German Studies 360 - SEM: ADV TOPICS IN GER STUDIES

Spring
2014
01
4.00
Joel Westerdale
T 03:00-04:50
Smith College
38343-S14
HATFLD 204
jpwester@smith.edu
Each topic will focus on a particular literary epoch, movement, genre or author from German literary culture. All sections taught in German. For some, German culture had a shadowy international profile even before the Nazis came to power. This seminar examines the works of the imagination that contributed to this dark image, including the Faust legend, the works of horror once called ?German tales,? and the haunted screen of Weimar cinema. We will also consider the transformed understanding of such works in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Literary works from Goethe, Kafka, Thomas Mann, Edgar Allen Poe, and Guy de Maupassant; theoretical writings from Nietzsche, Freud, Adorno; films from Wiene, Murnau, Spielberg. Conducted in German. Prerequisites: GER 161 and GER 300 (or above); or permission of instructor.
Topic: Evil and the German Imaginary. Permission Instructor/Chair. Not open to first-years, sophomores
Permission is required for interchange registration during all registration periods.