Courses - Spring 2020

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

For GE courses, please check out our General Education Webpage.


German 1101.01 • German I

4 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

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.
TextISBN 978-3-12-606128-5  Netzwerk A1: Deutsch als Fremdsprache


German 1102.01 • German II

4 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

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.
TextsISBN 978-3-12-606128-5  Netzwerk A1: Deutsch als Fremdsprache;
    and ISBN 978-3-12-606998-4 Netzwerk A2: Deutsch als Fremdsprache


German 1103.01 • German III

4 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

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.
TextISBN 978-3-12-606998-4 Netzwerk A2: Deutsch als Fremdsprache


German 1101.51 • 1102.51 • 1103.51  Self-paced Individualized

Distance Learning options - 1101.61 - 1102.61 - 1103.61
GE Foreign Language course
each course is 4 credit units | Spring Semester 2020


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

Heck | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020
tba | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

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.
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 | Spring Semester 2020

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.
Text:
Damals war es Friedrich (Hans Peter Richter), ISBN: 978-3-423-07800-9.


German 2254 • Grimms' Fairy Tales and Their Afterlives

Richards | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

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 2256 • Fan Fiction: From Homer to Harry Potter

Birkhold | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

Enthusiastic readers of Harry Potter write sequels, prequels, and spinoffs and post them online every day. But writing fan fiction is far from new. In this course, we will investigate the surprising history of this literary form. Beginning in classical antiquity and ending with J.K. Rowling, we'll analyze works of fan fiction, asking how ideas of originality, authorship, and intellectual property influence art and literature. Along the way, we'll study great works of German literature and philosophy, including texts by Goethe and Kant, whose ideas still shape thinking about fan fiction today. Do characters belong to the authors who create them? Or to the readers who love (or hate) them? We will work together to determine if certain narratives or characters lend themselves to fan fiction and we will examine how works of fan fiction successfully connect to the texts on which they are based. 

All works in English translation; taught in English. GE lit course.


German 2310 • Nature in Nordic and Germanic Literatures

Mergenthaler | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

GE Literature course, 3 credits, (taught in English)

This course explores how literature and culture––including, among others, traditional art forms, popular culture, folklore, lifestyle, social customs, and political culture––are deeply intertwined with our relationship toward nature and our natural and cultural environments, including forests, oceans, mountains, parks, and rural and urban spaces. At the center of this exploration are the history and culture of the Nordic and German-speaking countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany), from the medieval period to the present, and their interrelationships. The rich and diverse literatures and cultures of these countries can help explain their strong environmental performance today, as well as their intense engagement with current global environmental issues, from climate change and biodiversity loss to ocean acidification and soil erosion.

Representations and concepts of nature will be explored in a variety of literary genres: medieval sagas; Gothic Romantic tales; 19th-century fairy tales (e.g., “Snow Queen” that inspired Disney’s Frozen); the modernist novel; graphic novel; poetry; essay; and science-fiction, both dystopian and utopian; and series. Topics include the cultivation of Iceland; the landscape of war; witchcraft and the magic of nature; urbanization and the destruction of nature; back-to-nature movements; the fascist instrumentalization of nature; nature and memory; the reality and imagination of nuclear disaster and pollution; the philosophy of Deep Ecology; dystopia and utopia in the age of climate change and fears of irreversible environmental damage.

All readings available in English; taught in English.
Cross-listed as Scandvn 2310


German 3101 • Texts and Contexts III: Historical Perspectives

Grotans | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

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.


German 3200 •  Developments in German novellas, short stories, novels and dramas ~ Topics in German Literature, Art, and Film

Fischer | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

The course introduces students to the pleasures and challenges of reading German novellas, short stories, short novels and dramas from three centuries. The reading will be slow and detailed with an eye on grammar and vocabulary building, as well as an understanding of historical developments. Class discussions and papers will be in German.

The class will be conducted in German.
Prereq: 2102 or equiv; or permission of instructor.


German 3252 • The Holocaust in Literature and Film

Richards | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

Why, faced with a historical catastrophe of unimaginable proportions, would we devote a class to film and literature about it, rather than to “the facts”?

HOW YOU SAY THINGS MATTERS

Come find out why.

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 • German Music ~ Topics in German Culture Studies, Social and Intellectual History

Birkhold | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

In this course, we’ll study music in German-speaking Europe from Bach’s cantatas to German-Turkish rap. In addition to famous figures like Mozart and Nena, we will consider celebrated music events and competitions, like Eurovision. Among various genres, we’ll investigate classical music, Volksmusik, Klezmer, Schlager, children’s songs, 80s rock, contemporary pop music and the historical and political events that influenced their creation.

No knowledge of music necessary!

The class will be conducted in German. We will discuss and practice advanced topics in grammar and language, and the course will be structured to help students improve reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.


German 3351 • Democracy, Fascism, and German Culture

Davidson | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

Explore the history of the Weimar Republic and of Nazi Germany through the literature, film, music, visual arts and design produced between 1918 and 1945. We will be uncovering the roots of fascism and looking also at its echoes in works created in post-Nazi Germany. What can the cultural products tell us that the history books can’t? Were the 1920s really the golden age of German cinema? How did the arts change after the Nazis came to power in 1933? Why did the Nazis burn books and call certain artistic styles “degenerate”?
Taught in English. Meets Film Studies' Pre-1950s requirement.
Prereq: GE cultures and ideas and diversity global studies course.


German 4600 •  Senior Seminar in German: Topics in Linguistics / Language

Grotans | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

Development of the German language over the past 1500 years with a look both at structural changes as well as the cultural contexts in which they took place. Some of topics we will cover are medieval German, Luther and the printing revolution, creating a standard language, language and nationalism, as well as current changes in the language.

The class will be conducted in German. We will discuss and practice advanced topics in grammar and language, and the course will be structured to help students improve reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.

Prereq: 3101 and one course at the 3000 level, and Sr standing, or permission of instructor.


German 4603 • Translation II

Byram | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

German-English/English-German translation; focus on translating different text types and genres (including literature, non-fiction, journalism, etc.); emphasis on improvement of style; discussion of major theories of translation. The course will culminate in a group project, in which students will produce a text for publication.
Prereq: 2102 and 3603, or equiv, or permission of instructor.


German 6300 • German Thought about Nature: From the Enlightenment to the Present ~ Introduction to Intellectual History and Cultural Studies

Mergenthaler | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

(Taught in German; with a careful selection of short readings)

The Enlightenment saw the emergence of modern sience of nature, e.g. Newton’s optics, or Carl Linné’s systems of zoology and botany. In opposition to or as complement to the new science, philosophers and literary authors like Rousseau, Hamann, Kant, and Goethe developed approaches to viewing, understanding, and writing about nature, that took into account history and religion as well as other faculties besides reason, like emotion or imagination. Alexander von Humboldt sought to write a book of the whole cosmos - entitled “Kosmos,”  based on travel, observation, note-taking and drawing. In this course, we will explore the tradition of such holistic approaches to nature in view of their current revival as possible alternatives to the sciences that have enabled great comforts and high standards of living, but also potentially devastating environmental crises. The course will have three foci: the long 18th century, the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Authors to be discussed include Kant, Goethe, Schelling, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Adorno, and Gernot Böhme.

Prereq: Grad standing, or permission of instructor.


German 8200 • Aesthetics of Recognition ~ Seminar in Literature and Literary Culture

Fischer | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

The course introduces philosophical and political conceptions of recognition (Anerkennung) and discusses radical literary explorations of the concept from the 18th to the 21th century. We will trace the development of recognition as a central dimension of modern self-formation. In addition to battles for political recognition of class and nation, we will pay particular attention to gender. Among the theoretical texts that we discuss I would like to include excerpts (and/or summaries) from Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s Foundation of Natural Law, Friedrich Hegel’s Phenomenology, Charles Taylor’s The Politics of Recognition and Axel Honneth’s Battle for Recognition (Kampf um Anerkennung) and The I in the We (Das Ich im Wir). Among our literary readings I would like to include works by Fanny Lewald, Heinrich von Kleist, Georg Büchner, Franz Kafka, Sevgi Özdamar and other contemporary authors.

Prereq: 6200, or Grad standing, or permission of instructor.


German 8200 • The Past is Present: German and German-Jewish Voices of the Post-Wall Era ~ Seminar in Literature and Literary Culture

Byram | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

This course will consider the ways that Germany's past(s) continue to shape German and German-Jewish self-understanding and culture. Co-taught by faculty from Ohio State and Bonn University, it will examine novels, memoirs, essays, and films of the last twenty years, exploring how they probe the roots of contemporary issues and identities. The course will focus particularly on "hyphenated identities" in Germany--and on the sometimes unexpected complexity of supposedly "German" backgrounds--and will place readings in the context of evolving norms for public memory.

Prereq: 6200, or Grad standing, or permission of instructor.


German 8300 • Friedrich Nietzsche ~ Seminar in Intellectual History and Cultural Studies

Holub | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most influential philosophers in the twentieth century and continues to attract considerable attention to the present day. In this seminar we will be looking at the breadth of Nietzsche’s writings, from his first non-philological book, The Birth of Tragedy, until the last writings, some of which were published after he had lapsed into insanity in 1889 or after his death in 1900. My particular focus on Nietzsche has been his connection with discourses of his own era, how he participated in conversations of the late nineteenth century on matters from rhetoric and philosophy to social issues and the latest theoretical debates in the natural sciences. We will pursue some of these directions in the seminar, but I also want to leave room for students to take up issues that are important for them. I would like to spend the first ten weeks to twelve weeks examining Nietzsche’s writings. During these weeks we will have students leading some of the discussions.

Toward the end of the term, however, I would like to have students present to the group their research projects. I will not be ordering any specific books for the course, but Nietzsche’s writings are available in German in various editions. The best and least expensive critical edition is the Studienausgabe in 15 volumes, published by dtv and de Gruyter, which is also among the editions in our seminar room. If students from outside the department wish to enroll and read his works in English, I would recommend the versions published by Cambridge and the new Stanford edition of his writings, neither of which, unfortunately, is complete with even the published writings. Nietzsche’s complete letters are also available in a dtv/de Gruyter edition (containing only the letters Nietzsche penned); there are currently only selections in English. There are several good biographies of Nietzsche, but still the most complete is the three-volume biography by Curt Paul Janz. In English the biographies by Ronald Hayman and Julian Young are good places to get an overview of his life. The biography of Rüdiger Safranksi (available in both the original German and an English translation) covers more philosophical ground. There are literally hundreds of volumes on Nietzsche and probably many thousand essays and articles. I can give some insight into a fraction of this literature on particular topics, as needed.

Prereq: 6200, or Grad standing, or permission of instructor.


Scandinavian 2310 • Nature in Nordic and Germanic Literatures

Mergenthaler | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

GE Literature course, 3 credits, (taught in English)

This course explores how literature and culture––including, among others, traditional art forms, popular culture, folklore, lifestyle, social customs, and political culture––are deeply intertwined with our relationship toward nature and our natural and cultural environments, including forests, oceans, mountains, parks, and rural and urban spaces. At the center of this exploration are the history and culture of the Nordic and German-speaking countries (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany), from the medieval period to the present, and their interrelationships. The rich and diverse literatures and cultures of these countries can help explain their strong environmental performance today, as well as their intense engagement with current global environmental issues, from climate change and biodiversity loss to ocean acidification and soil erosion.

Representations and concepts of nature will be explored in a variety of literary genres: medieval sagas; Gothic Romantic tales; 19th-century fairy tales (e.g., “Snow Queen” that inspired Disney’s Frozen); the modernist novel; graphic novel; poetry; essay; and science-fiction, both dystopian and utopian; and series. Topics include the cultivation of Iceland; the landscape of war; witchcraft and the magic of nature; urbanization and the destruction of nature; back-to-nature movements; the fascist instrumentalization of nature; nature and memory; the reality and imagination of nuclear disaster and pollution; the philosophy of Deep Ecology; dystopia and utopia in the age of climate change and fears of irreversible environmental damage.

All readings available in English; taught in English.
Cross-listed as German 2310


Scandinavian 5150 • Introduction to Old Norse-Icelandic

Kaplan | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020


This course is an intensive introduction Old Norse-Icelandic, the language of the medieval literature of Iceland, including the sagas and crucial sources on Norse mythology. Students will learn grammar and morphology and prepare translations of excerpts from medieval Icelandic texts of assorted genres. The diligent student will complete the course with the ability to read normalized Old Norse texts of intermediate difficulty on their own with the aid of a dictionary.

This course complements Scandinavian 3350: Norse Mythology and Medieval Culture, Scandinavian 5251: The Icelandic Saga, and the Swedish language sequence beginning with Swedish 1101. It may also be of interest to students of Old English language and literature. While students will not learn to speak Icelandic, this course provides an excellent foundation for any wishing to learn the modern version of the language.

Texts: Geir T. Zoëga. A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. ISBN-13: 978-1849026635

Prerequisites: None. However, a working knowledge of Swedish, German, Old English or another Germanic language is extremely helpful. Familiarity with case languages such as Latin may also be useful. Students who have never studied any foreign language are advised to postpone enrollment in this course until they have done so.


Swedish 1102 • Swedish II

Risko | 4 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

GE Foreign Language
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 1101. Not open to native speakers of this language through regular course enrollment or EM credit. GE for Lang Course.
Text: Althén, Anette. Mål 2 Lärobok (textbook with CD); Althén, Anette. Mål Övningsbok (workbook). Both Stockholm: Natur och Kultur (2007 edition).


Swedish 2101 • Texts and Contexts: Contemporary Swedish Language, Culture, and Society

 | 4 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

Development of communication skills and knowledge about recent social, political, and cultural developments in Sweden through texts, media, and film.  
Prereq: Grade of C- or better in Swedish 1103. GE for Lang Course.


Yiddish 3371 • Yiddish Literature in Translation 

Gollance | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

GE lit and diversity global studies course
Reading, analysis, and discussion of representative works and of the development of major movements and genres in Yiddish literature.


Yiddish 3399 • Holocaust in Yiddish and Ashkenazic Literature

Gollance | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2020

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.