for understanding intellectual thought in the late nineteenth and twentieth century. They have retained their importance into the twenty-first century. The focus of the course will be the way in which Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud reconceived the notion of history, historical progress, and historiography.
GE cultures and ideas course.


German 3603 • Translation I

Revesz | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

German-English/English-German translation; focus on everyday language; emphasis on improvement of grammar and development of vocabulary; discussion of common translation techniques, introduction to theories of translation.
Textbooks:
Dippmann, Gerda. A Practical Review of German Grammar. 3rd edition. isbn 0139381430
Prereq: 2102 or equiv, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 303. Admis Cond course.


German 4200 • Contemporary Lyric Poetry and Music: From Rap to Ecocriticism - Senior Seminar in German: Literature, Art and Film (German) 

Mergenthaler | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

This course will introduce students to German lyric poetry written since 1989/reunification, from pop song and slam poetry to avant-garde poetry aiming to change the way we talk about nature. We will focus both on the language of German contemporary poetry and on specific contexts reflected in this poetry, including history, politics, migration, nature and ecology, and love--the traditional topic of poetry. Hence, we will exploring not only lyric texts, but also interviews, speeches, essays, and scholarly articles.
The course will be conducted entirely in German and combine lectures, discussions, student presentations, academic and creative writing assignments, as well as targeted language exercises.  

Learning goals include:
• to learn about contemporary German lyric poetry and its questions and purposes
• to acquire specific knowledge of poetic language and a heightened awareness of language in general
• to become more familiar with contemporary poetic and aesthetic theory
• to further increase German language skills (speaking, listening, writing)

Taught in German. Counts toward fulfillment of advanced requirement for the major.
Prereq: 3101, and one course at the 3000 level, and Sr standing; or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 6 cr hrs.


German 6200 • Introduction to German Literary History and Analysis

Holub | 4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Lecture-based introduction to the methodology and  tools of literary scholarship and to major contemporary theoretical approaches to literary studies; contextualization of these methodologies and approaches within literary history.
Prereq: Grad standing, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 702.


German 6400 • Introduction to German Film

Davidson | 4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Graduate introduction to German arts concentrating on moving images and non-text-based forms. Overview of visual-aesthetic movements and film history since 1900 in context. Fundamentals of analysis for film and visual media.
Prereq: Grad standing, or permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 672.


German 6600 • Introduction to Teaching and Learning German at the College Level

Taleghani-Nikazm | 4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Developing an understanding of communicative language teaching and second language acquisition as it applies to German. Overview of instructional strategies and techniques for various modalities.
Prereq: Open to Graduate Teaching Associates enrolled in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures; all others by permission of instructor. Not open to students with credit for 840.


German 8200 •  ~ Selfhood in German Literature and Thought - Seminar in Literature and Literary Culture 

Byram | 3 credit units | M 12:30-3:18  Autumn Semester 2015

What does it mean to be an individual, a human being? This seminar will examine changing notions of selfhood from the eighteenth century to the present and discuss how these changing notions are related to the changing forms, themes, and narrative strategies of literary prose. While most of the assigned reading will consist of literary texts, the seminar will combine discussion and analysis of these texts with attention to intellectual history and narrative theory, and I will encourage students to read and work with philosophical and/or theoretical texts for their course presentations and final papers.

The literary readings will include canonical and non-canonical texts. We will determine the final reading list as a class, but we will begin with Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship) and end by discussing 1-2 texts written since 2000. Our discussions and readings of philosophy and theory will put the literary texts into conversation with thinkers (both German-speaking and not) who have been influential to German-language cultural history and to Western cultural history more broadly, from Rousseau and Kant to Foucault and Niklas Luhmann. Likewise, the narratological and narrative theory concepts introduced will stem from scholars both German (e.g. Monika Fludernik, Ansgar and Vera Nünning) and non-German (e.g. Gérard Genette, James Phelan).

Prereq: 6200, or Grad standing, or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs. Admis Cond course.


German 8300 •  - Linguistics of Poetry - Seminar in Intellectual History and Cultural Studies

Mergenthaler | 3 credit units | M 8:00-10:48  Autumn Semester 2015

Course description:

In this course we will learn about, discuss, and evaluate linguistic views of lyric poetry from the early 20th century to the present. We will also test those theories through our own analyses and interpretations of historical and contemporary, traditional and experimental, canoncial and popular lyric texts. After at least two decades of mutual neglect, linguistics and literary scholarship have begun to rediscover the potential of their cooperation, which goes back to the emergence of both disciplines in the 19th century.

Questions to be discussed include:

• Can the theories and methods of linguistics provide more objective tools for understanding lyric texts than traditional hermeneutic interpretation?
• How can scholars of literature who do not have an extensive background in linguistics make use of these tools?
• What are the possible limits of a literary analysis and interpretation that follows scientific ideals such as those of modern linguistics?
• Can linguistic analysis be reconciled with other theoretical and critical approaches to literature?

(No previous knowledge of linguistics or poetry is required. Readings in linguistics and poetry will be made available in German and English, whenever possible.)
Readings will include texts in the fields of structuralism, deconstruction, pragmatics, corpus linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive linguistics, and computer linguistics. 

Prereq: 6200, or Grad standing, or permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 30 cr hrs. Admis Cond course.


German 8500 • Doctoral Colloquium

Mergenthaler | 1 credit unit | ARR  Autumn Semester 2015

Regular student-driven discussions of ongoing dissertations, current topics in the professional field, and new research approaches to Germanic Studies.
Prereq: Successful completion of Ph.D. candidacy exams or permission from Director of Graduate Studies and instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 9 cr hrs. This course is graded S/U. Admis Cond course.


 

Scandinavian 3350 • Norse Mythology and Medieval Culture

Kaplan | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE lit and diversity global studies course

What do we know about Thor and Odin, and how do we know it? This course examines the myths of the Old Norse gods and the sources in which those myths are recorded. Students will gain insight into the world view and beliefs of the pagan North by reading (in English translation) the most important textual sources on Scandinavia's pre-Christian mythology. Place-name, archaeological, and other evidence will also be discussed. Students intrigued by the Viking Age, medieval Northern Europe, or the interpretation of myth will find much of interest ( --as may bannermen of Houses Stark and Greyjoy).

Scandvn 3350 counts towards the Scandinavian minor.
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for Scandnav 222. GE lit and diversity global studies course.
Required texts: Carolyn Larrington's Poetic Edda, 2nd edition; Anthony Faulkes’s translation of Snorri Sturluson’s Edda (any edition; 978-0460876162 is fine); John Lindow’s Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs (ISBN 0-195-153820); Optional: H. Mattingly and S. A. Handford’s translation of Tacitus, The Agricola and the Germania (again, any edition; 978-0140455403 is the most recent)

 
 

 

Swedish 1101 • Swedish I

Risko | 4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE Foreign Language course
Introduction to language and culture of Sweden with emphasis on the acquisition of basic communication skills in a cultural context. Closed to native speakers of this language.
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for 101.01, or to students with 2 or more years of study in this language in high school, except by permission of dept. GE for lang course.
Text: Althén, Anette. Mål 1 Lärobok (textbook with CD); Althén, Anette. Mål Övningsbok (workbook). Both Stockholm: Natur och Kultur (2007 edition).


Swedish 1103 • Swedish III

Risko | 4 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE Foreign Language course
Development of skills necessary for the independent use of Swedish. Discussions, presentations, writing and listening/viewing activities address topics of contemporary Sweden.
Prereq: Grade of C- or better in 102. Not open to students with credit for 103.01, 104.01, or to native speakers of this language through regular course enrollment or EM credit. GE for lang course. FL Admis Cond course.
Text: Althén, Anette. Mål 2 Lärobok (textbook with CD); Althén, Anette. Mål Övningsbok (workbook). Both Stockholm: Natur och Kultur (2007 edition).


 


Yiddish 2241 • Yiddish Culture

Miller  | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE cultures and ideas and diversity global studies course
From Crackow to Columbus, from Brooklyn to Beechwood, the great majority of American Jews are heirs to the thousand-year old culture of Ashkenaz—the largest country in Europe. Yiddish 2241 explores the culture of Ashkenaz in its many forms of expression —literature, film, folklore, family life, food, politics, religion, academics, sports, entertainment, immigration, assimilation, self-assertion, marginality, subversion, and the "Jewishing" of the American dream.
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for 241. GE cultures and ideas and diversity global studies course.


Yiddish 2367 • Jewish-American Voices in U.S. Literature

Algar | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2015

GE Cultures and Ideas, GE Writing and Communication: level 2
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.
Prereq: English 1110 (110) or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 367. GE writing and comm: level 2 and cultures and ideas course.


Yiddish 3399 • Holocaust in Yiddish and Ashkenazic Literature

Hamblet | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

GE lit and diversity global studies course
Reading and analysis of texts, films and music pertaining to the topic of the Holocaust, the genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany against European Jewry, and its impact on Ashkenazic-Jewish civilization.
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for 399. GE lit and diversity global studies course.


Yiddish 4721 / 7721 • Studies in Yiddish Literature

Miller | 3 credit units | Autumn Semester 2015

Advanced study of specific literary periods, figures, and/or topics involving extensive reading and discussion of appropriate primary and secondary source materials.
Repeatable to a maximum of 9 cr. hrs.