Previous Semesters
Teaching GSLL since 1857
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SUMMER 2024 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Summer 2024 Course Descriptions
MAYMESTER 2024
GERM 400 Advanced German Grammar
Review of basic and advanced grammatical structures. Course strengthens application of grammar in context for undergraduate and graduate students. Graduate students also work with grammar issues encountered in the foreign language classroom.
Strietholt. MTWRF 11:30 AM – 2:45 PM
FIRST SESSION 2024
GERM 101 Elementary German I
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics. One afternoon meeting per week.
- MTWRF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and M 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM
GERM 203 Intermediate German I
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Aksin. MTWRF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and MTR 3:15 PM – 5:15 PM
RUSS 101 Basic Russian Communication I
Essential basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Lays foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of contexts. Fosters interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies. Introduces learners to structure of contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials. One afternoon meeting per week.
McGarry. MTWRF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and M 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM
RUSS 203 Intermediate Russian Communication I
Transitional skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate learners. Furthers learners’ competency for communication on everyday topics. Prepares learners for communication on subjects beyond their immediate needs. Expands interactive skillset necessary to maintain conversations and present individual opinions using complex structures. Employs adapted and non-adapted learning materials to promote mastery of contemporary standard Russian.
Chernysheva. MTWRF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM
RUSS 477 Wicked Desire: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, on Page and Screen. (CMPL 477)
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita (1955) became a global phenomenon due to its unflinching portrayal of pedophilia. This course will delve deeper into the novel’s moral complexity, its international context, and its reflection in mass culture, including movies by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997). Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Shvabrin. MTWR 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
SECOND SESSION 2024
GERM 102 Elementary German II (4)
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. One afternoon meeting per week.
- MTWRF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and M 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM
GERM 203 Intermediate German I (3)
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Jones. MTWRF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM
RUSS 102 Basic Russian Communication II (4)
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies active in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials. One afternoon meeting per week.
McGarry. MTWRF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and M 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM
RUSS 204 Intermediate Russian Communication II (3)
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a widening variety of culturally relevant subjects.
Chernysheva. MTWRF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM
SPRING 2024 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
GSLL 54 First-Year Seminar: Once upon a Fairy Tale: Fairy Tales and Childhood, Then and Now.
Fairy tales from different national traditions and historical periods read through various critical lenses, against a backdrop of changing historical conceptions of the child. Works from Grimm, Anderson, Dahl, Disney, etc.
Readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections: LA, NA.
Students may not receive credit for both GSLL 54 and GERM 279/CMPL 279.
Downing. TTH 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
GSLL 59 First-Year Seminar: Moscow 1937: Dictatorships and Their Defenders.
A study of recurrent problems of enormous consequence:
The origins and emergence of dictatorships that engage in grievous practices of repression and mass murder;
In what ways these regimes are understood, and by whom, as they develop and “mature“ – philosophically, ideologically, historically;
And how such regimes tend often to be enveloped in rationalizations that facilitate their continuing existence. The Soviet Union, particularly during the 1930s and the blood purges, serves as the axis. However, a main objective is to use this “case study” to branch off into different directions of student inquiry.
Readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections: HS, GL.
Pike. TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
GSLL 80 First-Year Seminar: Not Just Dogs: Animals in Russian Literature.
This seminar explores the “question of the animal” in the works of major Russian writers (Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, Platonov). Among the topics to be discussed are:
The animal as the other;
Animal and human natures;
Dominance and submission;
Ethics of human/animal relations;
And the trope of “talking” animals.
Readings and discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Making Connections: LA, BN.
Lapushin. TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
GSLL 89 First-Year Seminar: Language, Migration, Identity.
In this course, students will examine the intricate connections between language, histories of migration, and processes of identity formation as depicted in literary works, films, and visual artworks by German authors with a history of migration or exile.
In addition to readings by authors with Japanese, Eastern-European, Jewish, Turkish, and African backgrounds in Germany, we will also watch films, engage with visual artworks, visit the Ackland Museum, and learn about community engagement with immigrant and refugee communities here at home through the Town of Chapel Hill’s Language Access Program and the New Roots Oral History Project at UNC Chapel Hill.
Readings and discussions in English.
IDEAs: FC-Global or FC-AESTH.
Aksin. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM.
Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Language Courses
BCS 402 Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in BCS 401. The course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in the target language about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, BCS 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Dzumhur. TH 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
CZCH 402 Elementary Czech II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in CZCH 401. The course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in Czech about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, CZCH 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Piskacova. MWF 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM.
DTCH 403 Intermediate Dutch.
A continuation of DTCH 402, building on the essential elements of the Dutch language, focusing on grammar, reading, writing, and conversational skills. Emphasis on reading and discussion of longer texts.
Completion of DTCH 403 fulfills level 3 of a foreign language.
Prerequisite, DTCH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Thornton. MWF 2:30 PM – 3:20 PM.
GERM 101 Elementary German I.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: Staff. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM and TTH 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
003: Staff. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM and TTH 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM.
GERM 102 Elementary German II.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, and writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM and TTH 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
002: Staff. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM and TTH 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM.
004: Staff. MW 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM and TTH 12:30 PM – 1:20 PM.
005: Staff. MW 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM and TTH 1:30 PM – 2:20 PM.
GERM 203 Intermediate German I.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001 Askin. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
002 Askin. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
003 Staff. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM.
GERM 204 Intermediate German II.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001 Strietholt. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
002 Strietholt. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
GERM 301 Advanced Applied German: Life, Work, Fun.
Introduction to present-day German-speaking societies with an emphasis on practical contexts of everyday life (business, media, culture). The course initiates a sustained reflection on class, gender, race, and political economy and prepares students for studying and interning in German-speaking Europe.
Improve your discussion and presentation skills in German.
Broaden your vocabulary.
Review and practice German grammar.
Read and interpret an array of texts.
Practice writing in different genres.
Course conducted in German.
IDEAs in Action: FC-GLOBAL or FC-KNOWING, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections: NA, CI.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Jones. MWF 2:30 PM – 3:20 PM.
GERM 302 Advanced Communication in German: Media, Arts, Culture.
Introduction to contemporary German society, emphasizing sustained reflection on family structures, class, gender, race, demography, and the political economy of present-day Germany. Emphasis is on advanced communication and writing based on shorter readings from contemporary life and culture in German-speaking societies. The readings provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions that explore a variety of practical genres (report, article, essay).
Course conducted in German.
IDEAs in Action: FC-GLOBAL, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections: NA, SS, CI.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Nester. TTH 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
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GERM 305 Business German.
Get your WiDaF (Business German Certificate!)
As a continuation of GERM 304 the course offers a more advanced treatment of the current German economic and business debates and events while further strengthening relevant German language skills.
Course conducted in German.
IDEAs in Action: FC-Global, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections: NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
GERM 304 recommended but not required.
Same as: BUSI 305.
Strietholt. MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM.
PLSH 402 Elementary Polish II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in PLSH 401. The course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, and writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in Polish about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, PLSH 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Majewska. MWF 10:10 AM – 11: 00 AM.
PLSH 404 Intermediate Polish II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish, continued.
Prerequisite, PLSH 403; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Global Language: Level 4.
Majewska. MWF 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM.
RUSS 102 Basic Russian Communication II.
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies active in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: McGarry. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM and T 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
002: McGarry. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM and T 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM.
003: McGarry. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM and T 1:30 PM – 2:20 PM.
RUSS 204 Intermediate Russian Communication II.
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a widening variety of culturally relevant subjects.
Prerequisite, RUSS 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Making Connections: BN, CI.
001: Chernysheva. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
002: Magomedova. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM.
RUSS 410 Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context II.
Hones skills necessary for advanced communication, conversation, and composition. Presents phonetics and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Learners expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian actively using authentic cultural materials.
Course conducted in Russian.
IDEAs in Action: FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections: BN.
Prerequisite, RUSS 409; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Chernysheva. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
002: Chernysheva. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM.
RUSS 412 Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian II.
Prepares advanced learners of contemporary standard Russian for communication with educated native speakers of the language in the area of their professional competence. Further interactive skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in a variety of communicative situations pertaining to the learners’ professional expertise.
Course conducted in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 411; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova. MWF 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM.
RUSS 516 Advanced Russian Communication, Composition and Grammar in the Professions II.
A continuation of RUSS 515, RUSS 516 develops and maintains the linguo-cultural skills of advanced-to-professional learners by preparing them for professional study-abroad experiences at Russophone institutions of higher learning. A seminar-style course with rotating instructors, it engages learners in contemplation, research, and discussion of subjects within the instructor’s professional expertise.
Readings, viewing materials, and discussions in Russian.
IDEAs in Action: RESEARCH, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections: BN, EE-Mentored Research.
Prerequisites, RUSS 515 or permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Chernysheva. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
Undergraduate English-Language Seminars & Lectures
GERM 215 Germanic Heroic Legend: Heros and Villains, Monsters and Marauders.
We shall examine representations of the warrior culture of the Germanic-language areas of the Atlantic North (Germany, Scandinavia, Anglo-Saxon England) from the Gallic Wars under Julius Caesar (58–50 BCE) through the Migration Age (ca. 300–600 CE). This period saw the emergence of the Germanic peoples upon the scene of recorded history followed by a progressively intrusive migratory movement that was one of the most fundamental ethnographic events in early European history. .
From a specimen of sagas, poems, historical documents, inscriptions, and visual art, we shall explore creation myths and mythic heroes, political and legal structures, cultural values, and the ethos of “might-makes-right.” We shall also examine retellings of heroic stories in modern film and literature and their relevance in contemporary society.
Course conducted in English.
IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH
Roberge. TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
GERM 280 20th-Century German Philosophy and Modern Youth Cultures.
This lecture investigates the contact points between 20th-century German philosophy and modern youth cultures and establishes how German philosophers thought through the possibilities, limitations and consequences of youth rebellion and conformity in ways that youth cultures themselves rarely did. Of particular concern will be youth culture’s triumvirate: Sex, drugs, and rock music. Students will read and discuss seminal texts by thinkers like Adorno, Arendt, Benjamin, Bloch, Gadamer, Habermas, Heidegger, Jaspers, Jonas, Marcuse, Nietzsche, Simmel, and Sloterdijk. In order to illuminate these philosophical readings, lectures will address a selection of American and British feature films portraying modern youth cultures.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Making Connections: PH, NA.
IDEAs in Action: FC-KNOWING or FC-VALUES.
Langston. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
Recitation Required.
601: Staff. F 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
602: Staff. F 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
603: Staff. F 12:20 PM — 1:10 PM.
604: Staff. F 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM.
605: Staff. F 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
606: Staff. F 12:20 PM -– 1:10 PM.
Optional German-language discussion section! See GERM 388!
GSLL 225 Popular and Pious: Early Modern Jewish Literature.
This course studies Yiddish literature written during the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries to entertain and uplift European Jews. These texts provide valuable insights into the vibrant dynamics of Jewish society such as the growth of new roles for women, developments in education and changing ethical values, and responses to violent expulsions and to accusations of antisemitism.
Readings and class discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action: FC-PAST or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections: LA, NA, WB.
Same as: JWST 225.
Von Bernuth. TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM.
GSLL 259 Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism and Literature.
What is ideology and does it have an aesthetic? Is ideological literature exclusively limited to regimes that instrumentalize Marxism in the name of socio-political revolution? Or does the literature of Western democracies not also evince its own ideological aesthetic?
This course introduces students both to a world history of Marxist literature as well as to the long tradition of Marxist literary criticism. Marxist critics include: Barthes, Benjamin, Jameson, Lukács, Marx, Suvin, and Williams.
Readings and class discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH or FC-KNOWING.
Making Connections: HS, GL.
Same as: CMPL 259.
Jones. TTH 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
GSLL 274 Representing the Holocaust: Mediating Trauma in Art and Theory.
This course will explore artistic mediations of the Holocaust in literature, film, and beyond. It focuses on questions of representation, authenticity, appropriateness and uniqueness, the role of memory, the problems and limits of language in articulating the Shoah, and issues of trauma and justice.
Readings and class discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Same as: JWST 274.
Nester. TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
GSLL 288 Graphic Medicine: The Intersection of Health and Comics.
This course engages with the Medical Humanities, seeking to bring together students of medicine along with students of the humanities to contemplate how we communicate physical and mental illness. We will explore the unique possibilities of comics in the form of graphic medicine: namely comics that thematize physical and mental health.
How do comic artists work through issues of trauma and pain?
How do artists with chronic illness and disabilities articulate their experience through comics?
How have attitudes towards physical and mental illness developed differently in Europe compared to the US?
We will explore these questions by reading comics from across Europe, including Spain, France, Germany and Sweden.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Making Connections: VP, NA.
Same as: CMPL 288.
Layne. TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
GSLL 295 Research, Creativity, and Innovation in the Humanities.
This course serves as an introduction to research methodologies, theories, and the university resources available to students seeking to perform cutting-edge research in the humanities. The goal of the course is to produce a substantial research project. The capacities developed in this course as well as the project itself could be used as the basis for grants, scholarships, internship applications, or an honors thesis.
Taught in English.
Making Connections: CI, EE-Mentored Research.
Same as: CMPL 395, ROML 295.
Lopes de Almeida (professor in Romance Studies). MW 1:25 PM – 2:40 PM.
RUSS 279 Sunstrokes in Dark Alleys: Russian Short Stories.
An introduction to the Russian short story, focusing on the topic of love in all its intriguing aspects. The readings include works from the 18th century to the 20th.
Readings and discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH or FC-Past.
Making Connections: LA, BN.
Lapushin. TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM.
Upper-Level Undergraduate Seminars taught in the Target Language
GERM 303 German Literature and Culture.
This course will offer you an overview of the rich history of German literature and cinema and how the two media intersect both with each other and with the politics and cultural currents of their times. We will begin in the 18th century and conclude with contemporary texts and films.
Readings, films, and class discussions in German.
IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections: LA, CI, NA.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Pollmann. TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM.
GERM 373 Lyrical Ecstasy and Poetic Intensity: Readings in German Poetry.
Survey of German lyric poetry from 18th to 21st century; major poets, forms, literary movements discussed. Culminates in a public recitation of German plays.
Readings, class discussions, and public recitation in German.
IDEAs in Action: HI-PERFORM.
Making Connections: VP, EE-Performing Arts.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Trop. TTH 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
GERM 388 Discussion Section in German.
Students may enroll only in conjunction with GERM 280.
Optional German-language discussion section to accompany GERM 280: 20th-Century German Philosophy and Modern Youth Cultures. The class will meet once per week, for one credit hour.
All materials and discussions in German.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Langston. F 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM.
RUSS 415 Introduction to Russian Literature.
Reading and discussion of selected authors in Russian aimed at improving reading skill and preparing the student for higher level work in Russian literature.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections: LA, BN.
Magomedova. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
Dual-Level Seminars Taught in English
GSLL 465 Literature of Atrocity: The Gulag and the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Historical contexts and connections through artistic representation of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in Eastern Europe and the USSR.
Taught in English.
Making Connections: LA, BN, GL.
Same as: JWST 465, PWAD 465.
Pike. TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
RUSS 455 20th-Century Russian Literature and Culture.
As Russia became a laboratory for sociopolitical experiments of global significance, its culture reflected on the most spectacular of its aspirations and failures. The course surveys 20th-century literary, musical and cinematic artifacts that emerged to affect the world profoundly.
Taught in English, some readings in Russian for qualified students.
IDEAs in Action: FC-Knowing.
Making Connections: LA, BN.
Shvabrin. TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
Courses in Other Departments Taught by GSLL Faculty
CMPL 143 History of Global Cinema.
This course surveys the history and theory of global cinema from its beginning to the present. We will discuss films from a variety of historical, national, and social-political contexts, and we will do so both diachronically (historically) and synchronically (comparatively), regarding the development of film language, aesthetics, technology and politics over time, as well as the formation of national or cultural film styles, genres, cultures, and idioms. Thus, we will look at silent cinema in various national contexts, international melodrama in the late silent and early sound periods, the global rise of art cinema in the 1960s and ’70s, and recent transnational blockbusters as well as new national schools. By the end of the course, you should be able to understand the major debates about the meanings and functions of film, be conversant in the key terms of film analysis, be able to describe the historical and theoretical developments in national and global cinemas and be able to write comparatively about films with the precision and acuity required of film scholarship. .
Making Connections: VP, GL.
IDEAs in Action: FC-AESTH.
Pollmann. TTH 9:30 AM – 10:20 AM.
Recitation Required.
CMPL 841 History of Literary Criticism I: The Origins of Theory and Criticism.
The course introduces students to some of the major strains in literary criticism from the Classical Period to the 18th century. Readings of major authors will be paired not only with literary examples contemporary with our chosen critics, but also with modern day theoretical responses to their works.
Our objective is a working knowledge of dominant trends in European literary critics up to (and including) the Enlightenment, useful in understanding the literature of the successive historical periods and also as a continuing, vital influence on twentieth- and twenty-first century poetics. We will also be devoting some time to the primary non-classical tradition of early Western literary criticism, namely Biblical interpretations.
Authors read include Gorgias, Plato, Aristotle, Aristophanes, Horace, Longinus, Philo, Proclus, Plotinus, Augustine, Scaliger, Luther, Boileau, Sidney, Burke, Young, and Lessing; Homer, Pindar, Callimachus, Ovid, Virgil, Dante, and Pope; and Auerbach, Derrida, Genette, Ricoeur, Benjamin, and Bernal.
Downing. TH 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM.
LING 542 Pidgins and Creoles.
This course examines the social contexts of language contact and their linguistic outcomes, with particular emphasis on the formation of pidgins and creoles. We shall investigate the structural properties of these new contact languages and evaluate the conflicting theories that attempt to explain their genesis.
Prerequisite, LING 101 or equivalent.
Same as: ANTH 542.
Roberge. TTH 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses
GERM 706 Examining and Assembling the Discipline: Theories and Methods in German Studies.
This seminar introduces students to methods of academic work in German Studies. We will examine a variety of theoretical approaches to German literature such as rhetoric, genre theory, hermeneutics, aesthetics, deconstruction, linguistics and speech act theory, psychoanalysis, structuralism and semiotics, critical theory, systems theory, new historicism, gender theory, media theory, digital humanities, as well as theories on literature in conjunction with power, colonialism, and ecology.
Readings and class discussions in German and English.
Prica. M 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM. Carolina Campus
GERMAN 735S Introduction to Turkish-German Literature and Cinema.
In this course we will study the emergence and development of Turkish culture in Germany. How do Turkish-German authors and filmmakers address the discourses on migration, Heimat, integration, intercultural dialogue and multiculturalism? How do they engage with the German history? What is the relevance of their works for the discourses on refugees today?
Throughout the course we will explore the intricate relations of aesthetics, political representation and memory across a variety of genres and media and investigate the continuities and discontinuities between the labor migration in the 1960s and 70s and the current debates on migration in Germany.
Readings in German; class discussions in English.
Reisoglu. W 3:20 PM – 5:50 PM. Duke Campus
GERM 825 Play Time: Theater in the Late Medieval and Early Modern World.
Civic performances, ritual enactments, dramatic stagings, plays, and public spectacles were a ubiquitous feature of life in German-speaking lands long before the creation of the modern theater in the 18th century. This course explores the vibrant world of medieval and early modern performance and theater through the lenses of performance theory; gender theory; philology; material history; and religious history (Christian and Jewish). Students will discover how religious and secular plays were a formative component of marking time and creating community through their integration into liturgical practice, with Jews performing Purim plays and Christians staging plays at Christmas, during Carnival and Lent, and Easter. They will encounter entire medieval cities transformed into public spaces of performance, often for days at a time, through plays and processions in which city dwellers became simultaneously actors and audience. They will learn about the ideological and political battles of the Reformation by reading dramas that present, in effect, arguments in support of the Reformed cause. They will reflect on the origins of modern notions of the theater, and the reasons that traditional Germanistik has excluded medieval and early modern works from its definitions of theater, by reading the first German opera Dafne, an early enlightenment play by the early female playwright Luise Gottsched, and a Yiddish play by Aaron Halle Wolfssohn.
Readings in German and/or English; class discussions in German.
Von Bernuth. TTH 3:10 PM – 4:25 PM. Carolina Campus
FALL 2023 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Courses for First-Year Students
GSLL 51. First-Year Seminar: Stalin and Hitler: Historical Issues in Cultural and Other Perspectives.
This course deals with critical issues, in the broadest possible context, that dominated the 20th century: the rise of fascism from the carnage of World War One and the Bolshevik revolution to which the war and Czarist Russia’s involvement in it helped contribute. Drawing on a variety of historical and documentary films and literature (memoirs, novels), we will take a comparative look at singular personalities like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler and examine the role played by such key figures in historical events of this magnitude. Toward the end of the semester, we glance briefly at the situation created in Western and Eastern Europe by the defeat of fascism and contemplate the origins and evolution of the cold war. We conclude with a consideration of the dissolution and democratization of Eastern European countries, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and, against the tragic background of the past, the general outlook for democracy in the future.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, GL.
Pike. TTH 2:00 – 3:15.
GSLL 68. Intensity, Vitality, Ecstasy: Affects in Literature, Film, and Philosophy.
This course focuses on three powerful affects: intensity, vitality, and ecstasy. We will examine philosophical, literary, and artistic representations of these affective states without being tempted to produce an absolute definition of them.
We will also consider the ramifications of these affects when authors attempt to integrate them into social, political, and imaginative practices. Emphasis will be placed on creative responses to texts that can be difficult and obscure.
Authors include: Plato, Sappho, Plotinus, Marcus Aurelius, Hildegard von Bingen, Mechthild von Magdeburg, Meister Eckhart, Bruno, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Pessoa, Cixous, and Deleuze/Guattari, among others.
All readings and class discussions in English.
Gen Ed: FC-Knowing or FC-Values
Trop. TR 12:30 – 1:15 PM.
GSLL 76. First-Year Seminar: Uncharted Territory: Underworlds in Literature and the Visual Arts.
This course examines concepts and representations of underworlds in literature and the visual arts from the ancient world to the Middle Ages and Renaissance to modernity. Our journey will take us to the realms of the afterlife as well as into the abyss of the human psyche and the shady areas of underground criminal activities. We will explore how the desire to know the beyond has triggered people’s imagination, inspired literary and artistic traditions.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR, FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Prica. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
IDST 190.020 The Future of Food.
You’ve probably been offered almond milk, but have you heard of potato milk? It’s coming. The ways we make, eat, and think about food are constantly changing. What will food look like a decade or century from now? This course combines perspectives from science fiction, anthropology, public policy, and marine ecology to address related questions: How has our love of and need for food influenced our social and political structures, trade and conflict among cultures, and exploration of our planet? How does food affect our relationships and shape our sense of who we are? How do policy choices shape the food we eat? How can we feed 8 billion humans without sacrificing the environment? How might technology and innovation shape our future food? This class will probably make you really hungry, and it might even change how you think about the food you eat.
Rose, Krome-Lukens, O’Connell. MWF, 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Language Courses
BCS 401. Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language I.
This course is designed for new learners and heritage speakers of BCS who wish to develop elementary proficiency in four major language competencies: listening, speaking, reading and writing. It introduces key linguistic and sociocultural aspects of contemporary BCS and will be an asset to students looking to reconnect with their family heritage, visit the region or simply get acquainted with this major Slavic language and the culture(s) behind it.
Dzumhur. TTH 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
BCS 403. Intermediate Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language I.
The second year of BCS instruction will continue to build grammar and communication skills for intermediate low and heritage speakers. We will revisit and review many of the grammar concepts from the previous year while gradually incorporating new vocabulary and developing cultural competencies through a variety of authentic sources in the target language (comics, films, music and others).
Prerequisite, BCS 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Dzumhur. TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
CZCH 401. Elementary Czech I.
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in Czech about everyday topics.
Piskačová. MWF 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM.
DTCH 402. Elementary Dutch.
Wees gezellig en leer Nederlands! Did you know that UNC is one of only a few universities in the US where you can learn Dutch?
DTCH 402 is the place to start. Doe je mee?
The first course in the Dutch language sequence, DTCH 402 is a rapid introduction to modern Dutch with emphasis on all fundamental components of communication. Completion of DTCH 402 fulfills level 2 of a foreign language.
Thornton. MWF 2:30 PM – 3:20 PM.
GERM 101. Elementary German I.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: Staff. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM and TTH 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
002: Staff. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 AM and TTH 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM.
004: Staff. MW 12:20 PM – 1:20 PM and TTH 12:30 PM – 1:20 PM.
005: Staff. MW 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM and TTH 1:30 PM – 2:20 PM.
GERM 102. Elementary German II.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM and TTH 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
002: Staff. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 AM and TTH 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM.
003: Staff. MW 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM and TTH 1:30 PM – 2:20 PM.
GERM 203. Intermediate German I.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
003: Staff: MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
004: Staff. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM.
005: Staff. MWF 2:30 PM – 3:20 PM.
GERM 204. Intermediate German II.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
002: Staff: MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
GERM 301. Advanced Applied German: Life, Work, Fun.
Advanced German language and culture course:
- Improve your discussion and presentation skills in German;
- Broaden your vocabulary;
- Review and practice German grammar;
- Read and interpret an array of texts;
- Practice writing in different genres.
Introduction to present-day German-speaking societies with an emphasis on practical contexts of everyday life (business, media, culture). The course initiates a sustained reflection on class, gender, race, and political economy and prepares students for studying and interning in German-speaking Europe. Further goals include improvement of pronunciation and the mastery of grammar.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-KNOWING, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: CI, NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
von Bernuth. TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
GERM 302. Advanced Communication in German: Media, Arts, Culture.
Introduction to contemporary German society, emphasizing sustained reflection on family structures, class, gender, race, demography, and the political economy of present-day Germany.
Emphasis is on advanced communication and writing based on shorter readings from contemporary life and culture in German-speaking societies. The readings provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions that explore a variety of practical genres (report, article, essay).
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, CI, NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Layne. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
GERM 304. Business German.
An introduction to the language and culture of German business, commerce, and industry. Special emphasis is given to the acquisition of advanced business-related language skills.
Course conducted in German.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Staff. MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM.
PLSH 401. Elementary Polish I.
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in Polish about everyday topics.
Majewska. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
PLSH 403. Intermediate Polish I.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish.
Prerequisite, PLSH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Majewska. MWF 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM.
RUSS 101. Basic Russian Communication I.
Essential basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Lays foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of contexts. Fosters interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies. Introduces learners to structure of contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
001: McGarry. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM and TH 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM.
002: McGarry. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM and 1:30 PM – 2:20 PM.
003: Staff. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM and 1:30 PM – 2:20 PM.
004: McGarry. MWF 2:30 – 3:20 PM and TH 2:30 – 3:20 PM.
RUSS 203. Intermediate Russian Communication I.
Transitional skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate learners. Furthers learners’ competency for communication on everyday topics. Prepares learners for communication on subjects beyond their immediate needs. Expands interactive skillset necessary to maintain conversations and present individual opinions using complex structures. Employs adapted and non-adapted learning materials to promote mastery of contemporary standard Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Magomedova. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
002: Magomedova. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
RUSS 409. Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context I.
Intermediate-to-advanced communication, conversation, composition, phonetics, and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Meets the needs of learners looking to expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing active applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian.
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Chernysheva. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
002: Chernysheva. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM.
RUSS 411. Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian I.
Develops and maintains advanced skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in contemporary standard Russian in a variety of communicative situations. Assists advanced learners in solving a wide range of communicative tasks with the aid of unadapted authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova: MWF 2:30 PM – 3:20 PM.
RUSS 515. Advanced Russian Communication, Composition and Grammar in the Professions I.
Provides advanced learners with opportunities to develop linguo-cultural skills necessary to practice their profession in Russian. While engaged in academic discourse in contemporary standard Russian, learners research topics in their academic majors, prepare and give presentations and lead discussions focusing on their areas of professional competence. In addition to student-centered segments, the course comprises instructor-led discussions of current affairs and academic subjects.
Readings, viewing materials, and discussions in Russian.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: RESEARCH, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN, EE- Mentored Research.
Prerequisites, RUSS 412 or permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Chernysheva: MWF 3:35 PM – 4:25 PM.
Undergraduate English-Language Seminars & Lectures
GERM 216. The Viking Age.
This is a lecture and discussion course that deals with culture, mythology, exploration, and projection of power in northern Europe during the Viking Age (ca. 750-1066 CE). Our source material is the literature of medieval Iceland (ca. 1120–1400), the settlement of which is itself a product of Norse exploration and colonization. We shall seek to extrapolate from this literature—supplemented by historical information—a composite picture of cultures, values, and societies of the Atlantic North during the Viking Age.
Readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, NA, WB.
Roberge. MWF 10:10 PM – 11:00 PM.
GERM 266. Weimar Cinema.
Between World War I and II, from a politically unstable Germany emerged stylistically innovative films with characters transgressing established sexual, moral, legal, gender, even human boundaries- vampires, androids, demons, criminal masterminds, queers, weak men and fatal women.
We will study these films, their innovative set designs, camerawork and montage, and the emergence of film theory in the context of the tumultuous Weimar Republic and the global film landscape Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, NA.
Pollmann. TTH 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
GERM 283. Freedom, Terror, and Identity: Modern Philosophy from Kant to Arendt.
This course investigates how philosophical thought motivates, inspires, and generates forms of agency and identity against cultural tendencies that limit or erode freedom.
Readings, lecture, and discussion in English.
No background in Philosophy necessary.
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, NA.
Trop. TTH 11:00 PM – 12:15 PM.
GSLL 212. “Game of Thrones” and the Worlds of the European Middle Ages.
“Game of Thrones” is one of the most successful shows in TV history. In this course we will focus on examining the European medieval history behind the show and ask how literary and cinematic adaptation works. We will discuss topics such as family, politics, religion, violence, gender, slavery, outcasts, knighthood, travel, heroes, myths and magic.
Readings and discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, WB.
Prica. TTH 2:00 PM – 2:50 PM.
Recitation Required:
601: Staff. F 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM.
602: Staff. F 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
GSLL 255. Germany and Cold War: Occupation, Division, Reunification, Renewed Conflict with Russia (1945-Today).
This course investigates the central role played by the “German question” in the break-up of the wartime alliance, the emergence of East-West political blocs, the subsequent dissolution of the USSR, and the return to new Russian-Western antagonisms.
Readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, GL, NA.
Pike. 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
GSLL 271. Vampires and Empires.
Explore the vampire’s role as a migrating metaphor for the visual and literary cultures of Eastern Europe, North America, and beyond. We will examine the vampire’s folkloric roots alongside its popular adaptions in television and film. Together, we will map the vampire’s changing meanings as a repeating social and political allegory across the centuries.
All materials and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN.
Rose. MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM.
RUSS 276. Mystery and Suspense in Russian Literature.
Through the works of major Russian writers, this course investigates the development of mystery and suspense in Russian literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Readings and class discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Lapushin. TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
RUSS 278. Russian and Soviet Science Fiction. (Cancelled)
RUSS 280. Russian Villains, Western Screens: Ethno-Cultural Stereotypes on Page and Stage, in Movies and Minds.
A survey of the fascinating history of Hollywood stereotypes of Russian villainy from Elizabethan England to Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, Ivan Drago, and Xenia Onnatop. What do these theatrical buffoons, cartoon-movie monsters, and cinematic seductresses tell us about Russia — and about ourselves as consumers of stereotypes?
Readings, visuals, and discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, BN.
Recitation Required.
SHVABRIN. MW 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM.
Recitations:
601: Staff. F 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
602: Staff. F 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
Upper-Level Undergraduate Seminars taught in the Target Language
GERM 303. German Literature and Culture.
An overview of German literature, culture, and politics, highlighting works from various periods. Students will engage in discussions about German literature, and will be encouraged to think and re-think the significance of literary production in different contexts and media.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, CI, NA.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Trop. TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
GERM 383. Adaptations of the Past: Literature of the German Democratic Republic.
Explores the practice in East Germany of adapting earlier literatures and setting contemporary narratives in distant times. East German authors used cultural heritage as a screen for utopian sentiments and for pursuing the relationships between everyday life, historical conditions, and political circumstances.
Readings and discussions in German.
Making Connections Gen Ed: NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 303.
von Bernuth. TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM.
Dual-Level Seminars Taught in English
RUSS 445. 19th Century Russian Literature and Culture.
An action-packed tour of some of the greatest texts ever written, with stops at: Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy.
A survey of the major novels and stories of 19th century Russian fiction, which have entered the canon of world classics and redefined the idea of literature.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Lapushin. TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM.
RUSS 477. Wicked Desire: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, on Page and Screen.
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita (1955) became a global phenomenon due to its unflinching portrayal of pedophilia. This course will delve deeper into the novel’s moral complexity, its international context, and its reflection in mass culture, including movies by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997).
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Shvabrin. TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
Courses in Other Departments Taught by GSLL Faculty
CMPL 120H. Great Books I: Epic, Myths, and Fairy Tales (honors).
This course will focus on a reading of epic, myths, and fairy tales from antiquity to the 18th century. Texts will include Genesis; Homer’s Odyssey; Ovid’s Metamophoses, the Thousand and One Nights, and Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, WB.
Downing. TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
LING 444. Origin and Evolution of Human Language.
Surveys current thinking on such questions as,
- When and how did language first appear?
- What do other animal communication systems share with language?
- Do restricted linguistic systems (e. g., pidgins, homesigns) preserve “fossils” of early human language?
Prerequisite: LING 101 or equivalent.
Recommended: At least one higher-level course in linguistics.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, WB.
Roberge. MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM.
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses
GERM 616. Foundations in German Studies III.
This intensive graduate seminar surveys German-speaking cinema and literary history between the years of 1900 and the present. Instead of beginning with literary modernism, this seminar starts by introducing students to the birth of cinema and will proceed by bringing film into productive dialogue with both literature and theory. Grasping German literary history throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century will accordingly seek out the productive points of contact with other bodies of thought as well as other mediums. In addition to early narrative and experimental cinema, the course will explore the cinema of the Weimar Republic, Nazi cinema, rubble cinema, the cinema of divided Germany, as well as post-unification cinema like the Berlin School. Similarly, the course will also introduce students to the plurality of styles around 1900, the historical avant-gardes, New Objectivity, Nazi literature, rubble literature, Gruppe 47, socialist realism, documentary literature, new subjectivities, postmodernism, and pop literature.
Readings in German; class discussions in German and English.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates.
Langston. TTH 3:10 PM – 4:25 PM. Carolina Campus.
GERM 640. Get Real! Or not… German Poetic Realism.
This course will focus on the rise of Realism and the wake of Romanticism in German-language literature of the second half of the nineteenth century. Emphasis will be on the delineation of realist literary strategies, with a special focus on the genre of the novella, on the political and historical complicities of the movement in terms of both overt (e.g., the rise of nationalism, regionalism) and indirect (e.g., visual practices, gender politics); the relation to other cultural fields (e.g., philosophy, historiography, education, art history); and the relation to other nineteenth-century realist movements in England and France. I have a particular interest in issues of inheritance I hope we can explore: as part of this, we will be asking why Romanticism, the supposedly superseded movement of the earlier part of the century, continued its afterlife in the Realism period.
Although mostly focused on our primary texts, we will also consider various theoretical approaches to the problem of realism in general.
Readings in German, Class Discussions in English.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates.
Downing. TH 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM. Carolina Campus.
GERMAN 790-4. The History of Ideology.
The nineteenth century saw the rise of multiple ideologies or “-isms” that continue to shape our world: nationalism, liberalism, socialism, communism, conservatism, feminism, anti-Semitism, racism, and so on. This seminar will explore the origins, values, and impacts of these nineteenth-century ideologies by looking at key figures and texts in the German context. It will also examine the history and meaning of the concept of ideology itself.
Discussions in English, readings mostly in German.
Norberg. W 3:20 PM – 5:50 PM. Duke Campus.
GERM 880. Topics in German Cinema.
In this seminar, we will explore the intersections, in light of contemporary theory as well as historical frameworks, of aesthetics and the environmental, with a particular emphasis on film.
The seminar takes its starting point from the claim that mediation is environmental, and, conversely, the environment a medium. Mood and milieu are media in this sense: they both negotiate inside and outside, mediation and expression. In scientific texts of the 19th and 20th century, milieu is described as medium of life, while form and behavior of the living figured as expression of this medium. Mood, or Stimmung, likewise mediates between the internal and subjective (as mood), can describe a social space or landscape (as atmosphere) and also encompasses the exchange and resonance between internal and external Stimmungen (as attunement). Mood and milieu are thus historical and critical media techniques.
We will ask to what an extent film can be described as environmental medium, and how film aesthetics mobilizes mood and milieu to express the shifting understanding of human, technical and geological forces with respect to environmental agency, climate change, and the digital. How might an aesthetic, understood environmentally, help us grasp the diminished human agency in ubiquitous digital cultures, and the increased human agency in planetary matters?
We will read media theory and aesthetic theory – by Siegfried Kracauer, Béla Balázs, Leo Spitzer, Marshall McLuhan, Friedrich Kittler, Lev Manovich, Adrian Ivakhiv, Mark Hansen, Steffen Hven, Rosalind Krauss etc. – alongside texts about ecology, Anthropocene and politics – by George Canguilhem, C. S. Holling, Melinda Cooper, Dipesh Chakrabarty, etc. – and accompany our readings with a diverse German and global film corpus (Murnau’s Faustus, Ophüls’ Sans lendemain, Antonioni’s Red Desert, Schanelec’s Marseille, Reichardt’s Night Moves, and others).
Pollmann. F 10:05 AM – 12:35 PM. Carolina Campus (subject to change).
SUMMER 2023 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Maymester
GERM 265. Hitler in Hollywood: Cinematic Representations of Nazi Germany.
An examination of selected cinematic representations (both American and German) of Nazi Germany in terms of their aesthetic properties and propagandistic value.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, NA.
Layne. Asynchronous Remote.
Summer Session I
GERM 101. Elementary German I. 4 Credits. CANCELLED
GERM 102. Elementary German II. 4 Credits.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Weiler. MTWTHF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and M 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
GERM 203. Intermediate German I. 3 Credits.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. Students may not receive credit for both GERM 206 and GERM 203 or GERM 204. Honors version available.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Rockelmann. MTWTHF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM.
GSLL 271. Vampires and Empires. 3 Credits.
This course focuses on the vampire as a subject and cultural symbol of otherness, violence and transgression in the literature, philosophy and cinema of Central and East Europe. The vampire, as one manifestation of the supernatural in Slavic folklore and the European Gothic imagination, lurks throughout imperial peripheries (today’s Ukraine, Romania, Serbia) from abandoned castles, cemeteries, and lonely forest cottages to former battlegrounds and today’s war zones. At the same time, its status as an exotic and subversive outsider, underscores the anxieties of the former European empires: racial, psychological, and sexual. While primarily focusing on the cultural production of the vampire, this course will also engage with concepts of nationalism and mythmaking in Central and East Europe from the mid-19th century to the present.
All materials and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN.
Dzumhur. Asynchronous Remote.
RUSS 101. Basic Russian Communication I. 4 Credits.
Essential basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Lays foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of contexts. Fosters interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies. Introduces learners to structure of contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
McGarry. MTWTHF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and M 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
RUSS 203. Intermediate Russian Communication I. 3 Credits.
Transitional skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate learners. Furthers learners’ competency for communication on everyday topics. Prepares learners for communication on subjects beyond their immediate needs. Expands interactive skillset necessary to maintain conversations and present individual opinions using complex structures. Employs adapted and non-adapted learning materials to promote mastery of contemporary standard Russian.
Requisites: Prerequisite, RUSS 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Chernysheva. MTWTHF 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM.
Summer Session II
GERM 101. Elementary German I. 4 Credits.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
Hoffman. MTWTHF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and M 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
GERM 203. Intermediate German I. 3 Credits.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Rockelmann. MTWTHF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM.
RUSS 102. Basic Russian Communication II. 4 Credits.
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies active in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Staff. MTWTHF 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM and M 1:15 PM – 3:15 PM.
RUSS 204. Intermediate Russian Communication II. 3 Credits.
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a widening variety of culturally relevant subjects.
Prerequisite, RUSS 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Chernysheva. MTWTHF 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM.
Spring 2023 Course Descriptions
SPRING 2023 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Courses for First-Year Students
GSLL 59. First-Year Seminar: Moscow 1937: Dictatorships and Their Defenders.
A study of recurrent problems of enormous consequence:
- the origins and emergence of dictatorships that engage in grievous practices of repression and mass murder,
- in what ways these regimes are understood, and by whom, as they develop and “mature“ – philosophically, ideologically, historically;
- and how such regimes tend often to be enveloped in rationalizations that facilitate their continuing existence.
The Soviet Union, particularly during the 1930s and the blood purges, serves as the axis. However, a main objective is to use this “case study” to branch off into different directions of student inquiry.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FY-SEMINAR.
Making Connections Gen Ed: HS, GL.
Pike. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM
Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Language Courses
BCS 402. Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in BCS 401. The course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in the target language about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, BCS 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Dzumhur. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
BCS 404. Intermediate Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction started in BCS 403.
Prerequisite, BCS 403; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Dzumhur. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
DTCH 403. Intermediate Dutch.
This is a continuation of Dutch 402, and builds on the essential elements of the Dutch language, focusing on grammar, reading, writing, and conversational skills.
It is part 2 of a two-semester sequence designed to get students to level A2/B1 proficiency.
Completion of DTCH 403 fulfills level 3 of a foreign language.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: GLBL-LANG.
Prerequisite, DTCH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Thornton. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
GERM 101. Elementary German I.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: Staff. MW 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM and TR 09:00 AM – 09:50 AM
002: Staff. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM and TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM
004: Staff. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM and TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
GERM 102. Elementary German II.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
GERM 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MW 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM and TR 09:00 AM – 09:50 AM
002: Staff. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM and TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM
003: Staff. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM and TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
004: Staff. MW 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM and TR 12:30 PM – 01:20 PM
006: Staff. MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM and TR 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM
GERM 203. Intermediate German I.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: GLBL-LANG.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
002: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
003: Staff. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
GERM 204. Intermediate German II.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
002: Staff. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
GERM 301. Advanced Applied German: Life, Work, Fun.
Introduction to present-day German-speaking societies with an emphasis on practical contexts of everyday life (business, media, culture). The course initiates a sustained reflection on class, gender, race, and political economy and prepares students for studying and interning in German-speaking Europe.
- Improve your discussion and presentation skills in German;
- Broaden your vocabulary;
- Review and practice German grammar;
- Read and interpret an array of texts;
- Practice writing in different genres.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL or FC-KNOWING, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: CI, NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Staff. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
GERM 302. Advanced Communication in German: Media, Arts, Culture.
Emphasis is on advanced communication and writing based on shorter readings from contemporary life and culture in German-speaking societies, emphasizing sustained reflection on family structures, class, gender, race, demography, and the political economy of present-day Germany.
The readings provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions that explore a variety of practical genres (report, article, essay).
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: SS, CI, NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Nester. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM
GERM 305. Business German.
As a continuation of GERM 304, the course offers a more advanced treatment of the current German economic and business debates and events while further strengthening relevant German language skills.
Course conducted in German.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
GERM 304 recommended but not required.
Same as: BUSI 305.
Rockelmann. MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM
PLSH 402. Elementary Polish II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in PLSH 401. Course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in Polish about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, PLSH 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Majewska. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM
PLSH 404. Intermediate Polish II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish.
Prerequisite, PLSH 403; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Majewska. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
RUSS 102. Basic Russian Communication II.
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for development of the four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies used in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: McGarry. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM and R 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
002: McGarry. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM and R 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM
003: Doubleday. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM and R 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM
RUSS 204. Intermediate Russian Communication II.
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of the learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a wide variety of culturally relevant subjects.
Prerequisite, RUSS 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Magomedova. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
002: McGarry. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
RUSS 410. Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context II.
Hones skills necessary for advanced communication, conversation, and composition. Presents phonetics and grammar in contemporary cultural contexts. Learners expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian actively using authentic cultural materials.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN.
Prerequisite, RUSS 409; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Chernysheva. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
RUSS 412. Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian II.
Prepares advanced learners of contemporary standard Russian for communication with educated native speakers of the language in the area of their professional competence. Furthers interactive skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in a variety of communicative situations pertaining to the learners’ professional expertise.
Prerequisite, RUSS 411; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM
RUSS 516. Advanced Russian Communication, Composition and Grammar in the Professions II.
A continuation of RUSS 515, RUSS 516 develops and maintains the linguo-cultural skills of advanced-to-professional learners by preparing them for professional study-abroad experiences at Russophone institutions of higher learning. A seminar-style course with rotating instructors, it engages learners in contemplation, research, and discussion of subjects within the instructor’s professional expertise.
Readings, viewing materials, and discussions in Russian.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: RESEARCH, COMMBEYOND.
Making Connections Gen Ed: BN, EE- Mentored Research.
Prerequisites, RUSS 515 or permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Chernysheva. MWF 03:35 PM – 4:25 PM
Undergraduate English-Language Seminars & Lectures
GERM 245. Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.
An introduction to the writings of three great German writers of the 19th century who have had enormous impact on the lives of people around the world.
Readings and discussions in English.
Recitation required.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-VALUES, FC-KNOWING
Making Connections Gen Ed: PH, NA.
001: Trop. MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
603: Staff. F 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
604: Staff. F 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
GERM 247. Music, Madness, and Genius: The Pathologies of German Musical Literature.
What is the relation between music and madness? In this course, we will explore this question by looking at the violent and maddening effects of music in German literature and film. From Hoffmann’s Johannes Kreisler, “Kapellmeister and mad musician par excellence,” to Heine’s cadaverous and deranged Paganini, music and musicians have been associated closely with madness, illness, and death in the German literary imagination. In our investigation of the themes music, madness, and genius in German culture, we will encounter different manifestations of genius and madness, consider some of the scientific background to the association between music and pathology, and see how these works continue to affect our understanding of the link between music, madness, and violence in popular music and culture.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Prior knowledge of music is recommended but not required.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Nester. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM
GERM 265. Hitler in Hollywood: Cinematic Representations of Nazi Germany.
No other medium has shaped our perception of the Third Reich in as encompassing a fashion as the cinema. In this course, we will view and analyze films selected from the vast array produced in Germany, the U.S. and several other countries affected by World War II.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-PAST or FC-VALUES.
Making Connections Gen Ed: VP, NA.
Layne. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
GERM 282. Different than the Others: Stories of Queer German Liberation, 1864-2021.
LGBTQ+ liberation reaches back to eighteenth-century Germany, when the case for same-sex relations predated the codification of nineteenth-century laws forbidding non-heteronormative desire by more than 100 years.
This English-language seminar introduces students to over 150 years of LGBTQ+ repression & liberation in German-speaking Europe, from the prohibition of same-sex acts in 1871 to the present, through the lens of German literature & film. Of concern are the major historical chapters of queer experience in all its permutations:
- from urnings & urninden to homosexual,
- from invert to third sex,
- from gay to lesbian, from transvestite to transgender.
Our focus is aesthetic techniques used to express queer historical experience both transgressively authentic & socially acceptable.
Readings and class discussions in English.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-POWER.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, GL.
Langston. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
RUSS 270. Crimes and Punishments: Russian Literature of the 19th Century.
This course explores the deeply moral questions of good and evil, sin and justice, violence and mercy through reading and discussion of the great works of 19th century Russian literature (Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov).
Readings and lectures in English.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Lapushin. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
RUSS 275. Russian Fairy Tale.
An introduction to the Russian fairy tale with attention to its roots in Russian folklore, its influence on Russian culture, and its connections with American folk and popular culture.
Lectures and readings in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Chernysheva. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM
SLAV 277. Songs of Light, Liberty, and Dignity: Ukrainian literature today.
Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression brought renewed attention to Europe’s largest country, its history and its quest for liberty and democracy. SLAV 277 explores the ways in which Ukrainian national identity has been forged by revolutions, wars, engineered famines as well as thirst for liberty. The literary works of Ukraine’s leading writers will help students form an independent critical opinion on the country’s unique culture, its problems, and aspirations.
All materials are in English.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH.
Shvabrin. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Undergraduate Seminars Taught in the Target Language
GERM 303. German Literature and Culture.
An overview of German literature, culture, and politics, highlighting works from various periods. Students will engage in discussions about German literature, and will be encouraged to think and re-think the significance of literary production in different media.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-PAST.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, CI, NA.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Prica. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM
GERM 381. Berlin: Mapping a (Post) Modern Metropolis.
Almost no other metropolis has experienced such frequent, radical change transforming the face of the city. Although Berlin saw steady growth in its importance, dazzling epochs alternated with darker eras. Nevertheless, the formerly divided city has succeeded in becoming a vibrant metropolis in the heart of Europe. This course attempts to capture the spirit of the city by engaging students with several texts from the 19th and 20th centuries that are representative of Berlin’s literary and cultural history – from Theodore Fontane’s middle-class in Mitte to the Turkish community of Kreuzberg. We will not only read literary texts, but also watch films, listen to music and discuss art and architecture representative of the city.
All materials and discussions in German.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Layne. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
RUSS 415. Introduction to Russian Literature.
Reading and discussion of selected authors in Russian aimed at improving reading skills and preparing the students for higher level work in Russian literature.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
Dual-Level Seminars Taught in English
GSLL 465. Literature of Atrocity: The Gulag and the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Historical contexts and connections through artistic representation of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in Eastern Europe and the USSR.
Taught in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN, GL.
Pike. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
RUSS 486. Exploration of Russian “Women’s Prose” and Svetlana Alexievich (Nobel Prize in Literature 2015).
In this course, we will explore the long and rich history of “women’s prose” in Russian literature and beyond.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: FC-AESTH or FC-GLOBAL.
Making Connections Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Lapushin. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM
GERM 508. Old High German (Gothic and Old Saxon).
This proseminar surveys the linguistic and cultural backgrounds of three of the earliest known Germanic languages. Proceeding from Gothic, we shall focus on developing a basic reading proficiency so that students can avail themselves of the literature in the original, with a dictionary. For each language, we shall examine the history of the people who spoke it, the important texts (with selected readings in the original), and linguistic matters that are relevant to all of the Germanic languages but exemplified by the particular language under consideration. These topics include phonology, morphology, syntax, orthography, dialect variation, language contact, epigraphy, and Germanic alliterative poetry.
The medium of instruction is English.
Prerequisites: None. A reading knowledge of German would be helpful, as would be prior study of an older Germanic language (such as Old Norse or Old English). But such backgrounds will not be presupposed.
Roberge. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
RUSS 562. Structure of Russian.
NOTE: This course is offered by the Department of Linguistics.
Examines Russian from the perspective of linguistic analysis. How do sounds, words, and sentences pattern in Russian? How do these compare with patterns in other languages? Also considers the influence of evidence from Russian on the development of linguistic theory.
Prerequisite, LING 101 or RUSS 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Same as: LING 562.
Pertsova. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses
GERM 614. Foundations in German Studies I.
This course offers a survey of German literature, language and culture from 1000-1700, as well as an introduction to research methods in medieval and early modern German literature. During this period, German literature begins to differentiate itself from other discourses like that of religion, philosophy, rhetoric and history; early aesthetic forms begin to take shape at the interface between orality and textuality. In order to be able to read medieval literature in the original and produce viable scholarly translations, students will be introduced to the Middle High German language, including grammar and semantics.
Readings in English, German and Middle High German; Discussions in German.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates.
Prica. T 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM
UNC Campus
GER 711S.01 Mapping Jewish Modernisms.
This course explores the multiple ways that Jewish literature maps onto different locations around the world—from traveling characters in novels to migrating authors, international publication and translation practices, and holdings in archives and libraries around the world. We will explore the transnational, cross-cultural, and multilingual dimensions of modern Jewish literature, and will develop a project for a website and exhibit at Duke’s Perkins Library. We will read Kafka, Schnitzler, Svevo, Morante, Carrington, Woolf, and Toomer, among others.
Open to grad students and undergrads; assignments appropriate to enrollment level.
Gellen, Ziolkowski. TTH 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
DUKE Campus
GER 790–4.01 Adorno and Philosophy.
An introduction to Theodor W. Adorno’s philosophical thinking from both analytical and historical perspectives. Attention will be given to his relation to the philosophical tradition (e.g., Kant, Hegel, Marx), associates of the Institute for Social Research (e.g., Horkheimer, Pollock, Benjamin), psychoanalysis, and against the background of his understanding of “late capitalism”.
All readings and discussions in English, with the option of texts in German.
Pickford. W 3:30 PM – 6:00 PM
DUKE Campus
GER 890S.01 Relationality and the Individual: Self, Other, Environment around 1800 and beyond.
We will explore theories of self and other as reciprocally emergent through encounter and communication – of forces, ideas, language, affect, sexual fluids, diseases. The relationship to other(s), variously imagined as an external “environment,” as sexual other, or as an other recognized as similar, creates and challenges the boundaries of identity and impacts theories of collectivities and ethical relations. Readings: literature, philosophy, and science likely including Fichte, Schelling, Goethe, Novalis, Günderrode, Blake, A.v. Humboldt, Stifter, Droste-Hülshoff, Uexküll, Kafka, Michel Serres, Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, and Jane Bennett.
No knowledge of German required for non-CDG students.
Engelstein. M 3:30 PM – 6:00 PM
DUKE Campus
Fall 2022 Course Descriptions
Note: Instructional Modes may potentially be subject to change.
Courses for First-Year Students
GSLL 56. First-Year Seminar: Germans, Jews, and the History of Anti-Semitism.
This seminar offers first-year students an introduction to the German-Jewish experience and the history of antisemitism in Germany, from early modernity to the present day. Students in this seminar will learn to analyze a variety of texts (both literary and philosophical), musical works, and films in relation to the history of Jews in German-speaking countries and will be able to apply their knowledge to their analysis of present-day manifestations of antisemitism and xenophobia in Germany. The course has no prerequisites and presumes no prior knowledge of the subject matter.
Readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Historical Analysis, Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
Same as: JWST 56.
Nester. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM
GSLL 80. First-Year Seminar: Animals in Russian Literature
This seminar explores the “question of the animal” in the works of major Russian writers (Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov) and introduces students to the main theoretical texts on the animal/human relationship (Nietzsche, Levinas, Derrida, Irigaray). Among the topics to be discussed are the animal as the other, animal, and human natures, dominance and submission, ethics of the human/animal relations, and the theme of “talking” animals.
Readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Literary Arts, Beyond the North Atlantic World.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: Aesthetic & Interpretive Analysis, Engagement with the Human Past.
Lapushin. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM
IDST 190.012. Humans and the Cosmos
This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to some of the most essential and exciting debates about humanity’s relationship to the universe. We explore such topics as the beginning of existence, the nature of time, contact with the supernatural world, and predictions about the end of all things: from the perspective of philosophy, physics, history, and related disciplines.
Worthen, Trop, Drut. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM.
Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Language Courses
BCS 401. Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language I.
This course is designed for new learners and heritage speakers of BCS who wish to develop elementary proficiency in four major language competencies: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It introduces key linguistic and sociocultural aspects of contemporary BCS and will be an asset to students looking to reconnect with their family heritage, visit the region or simply get acquainted with this major Slavic language and its history.
Dzumhur. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM
BCS 403. Intermediate Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language I.
The second year of BCS instruction will continue to build grammar and communication skills for intermediate low and heritage speakers. We will revisit and review many of the grammar concepts from the previous year while gradually incorporating new vocabulary and developing cultural competencies through a variety of authentic sources in the target language (comics, films, music, and others).
Prerequisite, BCS 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Dzumhur. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
DTCH 402. Elementary Dutch.
Wees gezellig en leer Nederlands!
Did you know that UNC is one of only a few universities in the US where you can learn Dutch?
DTCH 402 is the place to start.
Doe je mee?
Completion of DTCH 402 fulfills level 2 of a foreign language.
Thornton. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
GERM 101. Elementary German I.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: Staff. MW 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM; TR 09:00 AM – 09:50 AM
002: Staff. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM
004: Staff. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
005: Staff. MW 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM – 01:20PM
006: Staff. MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM; TR 1:30 PM – 02:20 PM
GERM 102. Elementary German II.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM
002: Staff. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
003: Staff. MW 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM – 01:20 PM
GERM 203. Intermediate German I.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
002: Staff. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
003: Staff. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
005: Staff. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
GERM 204. Intermediate German II.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
002: Staff. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
GERM 301. Advanced Applied German: Life, Work, Fun.
Introduction to present-day German-speaking societies with an emphasis on practical contexts of everyday life (business, media, culture). The course initiates a sustained reflection on class, gender, race, and political economy and prepares students for studying and interning in German-speaking Europe. Further goals include improvement of pronunciation and the mastery of grammar.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: Ways of Knowing.
Staff. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 PM
GERM 302. Advanced Communication in German: Media, Arts, Culture.
Emphasis is on advanced communication and writing based on shorter readings from contemporary life and culture in German-speaking societies. The readings provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions that explore a variety of practical genres (report, article, essay).
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Social Sciences, Communication Intensive. North American World.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: Global Understanding & Engagement, Power, Difference, & Inequality.
Layne. MWF 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM
GERM 304. Business German.
An introduction to the language and culture of German business, commerce, and industry. Special emphasis is given to the acquisition of advanced business-related language skills.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Making Connections Gen Ed: North Atlantic World.
Rockelmann. MW 03:35 PM -04:50 PM
PLSH 401. Elementary Polish I.
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in Polish about everyday topics.
Staff. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM
PLSH 403. Intermediate Polish I.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish.
Prerequisite, PLSH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Staff. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
RUSS 101. Basic Russian I.
Essential basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Lays foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of contexts. Fosters interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies. Introduces learners to structure of contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
001: McGarry. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM; R 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
002: McGarry. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM; R 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM
003: Doubleday. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM; R 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM
004: McGarry. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM; R 02:30-03:20 PM
RUSS 203. Intermediate Russian Communication I.
Transitional skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate learners. Furthers learners’ competency for communication on everyday topics. Prepares learners for communication on subjects beyond their immediate needs. Expands interactive skillset necessary to maintain conversations and present individual opinions using complex structures. Employs adapted and non-adapted learning materials to promote mastery of contemporary standard Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Magomedova. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
002: Magomedova. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
003: Ginocchio. MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM
RUSS 409. Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context I.
Intermediate-to-advanced communication, conversation, composition, phonetics, and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Meets the needs of learners looking to expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing active applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Beyond the North Atlantic World.
001: Chernysheva. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
003: Chernysheva. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
RUSS 411. Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian I.
Develops and maintains advanced skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in contemporary standard Russian in a variety of communicative situations. Assists advanced learners in solving a wide range of communicative tasks with the aid of unadopted authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
RUSS 515. Advanced Russian Communication, Composition and Grammar in the Professions I.
Provides advanced learners with opportunities to develop linguo-cultural skills necessary to practice their profession in Russian. While engaged in academic discourse in contemporary standard Russian, learners research topics in their academic majors, prepare and give presentations and lead discussions focusing on their areas of professional competence. In addition to student-centered segments, the course comprises instructor-led discussions of current affairs and academic subjects. Readings, viewing materials, and discussions in Russian.
Prerequisites, RUSS 412, or permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Beyond the North Atlantic World, Experiential Education-Mentored Research.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: Communication Beyond Carolina, Research & Discovery.
Chernysheva. MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM
Undergraduate English-Language Seminars & Lectures
GERM 216. The Viking Age.
This is a lecture and discussion course that deals with culture, mythology, exploration, and projection of power in northern Europe during the Viking Age (ca. 750-1066 CE). Our source material is the literature of medieval Iceland (ca. 1120–1400), which is itself a product of Norse exploration and colonization. We shall seek to extrapolate from this literature—supplemented by historical information—a composite picture of cultures, values, and societies of the Atlantic North during the Viking Age.
Readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Historical Analysis, North Atlantic World, World Before 1750.
Roberge. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM
GSLL 280. The Dialectic of Whiteness and Blackness in Atlantic Cultures.
In this class we will trace the invention of race, racism, and discourses of cultural inferiority/superiority throughout Western culture. What historical events created the necessity for racist thinking? How did colonialism and transatlantic migration change Atlantic cultures? Why did Black culture become fashionable? What happened to our aspirations for a “post-racial” society?
Readings and course descriptions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Global Issues, North Atlantic World.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: Ways of Knowing, Ethical & Civic Values
Layne. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
Recitation Required.
601: Staff. F 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
602: Staff. F 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
GSLL 287. Into the Streets: 1968 and Dissent in Central Europe.
Protest movements around the world in 1968 are often remembered as one “planetary event.” In Western Europe, protesters demanded revolution, while in East and Central Europe, protesters living under socialism demanded reform. This course explores dissent, counterculture, and social movements in and beyond Central Europe through the stories of one eventful year. Using film and fiction from both sides of the Iron Curtain, we will investigate the impact of the Central European ’68(s) worldwide.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Literary Arts, Beyond the North Atlantic World, Experiential Education-Mentored Research.
Rose. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
Undergraduate Seminars Taught in the Target Language
GERM 303. German Literature and Culture.
An overview of German literature, culture, and politics, highlighting works from various periods. Students will engage in discussions about German literature and will be encouraged to think and re-think the significance of literary production in different media.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Literary Arts, Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: Aesthetic & Interpretive Analysis.
Prica. TR 11:00 PM – 12:15 PM
GERM 349. Vienna-Munich-Berlin: Revolutions in German Art c. 1900.
Turn-of-the-century Berlin, Munich and Vienna experienced an explosion of creative energies that left their mark on the music, painting, literature, and film of the time. Students enrolled in this course will encounter this era’s aesthetic movements including naturalism, decadence, symbolism, Jugendstil, and expressionism and investigate them as the ground for battles between classes and generations, morality and sexual revolution, bohemianism and decadence, psychology, militarism, as well as abstraction and the search for feeling.
Readings and lectures in German.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Literary Arts, North Atlantic World.
Nester. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
GSLL 489. GSLL Across the Curriculum (LAC): Russia Today: Headlines and Beyond.
This one-credit hour class aims to develop and facilitate conversational skills in Russian language in the context of the current political, economic, and cultural climate. Knowledge of Russian at the upper-intermediate level required. Fall 2022 will focus on current events in and around Russia, with significant attention paid to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its consequences.
Readings and class discussion in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Ginocchio. W 4:40-5:30*
*Interested students with a schedule conflict should contact the instructor. The meeting time may be adjusted before the start of the semester.
Dual-Level Seminars Taught in English
GSLL 481. Grand Hotels and Empty Fields: Inventing Central Europe through Culture.
Central Europe is a region with shifting borders, diverse languages, mobile populations, and intricate relationships with its neighbors to both East and West. This course explores works of film and fiction set in invented Central European countries – from the mist-shrouded mountains of Wes Anderson’s Zubrowka to strange but familiar realms conceived by Joseph Roth and Ursula K. Le Guin. We will explore culture’s role in shaping dynamics between East and West and within East Central Europe, with special focus on Poland and Ukraine. In our exploration of cultural studies methods, we will discuss and debate how various critical approaches may (or may not) apply to the Central European context.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Literary Arts, Beyond the North Atlantic World, Experiential Education-Mentored Research.
Rose. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM
RUSS 465. Chekhov.
Study of major works of Chekhov and survey of contemporary authors and literary trends relevant to his creative career.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Making Connections Gen Ed: Literary Arts, Beyond the North Atlantic World.
IDEAs in Action Gen Ed: Aesthetic & Interpretive Analysis.
Lapushin. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses
GERM 700. Foreign Language Pedagogy: Theories and Practice.
German 700 provides students with foundational knowledge for teaching German within a collegiate U.S. educational context. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to engage theoretical knowledge pertaining to language learning, pedagogy, and curriculum with issues from the practical context of the language classroom, e.g., by conducting guided classroom observations, developing extended lesson plans, reflecting on their teaching and students’ learning, and creating a teaching philosophy.
Topics covered in the seminar include: Teaching languages in U.S. higher education, language and language learning theories, language teaching methods and approaches (e.g., communicative language teaching, task- and content-based instruction, literacy approaches), supporting different modalities (writing, speaking, listening, writing), teaching for intercultural understanding, the role of curriculum, and professional development and reflective teaching.
Readings and class discussions in German and English
Weiler, Henry. M 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM. UNC and Duke Campuses
GERMAN 715. Foundations in German Studies II, 1750 to 1900.
Foundation in German Studies II offers a survey of literary, cultural, intellectual, and political developments in German-speaking lands between the years of 1750-1900. Our goal is to cultivate an understanding of literary and cultural history by paying particular attention to periods, movements, genres, ideologies, socio-economic developments, and philosophical ideas. The syllabus will include authors such as Lessing, Kant, Herder, Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel, Günderrode, Kleist, Heine, Büchner, Droste-Hülshoff, Marx, and Fontane.
Readings will be in German, discussions in English.
Norberg. F 10:15 AM – 12:45 PM. Duke Campus
GERM 860. The Aesthetics of Philosophies of Nature.
Aesthetic theories in the eighteenth century are obsessed with nature: is art an imitation of nature—and if so, of a natural “order” and what is this natural order? Is there a difference between natural beauty and artistic beauty—and what is the relation of physis to techne? How do aesthetic paradigms manifest themselves in nature or in judgments about nature, e.g., in the beautiful and the sublime? Endless aesthetic investigations have centered around precisely such questions. This seminar will invert this line of inquiry. Specifically, it will ask the question: are philosophies of nature also, in some way, obsessed with art? And are they perhaps most productively and provocatively aesthetic—exploring epistemic, semiotic, or imaginative paradigms with a high potential of transference to aesthetic contexts—when they turn to nature as imagined outside human practices or irreducible to human intelligibility? Would it be possible to develop aesthetic theories or speculative aesthetics as consequences of such philosophies of nature, and what would they look like? The primary focus for this line of inquiry will be Schelling’s Naturphilosophie and poetic experiments with Naturphilosophie (in Novalis, Günderrode, Goethe, Hoffmann, Balzac), as well as some philosophies of nature before Schelling that harbor speculative aesthetics of this sort (Bruno, Leibniz, Theosophie [Jakob Böhme and Friedrich Christoph Oetinger], Schiller, and Hemsterhuis).
Readings and class discussion in German and English.
Trop. W 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM. UNC Campus
GERM 865. The Eighties
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, literary critics were quick to dismiss the eighties.
Compared to the new freedoms enjoyed in reunified Germany, the eighties were boring & uniform, shallow & unimaginative, devoid of experience & talent. Scholars were quick to call the decade transitional, somewhere between late modernism & postmodernism. Today, neither position does justice to the rich body of literature of the eighties.
This seminar seeks to re-situate canonical (e.g., Grass, Hein, Jelinek, Müller, Ransmayr, Süskind, Strauβ, Wolf) and marginal literary works (e.g., Anderson, Glasser, Goetz, Goldt, Meinecke, Morshäuser, Shernikau) from both East and West Germany into the larger cultural contexts of popular music, painting, film, cultural theory, and philosophy.
Of utmost concern is what Raymond Williams calls “structure of feeling”:
What did the eighties feel like?
How did structures of feeling morph over the decade?
How did poetry, theater, and prose—in dialogue with other cultural texts—reflect and contest dominant affective structures?
Readings in German, class discussions in German and English.
Langston. T 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM. UNC Campus
Spring 2022 Course Offerings
GSLL 52. Nature and Death: Ecocrises in German Literature and Film.
This course will explore ecological crises through literature and film. The narratives we will discuss will range from Romantic fairy tales to contemporary ecothrillers.
All German texts will be read in English translation; class discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Weiler. TR 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
GSLL 59. First-Year Seminar: Moscow 1937: Dictatorships and Their Defenders.
A study of recurrent problems of enormous consequence:
1) the origins and emergence of dictatorships that engage in grievous practices of repression and mass murder,
2) in what ways these regimes are understood, and by whom, as they develop and “mature”—philosophically, ideologically, historically;
3) and how such regimes tend often to be enveloped in rationalizations that facilitate their continuing existence.
The Soviet Union, particularly during the 1930s and the blood purges, serves as the axis.
However, the main objective is to use this “case study” to branch off into different directions of student inquiry.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: HS, GL.
Pike. TR 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
GSLL 60. Avant-Garde Cinema: History, Themes, Textures.
The cinema we frequently encounter in theaters and on television is full of stories comprised of discernible beginnings, middles, and (happy) endings. However, conventional narratives are but one approach to making films. For over a century, filmmakers have employed the medium of film to explore and broaden the limits of aural and visual perception, to invent new aesthetic forms in motion, to express emotions and desires, and to intervene critically in cultural politics. Students enrolled in this seminar will uncover the history, techniques, and meanings of non-narrative cinema from the twentieth century. Often called “avant-garde,” “underground,” or “experimental,” the films we will discuss are international in scope and represent major chapters in the century-old history of this “minor cinema.” Seminar participants will develop in the course of the semester a critical vocabulary for making sense of these works and will articulate their own analyses in writing and their own video essays.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: VP.
Langston. TR 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM.
GSLL 68H. Intensity, Vitality, Ecstasy: Affects in Literature, Film, and Philosophy.
This course focuses on three powerful affects: intensity, vitality, and ecstasy. We will examine philosophical, literary, and artistic representations of these affective states without being tempted to produce an absolute definition of them.
We will also consider the ramifications of these affects when authors attempt to integrate them into social, political, and imaginative practices. Emphasis will be placed on creative responses to texts that can be difficult and obscure.
Authors include: Plato, Sappho, Plotinus, Marcus Aurelius, Hildegard von Bingen, Mechthild von Magdeburg, Meister Eckhart, Bruno, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Pessoa, Cixous, and Deleuze/Guattari, among others.
All readings and class discussions in English.
Gen Ed: PH, NA.
Trop. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
GSLL 80. Not Just Dogs: Animals in Russian Literature.
This seminar explores the “question of the animal” in the works of major Russian writers (Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov). Among the topics to be discussed are the animal as the other, animal and human natures, dominance and submission, ethics of the human/animal relations, and the theme of “talking” animals.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Lapushin. TR 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM.
GSLL 89.001. Uncharted Territory: Underworlds in Literature and the Visual Arts.
Examines concepts and representations of underworlds in literature and the visual arts from the ancient world to the Middle Ages and Renaissance to modernity. Our journey will take us to the realms of the afterlife as well as into the abyss of the human psyche and the shady areas of underground criminal activities.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Prica. TR 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Languages Courses
BCS 402. Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in BCS 401. Course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in the target language about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, BCS 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
DTCH 403. Intermediate Dutch.
The second course in the Dutch language sequence, DTCH 403 focuses on increased skills in speaking, listening, reading, global comprehension, and communication. Emphasis on reading and discussion of longer texts.
Completion of DTCH 403 fulfills level 3 of a foreign language.
Prerequisite, DTCH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
GERM 101. Elementary German I.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
GERM 102. Elementary German II.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
GERM 203. Intermediate German I.
Students acquire the necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
GERM 204. Intermediate German II.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
GERM 301. Advanced Applied German: Life, Work, Fun.
Introduction to present-day German-speaking societies with an emphasis on practical contexts of everyday life (business, media, culture). The course initiates a sustained reflection on class, gender, race, and political economy and prepares students for studying and interning in German-speaking Europe. Further goals include improvement of pronunciation and the mastery of grammar.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: CI, NA.
GERM 302. Advanced Communication in German: Media, Arts, Culture.
Emphasis is on advanced communication and writing based on shorter readings from contemporary life and culture in German-speaking societies. The readings provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions that explore a variety of practical genres (report, article, essay).
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: SS, CI, NA.
PLSH 402. Elementary Polish II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in PLSH 401. Course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in Polish about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, PLSH 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
PLSH 404. Intermediate Polish II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish, continued.
Prerequisite, PLSH 403; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
RUSS 102. Basic Russian Communication II.
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies active in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
RUSS 204. Intermediate Russian Communication II.
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a widening variety of culturally relevant subjects.Prerequisite, RUSS 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
RUSS 410. Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context II.
Hones skills necessary for advanced communication, conversation, and composition. Presents phonetics and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Learners expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian actively using authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 409; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: BN.
RUSS 412. Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian II.
Prepares advanced learners of contemporary standard Russian for communication with educated native speakers of the language in the area of their professional competence. Furthers interactive skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in a variety of communicative situations pertaining to the learners’ professional expertise.
Prerequisite, RUSS 411; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
RUSS 516. Advanced Russian Communication, Composition and Grammar in the Professions II.
A continuation of RUSS 515. Develops and maintains the linguo-cultural skills of advanced-to-professional learners by preparing them for professional study-abroad experiences at Russophone institutions of higher learning. A seminar-style course with rotating instructors, it engages learners in contemplation, research, and discussion of subjects within the instructor’s professional expertise.
Readings, viewing materials, and discussions in Russian.
Prerequisites, RUSS 515 or permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: BN, EE- Mentored Research.
Small English-Language Seminars
GERM 247. Music, Madness, and Genius: The Pathologies of German Musical Literature.
What is the relation between music, madness, and genius? In this course, we will explore this question by looking at the violent and maddening effects of music and extreme depictions of musical geniuses in German literature and film. In our investigation of these themes, we will encounter different theories of genius, consider some of the scientific backgrounds to the association between music and pathology, and see how these works continue to affect our understanding of the link between music, madness, and violence in popular music.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Prior knowledge of music is recommended but not required.
Gen Ed: LA, NA.
GERM 271. Women in German Cinema.
German cinema has received its most decisive impulses from women both in front of and behind the camera. In this course, we will take a look at the history of German cinema by considering how female stars and filmmakers as well as feminist concerns shaped both film aesthetics and politics.
Class, texts in English; films shown with English subtitles.
Gen Ed: VP, NA.
Same as: WGST 271, CMPL 271.
Pollmann. TR 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM.
GSLL 251. Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism and Literature.
What is ideology and does it have an aesthetic? Is ideological literature exclusively limited to regimes that instrumentalize Marxism in the name of socio-political revolution? Or does the literature of Western democracies not also evince its own ideological aesthetic? This course introduces students both to a world history of Marxist literature as well as to the long tradition of Marxist literary criticism. Authors include :Brecht, Breton, Dath, Gorki, Hughes, Ibsen, Lem, Mayakovsky, Sinclair, Wells. Marxist critics include: Adorno, Barthes, Jameson, Lifshitz, Lukács, Marcuse, Marx, Suvin & Williams.
Discussions and texts in English.
Gen Ed: HS, GL.
Langston. TR 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
GSLL 260. From Berlin to Budapest: Literature, Film, and Culture of Central Europe.
Throughout the twentieth century, Central Europe has been at the center of dramatic historical changes: the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the rise and fall of the Nazi regime, the spread of communism, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and finally, incorporation into the European Union.
These tumultuous historical events have culturally shaped the region in unexpected, even contradictory ways, and have ironically produced some of Europe’s most creative and relevant cultural voices, that have relevance far beyond the region.
We will concentrate on the work of writers and filmmakers who depict the turbulent events of this region, specifically as played out in the four capital cities of Berlin, Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw. Through their work we will understand how these cities changed with each political upheaval, what type of atmosphere they provided for artists, what fears they awoke among their populous, and how imagination and creativity flourished in these cities’ cafes and pubs.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, GL.
Pichova. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
GSLL 268. Cultural Trends in Post-Communist Central Europe: Search for Identity, Importance of Jewish Voices.
We will study how contemporary literary and cinematic works of Central European intellectuals serve as reflections on the everyday life of this region.
Readings and class discussions in English. Films with English subtitles.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Same as: JWST 268.
RUSS 279. Sunstrokes in Dark Alleys: Russian Short Stories.
An introduction to the Russian short story, focusing on the topic of love in all its intriguing aspects. The readings include works from the 18th century to the 20th.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Lapushin. TR 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM.
Small Seminars Taught in the Target Language
GERM 303. German Literature and Culture.
An overview of German literature, culture, and politics, highlighting works from various periods. Students will engage in discussions about German literature, and will be encouraged to think and re-think the significance of literary production in different contexts and media.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: LA, CI, NA.
Prica. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
GERM 305. Business German.
As a continuation of GERM 304, the course offers a more advanced treatment of the current German economic and business debates and events while further strengthening relevant German language skills.
GERM 304 recommended but not required.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: NA.
Rockelmann. MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM.
GERM 372. German Drama.
In this course, we will consider the most important German epochs of theater. From Sturm und Drang to postmigrant theater. We will read texts from authors including Lessing, Goethe, Hauptmann, Brecht, and Zaimoglu, among others.
Readings and discussions in German.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Layne . TR 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM.
Dual-Level Seminars (for Undergraduates and Graduate Students)
GERM 501. Structure of German.
Introduction to German linguistics: formal analysis of German grammar (phonology, morphology, word formation, syntax), language history, variation, standardization and language politics, overseas German.
LING 101 is recommended for undergraduates.
Prerequisites for undergraduates, GERM 302 and 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisites.
Same as: LING 567.
Roberge. TR 3:10 PM – 4:25 PM.
GERM 655. Introduction to Black German Studies
We will trace the development of Black German Studies from the autobiographical texts and poetry written in the 1980s and 90s to the recent novels and theater performances. We will also read theoretical texts by Black Germans, Black Europeans and African Americans to find the appropriate lens for analyzing this work.
Readings and discussions in English.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates.
Layne. T 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM.
GSLL 465. Literature of Atrocity: The Gulag and the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Historical contexts and connections through artistic representation of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in Eastern Europe and the USSR.
Taught in English; some foreign language readings for qualified students.
Gen Ed: LA, BN, GL.
Same as: JWST 465, PWAD 465.
GSLL 489. GSLL Across the Curriculum (LAC): Language and Identity in Central Asia
Looking to improve your Russian conversation skills?
Sign up for this one-credit discussion course conducted entirely in Russian and explore the nature of linguistic dynamics in Central Asia and their role in shaping identity in the region.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Doubleday. TBA.
RUSS 415. Introduction to Russian Literature.
Reading and discussion of selected authors in Russian aimed at improving reading skills and preparing the student for higher-level work in Russian literature.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
RUSS 455. 20th-Century Russian Literature and Culture.
As Russia became a laboratory for sociopolitical experiments of global significance, its culture reflected on the most spectacular of its aspirations and failures. Course surveys 20th-century literary, musical and cinematic artifacts that emerged to affect the world profoundly.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Fall 2021 Course Offerings
GSLL 51. First-Year Seminar: Stalin and Hitler: Historical Issues in Cultural and Other Perspectives.
Critical issues that dominated the 20th century:
- The rise of fascism out of the carnage of WWI
- The Bolshevik Revolution
- The key figures: Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and their roles
- The defeat of fascism and its effects in Western and Eastern Europe
- The origins and evolution of Cold War
- The dissolution and democratization of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
And then, against the tragic background of the past, we ask: what is the outlook for democracy in the future?
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: HS, GL. PIKE. TTH 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM.
GSLL 53. First-Year Seminar: Early Germanic Culture: Myth, Magic, Murder, and Mayhem.
This seminar is an introduction to early Germanic culture as it is preserved in a broad specimen of myths, lays, sagas, charms, inscriptions, and historical documents. We examine specific Germanic myths as well as the nature of myth (e.g., as explanatory stories), Germanic heroes, the Viking exploration and settlement of North America, and sagas that focus on society as a whole, revealing institutions and practices that mitigate a “might-makes-right” culture. Themes include outlawry, use and abuse of power, feuds, and love triangles.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: HS, NA, WB. ROBERGE. TTH 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM.
GSLL 69. First-Year Seminar: Laughing and Crying at the Movies: Film and Experience.
How do movies make us laugh, cry, cringe, or desire?
Why do we seek out this experience?
We will look at genres including drama, comedy and horror to think about emotional and physical responses to film. Students learn the basics of film analysis, gain an overview over genre cinema, and study approaches to emotion, affect and the body.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: VP. POLLMANN. TTH 12:30 PM to 1:45 PM.
GSLL 83. First-Year Seminar: We, Robots: Identifying with our Automated Others in Fiction and Film.
The word “robot” was invented by Czech author Karel Capek in 1920. Science fiction has had a long-running obsession with robots. Fiction and film dream up robots who have mastered and often surpassed the strange art that is being human. In this class, we will read and watch stories about robots from East and Central Europe, with occasional detours into American culture.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, BN. ROSE. TTH 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM.
IDST 190.012. Triple-I: Humans and the Cosmos.
This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to some of the most essential and exciting debates about humanity’s relationship to the universe. We explore such topics as the beginning of existence, the nature of time, contact with the supernatural world, and predictions about the end of all things–from the perspective of philosophy, physics, history, and related disciplines.
Gen Ed: NA.
TROP, DRUT, WORTHEN. TTH 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM.
Language Instruction
BCS 403. Intermediate Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language I.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction started in Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian. Previously offered as SECR 403. Prerequisite, BCS 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
DZUMHUR. TTH 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM.
DTCH 402. Elementary Dutch.
Did you know that UNC is one of only a few universities in the US where you can learn Dutch?
The first course in the Dutch language sequence, DTCH 402 is a rapid introduction to modern Dutch with emphasis on all fundamental components of communication.
Completion of DTCH 402 fulfills level 2 of a foreign language.
THORNTON. MWF 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM.
GERM 101. Elementary German I.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
- 001: MW 9:05 AM to 9:55 AM; 9:00 AM to 9:50 AM TTH.
- 002: MW 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM; TTH 10:00 AM to 10:50 AM.
- 003: MW 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM; TTH 11:05 AM to 11:55 AM.
- 004: MW 12:20 PM to 1:10 PM; TTH 12:30 PM to 1:20 PM.
- 005: MW 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM; TTH 1:30 PM to 2:20 PM.
GERM 102. Elementary German II.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
- 001: MW 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM; TTH 10:00 AM to 10:50 AM.
- 002: MW 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM; TTH 11:05 AM to 11:55 AM.
GERM 203. Intermediate German I.
Students acquire the necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
- 001: MWF 9:05 AM to 9:55 AM.
- 002: MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
- 004: MWF 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM.
- 005: MWF 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM.
GERM 204. Intermediate German II.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film. Prerequisite, GERM 203.
- 001: MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
- 002: MWF 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM.
GERM 301. Advanced Applied German: Life, Work, Fun
Advanced German language and culture course:
- Improve your discussion and presentation skills in German
- Broaden your vocabulary
- Review and practice German grammar
- Read and interpret an array of texts
- Practice writing in different genres
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: CI, NA. NESTER. MWF 9:05 AM to 9:55 AM.
GERM 302. Advanced Communication in German: Media, Arts, Culture.
Introduction to contemporary German society, emphasizing sustained reflection on family structures, class, gender, race, demography, and the political economy of present-day Germany.
Emphasis is on advanced communication and writing based on shorter readings from contemporary life and culture in German-speaking societies. The readings provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions that explore a variety of practical genres (report, article, essay). Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: SS, CI, NA. LANGSTON. TTH 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM.
GERM 304. Business German.
An introduction to the language and culture of German business, commerce, and industry. Special emphasis is given to the acquisition of advanced business-related language skills. Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: NA. ROCKELMANN. MW 3:35 PM to 4:50 PM.
PLSH 401. Elementary Polish I.
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in Polish about everyday topics.
MWF 9:05 AM to 9:55 AM.
PLSH 403. Intermediate Polish I.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish.
Prerequisite, PLSH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
RUSS 101. Basic Russian Communication I.
Essential basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Lays the foundation for the development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of contexts. Fosters interaction through the acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies. Introduces learners to the structure of contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
- 001: MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM; TH 10:00 AM to 10:50 AM.
- 002: MWF 11:15 AM to 12:10 PM; TH 11:05 AM to 11:15 AM.
- 003: MWF 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM; TH 1:30 PM to 2:20 PM.
- 004: MWTHF 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM.
RUSS 203. Intermediate Russian Communication I.
Transitional skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening and reading for intermediate learners. Furthers learners’ competency for communication on everyday topics. Prepares learners for communication on subjects beyond their immediate needs. Expands interactive skillset necessary to maintain conversations and present individual opinions using complex structures. Employs adapted and non-adapted learning materials to promote mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Prerequisite, RUSS 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
- 001: MWF11:15 AM to 12:05 PM.
- 002: MWF 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM.
RUSS 409. Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context I.
Intermediate-to-advanced communication, conversation, composition, phonetics, and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Meets the needs of learners looking to expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing active applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: BN. MWF 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM.
RUSS 411. Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian I.
Develops and maintains advanced skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in contemporary standard Russian in a variety of communicative situations. Assists advanced learners in solving a wide range of communicative tasks with the aid of unadapted authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
MAGOMEDOVA. MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
RUSS 515. Professional Russian I.
Provides advanced learners with opportunities to develop linguo-cultural skills necessary to practice their profession in Russian. While engaged in academic discourse in contemporary standard Russian, learners research topics in their academic majors, prepare and give presentations and lead discussions focusing on their areas of professional competence. In addition to student-centered segments, the course comprises instructor-led discussions of current affairs and academic subjects. Readings, viewing materials, and discussions in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 412
Gen Ed: BN, EE
SHVABRIN. MW 3:35 PM to 4:50 PM.
Large Undergraduate Lecture
GSLL 212. Game of Thrones and the Worlds of the European Middle Ages.
Game of Thrones is one of the most successful shows in TV history. In this course, we will focus on examining the European medieval history behind the show and ask how literary and cinematic adaptation works. We will discuss topics such as family, politics, religion, violence, gender, slavery, outcasts, knighthood, travel, heroes, myths, and magic.
Readings and discussions in English. Gen Ed: LA, WB.
PRICA. TTH 2:00 PM to 2:15 PM.
Recitation Required:
- 601: F 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
- 602: F 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM.
- 603: F 12:20 PM to 1:10 PM.
- 604: F 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM.
Small Undergraduate Seminars
GERM 227. Luther and the Bible.
What is the legacy of the Protestant Reformation on modern life today? Learn how Reformation ideas have influenced religion, society, economics, and politics from early modern to modern times! Readings include Luther’s On the Freedom of a Christian and That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, Melanchthon’s The Pope-Ass Explained, Brant’s Ship of Fools, as well as hymns, carnival plays, and Bible translations.
The only prerequisite: an inquiring mind.
Readings and discussions in English. Gen Ed: HS, WB. Same as: RELI 227.
VON BERNUTH. TTH 12:30 PM to 1:45 PM.
GERM 268. Auteur Cinema.
- What sense does it make to speak of a film director as an author?
- Why use the French word auteur?
- What are some of the greatest German directors?
We will discuss the films of several German film directors and discuss questions of style, vision, collaboration, and worlding.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: VP, CI, NA. POLLMANN. TTH 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM.
GSLL 246. Reality and Its Discontents: Kant to Kafka.
We will examine one of the most fundamental and contested ideas of the modern world, the concept of “reality.” The course will treat some of the most important philosophers and philosophical issues of the past 250 years, placing these ideas in the cultural context from which they emerged and upon which they had a decisive impact. The course places a major emphasis on the seminal influence of Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and the romantic philosophers, but it also includes literary and cultural material concerned with the problem of the relation between the way we perceive the world and the way that world may be actually constructed. A major goal of the course is to show how subtle and apparently esoteric philosophical issues play a role in the way in which people actually understand and live their lives, with examples from literary depictions of such people. Reality…What a concept! — Robin Williams.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: PH, NA. KOELB. MWF 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM.
GSLL 255. Germany and Cold War: Occupation, Division, Reunification, Renewed Conflict with Russia (1945-Today).
This course investigates the central role played by the “German question” in the break-up of the wartime alliance, the emergence of East-West political blocs, the subsequent dissolution of the USSR, and the return to new Russian-Western antagonisms.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: HS, GL, NA. PIKE. TTH 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM.
GSLL 295 Research, Creativity, and Innovation in the Humanities.
Extend an assignment, question, or curiosity from your coursework in literary studies and bring it to fruition as an innovative research project, in a format that you choose. A humanities research lab, this course gives you the time, space, camaraderie, and guidance to design your individual or group project on the basis of your own interests. It is about the stages, sources, and horizons of research and innovation in the humanities. You can use it as a springboard: for your honors thesis; internship and graduate school applications; to apply for grants and scholarships; and/or as a space to experiment with your role as a creator in the academic and public humanities. No prerequisite; taught in English; open to all students.
Gen Ed: CI, EE – Mentored Research.
Same as: ROML 295, CMPL 395. (ROML will host the class.)
MACKENZIE. TTH 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM.
RUSS 276. Mystery and Suspense in Russian Literature.
Through the works of major Russian writers, this course investigates the development of mystery and suspense in Russian literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, BN. LAPUSHIN. TTH 12:30 PM to 1:45 PM.
RUSS 280. Russian Villains, Western Screens: Ethno-Cultural Stereotypes on Page and Stage, in Movies and Minds.
A survey of fascinating history of Hollywood stereotypes of Russian villainy from Elizabethan England to Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, Ivan Drago, and Xenia Onnatop. What do these theatrical buffoons, cartoon-movie monsters, and cinematic seductresses tell us about Russia—and about ourselves as consumers of stereotypes?
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: VP, BN. SHVABRIN. MW 1:25 PM to 2:40 PM.
Upper-Level Undergraduate Seminars (Taught in Target Language)
GERM 303. German Literature and Culture.
An overview of German literature, culture, and politics, highlighting works from various periods. Students will engage in discussions about German literature, and will be encouraged to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German. Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: LA, CI, NA. TROP. TTH 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM.
GERM 370. Readings in German Intellectual History.
Introduction to German intellectual history from the Enlightenment to the rise of fascism. Close readings and discussions of texts by Kant, Schiller, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and Benjamin.
Readings and lectures in German. Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Gen Ed: PH, NA. PRICA. TTH 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM.
GSLL 489. GSLL Across the Curriculum: Russian LAC: Travels Across the Russian Speaking World
Looking to improve your Russian conversation skills? Ready to explore different regions of the Russian Federation and Russian-speaking communities around the world?
Sign up for this one-credit-hour discussion course conducted entirely in Russian!
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. DOUBLEDAY. TH 9:30 AM to 10:20 AM.
Dual-Level Seminars: Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students
RUSS 445. 19th Century Russian Literature and Culture.
An action-packed tour of some of the greatest texts ever written, with stops at: Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Gen Ed: LA, BN. LAPUSHIN. TTH 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM.
RUSS 477. Wicked Desire: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, on Page and Screen.
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita (1955) became a global phenomenon due to its unflinching portrayal of pedophilia. This course will delve deeper into the novel’s moral complexity, its international context, and its reflection in mass culture, including movies by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997). Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Gen Ed: LA, NA. Same as: CMPL 477.
PICHOVA. TTH 12:30 AM to 1:45 PM.
Non-GSLL Courses Taught by GSLL Professors
CMPL 130. Great Books II.
This course introduces students to representative literary and intellectual texts from the modern world and to relevant techniques of literary analysis. Works originally written in foreign languages are studied in translation. We will focus particularly on the theme of culture versus nature in works from the mid nineteenth to the late twentieth centuries.
Gen Ed: LA, NA.
KOELB. MWF 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM.
CMPL 450. Major Works of 20th-Century Literary Theory: Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes.
This course is designed to explore some of the many tantalizing intersections between the work of two of the twentieth century’s most important critics. Among the topics that will concern us are theories of language, photography, mythology, autobiography, and fashion, and both Benjamin’s and Barthes’ writings on Proust. Works to be read include Benjamin’ essays “On Language as Such,” “Brief History of Photography” and “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility,” “Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century,” “The Image of Proust,” his autobiographical Berlin Childhood and several sections of The Arcades Project. For Barthes, we will read Writing Degree Zero, Camera Lucida and “The Photographic Message,” Mythologies, The Fashion System, Roland Barthes and The Pleasure of the Text.
DOWNING. TTH 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM.
JWST 697. Utopia, Diaspora and other Jewish Futures in Eastern Europe.
Does Jewish utopia lie in Eastern Europe’s future? This course explores Jewish futures imagined in the past and present by anarchists, activists, poets, artists and others.
ROSE. TTH 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM.
LING 541. Sociolinguistics.
Introduces advanced undergraduates and first-year graduate students to the field of sociolinguistics and to language variation in American English, covering social, regional, ethnic, and gender-based differences.
Prerequisite: LING 101 or 400.
Same as: ANTH 541.
ROBERGE. TTH 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM.
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses
GERM 616. Cultural Foundations in German Studies III: 1800 to Present.
This intensive graduate seminar surveys German-speaking cinema and literary history between the years of 1900 and the present. Instead of beginning with literary modernism, this seminar starts by introducing students to the birth of cinema and will proceed by bringing film into productive dialogue with both literature and theory. Grasping German literary history throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century will accordingly seek out the productive points of contact with other bodies of thought as well as other mediums. In addition to early narrative and experimental cinema, the course will explore the cinema of the Weimar Republic, Nazi cinema, rubble cinema, the cinema of divided Germany, as well as post-unification cinema like the Berlin School. Similarly, the course will also introduce students to the plurality of styles around 1900, the historical avant-gardes, New Objectivity, Nazi literature, rubble literature, Gruppe 47, socialist realism, documentary literature, new subjectivities, postmodernism, and pop literature.
Readings in German; class discussions in German and English.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates.
LANGSTON. TTH 3:10 PM to 4:25 PM. Carolina Campus.
GERM 700. Foreign Language Pedagogy: Theories and Practice.
German 700 provides students with foundational knowledge for teaching German within a collegiate U.S. educational context. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to engage theoretical knowledge pertaining to language learning, pedagogy, and curriculum with issues from the practical context of the language classroom, e.g., by conducting guided classroom observations, developing extended lesson plans, reflecting on their teaching and students’ learning, and creating a teaching philosophy.
Topics covered in the seminar include: Teaching languages in U.S. higher education, language and language learning theories, language teaching methods and approaches (e.g., communicative language teaching, task- and content-based instruction, literacy approaches), supporting different modalities (writing, speaking, listening, writing), teaching for intercultural understanding, the role of curriculum, and professional development and reflective teaching.
WEILER. T 4:40 PM to 7:10 PM. Carolina Campus.
GER 750. The Eternal Feminine: Gender & Aesthetic Theory.
This seminar asks about the historical role played by feminine figures—muses, maidens, mothers, lovers—in the construction of aesthetic epiphanies and metamorphoses. The notion of Woman as a conduit for inspiration has a long theological, philosophical and literary tradition, from the early Christian topos of the Virgin Mary as an “aquaduct of grace,” to the Beatrices and Lauras of Renaissance poetry, to the “eternal feminine,” “beautiful soul,” and “blue flower” of German classicism and romanticism, to the Salomes and Lulus of European modernism, to the earth mothers and Pandoras of contemporary theory. We will interrogate this topos in search of a different and deeper understanding of what it has meant, historically, to be transformed by a work of art. Authors to be explored include Dante, Rousseau, Goethe, Novalis, Schopenhauer, Wagner, Bachmann, Lacan, Irigaray, Kittler, and Stiegler.
Readings Available in Original or in English Translation; discussions in English.
POURCIAU. M 3:30 PM to 6:00 PM. Duke Campus.
GERM 825. Topics in Early Modern Literature. Life in the First Person: German and Yiddish Autobiography from the 16th century to the 18th century.
How does one narrate one’s life in German or Yiddish? When does biographical writing in the first person start? What is fictional and what is nonfictional autobiography? When do women start writing about their lives? And how reliable can a first-person narrator be? This seminar will discuss these and such questions, looking at memoirs, “confessions,” self-portraits, and autofiction written by nuns and businesswomen, converts and accountants in German and Yiddish between the sixteenth century and the eighteenth century.
Readings are in German or in English translation; discussion in German.
VON BERNUTH. TH 4:40 PM to 7:10 PM. Carolina Campus.
GERM 860. Topics in Aesthetics and Criticism: Wagner’s Legacy.
No figure has revolutionized opera and modern conceptions of the artwork like the German composer Richard Wagner, whose antisemitic and nationalistic convictions continue to challenge and scandalize cultural critics and opera connoisseurs to this day.
This graduate seminar will explore the reverberations of Wagner’s philosophical legacy in the writings of Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, Heidegger, Adorno, Benjamin, Lacoue-Labarthe, Badiou, Kittler, and others. Our Investigations will focus on different approaches to aesthetic artifacts of the past, the liminal space between art and technics, and the socio-political nature of aesthetic modernism after Wagner.
Readings in German or English; discussion in English.
NESTER. F 11:30 AM to 2:20 PM. Carolina Campus.
Summer 2021 Course Offerings
GERM 102 Advanced Elementary German (4)
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. One afternoon meeting per week. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
GERM 203 Intermediate German (3)
Students acquire the necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
GERM 265 Hitler in Hollywood: Cinematic Representations of Nazi Germany (3)
MAYMESTER. An examination of selected cinematic representations (both American and German) of Nazi Germany in terms of their aesthetic properties and propagandistic value. Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English. REMOTE ONLY-ALL ASYNCHRONOUS.
RUSS 101 Basic Russian Communication I (4)
Essential basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Lays the foundation for the development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of contexts. Fosters interaction through the acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies. Introduces learners to the structure of contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials. One afternoon meeting per week. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
RUSS 203 Intermediate Russian Communication I (3)
Transitional skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening and reading for intermediate learners. Furthers learners’ competency for communication on everyday topics. Prepares learners for communication on subjects beyond their immediate needs. Expands interactive skillset necessary to maintain conversations and present individual opinions using complex structures. Employs adapted and non-adapted learning materials to promote mastery of contemporary standard Russian. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
RUSS 477 Wicked Desire: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, on Page and Screen (CMPL 477) (3)
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita (1955) became a global phenomenon due to its unflinching portrayal of pedophilia. This course will delve deeper into the novel’s moral complexity, its international context, and its reflection in mass culture, including movies by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997). Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
Second Session, 2021
GERM 102 Advanced Elementary German (4)
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. One afternoon meeting per week. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
GERM 203 Intermediate German (3)
Students acquire the necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
RUSS 102 Basic Russian Communication II (4)
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for the development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through the acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies active in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials. One afternoon meeting per week. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
RUSS 204 Intermediate Russian Communication II (3)
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a widening variety of culturally relevant subjects. REMOTE ONLY-SYNCHRONOUS.
Spring 2021 Course Offerings
First Year Seminars
GSLL 55. Fantasies of Rome: Gladiators, Senators, Soothsayers, and Caesars.
Introduces students to study of humanities by examining how the idea of Rome evolved through poetry, history, philosophy, opera, even forgery into a concept that has long outlasted the Romans.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: HS, CI, WB.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Koelb.
GSLL 56. Germans, Jews, and the History of Anti-Semitism.
This seminar offers first-year students an introduction to the German-Jewish experience and the history of anti-semitism in Germany, from early modernity to the present day. Students in this seminar will learn to analyze a variety of texts (both literary and philosophical), musical works, and films in relation to the history of Jews in German-speaking countries, and will be able to apply their knowledge to their analysis of present-day manifestations of anti-semitism and xenophobia in Germany. The course has no requisites and presumes no prior knowledge of the subject matter.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: HS, CI, NA.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Nester.
GSLL 75. The Book of Books: Literature and the Bible.
The Bible is the single most influential book in all of Western civilization. It is the top bestseller of all time and the most translated work in history. No other text has been read, discussed and interpreted as often and no other book had a comparable impact on the arts. In this class we will familiarize ourselves with the stories, poems, letters, historical documents, songs, witness accounts and philosophical treatises that the Bible contains, and we will examine how works of art have preserved or transformed this biblical material.This seminar examines the influence the Bible had on great works of Western literature and traces this powerful literary tradition through different cultures and historical periods.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: In Person.
Prica.
GSLL 80. Not Just Dogs: Animals in Russian Literature.
This course explores the question of the animal in the works of major Russian writers (Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, Platonov). Among the topics to be discussed are: The animal as the other; animal and human natures: dominance and submission, ethics of human/animal relations, and the trope of “talking” animals.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Lapushin.
GSLL 89. Manifestos, Revolutions and the Avant-Gardes.
Marxist Surrealism, Fascist Futurism, Anarchist Situationism: what do these different “-isms” have in common? They are some of the most influential artistic movements to issue manifestos in the twentieth century. This course examines these radical literary groups and the traditions of thought out of which they emerged. Through the lens of the manifesto, we will consider the relationships between literature and politics. Students will also research a topic of contemporary political, social, artistic, and/or personal importance and write their own manifestos in response.
All texts and class discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA,CI, GL.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of November 11, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Gill.
Language Instruction
BCS 402. Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language II.
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will learn to read and write in both Latin and Cyrillic alphabet as well as communicate in the target language about everyday topics. This course is designed to encourage active participation and support collaborative learning.
Prerequisite, BCS 401 or permission of the instructor.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Dzumhur.
DTCH 403. Intermediate Dutch.
The second course in the Dutch language sequence, DTCH 403 focuses on increased skills in speaking, listening, reading, global comprehension, and communication. Emphasis on reading and discussion of longer texts. Completion of DTCH 403 fulfills level 3 of a foreign language.
Prerequisite, DTCH 402 or permission of the instructor.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Thornton.
GERM 101. Elementary German.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
Instructional Mode planned for all sections of this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
001: Staff.
002: Staff.
003: Staff.
GERM 102. Advanced Elementary German.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Instructional Mode planned for all sections of this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
001: Staff.
002: Staff.
004: Staff.
005: Staff.
006: Staff.
GERM 203. Intermediate German.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102 or permission of the instructor.
Instructional Mode planned for all sections of this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
001: Staff.
002: Staff.
004: Staff.
GERM 204. Advanced Intermediate German.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite, GERM 203 or permission of the instructor.
Instructional Mode planned for all sections of this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
001: Staff.
002: Staff.
GERM 301. Communicating in German.
Emphasis is on speaking and writing, with shorter readings on contemporary German life to provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions. Further goals include improvement of pronunciation and a mastery of grammar.
Prerequisite, GERM 204 or permission of the instructor.
Gen Ed: CI, NA.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Nester.
GERM 302. Contemporary German Society.
Introduction to contemporary German society from a sociological perspective. The course emphasizes sustained reflection on family structures, class, gender, race, demography, and the political economy of present-day Germany.
Prerequisite, GERM 204 or permission of the instructor.
Gen Ed: SS, CI, NA.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Langston.
PLSH 404. Intermediate Polish II.
A direct continuation of PLSH 403, PLSH 404 develops proficiency in language skills (speaking, reading, composition) while moving systematically through grammar principles. Language topics are introduced in the context of Polish culture and current events such as issues of social justice. The curriculum utilizes authentic texts in the target language and encourages active student participation. PLSH 404 equips students with a toolkit for self-directed and/or specialized study at advanced levels.
Prerequisite, PLSH 403 or permission of the instructor.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Rose.
RUSS 102. Basic Russian Communication II.
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies active in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 101 or permission of the instructor.
Instructional Mode planned for all sections of this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
001: Lang.
002: Lang.
003: Lang.
004: Magomedova.
RUSS 204. Intermediate Russian Communication II.
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a widening variety of culturally relevant subjects.
Prerequisite, RUSS 203 or permission of the instructor.
Instructional Mode planned for all sections of this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
001: Chernysheva.
002: Chernysheva.
RUSS 410. Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context II.
Hones skills necessary for advanced communication, conversation, and composition. Presents phonetics and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Learners expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian actively using authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 409 or permission of the instructor.
Gen Ed: BN.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Chernysheva.
RUSS 412. Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian II.
Prepares advanced learners of contemporary standard Russian for communication with educated native speakers of the language in the area of their professional competence. Furthers interactive skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in a variety of communicative situations pertaining to the learners’ professional expertise.
Prerequisite, RUSS 411 or permission of the instructor.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Magomedova.
Large Undergraduate Lectures
GERM 279. Once Upon A Fairy Tale: Fairy Tales and Childhood, Then and Now.
Considers fairy tales from several different national traditions and historical periods against the backdrop of folklore, literature, psychoanalysis, and the socializing forces directed at children.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Recitation required.
Crosslist: CMPL 279.
Instructional Mode planned for this course (including all recitations) as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Downing.
GERM 281. The German Idea of War: Philosophical Dialogues with the Literary and Visual Arts in WWI.
This course brings into dialogue key ideas from seminal German philosophers who anticipated, experienced, or survived the Great War, with contemporary works of German literature, film, and painting. Of concern are the ways philosophy’s concepts and art’s themes shaped both one another and the idea of war. Questions this course poses include:
- Why and how did the arts praise war before its outbreak?
- How did the arts idealize the experience of war?
- How did the war push the limits of artistic expression?
- What exactly was war supposed to achieve and how did the brutality of war alter these aspirations?
- What lessons did art learn in the shadow of the Great War?
In addition to literary texts by some of the greatest German-language writers of the early 20th century (Jünger, Kraus, Remarque, Richthofen, Rilke, Schnitzler, Trakl), students will encounter attendant philosophical ideas by such thinkers such as Benjamin, Dilthey, Freud, Lukcás, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein as well as screen films (Hofer, Lang, Reinert, Wiene) and view art (Dix, Kandinsky, Marc, Nolde) held in the Ackland Museum collection.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: PH, NA.
Recitation required.
Instructional Mode planned for this course (including all recitations) as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Langston.
RUSS 278. Russian and Soviet Science Fiction.
What were the dreams that inspired and underpinned the USSR’s pioneering space program? RUSS 278 surveys some of the books and movies that give us insight into the hopes, fears, and doubts regarding what to this day remains a spectacular technological achievement. Books by Mikhail Bulgakov, Evgeny Zamiatin, the Strugatsky brothers, Dmitry Glukhovsky, and movies by Andrei Tarkovsky will help us understand the technological, philosophical and socio-political worldview of a totalitarian society that prided itself on having accomplished the unthinkable as it claimed it had ushered in a new stage in human evolution. Tales of the future from the land of futurism, RUSS 278, is an overview of Russian and Soviet science fiction.
Readings and discussions in English.
Recitation required.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Instructional Mode planned for this course (including all recitations) as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Shvabrin.
Small Undergraduate Seminars
GERM 245. Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.
An introduction to the writings of three great German writers of the 19th century who have had enormous impact on the lives of people around the world. The course will not only try to offer students the chance to get to know the principal writings of these important writers; it will also show how the three belong together as part of an intellectual enterprise centered on the project of what might be called the “historicization” of fields not previously considered subject to historical thinking. All three understand phenomena once thought to be essentially static as in fact dynamic, as changing in time according to demonstrable principles.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: PH, NA.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Koelb.
GSLL 225. Popular and Pious: Early Modern Jewish Literature.
This seminar covers popular and pious literature written by and for Jews in the 15th to 18th century in German-speaking countries. Originally written in Old Yiddish, this literature preserved the popular European genres and nonfiction accounts of Jewish community and family life. This literature preserves genres popular in medieval Europe including chivalric romances, fables, and merry tales, together with early examples of Jewish journalism and autobiography. The course will exam a wide variety of texts in translation to illuminate Jewish life in the context of surrounding Christian cultures.
Readings and class discussion will be in English.
Gen Ed: LA, NA, WB.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Von Bernuth.
GSLL 254H. The Division of Germany, Reunification, and Conflict with Russia.
Why was occupied Germany divided into two states after World War II? Were the Cold War and division inevitable? We explore these questions in two chronological contexts: 1945-1949 and 1989-present, with emphasis on the reemergence of Western conflict with Putin’s Russia.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: HS, NA.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Asynchronous Remote.
Pike.
GSLL 287. Into the Streets: 1968 and Dissent in Central Europe.
Protest movements of 1968 are often remembered as one “planetary event.” In Western Europe, protesters demanded revolution, while in Eastern Europe, protesters living under communism demanded reform. In this course, we will explore dissent and counterculture in Central Europe through the stories of this one year. Through film and fiction from both sides of the Iron Curtain, we will investigate the impact of the Central European ’68(s) worldwide.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, BN, EE-Mentored Research.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Rose.
Upper Level Undergraduate Seminars (Taught in Target Language)
GERM 303. German Literature and Culture.
An overview of German literature, culture, and politics, highlighting works from various periods. Students will engage in discussions about German literature, and will be encouraged to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word.
An appropriate conclusion to GERM 101-204, it also provides the background for more advanced undergraduate literature and culture courses.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302 or permission of the instructor.
Gen Ed: LA, CI, NA.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Trop.
GERM 367. Contemporary German and Austrian Cinema.
Examines exciting new directions in German and Austrian cinema from the past 20 years. By analyzing weekly films, students develop skills in film analysis and criticism; read reviews, interviews, and film-theoretical texts; write a film review; and produce a critical essay.
Films, readings and discussions in German.
Prerequisite, GERM 303 or permission of the instructor.
Gen Ed: VP, CI, NA.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Pollmann.
RUSS 415. Introduction to Russian Literature.
Reading and discussion of selected authors in Russian aimed at improving reading skill and preparing the student for higher level work in Russian literature. In this course you will read seminal works of contemporary Russian literature as well as social, political, cultural, and historical issues of Russian society.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410 or permission of the instructor.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Magomedova.
Dual-Level Seminars: Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students
CZCH 469. Milan Kundera and World Literature.
This course traces Milan Kundera’s literary path from his communist poetic youth to his present postmodern Francophilia . His work will be compared with those authors he considers his predecessors and influences in European literature.
Taught in English. Some readings in Czech for qualified students.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Crosslist: CMPL 469.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Pichova.
GERM 502. Middle High German.
Introduction to medieval German language, literature, and culture. Readings in English, German and Middle High German. Discussions in German. This course offers a survey of German literature, language and culture from 1000-1700, as well as an introduction to research methods in medieval and early modern German literature. During this period, German literature begins to differentiate itself from other discourses like that of religion, philosophy, rhetoric and history; early aesthetic forms begin to take shape at the interface between orality and textuality. In order to be able to read medieval literature in the original and produce viable scholarly translations, students will be introduced to the Middle High German language, including grammar and semantics.
Prerequisite, GERM 303 or permission of the instructor.
Requirement for Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Prica.
GERM 514. Old Norse I (Old Icelandic).
Reading and linguistic analysis of Old Norse (Old Icelandic) texts, with study of phonology, morphology, and syntax; comparison with other older dialects of Germanic. An introduction to the language and culture of medieval Scandinavia and gateway to the Viking Age. The course typically draws students interested in linguistics, philology, medieval studies, folklore, and mythology. The primary focus is on developing a basic reading proficiency so that students can avail themselves of the prose literature in the original, with a dictionary.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Roberge.
GSLL 465. Literature of Atrocity: The Gulag and the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Historical contexts and connections through artistic representation of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in Eastern Europe and the USSR.
Taught in English
Gen Ed: LA, BN, GL.
Crosslists: JWST 465, PWAD 465.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Asynchronous Remote.
Pike.
RUSS 465. Chekhov.
Study of major works of Chekhov and survey of contemporary authors and literary trends relevant to his creative career. In addition to the study of Chekhov’s major works, this course analyzes the relationship between his texts and their various adaptations on stage and screen.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Lapushin.
Non-GSLL Courses Taught by GSLL Professors
CMPL 240. Introduction to Film Theory.
This course introduces students to debates in classical and post-classical film theory. Likely topics include medium specificity; the ideological functions of narrative cinema; film theory’s investments in psychoanalysis, linguistics, semiotics, and phenomenology; the advent of digital media; feminism; national and transnational cinema; spectatorship; authorship; genre theory; and film and philosophy.
Gen Ed: VP.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Pollmann.
LING 542. Pidgins and Creoles.
Examination of the social contexts of language contact and their linguistic outcomes, with particular emphasis on the formation of pidgins and creoles. The course investigates the structural properties of these new contact languages and evaluates the conflicting theories that explain their genesis.
Prerequisite, LING 101 or 400.
Crosslist: ANTH 542.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Roberge.
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses
GERMAN 740S. East/West/Zion: German Jewish Modernism.
A graduate course about Jewish literary writing in the first half of the 20th century. Topics include space and place, tradition and modernity, identity and belonging, language, nationality, religious practice, and politics. Special focus on the role of Eastern Europe in the literary imagination of German-Jewish writers, and the use of modernist form and style.
Class discussions in English; readings mostly in German, with some additional texts in Polish, Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. Most texts available in English.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Gellen. Duke University.
GERMAN 790-4. Topics in German Idealism.
An introductory exploration of certain aspects of German Idealism (Kant and Hegel) with some attention to their legacy in later thinkers. Topics may include: Self-consciousness, the nature of judgment, experience, and the philosophy of action.
All discussion and primary readings in English, though knowledge of German is helpful.
Crosslist: Philosophy.
Instructional Mode planned for this course as of October 28, 2020: Synchronous Remote.
Pickford. Duke University.
Fall 2020 GSLL Course Offerings
First-Year Seminars
GSLL 59. First Year Seminar: Moscow 1937: Dictatorships and Their Defenders.
A study of recurrent problems of enormous consequence:
* the origins and emergence of dictatorships that engage in grievous practices of repression and mass murder;
* in what ways these regimes are understood, and by whom, as they develop and “mature”—philosophically, ideologically, historically; and how such regimes tend often to be enveloped in rationalizations that facilitate their continuing existence.
* The Soviet Union, particularly during the 1930s and the blood purges, serves as the axis.
However, a main objective is to use this “case study” to branch off into different directions of student inquiry.
Pike: TR 02:00 PM-03:15 PM
GSLL 85. First Year Seminar: Children and War.
Readings for this seminar include children’s wartime diaries, adult memoirs of child survivors, and fiction from Central and Eastern Europe. Focussed on WWII, but pays attention to present-day conflicts.
Pichova: TR 11:00 AM-12:15 PM
Language Instruction
BCS 401. Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language I.
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in the target language about everyday topics.
Dzumhur: TR 09:30 AM-10:45 AM
CZCH 403. Intermediate Czech I.
Continuation of proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Czech.
Prerequisite, CZCH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Pichova: TR 09:30 AM-10:45 AM
DTCH 402. Elementary Dutch.
The first course in the Dutch language sequence, DTCH 402 is a rapid introduction to modern Dutch with emphasis on all fundamental components of communication. Completion of DTCH 402 fulfills level 2 of a foreign language.
Thornton: MWF 02:30 PM-03:20 PM
GERM 101. Elementary German.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: Staff. MW 09:05 AM-09:55 AM; TR 09:00 AM-09:50 AM
002: Staff. MW 10:10 AM-11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM-10:50 AM
003: Staff. MW 11:15 AM-12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM-11:55 AM
005: Staff. MW 01:25 PM-02:15 PM; TR 01:30 PM-02:20 PM
006: Staff. MW 02:30 PM-03:20 PM; TR 02:30 PM-03:20 PM
GERM 102. Advanced Elementary German.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MW 09:05 AM-09:55 AM; TR 09:00 AM-09:50 AM
002: Staff. MW 11:15 AM-12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM-11:55 AM
003: Staff. MW 12:20 PM-01:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM-01:20 PM
GERM 203. Intermediate German.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 09:05 AM-09:55 AM
002: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM-11:00 AM
003: Staff. MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM
004: Staff. MWF 12:20 PM-01:10 PM
005: Staff. MWF 01:25 PM-02:15 PM
GERM 204. Advanced Intermediate German.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 12:20 PM-01:10 PM
003: Staff. MWF 01:25 PM-02:15 PM
GERM 301. Communicating in German.
Advanced German language and culture course:
* Improve your discussion and presentation skills in German;
* Broaden your vocabulary;
* Review and practice German grammar;
* Read and interpret an array of texts;
* Practice writing in different genres.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 09:05 AM-09:55 AM
002: Rockelmann. MWF 01:25 PM-02:15 PM
GERM 302. Contemporary German Society.
Introduction to contemporary German society, emphasizing sustained reflection on family structures, class, gender, race, demography, and the political economy of present-day Germany.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Von Bernuth. TR 09:30 AM-10:45 AM
PLSH 403. Intermediate Polish I.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish.
Prerequisite, PLSH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Rose: TR 11:00 AM-12:15 PM
RUSS 101. Basic Russian Communication I.
Essential basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Lays foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of contexts. Fosters interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies. Introduces learners to structure of contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
001: Magomedova. MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM; R 11:05 AM-11:55 AM
002: Staff. MWF 12:20 PM-01:10 PM; R 12:30 PM-01:20 PM
003: Staff. MWF 01:25 PM-02:15 PM; R 01:30 PM-02:20 PM
004: Magomedova. MWF 02:30 PM-03:20 PM; R 02:30 PM-03:20 PM
RUSS 203. Intermediate Russian Communication I.
Transitional skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate learners. Furthers learners’ competency for communication on everyday topics. Prepares learners for communication on subjects beyond their immediate needs. Expands interactive skillset necessary to maintain conversations and present individual opinions using complex structures. Employs adapted and non-adapted learning materials to promote mastery of contemporary standard Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 09:05 AM-09:55 AM
002: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM-11:00 AM
003: Staff. MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM
RUSS 409. Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context I.
Intermediate-to-advanced communication, conversation, composition, phonetics, and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Meets the needs of learners looking to expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing active applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Chernysheva: MWF 10:10 AM-11:00 AM
RUSS 411. Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian I.
Prepare for the future! Here is your opportunity to make progress in learning Russian! Encounter the country, its people, literature, and arts, and build further bridges from your home to Russia. This first semester of the fourth-year Russian language course will immerse you in the Russian language as you read and discuss original Russian materials. Develops and maintains advanced skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in contemporary standard Russian in a variety of communicative situations. Assists advanced learners in solving a wide range of communicative tasks with the aid of unadapted authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova: MWF 10:10 AM-11:00 AM
Large Undergraduate Lectures
GERM 280. 20th-Century German Philosophy and Modern Youth Cultures. (AKA: Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘N’ Roll).
This lecture investigates the many contact points between 20th-century German philosophy and modern youth cultures and establishes how German philosophers thought through the possibilities, limitations and consequences of youth rebellion and conformity in ways that youth cultures themselves rarely did. Of particular concern will be youth culture’s triumvirate: sex, drugs. and rock music. Students will read and discuss seminal texts by thinkers like Adorno, Arendt, Benjamin, Bloch, Gadamer, Habermas, Heidegger, Jaspers, Jonas, Marcuse, Nietzsch, Simmel and Sloterdijk. In order to illuminate these philosophical readings, lectures will address a selection of American and British feature films portraying modern youth cultures.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Recitation Required.
Langston. MW 02:30 PM-03:20 PM
Recitations:
601: Staff. F 09:05 AM-09:55 AM
602: Staff. F 10:10 AM-11:00 AM
603: Staff. F 11:15 AM-12:05 PM
604: Staff. F 12:20 PM-01:10 PM
605: Staff. F 01:25 PM-02:15 PM
606: Staff. F 02:20 PM-03:10 PM
RUSS 280. Russian Villains, Western Screens: Ethno-Cultural Stereotypes on Page and Stage, in Movies and Minds.
A survey of fascinating history of Hollywood stereotypes of Russian villainy from Elizabethan England to Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, Ivan Drago, and Xenia Onnatop. What do these theatrical buffoons, cartoon-movie monsters, and cinematic seductresses tell us about Russia — and about ourselves as consumers of stereotypes?
Readings and discussions in English.
Recitation Required.
Shvabrin. MW 01:25 PM-02:15 PM
Recitations:
601: Staff. F 12:20 PM-01:10 PM
602: Staff. F 01:25 PM-02:15 PM
Small Undergraduate Seminars
GERM 216. The Viking Age.
We will discuss Viking Culture, mythology, exploration, and projection of power in Northern Europe (approximately 750-1050 C.E.) as represented in the literature of medieval Iceland.
Though composed between 1120-1400, the so-called “family sagas” relate events during the time of the Vikings: from the settlement of Iceland (from 870) through the conversion to Christianity (officially in 1000).
We shall seek to extrapolate from this literature–supplemented by historical and archaological information–a composit picture of Viking culture and society.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Roberge: TR 12:30 PM-01:45 PM
GERM 266. Weimar Cinema.
Between World War I and II, German film screens were populated by vampires, androids, demons, criminal masterminds, queers, weak men and fatal women.
We will study these films, their innovative set designs, camerawork and montage, and the emergence of film theory in the context of the tumultuous Weimar Republic and the global film landscape.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Crosslisted: CMPL 266.
Pollmann: TR 11:00 AM-12:15 PM
GSLL 251. Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism and Literature.
An examination of the clash between 20th-century writers and the state, in countries where a single political government or party used an exclusive ideology as justification for interference in cultural and literary affairs.
Discussions and texts in English.
Pike: TR 03:30 PM-04:45 PM
Upper Level Undergraduate Seminars (Taught in Target Language)
GERM 303. German Literature and Culture.
An overview of German literature, culture, and politics, highlighting works from various periods. Students will engage in discussions about German literature, and will be encouraged to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German.
001: Pollmann. TR 02:00 PM-03:15 PM
GERM 380. Austrian Literature.
Presents Austria from the Biedermeier period to the end of the monarchy. Readings of works by authors such as Stifter, Schnitzler, Roth, Freud, Herzl, who articulate artistic, political, historical themes.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and lectures in German.
Trop: TR 12:30 PM-01:45 PM
Dual-Level Seminars: Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students
GSLL 481. Grand Hotels and Empty Fields: Inventing Central Europe through Culture.
Does Central Europe exist? It is a region with shifting borders, diverse languages, and a complex history. In this course, we will explore stories that invent fictional countries in Central Europe from the mist-shrouded mountains of Wes Anderson’s Zubrowka to Ursula Le Guin’s invented realm of Orsinia. We will also read work by writers from within the region who mythologized their home environments.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Rose: TR 09:30 AM-10:45 AM
RUSS 486. Exploration of Russian “Women’s Prose” and Svetlana Alexievich (Nobel Prize in Literature 2015).
Using Alexievich as our beacon, we will explore the writers behind the term “Russian Women’s Prose”: Valeria Narbikova, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Tatyana Tolstaya, and Lyudmila Ulitskaya. The course will delve into gender identity and body politics as they manifest themselves in the literary texts of lasting aesthetic quality and social relevance.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Crosslisted: EURO/WGST 486.
Shvabrin: MW 03:35 PM-04:50 PM
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses
GERM 615. Cultural Foundations in German Studies II (taking the place of Foundations I).
An intensive survey of literary, cultural and intellectual developments in German-speaking lands between 1750-1900, with attention to research methods of the field. We begin with the Enlightenment and move through the sometimes intersecting and sometimes divergent movements of Sturm und Drang, Romanticism, Weimar Classicism, Biedermeier, Vormärz, and Realism, as well as thinkers who defy categorization. Our goal is to cultivate an understanding of literary history as a cultural formation that changes over time.
Through critical readings from a variety of theoretical perspectives, we will explore distinct approaches to analyzing texts and related cultural artifacts in order to foster a knowledge of the modern tools of scholarly inquiry (editions, translations, dictionaries, critical approaches and methods) that are fundamental to the field of German Studies.
This is a reading-intensive seminar. In addition to completing the readings and participating actively in seminar discussions, students will take a midterm and final exam and give several oral presentations. No papers will be required.
Prerequisite for undergraduates: permission of the instructor.
Readings in German; class discussion in English
Koelb: MW 03:10 PM-04:25 PM
GERM 700. Foreign Language Pedagogy: Theories and Practice.
German 700 provides students with foundational knowledge for teaching German within a collegiate U.S. educational context. Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to engage theoretical knowledge pertaining to language learning, pedagogy, and curriculum with issues from the practical context of the language classroom, e.g., by conducting guided classroom observations, developing extended lesson plans, reflecting on their teaching and students’ learning, and creating a teaching philosophy.
Topics covered in the seminar include: Teaching languages in U.S. higher education, language and language learning theories, language teaching methods and approaches (e.g., communicative language teaching, task- and content-based instruction, literacy approaches), supporting different modalities (writing, speaking, listening, writing), teaching for intercultural understanding, the role of curriculum, and professional development and reflective teaching.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Weiler: M 04:40 PM-07:10 PM
GERM 855. Technics of Association & the Literature of Division.
If technē, as Heidegger argues, is “something poetic” that brings forth and reveals truths—it is “knowing in the widest sense,” he adds—then how might we understand literature as bringing forth possibilities of being together especially when myriad internal and external forces of division undermine any togetherness? How might the literature of division from an older era provide us with fruitful insights into the poetic conditions for germinating essential political categories like the public sphere or even communism? Theoretical texts by a wide array of thinkers (e.g., Arendt, Badiou, Butler, Foucault, Habermas, Heidegger, Mouffe, Nancy, Simmel, Sloterdijk) will guide discussions of canonical novels, plays and poetry from East and West (e.g., Bachmann, Becker, Böll, Handke, Heine, Kluge, Johnson, Koeppen, Maron, Müller, Schneider, Strauß, Wolf).
Readings available in German and English translation. Discussions in English.
Langston: W 04:40 PM-07:10 PM
GERM 860. Poetic Cosmologies.
From Plato’s Timaeus to Yuk Hui’s 2016 essay on cosmotechnics, cosmologies condense a variety of discursive operations and generic forms (scientific, religious, philosophical, epistemological, mythopoetic, aesthetic, ethical and political) and represent sophisticated crucibles for stabilizing or reconfiguring norms and practices. This seminar will examine the aesthetic, ethical, and political potentialities of cosmological thinking. Possible authors to be discussed: Plato, Dante, Bruno, Leibniz, Schelling, Novalis, Alexander von Humboldt, Simondon, Latour, Arendt, Heidegger, Rubenstein, Yuk Hui among others.
Readings in English translation, with some supplemental readings in German; Class discussions in English.
Trop: T 04:40 PM-07:10 PM
GERMAN 790S. German Political Thought.
This graduate seminar serves as an introduction to German political and social thought from Kant to Marx (roughly 1770-1850). Readings, often short essays or excerpts, drawn from the writings of Kant, Herder, Fichte, Hegel, Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Schopenhauer, Marx, and other thinkers. Special emphasis on conceptions of statehood, sovereignty, and national community, against the background of an era of revolution, war, and territorial reconfiguration. No familiarity with the topic required.
Readings in German; class discussion in English.
Norberg: R 04:40 PM-07:10 PM Duke Campus
Summer 2020 GSLL Course Offerings
Summer First Session:
GERM 102 Advanced Elementary German (4).
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. One afternoon meeting per week.
GERM 203 Intermediate German (3).
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
RUSS 477 Wicked Desire: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, on Page and Screen (CMPL 477) (3).
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita (1955) became a global phenomenon due to its unflinching portrayal of pedophilia. This course will delve deeper into the novel’s moral complexity, its international context, and its reflection in mass culture, including movies by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997). Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Maymester Courses:
GERM 265 Hitler in Hollywood: Cinematic Representations of Nazi Germany (3).
An examination of selected cinematic representations (both American and German) of Nazi Germany in terms of their aesthetic properties and propagandistic value. Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
GSLL 272 Poland, Russia, and Germany through the Prism of Film.(3).
Explore the relationship between Poland, Russia, and Germany from World War II until the present day, through films and readings that cover World War II, the fall of Communism in Europe, the Holocaust and the post-war situation of Jews, religious faith, Putin’s politics, women’s rights, and the current refugee situation in Germany. Film directors include Balabanov, Becker, Fassbinder, Kalatozov, Holland, Mikhalkov, Polański, Wajda, and Wenders. Readings and class discussions in English. Films with English subtitles.
Spring 2020 GSLL Course Offerings
First-Year Seminars
GSLL 50. First-Year Seminar: Literary Fantasy and Historical Reality.
The intersection of literary fantasy with historical reality considered in two ways: (1) fantastic-looking tales based on historical reality; and (2) stories describing fantastic situations that actually came true.
Gen Ed: LA, CI, NA. Koelb.
TR 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM.
GSLL 60. First-Year Seminar: Avant-Garde Cinema: History, Themes, Textures.
The cinema we frequently encounter in theaters and on television is full of stories comprised of discernible beginnings, middles, and (happy) endings. However, conventional narratives are but one approach to making films. For almost a century, filmmakers have employed the medium of film to explore and broaden the limits of aural and visual perception, to invent new aesthetic forms in motion, to express emotions and desires, and to intervene critically in cultural politics. Students enrolled in this seminar will uncover the history, techniques, and meanings of non- narrative cinema from the twentieth century. Often called “avant-garde,” “underground,” or “experimental,” the films we will discuss are international in scope and represent major chapters in the century-old history of this “minor cinema.” Seminar participants will develop in the course of the semester a critical vocabulary for making sense of these works and will articulate their own analyses in writing and their own video essays.
Gen Ed: VP.
Langston. TR 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM.
GSLL 89.001. First-Year Seminar: Nature and Death – Ecocrises in German Literature and Film.
This course will explore ecological crises through literature and film. The narratives we will discuss will range from Romantic fairy tales to contemporary ecothrillers.
All German texts will be read in English translation.
Gen Ed: LA, NA.
Weiler. MW 3:35 PM to 4:50 PM.
GSLL 89.002. First-Year Seminar: We, Robots: Identifying with Our Automated Others in Fiction and Film.
The word “robot” was invented by Czech science fiction author Karel Čapek in 1920. Robots were invented by fiction and continue to be coupled with fiction today. Film and television depict robots capable of deceit, labor, and love – robots who have mastered and even surpassed the strange art that is being human. In this class, we will read and watch human fictions about robots to consider the question: what do they reveal about their human authors? Following a lineage of robot stories that begins with Karel Čapek, we will read beyond the anglosphere and encounter futurist visions from East and Central Europe with occasional detours into American culture.
Screenings with English subtitles; all readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, BN.
Rose. MW 3:35 PM to 4:50 PM.
Language Instruction
BCS 404. Intermediate Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction started in BCS 403. Prerequisite, BCS 403; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Dzumhur. TR 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM.
CZCH 402. Elementary Czech II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in CZCH 401. Course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in Czech about everyday topics. Prerequisite, CZCH 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Pichova. MWF 9:05 AM to 9:55 AM.
DTCH 403. Intermediate Dutch.
The second course in the Dutch language sequence, DTCH 403 focuses on increased skills in speaking, listening, reading, global comprehension, and communication. Emphasis on reading and discussion of longer texts. Completion of DTCH 403 fulfills level 3 of a foreign language.
Prerequisite, DTCH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Thornton. MWF 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM.
GERM 101. Elementary German.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: Staff. MW 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM to 10:55 AM.
002: Staff. MW 12:20 PM to 1:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM to 1:20 PM.
003: Staff. MW 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM; TR 1:30 PM to 2:20 PM.
GERM 102. Advanced Elementary German.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101, permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MW 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM to 10:50 AM.
002: Staff. MW 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM to 11:55 AM.
003: Staff. MW 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM to 11:55 AM.
004: Staff. MW 12:20 PM to 1:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM to 1:20 PM.
005: Staff. MW 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM; TR 1:30 PM to 2:20 PM.
006: Staff. MW 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM; TR 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM.
GERM 203. Intermediate German.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102, permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Staff. MWF 9:05 AM to 9:55 AM.
002: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
003: Staff. MWF 12:20 PM to 1:10 PM.
GERM 204. Advanced Intermediate German.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film. Prerequisite, GERM 203, permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Weiler. MWF 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM.
002: Weiler. MWF 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM.
GERM 301. Communicating in German.
German 301 is an advanced language and literature course in which you will discuss a variety of contemporary texts and films. Throughout the course, we will discuss what decisions different people make and how those decisions influence their lives for better or worse. This course also provides advanced language learners with opportunities to strengthen their writing and speaking skills.
Over the course of the semester, you will:
* work toward improving your discussion skills in German;
* broaden your vocabulary;
* review your command of German grammar
* learn to read and interpret a wide array of fictional and non-fictional texts.
Genres slated for discussion include: a novel, short stories, fairy tales, song lyrics, and films.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Gen Ed: CI, NA.
Prica. MWF from 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM.
GERM 302. Contemporary German Society.
An advanced language and culture course aimed at familiarizing you with the political, cultural, and societal issues of contemporary Germany. We will read an array of non-fictional texts that students at the advanced Gymnasium level are reading. We will also engage with fictional texts, music, and the news, as well as watch several short films and full-length movies that lend us a critical view of Germany in the 21st century. German 302 also provides you with opportunities to strengthen your written German and to solidify your speaking skills in a communicative and culturally meaningful context.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Gen Ed: SS, CI, NA. Staff. TR from 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM.
PLSH 402. Elementary Polish II.
This continuation of Elementary Polish 1 offers proficiency-based instruction at the elementary-intermediate level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering grammatical concepts, students will communicate in Polish about everyday topics and expand their vocabulary for pragmatic communication and literary comprehension.
Prerequisite, PLSH 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Rose. MWF 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM.
RUSS 102. Basic Russian Communication II.
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies active in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials. Prerequisite, RUSS 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Magomedova. MWF 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM; R 11:05 AM to 11:55 AM.
002: Staff. MWF 12:20 PM to 1:10 PM; R 12:30 PM to 1:20 PM.
003: Staff. MWF 1:25 PM to 2:15 PM; R 1:30 PM to 2:20 PM.
004: Staff. MWF 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM; 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM.
RUSS 204. Intermediate Russian Communication II.
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a widening variety of culturally relevant subjects.
Prerequisite, RUSS 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
01: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
002: Staff. MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
003: Staff. MWF 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM.
RUSS 410. Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context II.
Continuation of RUSS 409. Hones skills necessary for advanced communication, conversation, and composition. Presents phonetics and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Learners expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian actively using authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 409; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Gen Ed: BN. MWF 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM.
RUSS 412. Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian II.
Designed to develop conversational and writing skills in a variety of situations and subjects including but not limited to daily, cultural, historical, and political issues. Prepares advanced learners of contemporary standard Russian for communication with educated native speakers of the language in the area of their professional competence. Prerequisite, RUSS 411; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova. MWF 2:30 PM to 3:20 PM.
Large Undergraduate Lectures
GERM 227. Luther and the Bible.
What is the legacy of the Protestant Reformation on modern life today? Learn how Reformation ideas have influenced religion, society, economics, and politics from early modern to modern times! Readings include Luther’s On the Freedom of a Christian and That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, Melanchthon’s The Pope-Ass Explained, Brant’s Ship of Fools, as well as hymns, carnival plays, and Bible translations.
The only prerequisite: an inquiring mind.
Readings and discussions in English. Gen Ed: HS, WB. Same as: RELI 227.
Lecture:
Von Bernuth. MW 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM.
Recitations:
601: Staff. F 10:10 AM to 11 AM.
602: Staff. F11: 15 AM to 12:05 AM.
Small Undergraduate Seminars
GERM 268. Auteur Cinema.
Fassbinder has been called everything from a genius to a narcissist. But what is undebatable is the impact he left on German film. In this class, students will learn about Fassbinder’s impact on New German Cinema, from his early student films to his melodramas and television series.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English. Gen Ed: VP, CI, NA. Layne.
TR from 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM.
GSLL 255. Germany and Cold War: Occupation, Division, Reunification, Renewed Conflict with Russia (1945-Today).
This course investigates the central role played by the “German question” in the break-up of the wartime alliance, the emergence of East-West political blocs, the subsequent dissolution of the USSR, and the return to new Russian-Western antagonisms.
Readings and discussions in English. Gen Ed: HS, GL, NA.
Pike. TR 3:30 to 4:45.
GSLL 277. The Moon in Song, Story, and Science: Mentored Research Projects in Cultural History.
Consideration of our satellite both as a natural object that can be investigated scientifically and as a cultural object that has been the subject of highly varied treatments in poems and stories throughout human history. Students engage in mentored research culminating in a substantial essay.
Readings and discussions in English. Gen Ed: LA, CI, EE- Mentored Research. Koelb. TR 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM.
GSLL 295. Research, Creativity, and Innovations in the Humanities.
An introduction to research methodologies, theories, and resources used in cutting-edge research in the humanities. Students will develop their own projects and refine these projects in discussion with others in an interdisciplinary setting.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: CI, EE.
Same as: GSLL295, ROML 295, CMPL395.
Trop. TR 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM.
RUSS 279. Sunstrokes in Dark Alleys: Russian Short Stories.
An introduction to the Russian short story, focusing on the topic of love in all its intriguing aspects. The readings include works from the 18th century to the 20th.
Readings and discussions in English.
Gen Ed: LA, BN. Lapushin. TR 12:30 PM to 1:45 PM.
Upper Level Undergraduate (taught in foreign language)
GERM 303. German Literature and Culture.
This seminar will equip you with a thorough bird’s eye view of German literary history. The course begins in the 16th century with Martin Luther’s German translations from the Greek—the beginning of the German language’s entry into the arena of literature—and continues into our present. In order to cover this extensive time span systematically, we will study German literary history’s highlights—its major movements and its seminal figures both male and female—in chronological order and with respect to Central Europe’s social, political, and cultural history. Students enrolled in this course will continue to improve their German language skills (reading, speaking, writing, and listening), acquire working knowledge of German literary and cultural history, and the prepare themselves for success in upper-level literary courses required for the German majors and minor. An appropriate conclusion to GERM 101-204, it also provides the background for more advanced undergraduate literature and culture courses.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German. Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Gen Ed: LA, CI, NA.
Langston. TR 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM.
GERM 306. Introduction to German Translation.
Don’t get lost in translation!
This course provides a practical and theoretical introduction to translation from and into German. Translation practices will be discussed not only from a linguistic perspective, but also from a cultural and historical perspective.
* Improve your German.
* Learn useful skills for the job market.
* Improve your marketability.
* Do something creative.
Written in-class translation exercises in different genres and media (songs, television and film). Literary and theoretical readings.
Readings in German and English, discussions in German. Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Gen Ed: NA. Layne. TR 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM.
RUSS 415. Introduction to Russian Literature.
In this course you will read seminal works of contemporary Russian literature as well as social, political, cultural, and historical issues of Russian society.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Gen Ed: LA, BN. Magomedova. MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
Dual-Level Seminars: Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students
GSLL 465. Literature of Atrocity: The Gulag and the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Historical contexts and connections through artistic representation of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in Eastern Europe and the USSR.
Taught in English; some foreign language readings for qualified students. Gen Ed: LA, BN, GL. Same as: JWST 465, PWAD 465.
Pike. TR 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM.
RUSS 455. 20th-Century Russian Literature and Culture.
As Russia became a laboratory for sociopolitical experiments of global significance, its culture reflected on the most spectacular of its aspirations and failures. Course surveys 20th-century literary, musical and cinematic artifacts that emerged to affect the world profoundly.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students. Gen Ed: LA, BN. Shvabrin. TR 11:00 AM to 12:15 PM.
RUSS 464. Dostoevsky.
In this course, we will explore Dostoevsky’s literary quest to understand why people…
… lose their minds
… commit murder & other unspeakable crimes
… become alcoholics
… gamble
… join monasteries
… kill themselves
… believe they are God
… & engage in other striking behaviors.
In addition to a number of Dostoevsky’s shorter works, including the short novel Notes from Underground, we will study two of the great novel-tragedies—Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students. Gen Ed: LA, BN. Lapushin. TR 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM.
RUSS 477. Wicked Desire: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, on Page and Screen.
Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita (1955) became a global phenomenon due to its unflinching portrayal of pedophilia. This course will delve deeper into the novel’s moral complexity, its international context, and its reflection in mass culture, including movies by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997).
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students. Gen Ed: LA, NA. Same as: CMPL 477.
Pichova. MWF 10:10 AM to 11:00 AM.
RUSS 480H. Russian-Soviet Jewish Culture: Lofty Dreams and Stark Realities.
This course delves into the scintillating literary, visual, musical, and cinematic culture created by Jewish universalists seeking to build their new secular identity under the aegis of the Soviet Communist experiment in the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik coup. Surveys the works of Isaac Babel, Eduard Bagritsky, Marc Chagall, Sergey Eisenstein, Ilya Ehrenburg, Masha Gessen, Vasily Grossman, Osip Mandelshtam, and others. Taught in English; films with English subtitles. Some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Non-honors students wishing to enroll should submit a wait list request at http://honorscarolina.unc.edu/waitlist beginning November 16.
3.00 or higher GPA is required to enroll in any Honors course.
Gen Ed: LA, BN. Same as: JWST 480.
Shvabrin. TR 2:00 PM to 3:15 PM.
GERM 500. History of the German Language.
This course introduces students to the historical development of the German language from the earliest times until the modern period. We shall look at some of the phonological and morphosyntactic changes that differentiate German from English, Dutch and other related languages, and give the modern language its hallmark linguistic features.
We shall further examine the historical and cultural context in which German developed, noting the impact of important events, from Christianization to the Reformation, from courtly poetry to the invention of printing, on language use.
Students will read short texts in the main historical forms of the language — Old Saxon, Old High German, Middle Low German, Middle High German and Early New High German.
Taught in English.
Prerequisites:
Undergraduates: GERM 301, 302, and 303 (or equivalent).
Graduate students from other departments: Advanced reading proficiency (minimally) in German.
Roberge. MW 3:10 PM to 4:25 PM.
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses (Taught at UNC)
See also GERM 500.
GERM 860. Form is Bliss: On a Basic Category in German Philosophy, Aesthetics & Literature.
In his Philosophy of Symbolic Forms (1923-1929) the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer described mankind as “capable of form.” He thereby pointed out the interrelatedness of forms with the conditions of human existence, in other words, the relationship between life and aesthetic expression. The seminar takes this idea as a starting point and a leitmotif. On a journey through the long history of poetics and philosophy of form from Antiquity to the 20th century, we will examine how humans shape an otherwise amorphous reality.
Readings in German and English; Class Discussion in English.
Prica. M 4:40 PM to 7:10 PM.
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses (Taught at Duke)
GERMAN 890S. The King’s Image: A History of Representation.
Repraesentatio, “to make present” or “set before the eyes,” was originally a juridical concept, which gained theological import in early Christian debates about the true doctrinal meaning of the Eucharist. But the dynamic of Darstellung has always also been an aesthetic problem: the nexus between theories of power and theories of art—between the making-present of the sovereign and the making-present of the Idea—plays a central role in the history of literature from the middle ages to the modern. In this course, we will examine some of the key German-language texts in this lineage, by authors like Lohenstein, Goethe, Schiller, Novalis, Grillparzer, Wagner, Hofmannsthal, Kafka and George, alongside a few of the foundational theoretical attempts (Kantorowicz, Schmitt, Benjamin, Agamben) to make sense of this tradition.
Readings in German and English translation; class discussions in English.
Pourciau. T 4:40 PM to 7:10 PM
Summer 2019 GSLL Course Offerings
DTCH 275: Amsterdam and the Dutch Golden Age
This 3-week program is ideal for first-time global travelers and students interested in Dutch culture and history. In class lectures and site visits, participants will learn about the Golden Age of Dutch history through the lens of Amsterdam. There will also be excursions to Leiden, Haarlem and other places of interest.
Course topics include:
• The rise of the Dutch Republic and the importance of Amsterdam in the 17th century
• Dutch art of the Golden Age
• The role of religious tolerance and other freedoms
• The influence of the Dutch Republic on the American colonies
• Dutch scientific and technological achievements
• Dutch colonialism—its legacy and aftermath
Dates: May 26 – June 16, 2019
For more information and to apply, go to the website of UNC Study Abroad: UNC Dutch Studies in the Netherlands. Applications deadline is on February 10th.
Poster: DTCH 275
GERM 203: Intermediate German I
Looking to have a productive and fun summer? Come and join this Bavarian at UNC at Chapel Hill for German 203 in Summer Session I and perfect your German, so that you can impress all those German speakers here and far away. We will be using Weiter geht’s to explore topics such as family and friends, new Germans and Germans in the world, as well as the significance of World War II and former East Germany.
Students acquire the necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Dates: May 15th to June 20th
MTWRF 09:45 AM – 11:15 AM
Poster: GERM 203 Summer I
Spring 2019 GSLL Course Offerings
IDST Course
IDST 190.004: The Environment, Intersectionality, and Science Fiction
This course focuses on the question of how the genre of science fiction (film and literature) has been used to address the world’s environmental concerns and how these concerns affect characters differently depending on their gender, race, and class. Using this lens, the course investigates longstanding global environmental challenges including water resources, overpopulation, consumption, climate change, etc. This course provides students with a complex toolkit to understand environmental issues. We pay special attention to texts with characters or created by artists who are women and/or ethnic minorities. Our focus throughout the course is support comparative, global, intersectional and interdisciplinary thinking.
Approach: Social Science
Layne. MW 10:10 AM-11:00 AM.
In CP 201 with a recitation on Fridays
Poster: IDST 190.004
First-Year Seminars
GSLL 51: First Year Seminar: Stalin and Hitler: Historical Issues in Cultural and Other Perspectives.
This course considers critical issues that dominated the 20th century:
- The rise of fascism out of the carnage of World War One
- The Bolshevik Revolution
- Key figures: Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler
- The defeat of fascism and its effect in Western and Eastern Europe
- The origins and evolution of the Cold War
- The dissolution and democratization of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union
And then, against the tragic background of the past, asks: What is the outlook for democracy in the future?
Approach: Historical Analysis; Connection: Global Issues
Pike. TR 03:30 PM-04:45 PM.
Poster: GSLL 51
GSLL 55: First-Year Seminar: Fantasies of Rome: Gladiators, Senators, Soothsayers, and Caesars.
The idea of Rome has been shaped and reshaped by some of Europe’s most influential writers, artists and thinkers. That idea is still powerful in our world today. Novels, Poems, Histories, Myths, Operas, Films.
Approach: Historical Analysis; Connections: World Before 1750 & Communication Intensive
Koelb. MWF 02:30 PM-03:20 PM.
Poster: GSLL 55
Language Instruction
BCS 402: Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in BCS 401. Course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in the target language about everyday topics. Previously offered as SECR 402.
Prerequisite, BCS 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Dzumhur. TR 09:30 AM-10:45 AM.
DTCH 403: Intermediate Dutch.
Dutch 403 is a continuation of Dutch 402, and it builds on the essential elements of the Dutch language, focusing on grammar, reading, writing, and conversational skills. It is part 2 of a two-semester sequence designed to get students to level A2/B1 proficiency.
Prerequisite, DTCH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Thornton. MWF 09:05 AM-09:55 AM.
Poster: DTCH 403
GERM 101: Elementary German.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: Weiler. MW 10:10 AM-11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM-10:50 AM.
002: Larson. MW 12:20 PM-01:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM-01:20 PM.
003: Weiler. MW 01:25 PM-02:15 PM; TR 01:30 PM-02:20 PM.
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Schmitz. MW 09:05 AM-09:55 AM; TR 09:00 AM-09:50 AM.
002: Scott. MW 11:15 AM-12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM-11:55 AM.
003: Takamura. MW 12:20 PM-01:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM-01:20 PM.
004: Scott. MW 01:25 PM-02:15 PM; TR 01:30 PM-02:20 PM.
005: Scott. MW 02:30 PM-03:20 PM; TR 02:30 PM-03:20 PM.
GERM 203: Intermediate German.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Shelly. MWF 09:05 AM-09:55 AM.
002: Gagum. MWF 10:10 AM-11:00 AM.
003: Gagum. MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM.
GERM 204: Advanced Intermediate German.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Lhamsuren. MWF 12:20 PM-01:10 PM.
002: Gagum. MWF 01:25 PM-02:15 PM.
GERM 301: Conversation and Composition.
German 301 is an advanced language and literature course in which you will discuss a variety of contemporary texts and films. Throughout the course, we will discuss what decisions different people make and how those decisions influence their lives for better or worse. This course also provides advanced language learners with opportunities to strengthen their writing and speaking skills.
Over the course of the semester, you will:
- Work toward improving your discussion skills in German;
- Broaden your vocabulary;
- Review your command of German grammar
- Learn to read and interpret a wide array of fictional and non-fictional texts.
- Genres slated for discussion include: a novel, short stories, fairy tales, song lyrics, and films.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Connections: North Atlantic World & Communication Intensive
Lang. MWF 10:10 AM-11:00 AM.
Poster: GERM 301
GERM 302: Contemporary German Society.
German 302 is an advanced language and culture course aimed at familiarizing you with the political, cultural, and societal issues of contemporary Germany. We will read an array of non-fictional texts that students at the advanced Gymnasium level are reading. We will also engage with fictional texts, music, and the news, as well as watch several short films and full-length movies that lend us a critical view of Germany in the 21st century. German 302 also provides you with opportunities to strengthen your written German and to solidify your speaking skills in a communicative and culturally meaningful context.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Approach: Social & Behavioral Sciences; Connections: North Atlantic World & Communication Intensive
Wilms. TR 12:30 PM-01:45 PM.
Poster: GERM 302
PLSH 403: Intermediate Polish I.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish.
Prerequisite, PLSH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Staff. TR 09:30 AM-10:45 AM.
RUSS 102: Basic Russian Communication II.
Further basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Continues to lay the foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indispensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of situational contexts. Fosters further interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies active in contemporary standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Chernysheva. MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM; R 11:05 AM-11:55 AM.
002: Ginocchio. MWF 12:20 PM-01:10 PM; R 12:30 PM-01:20 PM.
003: Magomedova. MWF 01:25 PM-02:15 PM; R 01:30 PM-02:20 PM.
004: Tolpygo. MWF 02:30 PM-03:20 PM; R 02:30 PM-03:20 PM
RUSS 204:Intermediate Russian Communication II.
Skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate-to-advanced learners. Develops and deepens learners’ mastery of contemporary standard Russian. Stresses communication, individual expression, and fosters cultural sensitivity through systematic expansion of learners’ ability to conduct conversations in contemporary standard Russian on a widening variety of culturally relevant subjects.
Prerequisite, RUSS 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Chernysheva. MWF 09:05 AM-09:55 AM.
002: Chernysheva. MWF 10:10 AM-11:00 AM.
RUSS 410: Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context II.
Hones skills necessary for advanced communication, conversation, and composition. Presents phonetics and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Learners expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian actively using authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 409; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic
Shvabrin. MW 03:35 PM-04:50 PM.
Poster: RUSS 410
RUSS 412: Advanced Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian II.
Designed to develop conversational and writing skills in a variety of situations and subjects including but not limited to daily, cultural, historical, and political issues.
Prerequisite, RUSS 411; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova. MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM.
Poster: RUSS 412
Large Undergraduate Lectures
GERM 245: Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.
The works of these three German intellectuals have influenced the politics, economics, educational practices, and cultural attitudes of countless individuals and even entire nations. Although the work of all three writers has been undergoing a substantial critical reevaluation, its historical importance is indisputable. Indeed, the very fact of the reevaluation in progress is testimony to the continuing cultural legacy of these three intellectual giants. The course will not only try to offer students the chance to get to know the principal writings of these important writers; it will also show how the three belong together as part of an intellectual enterprise centered on the project of what might be called the “historicization” of fields not previously considered subject to historical thinking. All three understand phenomena once thought to be essentially static as in fact dynamic, as changing in time according to demonstrable principles.
Readings and discussions in English.
Approach: Philosophical Analysis; Connection: North Atlantic World
Recitation required.
Koelb. MW 11:15 AM-12:05 PM.
Recitations:
601: Hertel. F 11:15 AM-12:05 PM.
602: Hertel. F 12:20 PM-01:10 PM.
Poster: GERM 245
GSLL 260: From Berlin to Budapest: Literature, Film, and Culture of Central Europe.
Throughout the twentieth century, Central Europe has been at the center of dramatic historical changes: the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the rise and fall of the Nazi regime, the spread of communism, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and finally, incorporation into the European Union. These tumultuous historical events have culturally shaped the region in unexpected, even contradictory ways, and have ironically produced some of Europe’s most creative and relevant cultural voices that have relevance far beyond the region.
We will concentrate on the work of writers and filmmakers who depict the turbulent events of this region, specifically as played out in the four capital cities of Berlin, Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw. Through their work we will understand how these cities changed with each political upheaval, what type of atmosphere they provided for artists, what fears they awoke among their populous, and how imagination and creativity flourished in these cities’ cafes and pubs.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Global Issues
Recitation Required.
Pichova. MW 09:05 AM-09:55 AM.
Recitations:
601: Goehler. F 09:05 AM-09:55 AM.
602: Goehler. F 10:10 AM-11:00 AM.
Poster: GSLL 260
RUSS 280: Russian Villains, Western Screens: Ethno-Cultural Stereotypes on Page and Stage, in Movies and Minds.
A survey of the fascinating history of Hollywood stereotypes of Russian villainy from Elizabethan England to Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, Ivan Drago, and Xenia Onnatop. What do these theatrical buffoons, cartoon-movie monsters, and cinematic seductresses tell us about Russia — and about ourselves as consumers of stereotypes?
Readings, visuals and discussions in English.
Approach: Visual & Performing Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic
Recitation required.
Shvabrin. MW 01:25 PM-02:15 PM.
Recitations:
601: Lang. F 12:20 PM-01:10 PM.
602: Lang. F 01:25 PM-02:15 PM.
Poster: RUSS 280
Small Undergraduate Seminars
GSLL 212:“Game of Thrones” and the Worlds of the European Middle Ages.
“Game of Thrones” is one of the most successful shows in TV history. Roughly based on George R.R. Martin’s series of fantasy novels “A Song of Ice and Fire,” it portrays the violent struggles for power and independence between individuals, kingdoms, dynasties and continents. In this course we will focus on examining the European medieval history behind the books and the show, while at the same time considering the question of how literary and cinematic adaptation works. By putting topics such as family, politics, religion, violence, gender, slavery, outcasts, knighthood, travel, heroes, myths and magic into historical perspective, we will also explore the reasons for the popularity medievalism is experiencing in current pop-culture.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: World Before 1750
Prica. TR 02:00 PM-03:15 PM.
Poster: GSLL 212
RUSS 276: Mystery and Suspense in Russian Literature.
The study of mystery and suspense in Russian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic
Lapushin. TR 12:30 PM-01:45 PM.
Poster: RUSS 276
Upper Level Undergraduate (taught in foreign language)
GERM 303: Introduction to German Literature.
The course will give an overview of German literature, culture, and politics. It will highlight works from various periods, engage in discussions about German literature, and encourage students to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the pre/co-requisite.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connections: North Atlantic World & Communication Intensive
Prica. TR 09:30 AM-10:45 AM.
Poster: GERM 303
GERM 374: Nature and Science in German Theater
This advanced German literature course will take you out of the traditional classroom and plunge you right into a performance space. We will not only read and discuss dramas centered around the topics of nature and science, but we will also put on a full-length performance of one German play.
Both the performance and the discussions in class will afford you a more thorough understanding of the forces at work within different plays. You will immerse yourself in the literary, social, political, and historical context of the 19th and 20th century, as well as read seminal texts about performance theory.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings, discussions, and rehearsals in German.
Approach: Visual & Performing Arts; Connections: North Atlantic World & Experiential Education
Rehearsals required: Times and locations TBA.
Weiler. TR 03:30 PM-04:45 PM.
Poster: GERM 374
Dual-Level Seminars: Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students
GERM 502: Middle High German.
This course teaches the basic elements of the Middle High German language and exposes students to a variety of textual genres from the high Middle Ages such as courtly romance, heroic epic, love lyric, and religious literature. The focus is on language and translation, but the close textual work also provides an introduction to medieval literature and culture.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings in English, German and Middle High German. Class will be conducted in German.
Von Bernuth. F 10:15 AM-01:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 502
GERM 515: Old Norse II (Old Icelandic).
Continuation of GERM 514. Permission of the instructor for those who did not take GERM 514 in Fall 2018.
Roberge. TR 11:00 AM-12:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 515
GERM 655:Later 20th-Century Literature: Multicultural Germany.
What does it mean to be German? On what does a German identity depend? A common language? A common religion? A common legal status? Since the end of World War II with the arrival of numerous guest workers, foreign students and refugees, Germany has become increasingly diverse. How does this influence German notions of national identity? We will explore these issues through discussion and readings of literature, theoretical and non-fictional texts, as well as viewing films.
Readings in English or German; class discussions in English.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduates.
Approved as an elective for German major/minor concentrations, to count as a course taught in English.
Layne. MW 03:10 PM-04:25 PM.
Poster: GERM655
GSLL/JWST/PWAD 465: Literature of Atrocity: The Gulag and the Holocaust in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
Historical contexts and connections through artistic representation of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in Eastern Europe and the USSR.
Taught in English; some foreign language readings may be offered for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connections: Beyond the North Atlantic & Global Issues
Pike. TR 02:00 PM-03:15 PM.
Poster: GSLL 465
RUSS 415: Introduction to Russian Literature.
Reading and discussion of selected authors in Russian aimed at improving reading skill and preparing the student for higher level work in Russian literature.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Formerly offered as RUSS 250
Readings and discussions in Russian.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic
Magomedova. MWF 02:30 PM-03:20 PM.
Poster: RUSS 415
RUSS 465: Chekhov.
In addition to the study of Chekhov’s major works, this course analyzes the relationship between his texts and their various adaptations on stage and screen.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic
Lapushin. TR 03:30 PM-04:45 PM.
Poster: RUSS 465
Carolina-Duke Graduate Level Courses (Taught at Duke)
ENG/GERMAN 590S: The Melancholy of Art
Theodor Adorno at various points in his oeuvre remarked that the illusory and ephemeral world spun in art, literary or otherwise, often tends to engulf the reader/audience in sadness. Because all art “is bound up with semblance, [it] is endowed with sadness; art grieves all the more, the more completely it suggests meaning.” As it responds to a welter of inchoate and antagonistic forces that comprise our empirical existence, art and the artistic temperament knows that it can only ever bring all these conflicting perceptions, desires, fears, etc. into fleeting (symbolic) alignment. Profoundly cognizant of its own transience as a merely symbolic world, art is bound up with melancholy. Or, as Adorno puts it, “melancholy is the shadow of what in all form is heterogeneous, which its form strives to banish: mere existence. … In the utopia of its form, art bends under the burdensome weight of the empirical world from which, as art, it steps away.”
The focus of this seminar is not melancholy as a “theme” in art but, rather, the inherently melancholic disposition of art and representation. It is no accident that the nexus of art and melancholy becomes pronounced just as the idea of aesthetic autonomy begins to take shape – that is, of art beginning to detach itself from metaphysical and cosmological frameworks and certitudes at the threshold of the sixteenth century. – Thus, following some exploratory theological readings that frame melancholy as a sin (acedia) – John Cassian, Gregory the Great, Aquinas – we will consider some artworks, such as Albrecht Dürer’s “Melancholia I” (1514) and Lorenzo Lotto, which offer a secular echo of the Pietá motif. We will then move on to selections from Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), a work that both explores and embodies its eponymous condition in strangely digressive and shapeless prose. The discussion will be complemented by W. G. Sebald’s self-conscious tribute to early-seventeenth-century melancholia in The Rings of Saturn (1997). – The majority of the seminar will be taken up with constellations of melancholy in nineteenth- and twentieth-century narrative: Joseph Roth, Radetzkymarch (1932); Sandor Marai, Embers (1942), and Guiseppe di Lampedusa, The Leopard (1958). The pièce de resistance will be Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus (1947), which perhaps more than any other European novel throws into relief the melancholy intrinsic to artistic creation, while also placing the catastrophe of European fascism in intricate dialogue with the post-Schismatic, early-modern Europe of Dürer and Luther. – In addition, we will screen two films: Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Lights (1963) and Theo Angelopoulos’ modernist cinematic reimagining of Homer: Ulysses’ Gaze (1995).
Readings and class discussions in English.
Pfau. M 06:15 PM-08:45 PM.
Poster: ENG/GERMAN 590S
GERMAN/PHIL 790: Marx and Philosophy
An introduction to the philosophy of Karl Marx from both analytical and historical perspectives. We shall study his early, explicitly philosophical texts and his later writings on political economy. Focus will be on his transformation of fundamental concepts from the philosophical tradition (chiefly Aristotle and Hegel), his critique of political economy, his concepts of historical materialism, ideology, and critique, as well his reception by some later Marxist thinkers.
Readings in English or German; class discussions in English.
Pickford. T 04:40 PM-07:10 PM.
Poster: GERMAN/PHIL 790
Fall 2018 GSLL Course Offerings
First Year Seminars
GSLL 50 Literary Fantasy and Historical Reality
Often what we see is what we believe to be real. And yet, our beliefs about truth and reality are heavily influenced by what we allow ourselves to see and believe in. In order to make sense of what is real, as opposed to what feels real, we will examine a broad spectrum of artistic takes on the fantastical and the real from Central and Western European sources. Additionally, you will be working on a project that engages with the topics of the course and that will be both academic and creative in nature.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
Readings and class discussions in English.
WEGEL. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM
Poster: GSLL 50
GSLL 69 Laughing and Crying at the Movies: Film and Experience
How do movies make us laugh, cry, or scream, and what kind of experience is this? We will look at genres including melodrama, comedy, and horror to think about emotional responses to film. Students will learn the basics of film analysis, gain an overview of genre cinema, and study approaches to emotion, affect, and the body.
Approach: Visual and Performing Arts.
Readings and class discussions in English.
POLLMANN. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Poster: GSLL 69
GSLL 75 The Book of Books: Literature and the Bible
The Bible is the single most influential book in all of Western civilization. It is the top bestseller of all time and the most translated work in history. No other text has been read, discussed, and interpreted as often and no other book had a comparable impact on the arts. In this class we will familiarize ourselves with the stories, poems, letters, historical documents, songs, witness accounts and philosophical treatises that the Bible contains, and we will examine how works of art have preserved or transformed this biblical material.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: North Atlantic World.
Readings and class discussions in English.
PRICA. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
Poster: GSLL 75
GSLL 80 Not Just Dogs: Animals in Russian Literature
This seminar explores the “question of the animal” in the works of major Russian writers (Gogol, Doetoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov). Among the topics to be discussed are: the animal as the other, animal and human natures, dominance and submission, ethics of the human/animal relations, and the theme of “talking” animals.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
Readings and class discussions in English.
LAPUSHIN. MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM
Poster: GSLL 80
Language Instruction
BCS 401 Elementary Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language I
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in the target language about everyday topics.
Previously offered as SECR 401.
DZUMHUR. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM
Poster: BCS 401
DTCH 402 Elementary Dutch
Will introduce students to the essential elements of the Dutch language, focusing on Grammar, reading, writing, and conversational skills. It is part of a two-semester sequence designed to get students to level A2/B1 proficiency. Completion of DTCH 402 fulfills level 2 of a foreign language.
THORNTON. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
Poster: DTCH 402
GERM 101 Elementary German
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: SCOTT. MW 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM; TR 09:00 AM – 09:50 AM
002: SCOTT. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM
003: (Staff). MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
004: (Staff). MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM; TR 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM
005: (Staff). MW 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM; TR 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
Poster: GERM 101
GERM 102 Advanced Elementary German
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite: GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: (Staff). MW 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM; TR 09:00 AM – 09:50 AM
002: GAGUM. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM
003: GAGUM. MW 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM – 01:20 PM
Poster: GERM 102
GERM 203 Intermediate German
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite: GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: (Staff). MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM
002: (Staff). MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
003: (Staff). MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
004: WEILER. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
005: WEILER. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
Poster: GERM 203
GERM 204 Advanced Intermediate German
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite: GERM 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: WEILER. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
002: (Staff). MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
Poster: GERM 204
GERM 301 Entscheidungen Treffen: Conversation and Composition
An advanced language course in which you will discuss a variety of contemporary texts and films. Throughout the course, we will consider how and why various characters make decisions, and connect those decisions to larger themes in contemporary German-speaking societies and cultures. This course also provides advanced language learners with opportunities to strengthen their written and verbal communication skills.
Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
Prerequisite: GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequesite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
001: SCOTT. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
002: GAGUM. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM
Poster: GERM 301
GERM 302 Language and Culture: Die moderne Gesellschaft in Deutschland
An advanced language and culture course aimed at familiarizing you with the political, cultural, and societal issues of contemporary Germany. We will read an array of non-fictional texts that students at the advanced Gymnasium level are reading. We will also engage with fictional texts, music, and the news, as well as watch several short films and full-length movies that lend us a critical view of Germany in the 21st century. The course also provides you with opportunities to strengthen your written German and to solidify your speaking skills in a communicative and culturally meaningful context.
Approach: Social Sciences; Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the pre- or corequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
WEGEL. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Poster: GERM 302
PLSH 403 Intermediate Polish I
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in elementary Polish. Course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context.
Prerequisite, PLSH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
(Staff). TBA
Poster: PLSH 403
RUSS 101 Basic Russian Communication I
Essential basics of Russian for everyday conversations. Lays a foundation for development of four language skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) indespensable for communication on everyday topics in a variety of contexts. Fosters interaction through acquisition of essential communicative and conversational strategies. Introduces learners to the structure of standard Russian through culturally relevant materials.
001: CHERNYSHEVA. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM; R 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
002: (Staff). MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM; R 12:30 PM – 01:20 PM
003: MAGOMEDOVA. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM; R 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM
004: MAGOMEDOVA. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM; R 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
Poster: RUSS 101
RUSS 203 Intermediate Russian Communication I
Transitional skills for fluent speaking, writing, listening, and reading for intermediate learners: Furthers learners’ competency for communication on everyday topics. Prepares learners for communication on subjects beyond their immediate needs. Expands the interactive skillset necessary to maintain conversations and present individual opinions, using complex structures. Employes adapted and non-adapted learning materials to promote mastery of contemporary standard Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: CHERNYSHEVA. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM
002: CHERNYSHEVA. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
Poster: RUSS 203
RUSS 409 Intermediate-to-Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Context I
Intermediate-to-advanced communication, conversation, composition, phonetics, and grammar in contemporary cultural context. Meets the needs of larners looking to expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing active applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
SHVABRIN. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
Poster: RUSS 409
RUSS 411 Advanced Russian Communication, Conversation, and Composition in Contemporary Standard Russian
Develops and maintains advanced skills for speaking, writing, listening, and reading in contemporary standard Russian in a variety of communicative situations. Assists advanced learners in solving a wide range of communicative tasks with the aid of unadapted authentic cultural materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Magomedova. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
Poster: RUSS 411
RUSS 513 Russian Culture in Transition I
Fifth-year Russian, intended to expand knowledge of the language necessary for understanding social changes that are taking place in Russian society, in literature, art, culture, and everyday human mentality.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
Prerequisite, RUSS 412; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
(Staff). TBA
Poster: RUSS 513
Small Undergraduate Seminars
GERM 249 Modern German Masterpieces in English Translation
The idea of world literature was a German invention: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe proposed it to describe literature of universal importance for all. German literature remains an important component in this canon. This seminar introduces highlights in modern German literature, from the 18th-century playwright Lessing to 20th-Century Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: North Atlantic World.
Readings and class discussions in English.
PIKE. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM
Poster: GERM 249
GSLL 254H The Division of Germany, Reunification, and Conflict with Russia
Why was occupied Germany divided into two states after World War II? Were the Cold War and division inevitable? We explore these questions in two chronological contexts: 1945-1949 and 1989-present, with emphasis on the reemergence of Western conflict with Putin’s Russia.
Previously offered as GERM 254H.
Approach: Historical Analysis; Connection: North Atlantic World.
Honors Course.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Poster: GSLL 254H
Upper Level Undergraduate Seminars Taught in the Target Language
GERM 303 Introduction to German Literature
This course will give an overview of German literature, culture, and politics. It will highlight works from various periods (medieval through modern), engage in discussions about German literature, and encourage students to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302; permission of the instructor for students lacking the pre- or corequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
POLLMANN. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM
PRICA. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM
Poster: GERM 303
GERM 373 Lyrical Ecstasy and Poetic Intensity
In an age of streamlined information and easily digestible bullet points, lyric experience exists precariously on the verge of extinction.
We will attempt to rekindle the passion for lyric by reading poems from the Middle Ages to the present. Poets include: Goethe, Hölderlin, Novalis, Eichendorff, Heine, Droste-Hülshoff, Mörike, Lasker-Schüler, Rilke and Celan, among others, with forays into Expressionist and Dada poetry. The class will conclude with a public poetry recitation.
Approach: Visual and Performing Arts; Connections: Experiential Education; North Atlantic World.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
TROP. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Poster:
Large Undergraduate Lectures
GERM 280 Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘N’ Roll: 20th-Century German Philosophy and Modern Youth Cultures
This lecture investigates the many contact points between 20th-Century German philosophy and modern youth cultures, and establishes how German philosophers thought through the possibilities, limitations, and consequences of youth rebellion and conformity in ways that youth cultures rarely did. Of particular concern will be youth culture’s triumvirate: sex, drugs, and rock music. Students will read and discuss seminal texts by thinkers like Adorno, Arendt, Benjamin, Bloch, Gadamer, Habermas, Heidegger, Jaspers, Jonas, Marcuse, Nietzsche, Simpel, ans Ssloterdijk. In order to illuminate the philosophical readings, lectures will address a selection of American and British feature films portraying modern youth cultures.
Approach: Philosophical and Moral Reasoning; Connection: North Atlantic World.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Recitation Required.
LANGSTON. MW 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
Recitations:
601: (Staff). F 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM
602: (Staff). F 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
603: (Staff). F 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
604: (Staff). F 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM
Poster: GERM 280
GSLL 269 Springtime for Hitler: Jews on Stage from Shakespeare to Mel Brooks
This course examines the roles and representations of Jews in the world of the theater from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice to the present, considering dramas, operas, musicals, film adaptations, and films.
Approach: Visual and Performing Arts; Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Crosslisted: CMPL 269; JWST 269.
Recitation Required.
HESS. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
Recitations:
601: (Staff). F 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM
602: (Staff). F 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
Poster: GSLL 269
RUSS 270 Crimes and Punishments: Rusian Literature of the 19th Century
This course explores the deeply moral questions of good and evil, sin and justice, violence and mercy through reading and discussion of the great works of 19th century Russian literature (Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov).
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Recitation Required.
LAPUSHIN. MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
Recitations:
601: (Staff). F 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM
602: (Staff). F 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM
Poster: RUSS 270
Dual Level Seminars; Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students (except as noted)
GERM 514 Old Norse
An introduction to the language of medieval Scandinavia, with a primary focus on developing a basic reading proficiency so that students can avail themselves of the prose literature in the original with a dictionary. Students will be expected to work closely through the grammar and the translation of texts from the original language into English. There will be plenty of grammatical analysis, dictionary work, vocabulary and paradigm memorization, and translation (but no speaking component, obviously, beyond learning the medieval pronunciation). We shall also examine aspects of the linguistic structure of Old Norse from a diachronic perspective.
This class is intended for students who have an interest in medieval studies, linguistics, and/or philology but have had no prior exposure to Old Norse. Some previous study of a “philological” language (e.g., Old English, Middle High German) and/or a modern Scandinavian language would be helpful, though it is not required. Undergraduate students should not sign up for this class unless they are firmly committed to learning Old Norse.
ROBERGE. MW 01:25 PM – 02:50 PM
Poster: GERM 514
GERM 615 Cultural Foundations in German Studies I
This seminar, a required course for graduate students in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, offers an intensive survey of literary, cultural, and intellectual developments in German-speaking lands from 1200 to 1800. Starting with a sampling of the major epics and poetry of the High Middle Ages, the course will move into the Early Modern period. The final section of the course will be dedicated to the drama, poetry, aesthetic writings and narrative fiction of the eighteenth century. In addition, a sample of short theoretical texts on topics such as historical discourse anlysis, new historicism, and new philology will be read alongside.
Prerequisite, permission of the instructor for undergraduate students.
Readings in German; class discussions in English.
KOELB. TR 03:10 PM – 04:25 PM
Poster: GERM 615
RUSS 477 Wicked Desire: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, on Page and Screen
Vladimir Nobokov’s novel Lolita (1955) became a global phenomenon due to its unflinching portrayal of pedophilia. Delve deeper into this novel’s moral complexity, its international context, and its reflection in mass culture, including movies by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997).
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: North Atlantic World.
Taught in English; some foreign language readings for qualified students.
Crosslisted: CMPL 477.
SHVABRIN. MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM
Poster: RUSS 477
RUSS 486 Modern Russian Women Writers: Exploration of Russian “Women’s Prose” and Svetlana Alexievich (Nobel Prize in Literature, 2015)
Using Svetlana Alexievich’s example, we will explore the names behind the “Russian Women’s Prose” phenomenon: Masha Gessen, Valeria Narbikova, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Tatyana Tolstaya, and Lyudmila Ulitskaya. The course will delve into gender identity and body politics as they manifest themselves in the literary texts of lasting aesthetic quality and social relevance.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
Taught in English; some foreign language readings for qualified students.
Crosslisted: EURO 486, WGST 486.
SHVABRIN. MW 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM
Poster: RUSS 486
Graduate Level Seminars (Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies)
GERM 860 Immanence
Taking our point of departure from a reading of Spinoza’s Ethics, we will examine the way in which philosophical and literary texts become invested in immanence–both as a concept and as a mode of attentiveness to sensuous self-organization that manifests itself in aesthetic and conceptural form. Aesthetic, ethical, theological, and political consequences of literary and philosophical immanence will be considered. Authors to be discussed include Spinoza, Goethe, Hegel, Schelling, Hölderlin, Flaubert, Deleuze, Mann, and others.
Prerequisite, permission of the instructor for undergraduate students.
Readings and class discussions in Englih or German (depending on the enrollment).
TROP. T 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM
Poster: GERM 860
GERM 885 Elemental Media
If our digital age has thoroughly re-shaped our relations with ecological and economic systems, then how has contemporary German literature of the last 15 years attended to these relations? How is literature’s own mediality always already engaged with or even intervening in the relations elemental media gives rise to? How does literature re-frame the ways in which we perceive the digital transformation of our relationships with other humans and nature? Authors to be discussed: Delius, Duve, Enzensberger, Grünbein, Jelinek, Kluge, Mayröker, Pelzer, Vanderbeke, and Wondratschek. Additional readings by Blumenberg, Böhme, Goethe, Groys, Hesse, Kittler, McLuhan, Peters, Vogl, etc.
Prerequisite, permission of the instructor for undergraduate students.
Readings in German; class discussions bilingual.
LANGSTON. R 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM
Poster: GERM 885
Summer 2018 GSLL Course Offerings
Maymester 2018
GSLL 284 Philosophy and the Arts: Romanticism, Existentialism, and the Films of Christopher Nolan
This course examines the films of Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar, etc.) in the context of philosophical romanticism and existentialism. In addition to discussing many of Nolan’s films, we will read texts by Nietzsche, Kleist, Kierkegaard, Kafka, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Novalis, Deleuze, among others. Readings and discussions in English.
TROP 9:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: GSLL 284
Summer Session I, 2018
GERM 101 Elementary German
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics. Two extra hours, one afternoon (Monday) per week.
GAGUM> 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM.
Poster: GERM 101
GERM 203 Intermediate German
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
WEGEL. 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM.
Poster: GERM 203
GERM 400 Advanced German Grammar
Review of basic and advanced grammatical structures. Course strengthens application of grammar in context for undergraduate and graduate students. Graduate students also work with grammar issues encountered in the foreign language classroom. Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. This course will be taught entirely online with weekly one-on-one video conferences with the instructor.
WEGEL. Online.
Poster: GERM 400
Summer Session II, 2018
GERM 102 Advanced Elementary German
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. Two extra hours, one afternoon (Monday) per week.
WEILER. 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM.
Poster: GERM 102
**GERM 284 German Pop Literature
By reading a few longer novels over the course of the semester, student will learn how to hone their critical thinking and reading skills, become familiar with a foreign culture, and consider how American culture is reflected back at them in these German texts. Readings and discussions in English.
LAYNE. 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM.
Poster: GERM 284
GERM 994 Doctoral Dissertation (Var.)
Spring 2018 GSLL Course Offerings
First Year Seminars
GSLL 59 Moscow 1937: Dictatorships and Their Defenders.
Stalinist Soviet Union serves as a case study to examine how dictatorships develop and how they tend to be enveloped in justifications and kept in existence by outside observers. Previously offered as GERM 59.
Readings and Class Discussions in English.
Approach: Historical Analysis; Connection: Global Impact.
PIKE. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM.
Poster: GSLL 59
GSLL 67 Blackness in the European Imaginary, Europe in the Black Imaginary.
This seminar addresses with how encounters between Germans and the African Diaspora have changed notions of race, nation, identity, and belonging in the 20th century. Since before the jazz age to the present, blackness has posed both an allure as well as a danger for Germans, especially those who view Black culture as challenging “old world” traditions. How does one explain Germans’ fear and simultaneous love for Blackness? How have many Black intellectuals and artists responded to this puzzling contradiction? And what to discourses on and encounters with Blackness mean for Germany’s future?
Readings and Class Discussions in English.
Connections: Global Impact, North Atlantic World.
LAYNE. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
Poster: GSLL 67
GSLL 85 Children and War
Readings for this seminar include children’s wartime diaries, adult memoirs of child-survivors, and fiction from Central and Eastern Europe. Focused on WWII, but pays attention to present-day conflicts.
Approach: Literary Arts
Connection: Global Impact
PICHOVA. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
Poster: GSLL 85
GSLL 87 Literature Confronting Totalitarianism
Can a portrayal of suffering, even death, under a totalitarian state, have artistic value, or must it remain only a political pamphlet?
This seminar studies russian and soviet authors who reveal the crimes of totalitarianism, while also showing the moral strength, and/or weaknesses, of humans victimized by the totalitarian state.
Among the authors we will read are Lydia Chukovskaya, Vasily Grossman, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Varlam Shalamov, Vladimir Nabokov, and Evgeny Zamyatin.
Approach: Literary Arts.
SHVABRIN. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM.
Poster: GSLL 87
SLAV 86 Literature and Madness
The seminar considers the relationship between literature and madness through the works of major Russian writers (Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov). We will examine how these writers differently construct representations of madness. Students’ reading, writing, class discussions and presentations will be directed by a series of topics, such as the origin of madness, awareness or unawareness of madness, the theme of the mad artist, and madness as a literary device.
Readings and Class Discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts.
LAPUSHIN. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM.
Poster: SLAV 86
Language Instruction
BCS 404 Intermediate Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian Language II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction started in BCS 403.
Previously offered as SECR 404.
Prerequisite, BCS 403; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
DZUMHUR. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
Poster: Language Instruction
CZCH 406 Advanced Czech II
Advanced readings and discussion in Czech in humanities and social science topics, continued.
Prerequisite, CZCH 405; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
PICHOVA. TBA.
Poster: Language Instruction
GERM 101 Elementary German
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: (Staff). MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
002: GAGUM. MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM; TR 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM
003: GAGUM. MW 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM; TR 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM.
Poster: Language Instruction
GERM 102 Advanced Elementary German.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: (Staff). MW 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM; TR 09:00 AM – 09:50 AM
002: (Staff). MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM; TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM
003: (Staff). MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM; TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM
004: (Staff). MW 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM; TR 12:30 PM – 01:20 PM.
Poster: Language Instruction
GERM 203 Intermediate German
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: WEILER. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM
002: WEILER. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:10 AM
003: SCOTT. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:25 PM
Poster: Language Instruction
GERM 204 Advanced Intermediate German
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: SCOTT. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM
002: SCOTT. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
Poster: Language Instruction
GERM 301 German Conversation and Composition: Entscheidungen Treffen.
German 301 is an advanced language and literature course in which you will discuss a variety of contemporary texts and films. Throughout the course, we will discuss what decisions different people make and how those decisions influence their lives for better or worse. This course also provides advanced language leaners with opportunities to strengthen their writing and speaking skills. Over the course of the semester, you will work toward improving your discussion skills in German; broaden your vocabulary; review your command of German grammar;learn to read and interpret a wide array of fictional and non-fictional texts. Genres slated for discussion include: a novel, short stories, fairy tales, song lyrics, and films.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
VON BERNUTH. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 301
GERM 302 Language and Culture: Die moderne Gesellschaft in Deutchland.
German 302 is an advanced language and culture course aimed at familiarizing you with the political, cultural, and societal issues of contemporary Germany. We will read an array of non-fictional texts that students at the advanced Gymnasium level are reading. We will also engage with fictional texts, music, and the news, as well as watch several short films and full-length movies that lend us a critical view of Germany in the 21st century. German 302 also provides you with opportunities to strengthen your written German and to solidify your speaking skills in a communicative and culturally meaningful context.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Approach: Social/Behavioral Sciences; Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
001: WEILER. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
002: GAGUM. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 302
PLSH 402 Elementary Polish II.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in PLSH 401. Course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in Polish about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, PLSH 401; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
WAMPUSZYC. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
Poster: Language Instruction
PLSH 406 Advanced Polish II.
Advanced readings and discussion in Polish on humanities and social science topics, continued.
Prerequisite, PLSH 405; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic World.
WAMPUSZYC. TBA.
Poster: Language Instruction
RUSS 102 Elementary Russian.
Continuation of the introductory course designed to lay the foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills
Prerequisite, RUSS 101; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: CHERNYSHEVA. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM; R 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
002: MAGOMEDOVA. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM; R 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM.
003: CHERNYSHEVA. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM; R 12:30 PM – 01:20 PM.
004: MAGOMEDOVA. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM; R 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM.
Poster: Language Instruction
RUSS 204 Intermediate Russian.
Grammar-translation work with increasing proportions of free reading and oral work, continued
Prerequisite, RUSS 203; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: REESE. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM.
002: REESE. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
Poster: Language Instruction
RUSS 410 Modern Russian in Context II: Advanced-Intermediate Conversation, Composition, Grammar.
Continuation of RUSS 409, advanced-intermediate Russian conversation, composition, phonetics, and grammar. Students expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in, Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 409; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic World.
CHERNYSHEVA. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM.
Poster: RUSS 410
RUSS 412 Advanced Russian Conversation and Composition.
Designed to develop conversational and writing skills in a variety of situations and subjects
Prerequisite, RUSS 411; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
MAGOMEDOVA. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM.
Poster: RUSS 412
Large Undergraduate Lectures
GERM 281 The German Idea of War: Philosophical Dialogues with the Literary and Visual Arts in WWI.
This English-language lecture course explores how the arts- literature, film, and painting- shaped the idea of war before, during, and after World War I. Questions this course poses include: Why and how did the arts praise war before its outbreak? How did the arts idealize the experience of war? How did the war push the limits of artisitic expression? What exactly was war supposed to achieve and how did the brutality of war alter these aspirations? What lessons did art learn in the shadow of the Great War? In addition to literary texts by some of the greatest German-language writers of the early 20th century (Junger, Kraus, Remarque, Richthofen, Rilke, Schnitzler, Trakl), students will encounter attendant philosophical ideas by such thinkers such as Benjamin, Dilthey, Freud, Lukcas, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein as well as screen films (Hofer, Lang, Reinert, Wiene) and view art (Dix, Kandinsky, Marc, Nolde) held in the Ackland collection.
Readings and discussions in English.
Approach: Philosophical/Moral Reasoning; Connections: Global Impact, North Atlantic World.
Lecture: LANGSTON. MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM.
Recitations: 601: (Staff). F 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
602: (Staff). F 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 281
GERM 283 Freedom, Terror, and Identity: Modern Philosophy from Kant to Arendt. (PWAD 283)
“What can I know?” “What ought I do?” “What might I hope?”
In the face of the challenges of modernity and the catastrophes of history- a history indelibly stained with terror, violence, and genocide- human beings often appear woefully incapable of answering these questions. This course will examine philosophical texts from the 18th-20th century that outline possibilities for human agency. We will particularly examine conceptions of agency as they unfold in states of danger, when human beings are faced with terror, oppressed by totalitarian or problematic political structures, or continually confronted with the threat of violence. Some of the questions we will be asking include: what is freedom, how is it possible, and why is it valuable? What is the nature of commitment, and how do we evaluate commitments that give us identities? How do we confront evil? What is political action and what intellectual and cultural resources do we have to prevent lapses into political and ethical barbarism? We will read texts by Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, Soren Kierkegaard, and Hannah Arendt as well as a novel by Hans Fallada.
Readings, lectures, and discussions in English.
Approach: Philosophical/Moral Reasoning; Connection: North Atlantic World.
Lecture: TROP. MW 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM.
Recitations: 601: (Staff). F 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
602: (Staff). F 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
603: (Staff). F 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM.
604: (Staff). F 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM.
Poster: GERM 283
Small Undergraduate Seminars
GERM 216 The Viking Age
We will discuss Viking culture, mythology, exploration, and projection of power in northern Europe (approx, 750-1050 C.E.) as represented in the literature of medieval Iceland. In Iceland, which is itself a product of Norse exploration and colonization, the age of the Vikings is also called the Saga Age. Though composed between 1120-1400, the so-called “family sagas” relate events during the time of the Vikings: from the settlement of Iceland (from 870) through the conversion to Christianity (officially in 1000). These sagas are to varying degrees fictionalized accounts of earlier events and persons, the purport of which was as much to entertain as to inform. However, the saga writers used these prose narratives to consider the history and current situation of their own people. We shall seek to extrapolate from this literature– supplemented by historical and archeological information– a composite picture of Viking culture and society.
Readings and discussions in English.
Approach: Historical Analysis; Connections: North Atlantic World, World Before 1750.
ROBERGE. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 216
GERM 250 Women in German Cinema. (WMST 250)
Introduction to feminist aesthetics and film theory by the examination of the representation of women in German cinema from expressionism to the present. German cinema has received its most decisive impulses from women both in front of and behind the camera. In this course, we will take a look at the history of German cinema by considering how female stars and women filmmakers shaped both film aesthetics and politics.
All materials and discussions in English.
Approach: Visual/Performing Arts; Connection: North Atlantic World.
POLLMANN. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 250
GSLL 284 Philosophy and the Arts.
This course examines the different ways in which philosophical texts and works of art presuppose, articulate, and call into question the relation between the assumed structure of the human mind and the percieved structure of the world with a special emphasis on Platonism and on the philosophy and literature of Europe between 1780 and 1940.
Approach: Philosophical/Moral Reasoning
Readings and Class Discussions in English.
KOELB. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM.
Poster: GERM 284
RUSS 275 Russian Fairy Tale.
An introduction to the Russian fairy tale together with its history and cultural context. Students will read both authentic Russian fairy tales, and literary permutations of the Russian folk tradition.
Readings and discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic World.
REESE. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
Poster: RUSS 275
Upper Level Undergraduate Seminars Taught in the Target Language
GERM 303 Introduction to German Literature.
This course will offer you an overview of the rich history of German literature and how different literary texts intersected with the politics and cultural currents of their times. We will begin in the Middle Ages and read in an exemplary approach through five centuries to conclude with contemporary texts. In this course, you will have the opportunity to think and re-think the significance of literary production from a diverse group of authors. Und jetzt lesen wir los!
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302.
Readings, discussions, and essays in German.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
HESS. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
Poster: GERM 303
GERM 371 The German Novella.
In-depth readings and discussions of famous novellas by authors such as Kleist, Hoffmann, Droste-Hulshoff, and Hauptmann from the 19th century, as well as secondary literature on the literary genre of the novella.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and discussions in German.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: North Atlantic World.
WEGEL. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 371
RUSS 250 Introduction to Russian Literature.
Reading and discussion of selected authors in Russian aimed at improving reading skill and preparing the student for higher level work in Russian literature
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic World.
SHVABRIN. TR 04:00 PM – 05:15 PM.
Poster: RUSS 250
Dual Level Seminars; Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students (except as noted)
CZCH 469 Milan Kundera and World Literature. (CMPL 469)
This course offers a survey of one of the world’s greatest living authors. Milan Kundera’s philosophical novels enjoy an enormous international reputation and are devoured by undergraduates and intellectuals alike. Almost single-handedly, Milan Kundera put the Czechs on the map of world literature. His reception in his homeland, however, is not so auspicious. We will trace Kundera’s literary path from his procommunist poetic youth to his present postmodern Francophilia, and compare his works with those authors he himself considers his predecessors and his influences in European literature, such as Franz Kafka, Lawrence Sterne, Robert, Museilm and Miguel Cervantes.
Taught in English. Some readings in Czech for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic World.
PICHOVA. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: CZCH 269
GERM 501 Structure of German. (LING 567)
Introduction to German linguistics (phonology, morphology, word formation, syntax), language history, variation, standardization and language politics, overseas German.
Prerequisites, GERM 302 and 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisites.
Readings and discussions in English.
ROBERGE. TR 03:10 PM – 04:25 PM.
Poster: GERM 501
GSLL 480 Interrogating Cultures of Fascism: Introduction to Frankfurt School’s Critical Theory. 1923-Present.
This seminar offers advanced undergraduate students working in discipllines across the humanities and social sciences a solid foundation in the vitality of Frankfurt School thinking for our contemporary moment. Readings include seminal texts by Adorno, Benjamin, Fromm, Horkheimer, Kirchheimer, Marcuse, Pollock, as well as members of the 2nd and 3rd generation.Junior or Senior standing required, or permission of the instructor.
Taught in English: some readings in German for qualified students.
Approach: Philosophical/Moral Reasoning.
LANGSTON. MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM.
Poster: GSLL 480
RUSS 455 20th-Century Russian Literature and Culture.
As Russia became a laboratory for sociopolitical experiments of global significance, its culture reflected on the most spectacular of its aspirations and failures. This course surveys 20th-century literary, musical and cinematic artifacts that emerged to affect the world profoundly.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic World.
SHVABRIN. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: RUSS 455
RUSS 479 Tolstoy
Isn’t it time you read War and Peace?
In this course we will study the most prominent works of this towering figure of world literature, including his two greatest novels, Anna Karenina and War and Peace, as well as a number of shorter texts. Our reading of the primary texts will be enriched by a steady diet of important critical works that Tolstoy has inspired in the 19th century and beyond.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connection: North Atlantic World.
LAPUSHIN. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM.
Poster: RUSS 479
SLAV 465 Literature of Atrocity: The Gulag and the Holocaust in Russia and Eastern Europe. (JWST 465, PWAD 465)
Literary representation in fiction, poetry, memoirs, and other genres of the mass annihilation and terror in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union under the Nazi and Communist regimes.
Taught in English; some foreign language readings for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts; Connections: Beyond the North Atlantic World, Global Impact.
PIKE. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM.
Poster: SLAV 465
Graduate Level Seminars (Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies)
GERM 865 Topics in German Cultural Studies: Bildungsroman.
This course explores the development of the German Bildungsroman tradition from the late eighteenth to the late twentieth century. Based on close readings of exemplary texts, the focus will be on identifying both common generic traits (formal and thematic) and changing notions of the subject, aesthetics, and the relations of the subject and social sphere. While mostly addressing the literary tradition, we will also consider some of the other discursive dimensions to Bildung, especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We will also be experimenting with varied theoretical approaches, including those of psychoanalysis, gender studies, and Foucault-inspired historicism. Works to be read include Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, Schlegel’s Lucinde, Novalis’ Heinrich von Ofterdingen, Keller’s Der Grüne Heinrich, Mann’s Der Zauberberg, and, time permitting, Handke’s Der Kurze Brief zum langen Abschied, and Wolf’s Nachdenken über Christa T.
Readings in German; Class Discussions in English.
DOWNING. T 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM.
Poster: GERM 865
GERMAN 790S Forming, Classing, Grounding: Science and Litearture in the Age of Goethe.
Literature and philosophy of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, whether classified as Romanticism, Classicism, Enlightenment, Idealism, or Naturphilosophie, shared an obsessive interest in the manner of human embedment in the natural world and the possible grounding and extent of human exceptionalism. The jurisdictions of literature, philosophy, and natural history frequently overlapped as each discipline, in differing ways, explored and experimented with natural forms, classifications, and foundations and methodologies for the study of nature. In this seminar, we will investigate various emerging life sciences, and literary works which interrogated theories of organisms and their social, political, epistemological, and ethical implications and assumptions. We will focus on the form of organisms (generation, morphology, Bildung, Bildungstrieb, inheritance, and teleology), their classifications (transformationalism, metamorphosis, race, and language family), and the methodological and epistemological grounds of knowledge about nature, including the particular methodoligical challenges attending the human position as both subject and obkect of naturalist investigation. Authors will include Herder, Blumendach, Kant, Goethe, Kleist, Fichte, Novalis, Schelling, Hoffmann, Kielmeyer, and Treviranus, among others.
Readings in German; Class Discussions in English.
ENGELSTEIN. W 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM.
Poster: GERMAN 790
Fall 2017 GSLL Course Offerings
Courses with the GSLL identifier that are not First-Year Seminars or Graduate Courses may count toward your concentration!
Please discuss with the Director of Undergraduate Studies!
- First-Year Seminars
- Language Instruction
- Large Undergraduate Lectures
- Small Undergraduate Seminars
- Upper Level Undergraduate Seminars Taught in German
- Dual Level Seminars; Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students (except as noted)
- Graduate Level Seminars (Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies)
First-Year Seminars
GSLL 50: First-Year Seminar: Literary Fantasy and Historical Reality.
Five blockbuster pop novels about the distant past, from the time of early man (Clan of the Cave Bear) to the days of the conquistadors (Aztec), imagine how life might have been long ago.
Do they get it right? We’ll look at the evidence.
Students engage in research on a topic of their choice culminating in a substantial final project.
Team reports.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
001: Koelb. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: GSLL 50
GSLL 60: First-Year Seminar: Avant-Garde Cinema: History, Themes, Textures.
The cinema we frequently encounter in theaters and on television is full of stories comprised of discernible beginnings, middles, and (happy) endings. However, conventional narratives are but one approach to making films. For over a century, filmmakers have employed the medium of film to explore and broaden the limits of aural and visual perception, to invent new aesthetic forms in motion, to express emotions and desires, and to intervene critically in cultural politics. Students enrolled in this seminar will uncover the history, techniques, and meanings of non-narrative cinema from the twentieth century. Often called “avant-garde,” “underground,” or “experimental,” the films we will discuss are international in scope and represent major chapters in the century-old history of this “minor cinema.” Seminar participants will develop in the course of the semester a critical vocabulary for making sense of these works and will articulate their own analyses in writing and their own video essays.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Visual & Performing Arts.
001: Langston. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM.
Poster: GSLL 60
GSLL 63: First-Year Seminar: Performing America.
How do we celebrate birth? What are the ways we publically acknowledge death? In what ways do we express diversity in everyday life? How do we perform gender in this day and age? What is the importance of rituals in our lives? Those questions and more will serve as a springboard to look at contemporary America. We will draw on academic texts and artistic expressions to investigate how race, class, religion, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, life, and death are performed in our country today. Part of this FYS will also entail a short performance, which we will rehearse and stage, and which will be open to the public.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Visual & Performing Arts.
001: Wegel. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM.
Poster: GSLL 63
GSLL 82: First-Year Seminar: Doctor Stories.
An exploration–through fiction, nonfiction, film, and other media–of the experience and significance of being a doctor in Russia and the United States.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts.
001: Reese. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
Poster: GSLL 82
GSLL 84: First-Year Seminar: Terror for the People: Nihilism, Anarchism, and Beyond: Terrorism in Russian Literature and History.
Terror was used as a political weapon in 19th-century Russia. This seminar introduces the terrorists through their own writings and fictional representations in novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky and Joseph Conrad.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connections: Beyond the North Atlantic; Communication Intensive.
001: Shvabrin. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
Poster: GSLL 84
Language Instruction
BCS 403: Intermediate Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian Language I.
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in the target language about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, BCS (SECR) 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Previously offered as SECR 401.
001: (Staff). TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
Poster: BCS 403
CZCH 403: Intermediate Czech I.
Continuation of proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Czech.
Prerequisite, CZCH 402; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Pichova. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: CZCH 403
CZCH 405: Advanced Czech 1.
Advanced readings and discussion in Czech in humanities and social science topics.
Prerequisite, CZCH 404; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Pichova. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
Poster: CZCH 405
DTCH 402: Elementary Dutch.
Dutch 402 will introduce students to the essential elements of the Dutch language, focusing on grammar, reading, writing, and conversational skills. It is part of a two-semester sequence designed to get students to level A2/B1 proficiency.
001: Thornton. MWF 03:35 PM – 04:25 PM.
Poster: DTCH 402
GERM 101: Elementary German.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
001: Lang. MW 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM. TR 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM.
002: Shelly. MW 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM. TR 09:00 AM – 09:50 AM.
003: Goehler. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM. TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
004: Undraa. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM.
005: Lang. MW 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM. TR 12:30 PM – 01:20 PM.
Poster: GERM 101-204
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite, GERM 101; permission of the course coordinator for students lacking the prerequisite.
002: Scott. MW 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM. TR 09:00 AM – 09:50 AM.
003: Scott. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM. TR 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
004: Scott. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. TR 11:05 AM – 11:55 AM.
Poster: GERM 101-204
GERM 203: Intermediate German.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German.
Prerequisite, GERM 102; permission of the course coordinator for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: A Jones. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
002: Gagum. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM.
003: Weiler. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
004: Weiler. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
005: Gagum. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
Poster: GERM 101-204
GERM 204: Advanced Intermediate German.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite, GERM 203; permission of the course coordinator for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Gagum. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
002: Weiler. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 101-204
GERM 301: Conversation and Composition: Entscheidungen Treffen.
German 301 is an advanced language and literature course in which you will discuss a variety of contemporary texts and films. Throughout the course, we will discuss what decisions different people make and how those decisions influence their lives for better or worse. This course also provides advanced language learners with opportunities to strengthen their writing and speaking skills.
Over the course of the semester, you will.
- work toward improving your discussion skills in German;
- broaden your vocabulary;
- review your command of German grammar
- learn to read and interpret a wide array of fictional and non-fictional texts
Genres slated for discussion include: a novel, short stories, fairy tales, song lyrics, and films.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
001: Pollmann. MW 01:25 PM – 02:40 PM.
002: Trop. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM.
Poster: GERM 301
GERM 302: Contemporary German Society: Die Moderne Gesellschaft in Deutschland.
German 302 is an advanced language and culture course aimed at familiarizing you with the political, cultural, and societal issues of contemporary Germany. We will read an array of non-fictional texts that students at the advanced Gymnasium level are reading. We will also engage with fictional texts, music, and the news, as well as watch several short films and full-length movies that lend us a critical view of Germany in the 21st century. German 302 also provides you with opportunities to strengthen your written German and to solidify your speaking skills in a communicative and culturally meaningful context.
Prerequisite, GERM 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
Approach: Social Sciences. Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
001: Layne. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM.
002: Wilms. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM.
Poster: GERM 302
PLSH 401: Elementary Polish I.
Proficiency-based instruction at the elementary level that develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in Polish about everyday topics.
001: Wampuszyc. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM.
Poster: PLSH 401
PLSH 405: Advanced Polish I.
Advanced readings and discussion in Polish on humanities and social science topics.
Prerequisite, PLSH 404; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in Polish.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
001: Wampuszyc. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
RUSS 101: Elementary Russian.
Introductory course designed to lay the foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills.
001: Magomedova. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM. R 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM.
002: Chernysheva. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. R 12:30 PM – 01:20 PM.
003: Magomedova. MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM. R 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM.
004: Magomedova. MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM. R 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM.
Poster: RUSS 101-203
RUSS 203: Intermediate Russian.
Grammar-translation work with increasing proportions of free reading and oral work.
Prerequisite, RUSS 102; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
001: Reese. MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM.
002: Chernysheva. MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
Poster: RUSS 101-203
RUSS 409: Modern Russian in Context I: Advanced-Intermediate Conversation, Composition, Grammar.
Advanced-intermediate Russian conversation, composition, phonetics, and grammar. Meets the needs of learners looking to expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
001: Chernysheva. MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
Poster: RUSS 409
RUSS 411: Advanced Russian Conversation and Composition.
Prepare for the future! Here is an opportunity to make progress in learning Russian!.
Encounter the country, its people, literature, and arts, and build further bridges from your home to Russia.
This first semester of the fourth-year Russian language course will immerse you in the Russian language as you read and discuss original Russian materials.
Prerequisite, RUSS 410; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
001: Magomedova. MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM.
Poster: RUSS 411
Large Undergraduate Lectures
GERM 265: Hitler in Hollywood: Cinematic Representations of Nazi Germany.
No other medium has shaped our perception of the Third Reich more than film. In this course, we will analyze cinematic representations of Nazi Germany ranging from propaganda films and home movie footage, to comedies, thrillers, and dramas from both sides of the Atlantic.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Approach: Visual & Performing Arts. Connection: North Atlantic World.
001: Layne. MW 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
Recitation Required.
601: Weiner. F 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
602: Weiner. F 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
603: N Jones. F 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
604: N Jones. F 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM.
Poster: GERM 265
GSLL 270: German Culture and the Jewish Question.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Jews made up less than one percent of the German population. How was it possible that this miniscule minority came to occupy such a prominent role in Nazi ideology and the German cultural imagination? This course seeks to answer this question by looking at the role of Jews and representations of Jews in German culture from the eighteenth century to the Holocaust and beyond. Interdisciplinary in scope, the course draws on materials from a variety of sources, including literary texts, political treatises, cultural manifestos, theological tracts, and Nazi cinema. It is designed to appeal to a wide variety of undergraduates including those interested in global studies, history, literature, and religious studies.
No previous familiarity with the subject matter is necessary.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Historical Analysis. Connections: Global Issues; North Atlantic World.
Crosslisted with CMPL 270/JWST 239/RELI 239. .
GSLL 270 previously offered as GERM 270.
001: Hess. MW 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
Recitation Required.
601: Greenberg. F 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM.
602: Greenberg. F 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM.
Poster: GERM 270
Small Undergraduate Seminars
GERM 249: Modern German Literature in Translation.
The idea of world literature was a German invention, proposed by Goethe to describe literature of universal importance for all of humanity. German thought, and German literature, in particular, remains an important component in this canon. This English-language literature course introduces newcomers to some highlights of modern German literature.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: North Atlantic World.
001: Pike. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM.
Poster: GERM 249
GSLL 254H: The Division of Germany, Reunification, and Conflict with Russia.
Why was occupied Germany divided into two states after World War II?
Were the Cold War and division inevitable?
We explore these questions in two chronological contexts: 1945-1949 and 1989-present, with emphasis on the reemergence of Western conflict with Putin’s Russia.
Honors Seminar.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Historical Analysis. Connection: North Atlantic World.
Previously offered as GERM 254H.
001: Pike. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM.
Poster: GSLL 254H
GSLL 277: The Moon in Song, Story, and Science: Mentored Research Projects in Cultural History.
Consideration of our satellite both as a natural object that can be investigated scientifically and as a cultural object that has been the subject of highly varied treatments in poems and stories throughout human history.
Readings of novels, poems, myths, scientific papers.
Students engage in mentored research culminating in a substantial essay.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connections: Communication Intensive; Experiential Education.
001: Koelb. TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM.
Poster: GSLL 277
GSLL 278: Music, Image, Text.
This course draws on the resources at UNC—including the Ackland Art Museum and the Carolina Performing Arts—to examine the vital role played by music, images and text in the establishment and interrogation of cultural values. Readings by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Schopenhauer, Wagner, Nietzsche, Adorno, Cixous, Merleau-Ponty, Barthes, Rilke, among others.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Visual & Performing Arts. Connection: Communication Intensive.
001: Trop. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Poster: GSLL 278
RUSS 277: Love, Sex, and Marriage in Soviet Culture.
This course surveys the themes of love, sex, and marriage as they developed in Russian literature and culture from Revolution and Civil War to industrialization and GULAG, World War, post-Stalinism, including the “Thaw,” the period of stagnation, and, finally, Perestroika.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
001: Lapushin. TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM.
Poster: RUSS 277
RUSS 278: Russian and Soviet Science Fiction.
This course will focus on key works of Russian and Soviet science fiction. While most of our readings will come from post-WWII Soviet science fiction, we will begin by reading some founding works of fantastika from the nineteenth century. We will come see how there is a fundamental connection between Soviet science fiction and the Golden Age of Russian literature.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
001: Reese. MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM.
Poster: RUSS 278
Upper Level Undergraduate Seminars Taught in German
GERM 303: Introduction to German Literature.
This course will offer you an overview of the rich history of German Literature and how different literary texts intersected with the politics and cultural currents of their times. We will begin in the Middle Ages and read in an exemplary approach through five centuries to conclude with contemporary texts. In this course, you will have the opportunity to think and re-think the significance of literary production from a diverse group of authors. Und jetzt lesen wir los!.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302.
Readings and class discussions in German.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connections: Communication Intensive; North Atlantic World.
001: Wegel. TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM.
002: Wegel. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 AM
Poster: GERM 303
GERM 379: German-Language Swiss Literature and Culture: Trouble in Paradise.
This course offers an introduction to the German-language literature and culture of Switzerland. We will study representative texts against the backdrop of developments in politics, philosophy and the visual arts. Possible authors include: Jeremias Gotthelf, Gottfried Keller, Robert Walser, Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch, Christian Kracht.
Prerequisite, GERM 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: North Atlantic World.
001: Prica. MW 01:25 PM – 02:40 PM.
Poster: GERM 379
Dual Level Seminars; Open to Undergraduate and Graduate Students (except as noted)
GERM 616: Foundations of German Literature and Culture, 1800 – Present.
This seminar, a required course for graduate students in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, offers an intensive survey of literary, cultural and intellectual developments in German-speaking lands from 1800 to the present, and includes a sampling of major authors and works from Romanticism, Realism and Poetic Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, as well as postwar and contemporary periods. Works will be placed within their literary-aesthetic, as well as their social and intellectual contexts. Authors include Fontane, Nietzsche, Freud, Schnitzler, Rilke, Thomas Mann, Kafka, Grass, and others.
Permission of the instructor required for undergraduates.
Carolina-Duke Course.
This course will meet on the Duke Campus.
All primary texts will be read in German.
001: Langston. TR 03:10 PM – 04:25 PM.
Poster: GERM 616
RUSS 445: 19th Century Russian Literature and Culture.
An action-packed tour of some of the greatest texts ever written, with stops at: Chekhov, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
001: Lapushin. TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM.
Poster: RUSS 445
RUSS 460: Russian Short Story.
Survey of outstanding examples of Russian short fiction from the seventeenth century to the present day.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
001: Shvabrin. TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM.
Graduate Level Seminars (Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies)
GERM 700: Foreign Language Pedagogy: Theories and Practice.
Introduces new Graduate Teaching Assistants in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, as well as affiliated programs, to current methodologies and pedagogies relevant to teaching as a foreign language in North America. We will consider theoretical developments, as well as current issues in language pedagogy as addressed in academic journals and studies such as Lee and VanPatten’s Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen and Omaggio-Hadley’s Teaching Language In Context. We will also explore practical applications of the studied approaches and theorems, debate and engage with language, literature and culture in the FL classroom. Over the course of the semester, you will work on your online teaching portfolios containing sample lesson plans, syllabi, and initial drafts of your teaching philosophy.
Carolina-Duke Course.
Department Permission Required.
001: Wegel. W 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM.
GERM 706: Topics in Literary Theory: The Nearest Thing to Life: Theory and Methods of Reading.
Reading is one of the core cultural techniques through which we inhabit, understand, engage with and reflect upon a common world. In this seminar we will focus on historical and contemporary methods of reading, interpretation and critique. We will also investigate in what way methods of reading apply to non-textual phenomena, such as images, objects, the world, or human lives. Possible readings include Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Carlo Ginzburg, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hans Blumenberg.
Readings and class discussions in German.
Carolina-Duke Course.
001: Prica: MW 3:05 PM – 4:20 PM.
Poster: GERM 706
GER/LIT 790: Rike and Phenomenology, 1900-1926
At the center of this seminar will be an in-depth exploration Rilke’s lyric oeuvre beginning with Das Stundenbuch (1899/1905) and Das Buch der Bilder (1902), extending via Neue Gedichte (1907) through his Duineser Elegien and Sonette an Orpheus (1922) and other late poetry. Additionally, we will take up some of Rilke’s prose writings on aesthetics, including his short monograph on Rodin (1902), his letters on Cézanne (1907), a few short prose pieces, and a selection of his far-flung and remarkably probing letters.
Rilke’s overriding concern lies not with “things” as such, nor for that matter with their mimetic or specifically ekphrastic “representation.” Rather, his poetry (especially in Neue Gedichte and beyond) is concerned with capturing the way that perception of things and the spaces that contain them is qualitatively experienced by consciousness. It is this focus on experience as constitutive of the object- or thing-character of the world (and implicitly also of the consciousness experiencing the Lebenswelt) that is also being developed, during the same years, in the work of Edmund Husserl. The texts most pertinent for our purposes are Husserl’s lectures on Phantasie und Bildbewußtsein (1905) and his Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie (1913), of which we will read selections. Far more than Husserl, however, Rilke is also concerned with the challenge of transposing so-called intentionale Erlebnisse into expressive verbal form. In scrutinizing and giving metaphoric expression to Ding, Bild, and Raum, Rilke conceives of lyric speech as the crucial supplement to, or fulfillment of, the “noetic” states that Husserl is only able to parse in descriptive, taxonomic fashion.
Finally, the last third of our seminar will trace Rilke’s shift, in the Elegien and other late poems, to a phenomenology of existence or Dasein that has often, if not always convincingly, been mapped onto Heidegger’s writings of the later 1920s. In fact, Heidegger appears to flatten Rilke’s stunning metaphoric creativity when it comes to capture fleeting, albeit potentially epiphanic experiences that serendipitously present themselves to Dasein. Thus, in affirming “die herrlichen Überflüsse / unseres Daseins,” and maintaining that “noch ist uns das Dasein verzaubert; an hundert / Stellen ist es noch Ursprung” (RW 2: 262) Rilke understands the encounter with the ontic realm (“der unerschöpfliche Gegenstand”) to be shaped by an interweaving of finitude and transcendence: “Gesang, wie du ihn lehrst, ist nicht Begehr, / nicht Werbung um ein endlich noch Erreichtes; / Gesang ist Dasein.“
Course Readings:
Rilke, Die Gedichte (Insel Verlag, 2006)
(All other readings will be placed on reserve as .pdf documents)
Preparatory Readings (strongly recommended for the summer):
Robert Sokolowski, Introduction to Phenomenology (Cambridge UP, 2000)
Readings in German; class discussions in English.
001: Pfau. T 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM. DUKE CAMPUS
GERM 880: Topics in German Cinema: Stimmung and Film Aesthetics.
In this course, we will trace the history of Stimmung (mood, atmosphere, attunement, tonality) as an aesthetic term from the Enlightenment to Romanticism to Realism to Modernity (Kant, Fichte, Nietzsche, Simmel, Hoffmansthal, Heidegger) and discuss its relevance for and application to literature and art along the way (Stifter, Riegl).
Our main question, however, will be the role of Stimmung for moving image aesthetics. Narrative and non-narrative films not only creates their own spatiotemporal worlds, but, as a medium that works by means of sensorial impact and immersion, film also imbricates the spectator in unique ways. We will explore the recourse to Stimmungsästhetik in early film theory (Hoffmannsthal, Lukács, Balázs, Eisner) and in particular its application to expressionist and Kammerspiel films of the 1920s. In a second step, we will look at contemporary global art cinema production (Malick, Arnold, Schanelec, Petzold) and discussions of i>Stimmung and related terms. Questions we will ask include: What is the relationship between Stimmung and narrative? How do elements of mise-en-scène (such as performance, décor, or framing), editing, and camerawork (camera movement, position, angle, lenses, focus) contribute to a Stimmung? What is the relationship between Stimmung, realism, and anthropocentrism? What is our conception of the spectator when we think about Stimmung? And finally, how does Stimmung help us think critically about past and current stylistic transformations?
Readings and films in English and German (with translations); class discussions in English.
Carolina-Duke Course.
001: Pollmann. M 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM.
Poster: GERM 880
Germanic Courses, Spring 2017
Undergraduate Courses
First Year Seminars
GERM 60: First Year Seminar: Avant-Garde Cinema: History, Themes, Textures.
The cinema we frequently encounter in theaters and on television is full of stories comprised of discernible beginnings, middles, and (happy) endings. However, conventional narratives are but one approach to making films. For over a century, filmmakers have employed the medium of film to explore and broaden the limits of aural and visual perception, to invent new aesthetic forms in motion, to express emotions and desires, and to intervene critically in cultural politics. Students enrolled in this seminar will uncover the history, techniques, and meanings of non-narrative cinema from the twentieth century. Often called “avant-garde,” “underground,” or “experimental,” the films we will discuss are international in scope and represent major chapters in the century-old history of this “minor cinema.” Seminar participants will develop in the course of the semester a critical vocabulary for making sense of these works and will articulate their own analyses in writing and their own video essays.
Readings and class discussions in English; films subtitled in English.
Appproach: Visual/Performing Arts
TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM. Instructor: Langston.
Poster: GERM 60
German Language Instruction
GERM 101: Elementary German.
Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
MTWTh, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
Poster: GERM 101 – 204
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German.
This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
Prerequisite: GERM 101 or permission of instructor.
MTWTh, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
Poster: GERM 101 – 204
GERM 203: Intermediate German.
Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to further develop their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in Elementary German.
Prerequisite: GERM 102 or permission of instructor.
MWF, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
Poster: GERM 101 – 204
GERM 204: Advanced Intermediate German.
Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
Prerequisite: GERM 203 or permission of instructor.
MWF, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
Poster: GERM 101 – 204
GERM 301: Entscheidungen Treffen: Conversation and Composition.
GERM 301 is an advanced language and literature course in which you will discuss a variety of contemporary texts and films. Throughout the course, we will discuss what decisions different people make and how those decisions invluence their lives for better or worse. This course also provides advanced language learners with opportunities to strengthen their writing and speaking skills.
Over the course of the semester, you will
- work toward improving your discussion skills in German;
- broaden your vocabulary;
- review your command of German grammar;
- learn to read and interpret a wide array of fictional and non-fictional texts.
Genres slated for discussion include: a novel, short stories, fairy tales, song lyrics, and films.
Prerequisite: German 204 or permission of instructor.
All readings and class discussions in German.
Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
001: TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM. Instructor: Staff.
002: TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM. Instructor: Pollmann.
Poster: GERM 301
GERM 302: Language and Culture: Die moderne Gesellschaft in Deutschland.
German 302 is an advanced language and culture course aimed at familiarizing you with the political, cultural, and societal issues of contemporary Germany. We will read an array of non-fictional texts that students at the advanced Gymnasium level are reading. We will also engage with fictional texts, music, and the news, as well as watch several short films and full-length movies that lend us a critical view of Germany in the 21st century. German 302 also provides you with opportunities to strengthen your written German and to solidify your speaking skills in a communicative and culturally meaningful context.
Prerequisite: German 204 or permission of instructor.
All readings and class discussions in German.
Approach: Social/Behavioral Sciences.
Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
001: TR 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM. Instructor: Wegel.
002: TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM. Instructor: Layne.
Poster: GERM 302
Large Lecture on German Culture, Literature, Film, Art and Philosophy (in English)
GERM 227: Luther and the Bible (RELI 227).
What is the legacy of the Protestant Reformation on modern life today? Learn how Reformation ideas have influenced religion, society, economics, and politics from early modern to modern times! Readings include Luther’s On the Freedom of a Christian and That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, Melanchthon’s The Pope-Ass Explained, and Brant’s Ship of Fools, as well as hymns, carnival plays, and Bible translations. The only prerequisite: an inquiring mind.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Historical Analysis.
Connection: World Before 1750.
MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM. Instructor: von Bernuth.
Recitation Required: F, Times vary.
Poster: GERM 227
Small Seminars on Germanic Literature and Culture (in English)
GERM 251: Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism in Literature (SLAV 251).
Examination of the clash between twentieth-century writers and the state, in countries where a single political government or pary used an exclusive ideology as justification for interference in cultural and literary affairs.
Readings and lectures in English.
Approach: Historical Analysis.
Connection: Global Issues.
TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM. Instructor: Pike.
Poster: GERM 251
GERM 255: Germany and the Cold War: From Occupation to Division, Reunification, and renewed Conflict with Russia (1945 to the present).
This course investigates the central role played by the “German question” in the break-up of the wartime alliance, the emergence of East-West political blocs, the subsequent dissolution of the USSR, and the return to new Russian-Western antagonisms.
Readings and discussions in English.
Approach: Historical Analysis.
Connections: Global Issues, North Atlantic World.
TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM. Instructor: Pike.
Poster: GERM 255
GERM 275: History of German Cinema.
This course explores the major developments of German cinema from Weimar to contemporary film. Students will be introduced to themes, directors and actors who have made a distinct impact on German film.
All films with English subtitles. Readings and discussions in English.
Approach: Visual/Performing Arts.
Connection: North Atlantic World.
TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM. Instructor: Pike.
Poster: GERM 275
Upper-Level German-Language Literature and Culture
GERM 303: Introduction to German Literature.
The course will give an overview of German literature, culture, and politics. It will highlight works from various periods, engage in discussions about German literature, and encourage students to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word.
Prerequisite: Pre- or Co-Requisite: GERM 301 or 302.
All readings and class discussions in German.
Approach: Literary Arts.
Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World.
MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM. Instructor: Prica.
Poster: GERM 303
GERM 349: Jahrhundertwende.
Turn-of-the-century Berlin, Munich and Vienna experienced an explosion of creative energies that left their mark on the music, painting, lilterature and film of the time. Students enrolled in this course will encounter this era’s expressionism and investigate how such topics as the battle between the classes and generations, morality and sexual revolution, Bohemianism and decadence, psychology and the desires, militarism and madness, as well as abstraction and the search for feeling played themselves out in the era’s artifacts. The course will introduce students to regional differences between the Austrian, Bavarian and Prussian metropolises and their respective modernisms around 1900. Students will read Authors like Sigmund Freud, Gerhart Hauptmann, Thomas Mann, Arthur Schnitzler, Frank Wedekind; see films by Paul Wegener and Robert Wiene, listen to music by Schönberg, Strauss and Berg, and visit the Ackland Museum. .
Readings and instruction in German.
Approach: Literary Arts.
Connection: North Atlantic World.
TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM. Instructor: Langston.
Poster: GERM 349
GERM 374: That Strange Thing called Love Lust in German Theater.
This advanced German literature course will take you out of the traditional classroom and plunge you right into a performance space. We will not only read and discuss dramas centered around the topics or sex, betrayal, death, and that thing called love, but we will also put on a full-length performance of one German play. Both the performance and the discussions in class will afford you a more thorough understanding of the forces at work within different plays. You will immerse yourself in the literary, social, political, and historical context of the latter half of the 19th century, as well as read seminal theoretical texts of performance theory.
Readings, discussions, and rehearsals in German.
Approach: Visual/Performing Arts.
Connections: North Atlantic World, Experiential Education.
TR 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM. Instructor: Wegel.
Rehearsals: W 05:30 PM – 08:30 PM.
Poster: GERM 374
Advanced Undergraduate and Graduate Seminars
Poster: Carolina Duke Joint Grad Classes
GERM 502: Middle High German
This course teaches the basic elements of the Middle High German language and exposes students to a variety of textual genres from the high Middle Ages such as courtly romance, heroic epic, love lyric, and religious literature. The focus is on language and translation, but the close textual work also provides an introduction to medieval literature and culture.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: GERM 302 and 303; permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisites.
Readings in English, German, and Middle High German; Class will be conducted in German.
MW 03:10 PM – 04:25 PM. Instructor: Prica.
Poster: GERM 502
GERM 790.01: Modernism, Language, Theory.
According to one narrative, literary modernism emerged out of the crisis of language articulated by such thinkers as Friedrich Nietzsche, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and Karl Kraus. This crisis implicated various aspects of language, from its communicative potential to literary figuration, and from the formulaic to the formless, as well as issues of accent, dialect, idiosyncratic speech, phraseology, and oral versus written practices. The works of numerous writers in the modernist literary tradition–including James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett, Rainer Maria Rilke, Franz Kafka, and Robert Musil–can be read in this context. Whether they reformulate the problems of language in modernity or offer explicit or implicit solutions to it, a critical, often skeptical view of language is central to their works. Decades later, numerous structuralist and post-structuralist critics picked up on this concern with the limits and possibilities of linguistic expression in modernism. The crisis of language thus enjoys an afterlife in the critical writings of Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man, Dorrit Cohn, and others. This course will trace the crisis of language in modernism in some of its philosophical, literary, and critical manifestations.
Graduate Level
Class discussions in English. Students are encouraged to read all texts in the original, but English translations will be available.
Duke Campus: R 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM. Instructor: Gellen.
Poster: GERM 790.01
GERM 875: Germans, Jews, and the Theatre.
“What good actor today is not a Jew?” Friedrich Nietzsche asked in 1882, posing a question that drew on a long tradition of regarding Jewish efforts at integration into the modern world as a mode of dissimulation. This seminar explores the real and symbolic roles that theatre played in shaping Jewish identity and relations between Germans and Jews from roughly 1750 to 1900. Examining a range of dramas and writings about theatre, the course explores relations between concepts of Jewishness and understandings of theatricality as these shift over time. We will consider antisemitic conceptions of Jews as actors and mimics while studying the role that the theatre played in promoting idealized conceptions of Jewish men and creating affective communities of compassion with the suffering of exotic Jewish women.
We will begin by considering Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Die Juden (1749) and Nathan der Weise (1779) against the backdrop of German adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Moving into the nineteenth century, we will study Julius von Voss’s Der travestierte Nathan (1804) alongside both Karl Sessa’s anti-Jewish farce Unser Verkehr (1813) and Aaron Halle-Wolfssohn’s German-Jewish family drama, Leichtsinn und Frömmelei (1798). The next section of the course will consider two dramas that became fixtures in theatre repertoires throughout the German-speaking world: Karl Gutzkow’s Uriel Acosta (1846) and S. H. Mosenthal’s Deborah (1849). After a detour to consider the Orientalist exoticism of Karl Goldmark’s grand opera, Die Königin von Saba (1875), we will conclude the semester by studying Karl Emil Franzos’s Bildungsroman Der Pojaz (1905), a recasting of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre in which the Yiddish-speaking protagonist longs to play Shylock on the German stage. Close readings of texts will be supplemented by discussion of reception documents, contemporary responses, and theoretical readings on questions of identity and performance.
The primary goal of the seminar is that students produce a paper similar in scope and format to an article that would be published in a scholarly journal. To this end, students will spend a significant portion of the semester working on an individualized research project and sharing their work with the seminar. Students will be expected to contribute to the seminar through regular oral presentations, a fifteen-minute conference paper to be presented in the final weeks of the semester, and a final research paper due at the end of the semester. Reading knowledge of German essential; class discussions in English.
Graduate Level
F 09:05 AM – 11:55 AM. Instructor: Hess.
Poster: GERM 875
Slavic and Uralic Courses, Spring 2017
- First Year Seminars
- Slavic Language Courses (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Czech, Polish, Russian)
- Slavic Seminars in English
- Upper-Level Russian Language Seminar
First Year Seminars
SLAV 86: First Year Seminar: Literature and Madness.
This seminar considers the relationship between literature and madness through the works of major Russian writers (Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov). We will examine how these writers differently construct representations of madness. Students’ reading, writing, class discussions and presentations will be directed by a series of topics, such as the origin of madness, awareness or unawareness of madness, the theme of the mad artist, and madness as a literary device.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts.
TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM. Instructor: Lapushin.
Poster: SLAV 86
Slavic Language Courses
CZCH 402: Elementary Czech, Continued.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction in CZCH 401. Course emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in Czech about everyday topics.
Prerequisite: CZCH 401 or permission of instructor.
TR 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM. Instructor: Pichova.
Poster: CZCH 402
PLSH 404: Intermediate Polish, Continued.
Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Polish.
Prerequisite: PLSH 403 or permission of instructor.
TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM. Instructor: Wampuszyc.
Poster: PLSH 404
RUSS 102: Elementary Russian, Continued.
Continuation of the introductory course designed to lay the foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills.
Prerequisite: RUSS 101 or permission of instructor.
001: MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM. R 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM. Instructor: Staff.
002: MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM. R 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM. Instructor: Magomedova.
003: MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM. R 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM. Instructor: Staff.
Poster: RUSS 102 – 204
RUSS 204: Intermediate Russian, Continued.
Grammar-translation work with increasing proportions of free reading and oral work, continued.
Prerequisite: RUSS 203 or permission of instructor.
001: MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM. Instructor: Reese.
002: MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM. Instructor: Reese.
Poster: RUSS 102 – 204
RUSS 410: Modern Russian in Context II: Advanced-Intermediate Conversation, Composition, Grammar.
Continuation of RUSS 409, advanced-intermediate Russian conversation, composition, phonetics, and grammar. Meets the needs of learners looking to expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in, Russian.
Prerequisite: RUSS 409 or permission of instructor.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM. Instructor: Shvabrin.
Poster: RUSS 410
SECR 402: Elementary Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian.
Pronunciation, structure of the language, and readings in modern Serbian and Croatian language, continued from SECR 401.
Prerequisite: SECR 401 or permission of instructor.
MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM. Instructor: Dzumhur.
Poster: SECR 402
Slavic Seminars in English
CZCH 280: Closely watched trains: Czech Film and Literature.
This course examines Czech film and literature against the backdrop of key historical, political, and cultural events. Readings and screenings will include works covering World War II, the Stalinist Fifties, the thaw of the Sixties, the post-Soviet invasion years, and the post-1989 Velvet Revolution. Some of the films viewed are adaptations of novels, which will be read in their entirety.
Readings and class discussions in English; films subtitled in English.
Approach: Literary Arts.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM. Instructor: Pichova.
Film Screenings: W 05:30 PM – 08:30 PM.
Poster: CZCH 280
RUSS 270: Russian Literature from Pushkin to Chekhov.
An action-packed tour of some of the greatest texts ever written, with stops at: Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Approach: Literary Arts.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: Reese.
Poster: RUSS 270/a>
RUSS 455 Twentieth Century Russian Literature and Culture.
As Russia became a laboratory for sociopolitical experiments of global significance, its culture reflected on the most spectacular of its aspirations and failures. Course surveys 20th-century literary, musical and cinematic artifacts that emerged to affect the world profoundly.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM. Instructor: Shvabrin.
Poster: RUSS 455
RUSS 464: Dostoevsky.
In this course, we will explore Dostoevsky’s literary quest to understand why people lose their minds, commit murder & other unspeakable crimes, become alcoholics, gamble, join monasteries, kill themselves, believe they are God, & engage in other striking behaviors.
In addition to a number of Dostoevsky’s shorter works, including the short novel Notes from Underground, we will study three of the great novel-tragedies—Crime and Punishment, Demons, and The Brothers Karamazov.
Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Approach: Literary Arts.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
TR 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM. Instructor: Lapushin.
Poster: RUSS 464
SLAV 251: Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism in Literature (GERM 251).
Examination of the clash between twentieth-century writers and the state, in countries where a single political government or pary used an exclusive ideology as justification for interference in cultural and literary affairs.
Readings and lectures in English.
Approach: Historical Analysis.
Connection: Global Issues.
TR 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM. Instructor: Pike.
Poster: SLAV 251
Upper-Level Russian Language Seminar
RUSS 250 Introduction to Russian Literature.
Reading and discussion of selected authors aimed at improving reading skill and preparing the student for higher-level work in Russian liteature.
Prerequisite: Six semesters of Russian language or permission of instructor.
All readings and class discussions in Russian.
Approach: Literary Arts.
Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM. Instructor: Magomedova.
Poster: RUSS 250
Germanic Courses, Fall 2016
Undergraduate Courses
First-Year Seminars
GERM 051: First-Year Seminar: Stalin and Hitler: Historical Issues in Cultural and Other Perspectives. This course deals with critical issues, in the broadest possible context, that dominated the 20th century: the rise of fascism out of the carnage of World War One, and the Bolshevik revolution to which the war and Czarist Russia’s involvement in it helped contribute. Drawing on a variety of historical and documentary films and literature (memoirs, novels), we will take a comparative look at singular personalities like Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler and examine the role played by such key figures in historical events of this magnitude. Towards the end of the semester, we glance briefly at the situation created in Western and Eastern Europe by the defeat of fascism, and contemplate the origins and evolution of the cold war. We conclude with a consideration of the dissolution and democratization of Eastern European countries, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and, against the tragic background of the past, the general outlook for democracy in the future.
Readings and class discussions in English.
TTh 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM. Instructor: Pike.
Poster:GERM051.F2016
GERM 56: First-Year Seminar: Germans, Jews, and the History of Anti-Semitism. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Jews made up approximately 1% of the population in Germany. How was it possible that this miniscule minority came to occupy such a prominent role in Nazi ideology and the German cultural imagination? What might studying the relationship between Germans and Jews in the centuries before the Holocaust teach us about the persistence of anti-Semitism and racism in our world today? This course seeks to answer these questions by examining a variety of primary sources from the Middle Ages to the Holocaust and beyond, including political treatises, literary texts, theological tracts, film, and personal memoirs.
No previous familiarity with the subject is required.
Readings and class discussions in English.
TTh 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM. Instructor: Hess.
Poster:GERM056.F2016
GSLL 70: First Year Seminar: Teenage Kicks: Race, Class, and Gender in Postwar Youth Cultures.
This seminar investigates youth cultures from the 1940s to the present in the United States and around the world. It offers students a history of how different youth cultures developed over time, and consideration of how the constitution of youth cultures has been influenced by factors like race, class, and gender.
Readings and class discussions in English.
MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM. Instructor: Layne.
Poster:GSLL070.F2016
German Language Instruction
GERM 101: Elementary German (4 Credits). Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics.
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
Poster:GERM101-204.F2016
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German (4 Credits). This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics.
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 203: Intermediate German (3 Credits). Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. Prerequisite: GERM 102.
MWF, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 204: Advanced Intermediate German (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 203. Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film.
MWF, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 301: Conversation and Composition (3 Credits). German 301 is an advanced language and literature course in which you will discuss a variety of contemporary texts and films. Throughout the course, we will discuss what decisions different people make and how those decisions influence their lives for better or worse. This course also provides advanced language learners with opportunities to strengthen their writing and speaking skills.
Over the course of the semester, you will
• work toward improving your discussion skills in German;
• broaden your vocabulary;
• review your command of German grammar
• learn to read and interpret a wide array of fictional and non-fictional texts.
Genres slated for discussion include: a novel, short stories, fairy tales, song lyrics, and films.
Prerequisite, GERM 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
Section 001: TTh 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM. Instructor: Pollmann.
Section 002: TTh 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM. Instructor: Wegel.
Poster:GERM301.F2016
GERM 302: German Language and Culture (3 Credits). German 302 is an advanced language and culture course aimed at familiarizing you with the political, cultural, and societal issues of contemporary Germany. We will read an array of non-fictional texts that students at the advanced Gymnasium level are reading. We will also engage with fictional texts, music, and the news, as well as watch several short films and full-length movies that lend us a critical view of Germany in the 21st century. German 302 also provides you with opportunities to strengthen your written German and to solidify your speaking skills in a communicative and culturally meaningful context.
Prerequisite, GERM 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
Section 002: TTh 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM. Instructor: Wegel.
Poster:GERM302.F2016
Large English-Language Lectures on German Culture, Literature, Film, Art and Philosophy
GERM 279: Fairy Tales and Childhood. (3 Credits). Considers fairy tales from several different national traditions and historical periods against the backdrop of folklore, literature, psychoanalysis, and the socializing forces directed at children.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Not intended for students who have taken GERM 054. Crosslisted with CMPL 279. Recitation Required.
MW 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM. Instructor: Downing.
Poster:GERM279.F2016
GERM 280: Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll: 20th-Century German Philosophy and Modern Youth Cultures. (3 Credits). This lecture investigates the many contact points between 20th-century German philosophy and modern youth cultures and establishes how German philosophers thought through the possibilities, limitations and consequences of youth rebellion and conformity in ways that youth cultures themselves rarely did. Of partic- ular concern will be youth culture’s triumvirate: sex, drugs, and rock music. Students will read and discuss seminal texts by thinkers like Adorno, Arendt, Benjamin, Bloch, Gadamer, Habermas, Heidegger, Jaspers, Jonas, Marcuse, Nietzsche, Simmel and Sloterdijk. In order to illuminate these philosophical readings, lec- tures will address a selection of American feature films portraying modern youth cultures.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Recitation Required. Six film screenings required.
MW 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM. Instructor: Langston.
Poster:GERM280.F2016
Small English-Language Seminars on Germanic Literature and Culture
GERM 211: Concepts of Medieval Culture: You Win or You Die! The Medieval Drama of Loss and Gain. (3 Credits).We perceive the Middle Ages as a time of extremes without a middle ground: Loyalty is absolute, honor is non-negotiable, family is indisputable, and love is deadly. However, we will question these stereotypes by examining the spaces in between opposites: How was loyalty related to betrayal? Could honor be bought? How strong were family ties when they were challenged? Where did love fit between passion and calculation? And finally: Was there room for losers in a culture where winners take all? By focusing on how core concepts of Medieval culture are negotiated in art and literature we will recognize patterns that undergird much of how we, in the twenty-first century, understand ourselves as well as confront ways of thinking that are surprisingly different. The course will include an introduction into medieval history, and we will spend time contextualizing the texts in their social and political forms of life. To this end, in addition to primary texts like Tristan, Parzival and The Nibelungenlied, we will read in its entirety the classic introduction to courtly culture throughout the course of the semester: Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the High Middle Ages by Joachim Bumke. Some of the concepts we will be examining include: honor, love, family, adventure, violence, prophecy.
Readings and class discussions in English.
MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: Prica.
Poster:GERM211.F2016Prica
GERM 249: : Modern German Literature In Translation. (3 Credits).The idea of world literature was a German invention, a concept proposed by none other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to describe literature of universal importance for all of humanity. While our appreciation of world literature has grown to include non-Western literature, German literature remains an important component in this canon. This English-language literature seminar introduces newcomers to some of the highlights of modern German literature beginning with the eighteenth-century playwright Lessing and ending with Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass. In addition to short lectures intended to situate individual texts within their historical contexts, class meetings will also give students ample opportunity to analyze texts in detail.
Readings and class discussions in English.
TTh 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM. Instructor: Pike.
Poster:GERM249.F2016
GERM 251: Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism and Literature. (3 Credits). What is ideology and does it have an aesthetic? Is ideological literature exclusively limited to regimes that instrumentalize Marxism in the name of socio-political revolution? Or does the literature of Western democracies not also evince its own ideological aesthetic?
This course introdues students both to a world history of Marxist literature, as well as to the long tradition of Marxist literary criticism. Authors include: Brecht, Breton, Dath, Gorki, Hughes, Ibsen, Lem, Mayakovsky, Sinclair, Wells. Marxist critics include: Adorno, Barthes, Jameson, Lifshitz, Lukács, Marcuse, Marx, Suvin & Williams.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Crosslisted with SLAV 251.
MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM. Instructor: Langston.
Poster:GERM251.F2016.Langston
GERM 267: Contemporary German and Austrian Film: The films of the Berlin School. (3 Credits). Over the past 15 years, a new generation of filmmakers called “Berlin School” has emerged in German cinema. Their realist films focus on people lost and adrift in a country in which neoliberalism and globalization clash with national history, traditions and values. How to live, work, and love are up for grabs again, and the films follow protagonists—from post-college drifters to criminals and bankers—whose unraveled lives reflect their attempt to find meaning in this new world order. In this course, we will engage with and develop skills in film analysis and criticism. Students will learn and apply the critical concepts and vocabulary necessary to analyze films. We will also make a few forays into film history to situate these films historically. Films include In the Shadows (Thomas Arslan, 2012), The Robber (Benjamin Heisenberg, 2010), Marseille (Angela Schanelec, 2004), Phoenix (Christian Petzold, 2014), The City Below (Christoph Hochhäusler, 2010), and many others.
Films with English subtitles; readings and discussions in English.
Students may not receive credit for both GERM 267 and 367.
Weekly film screenings required.
TTh 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM and R 05:30 PM – 08:00 PM (film screenings). Instructor: Pollmann.
Poster:GERM267.F2016.vb
Upper-Level German-Language Literature and Culture Courses
GERM 303: Introduction to German Literature (3 Credits). The course will give an overview of German literature, culture, and politics. It will highlight works from various periods, engage in discussions about German literature, and encourage students to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word. Readings, discussions, and essays in German.
Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM. Instructor: Prica
Poster:GERM303.F2016
GERM 325: Fools and Laughter in Early Modern German Literature. (3 Credits). Fools are everywhere. Human folly is one of the most distinctive preoccupations of German literature of the early modern period. This course will explore the multiple meanings of the German term “fool” in works from the 15th to the 18th century. It will provide insights into the shifting mental attitudes, values and norms of German society and culture. Course readings include carnival plays, jest-books as well as Sebastian Brant’s Ship of Fools and The Praise of Folly by Erasmus of Rotterdam.
Prerequisite, GERM 303. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
Readings and class discussions in German.
TTh 09:30 AM – 10:45 AM. Instructor: Von Bernuth.
Poster:GERM325.F2016
GERM 370: Readings in German Intellectual History. (3 Credits). Novalis, the Romantic poet and thinker, once wrote: “Philosophy eliminates fixed points and transforms something at rest into something that sways.” This course will follow Novalis’ lead and examine German intellectual history not as a static body of knowledge, but as a springboard for us to challenge our own frameworks of understanding. Rather than attempting to undertake an exhaustive history of thought, we will read short excerpts of representative texts by artists and philosophers from the mid-eighteenth century to the twentieth century. These texts will stimulate critical reflection about a range of issues, including: freedom, the value of art, the nature of reality, religious truth, nihilism, historical consciousness, and differing conceptions of politics. We will also situate the texts and thinkers in the historical context that makes their ideas meaningful. Authors include: Lessing, Kant, Hegel, Goethe, Novalis, Marx, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Benjamin, Adorno, Schmitt and Arendt. No background is philosophy is necessary.
Prerequisite, GERM 303. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. No background is philosophy is necessary.
Readings and class discussions in German.
TTh 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM. Instructor: Trop.
Poster:GERM370.F2016
Advanced Undergraduate & Graduate Seminars
GERM 615: Cultural Foundations in German Studies, to 1800. (3 Credits). This seminar, a required course for graduate students in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, offers an intensive survey of literary, cultural and intellectual developments in German-speaking lands from 1200 to 1800. Starting with a sampling of the major epics and poetry of the High Middle Ages, the course will move into the Early Modern period. The final section of the course will be dedicated to the drama, poetry, aesthetic writings and narrative fiction of the eighteenth century. In addition, a sample of short theoretical texts on topics such as historical discourse analysis, new historicism, and new philology will be read alongside.
Permission of the instructor for undergraduate students.
Readings in German; class discussions in English.
M 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM. Instructor: Koelb.
Poster:GERM615.F2016
GERMAN 700: Foreign Language Pedagogy: Theories and Practice.. (3 Credits)Introduces new Graduate Teaching Assistants in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, as well as affiliated programs, to current methodologies and pedagogies relevant to teaching as a foreign language in North America. We will consider theoretical developments, as well as current issues in language pedagogy as addressed in academic journals and studies such as Lee and VanPatten’s Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen and Omaggio-Hadley’s Teaching Language In Context. We will also explore practical applications of the studied approaches and theorems, debate and engage with language, literature and culture in the FL classroom. Over the course of the semester, you will work on your online teaching portfolios containing sample lesson plans, syllabi, and initial drafts of your teaching philosophy.
W 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM. Instructor: Wegel.
Poster:GERM700.F2016
GERM 655: Afrofuturism, Cyborg Feminism and Afro-German Literature . (3 Credits) Though Afro-German literature reaches as far back as the early twentieth century, it has only became a concrete field of study in the past 30 years. The first recognized Afro-German authors primarily produced autobiographies and literature addressing the quotidian experience of being black in German society. However, in the past twenty years, Afro-German authors, poets and playwrights have increasingly looked to Afrofuturism as an inspiration for rethinking what it means to be black and German. The turn towards Afrofuturism in Afro-German literature is especially revolutionary, considering its potential for countering Afro-pessimist discourses circulated in Europe and abroad.
This course seeks to explore what is at stake in Afro-German artists’ turn to futurity. In order to investigate this topic, we will begin by asking what is Afrofuturism? What differentiates it from an earlier movement like Futurism? What motivates African diasporic artists to engage with the modes of science fiction and speculative fiction? And what can futurist discourses in feminist theory and queer theory contribute to these questions? In this course we will trace discourses around Afrofuturism in literature, film and music by engaging with texts from across the African Diaspora. We will also read a range of theorists including Arjun Appadurai, José Estaban Munoz, Shulamith Firestone, Donna Haraway and Leslie Adelson.
Discussions in English. Readings in English and German (translations will be provided).
MW 03:10 PM – 04:25 PM. Instructor: Layne.
Poster:GERM655.F2016.Layne
GERM 860: Aesthetics and Poetry (Topics in Aesthetics and Criticism).
This course will examine the relationship between aesthetics and poetry starting in the eighteenth century and continuing into the twenty-first century. Baumgarten’s Philosophical Reflections on Poetry (1735) launches the birth of aesthetics by rethinking the philosophical status of poetic objects: not only does poetry become an appropriate object of philosophical discourse, but it produces and embodies its own particular media-specific form of truth. This seminar will follow threads that link aesthetic discourses, poetic practices of production and reception, the precise yet elusive form of poetic objects, and the discursive and philosophical fields of meaning and truth-production–ethical, political, scientific–in relationship to which poetic objects position themselves. Authors include: Baumgarten, Kant, Hölderlin, Schelling, Novalis, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Benjamin, Lukàcs, Celan, Rancière, Badiou, among others.
This course, which emphasizes the continental aesthetic tradition and will include later nineteenth- and twentieth-century contributions, has been designed to complement Professor Robert Mitchell’s class on aesthetics at Duke University which will be held on the Duke campus on Wednesdays 11:45 AM – 2:15 PM.
Class discussion in English, readings in English (the German and French originals will be available for those who can read these languages).
T 04:40 PM – 07:10 PM. Instructor: Trop.
Poster:GERM860.F2016
Slavic and Uralic Courses, Fall 2016
Slavic & Uralic Language Courses
SLAV 84: First-Year Seminar: Terror for the People: Nihilism, Anarchism, and Beyond: Terror in Russian History and Culture.
Terror was used as a political weapon in 19th-century Russia. This seminar introduces the terrorists through their own writings and fictional representations in novels by Fyodor Dostoevsky and others.
Readings and class discussions in English.
MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM. Instructor: Shvabrin.
Poster:SLAV84.2016F
SLAV 88H: Gender In Central and Eastern European Litearature.
Gender can be a very powerful concept. The way people talk about what is masculine and what is feminine can shed light on a broad array of topics such as self-identity, nationalism, private property, public spaces, values and ethics, political dissent and oppression, and consumerism. You name “it” and ideas of masculinity and femininity probably influence how we speak and think about that “it”.
This is why studying culture through the prism of gender can be a great introduction to a region like Central and Eastern Europe. In this course, we will have a chance to explore many of the topics I mention above through fiction, film, and essays from and about such countries as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. We’ll consider the connection between the 19th c. “Woman Question” and nationalism. We’ll study how communist ideology promised gender equality, but failed. We’ll discuss perceptions of gender and consumerism after the fall of communism.
Upon finishing this course, you will have learned:
• how political & economic transition affected Central/Eastern Europe after 1989
• what everyday life was like under communism
• about the geography of Europe east of Germany
• what different cultures expect from people based on their gender
• how the language/discourse we use colors the choices and decisions we make
Readings and class discussions in English.
TTh 02:00 PM – 03:15 PM. Instructor: Wampuszyc.
Poster:SLAV088H.F2016
CZCH 401: Elementary Czech. (3 Credits).This is an introductory course to Czech language and culture. Students are introduced to Czech pronunciation and basic grammatical structures. Emphasis will be on spoken Czech. In addition to the textbook, short articles and videos will be used to increase comprehension.
MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM. Instructor: Pichova.
Poster:CZCH.F2016
PLSH 403: Intermediate Polish. (3 Credits). This class is for students at the A1 level of Polish (according the Common European Framework of Reference) who have had a minimum of 45 contact hours in PLSH401 (or equivalent). The goal of the course is to work toward active language usage through guided and improvisational conversation, oral drills, listening exercises, and reading and writing assignments. An introduction to the everyday culture and traditions of Poland is incorporated into the curriculum.
Prerequisite, PLSH 402.
TTh 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM. Instructor: Wampuszyc.
Poster:PLSH F2016
RUSS 101: Elementary Russian (4 Credits). Introductory course designed to lay the foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills.
Section 001: MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM and Th 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM. Instructor: Reese.
Section 002: MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM and Th 01:30 PM – 02:20 PM. Instructor: Magomedova..
Section 003: MWF 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM and Th 02:30 PM – 03:20 PM. Instructor: Magomedova.
Poster:RUSS.F2016.1
RUSS 203: Intermediate Russian (3 Credits). Grammar-translation work with increasing proportions of free reading and oral work.
Prerequisite, RUSS 102.
Section 001: MWF 09:05 AM – 09:55 AM. Instructor: Reese.
Section 002: MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: TBA.
Poster:RUSS.F2016.2
RUSS 409: Modern Russian In Context I: Contemporary Standard Russian in Film and Culture. (3 Credits) First installment in an academic-year-long survey of advanced-intermediate (3rd-year) Russian conversation, composition, phonetics and grammar. Meets the needs of learners looking to expand their practical knowledge of contemporary standard Russian in the context of present-day culture, while developing applied skills pertaining to comprehension, production of, and communication in Russian.
Prerequisite, RUSS 204. Permission of instructor required for students who have taken RUSS 321, 322, 406 or 407.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
MWF 01:25 PM – 02:15 PM. Instructor: Shvabrin.
Poster:RUSS409.F2016
RUSS 411: Advanced Russian Conversation and Composition. (3 Credits) Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Designed to develop conversational and writing skills in a variety of situations and subjects.
Prerequisite, RUSS 322 and 407 or permission of instructor.
Readings and class discussions in Russian.
MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: Magomedova.
SECR 401: Elementary Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian. (3 Credits)Pronunciation, structure of the language, and readings in modern Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian.
MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM. Instructor: TBA.
Poster:SECR.F2016
RUSS 275: Russian Fairy Tale (3 Credits). An introduction to the Russian fairy tale together with its history and cultural context. Students will read both authentic Russian fairy tales, and literary permutations of the Russian folk tradition.
Readings and class discussions in English.
MWF 12:20 PM – 01:10 PM. Instructor: Reese.
Poster:RUSS275.F2016
RUSS 276: Mystery and Suspense in Russian Literature.
Through the works of major Russian writers, this course investigates the development of mystery and suspense in Russian literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Readings and class discussions in English.
TTh 03:30 PM – 04:45 PM. Instructor: Lapushin.
Poster:RUSS276.F2016
Upper-Level English-Language Russian Seminars
RUSS 445: 19Th Century Russian Literature.
A survey of the major novels and stories of 19th century Russian fiction, which have entered the canon of world classics and redefined the idea of literature. Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students.
Readings and class discussions in English.
TTh 12:30 PM – 01:45 PM. Instructor: Lapushin.
Poster:RUSS445.F2016
RUSS 477: Nabokov.
This course will explore Vladimir Nabokov’s prose fiction written in Germany and America. All of Nabokov’s novels are famous for their displays of artifice, narrative games, elaborate patterning, and language puzzles. Students will study these artistic techniques in relation to the author’s complex life; one of a young Russian nobleman, a destitute émigré living in Germany and Paris, a lepidopterist and professor of literature in America, and finally a wealthy and much-regarded European man of letters.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Crosslisted with CMPL 477.
MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM. Instructor: Pichova.
Poster:RUSS477.F2016
RUSS 562: Structure of Russian
This course is a linguistic introduction to the Russian language, its structure and history. Students will learn linguistics and come to understand the underlying principals of language organization.
Readings and class discussions in English.
Crosslisted: LING 562
TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM. Instructure: Dr. Pertsova
Poster:FlyerRussian2016
SLAV 251:Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism and Literature.
Crosslisted: See GERM 251 for details
Readings and class discussions in English.
MW 03:35 PM – 04:50 PM. Instructor: Langston.
Poster:
Germanic Courses, Spring 2016
Undergraduate Courses
First-Year Seminars
GERM 063: First-Year Seminar: Performing America (3 Credits). The intersection of performance in a theater space and in everyday life will serve as our springboard as we investigate the diversity of contemporary America. We will investigate how race, class, religion, sexuality, sexual orientation, history, and death are performed in America today. We will also attend performances to better understand the relation between the theater space and the theories behind theater and performance studies. Part of the course will also be a short theater performance for a general audience. Readings and class discussions in English. Approach: Visual and Performing Arts Course Poster: GERM 063
MW 2:30 PM-3:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Wegel.
GSLL 069: First-Year Seminar: Laughing and Crying at the Movies: Film and Experience (3 Credits). Why is it that we cry at the movies? We will focus on the melodrama but also look at comedy and horror to think about emotional responses to films. Students will learn the basics of film analysis, gain an overview of genre cinema, and study approaches to emotion, affect, and the body. Readings and class discussions in English. Approach: Visual and Performing Arts Course Poster: GERM 069
TR 12:30 PM-01:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Pollmann.
German Language Instruction
GERM 101: Elementary German (4 Credits). Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German (4 Credits). This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 203: Intermediate German (3 Credits). Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. Prerequisite: GERM 102. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 204: Advanced Intermediate German (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 203. Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 301: Conversation and Composition (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Emphasis is on speaking and writing, with shorter readings on contemporary German life to provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions. Further goals include improvement of pronunciation and a mastery of grammar. Required for the major and the minor. Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World Course Poster: GERM301
Section 001: MWF 01:25 PM-02:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. Hess
Section 002: TR 03:30 PM-04:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Layne.
GERM 302: German Language and Culture (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Introduction to issues shaping contemporary German society through a wide range of texts and media while expanding and strengthening reading, writing, and speaking skills. Required for the major and the minor. Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World Course Poster: GERM302
Section 001: MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM. Instructor: Dr. Langston.
Section 002: MWF 1:25 PM-2:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. Wegel.
Large English-Language Lectures on German Culture, Literature, Film, Art and Philosophy
GERM 270: German Culture and the Jewish Question (CMPL 270, JWST 239, RELI 239) (3 Credits). When Hitler came to power in 1933, Jews made up less than 1% of the German population. How was it possible that this miniscule minority came to occupy such a prominent role in Nazi ideology and the German cultural imagination? This course answers this question by examining the role of Jews, and representations of Jews, in German culture, from the 18th century to the Holocaust and beyond.No previous familiarity with the subject matter is necessary. Discussions and texts (literary, political, theological) in English. Approach: Historical Analysis. Connections: Global Issues, North Atlantic World Course Poster: GERM270
MW 10:10 AM-11:00 AM. Recitation required (Fridays). Instructor: Dr. Hess.
GERM 280: 20th-Century German Philosophy and Modern Youth Cultures (3 Credits). This philosophical Approaches course investigates the rich European intellectual foundations on which 20th-century youth culture erected its triumvirate of sex, drugs, and rock music. Readings and class discussions in English. Approach: Philosophical and Moral Reasoning. Connection: North Atlantic World
Course Poster: GERM280
MW 09:05 AM-09:55 AM. Recitation required (Fridays). Instructor: Dr. Langston.
Small English-Language Seminars on Germanic Literature and Culture
GERM 210: Getting Medieval: Knights, Violence, and Romance (3 Credits). Few periods have captured the imagination of modern artists like that of the Middle Ages. We will examine the legacy of the Middle Ages in film and television, focusing on the way medievval texts (Parzival, Tristan, The Nibelungenlied) can help us grasp our own cultural products and ideologies (for example, in Game of Thrones). Readings and class discussions in English. Approach: Visual and Performing Arts. Connections: North Atlantic World, World Before 1750. COURSE AVAILABILITY PENDING.
Course Poster: GERM210
TR 3:30 PM-4:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Prica.
GERM 225: Popular and Pious: Early Modern Jewish Literature (3 Credits). This seminar looks at the literature produced—originally in Yiddish—for the entertainment and uplift of 15th-18th century European Jews. This literature preserves genres popular in medieval Europe including chivalric romances, fables, and merry tales, together with early examples of Jewish journalism and autobiography. The course will examine a wide variety of texts in translation to illuminate Jewish life in the context of surrounding Christian cultures. It is designed for undergraduate students interested in history, literature, and religious studies. No previous familiarity with the subject matter is required. Readings and class discussions in English. Approach: Literary Arts. Connections: North Atlantic World, World Before 1750
Course Poster: GERM225
TR 11:00 AM-12:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. von Bernuth .
GERM 249: Modern German Literature in Translation (3 Credits). The idea of world literature was a German invention, a concept proposed by none other than Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to describe literature of universal importance for all of humanity. While our appreciation of world literature has grown to include non-Western literature, German literature remains an important component in this canon. This English-language literature seminar introduces newcomers to some of the highlights of modern German literature beginning with the eighteenth-century playwright Lessing and ending with Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass. In addition to short lectures intended to situate individual texts within their historical contexts, class meetings will also give students ample opportunity to analyze texts in detail. Readings and class discussions in English. Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: North Atlantic World
Course Poster: GERM249
TR 02:00 PM-03:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. Pike .
GERM 254H: The Occupation of Germany. The Origins of the first (1945‐1949) and the Beginnings of a new Cold War (2000 – 2009) (3 Credits). Though scholars have long disagreed about the causes of the Cold War, no one disputes that the “German question” played a central role in the break-up of the wartime alliance and the political division of western and eastern Europe that lasted for almost half a century. But was this division of Germany inevitable, and if so, why? If not, how did it happen? Was the Cold War inevitable? If yes, why? If not, why not? The course will explore these questions in two main chronological contexts – 1945 to 1949 and 1989 to the present, using technology to explore Russian archival documents in search of answers. Course Poster: GERM254H
N.B.: This is an honors seminar: Only members of Honors Carolina may register when term enrollment begins; other eligible students may register beginning at 8:00 AM on Monday, November 16. A cumulative GPA of 3.000 or higher is required to enroll in any Honors course.
TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Pike.
GERM 257: Society and Culture in Postwar Germany (3 Credits). Germany’s so-called “Zero-Hour” began in May 1945. After promises of a 1000-year Reich, hegemonic rule over Europe and beyond, and illusions of racial superiority, Germany lay in ruins. In the shadow of military defeat and Allied occupation, Germans struggled to wipe their slate clean and begin anew. Once a dictatorship, contemporary Germany is now an economically powerful and cultural diverse democracy. How, this upper-level seminar asks, did Germans manage in sixty-five years to transform their country so radically? How has the German past shaped Germany’s progress? What difficulties, setbacks and challenges shaped this transformation? With one eye on primary historical and cultural documents and another on scholarship in German Studies, participants in this course will investigate: the ideological tensions at work in the immediate postwar period; the troublesome influx of American ideals in the West and the incorporation of the East into the Soviet-bloc; the economic rehabilitation in the West and the rise of a protest culture; the geopolitics at work in Berlin at the height of the Cold War; the emergence of dissatisfaction and critique in the East; the rise of alternative cultures in the West; the problems with and controversies around remembering the Holocaust and German suffering; the path toward German unification; the rebuilding of Berlin as capital; and the contemporary struggles to normalize German history in the face of Germany’s increasing multiculturalism.
N.B.: This course is cross-listed as: HIST/POLI/SOCI 257.
TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. Jarausch (History Department).
Upper-Level German-Language Literature and Culture Courses
GERM 303: Introduction to German Literature (3 Credits). Pre- or corequisite, GERM 301 or 302. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. The course will give an overview of German literature, culture, and politics. It will highlight works from various periods, engage in discussions about German literature, and encourage students to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word. Readings, discussions, and essays in German. Approach: Literary Arts. Connections: Communication Intensive, North Atlantic World. Course Poster: GERM303
Section 001: TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM, Instructor: Dr. Farner Budarz.
Section 002: TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM, Instructor: Dr. Farner Budarz .
GERM 330: The Age of Goethe (3 Credits). Readings in German literature from 1750-1832 by Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, and Hölderlin, among others. Prerequisite, GERM 303. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Readings and discussions in German. Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: North Atlantic WorldCourse Poster: GERM330
TTH 9:30 PM – 10:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Trop.
GERM 381: Berlin: Mapping a (Post) Modern Metropolis (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 303. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Founded in the 13th century, Berlin may have started out as a swampy, provincial settlement, but it quickly became a hub of modernity and continues to draw people from all over the world. Almost no other metropolis has experienced such frequent, radical change transforming the face of the city. Although Berlin saw steady growth in its importance, dazzling epochs alternated with darker eras. Nevertheless, the formerly divided city has succeeded in becoming a vibrant metropolis in the heart of Europe. This course attempts to capture the spirit of the city by engaging students with several texts from the 19th and 20th centuries that are representative of Berlin’s literary and cultural history – from Theodore Fontane’s middle-class in Mitte to the Turkish community of Kreuzberg. We will not only read literary texts, but also watch films, listen to music and discuss art and architecture representative of the city. All materials and discussions in German. Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: North Atlantic World
Course Poster: GERM381
TTH 12:30 AM – 1:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Layne.
GERM 389: LAC Discussion Section for HIST/POLI/SOCI 257 (1 Credit). A recitation section for selected courses that promote foreign language proficiency across the curriculum (LAC). May count toward the major and minor in German. Prerequisite, GERM 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Readings and class discussions in German.
Course Poster: GERM389
F 1:25 PM-2:15 PM. Instructor: Krause.
Advanced Undergraduate & Graduate Seminars
GERM 500: History of the German Language (3 Credits). This course introduces students to the historical development of the German language from the earliest times until the modern period. We shall look at some of the phonological and morphosyntactic changes that differentiate German from English, Dutch and other related languages, and give the modern language its hallmark linguistic features. We shall further examine the historical and cultural context in which German developed, noting the impact of important events, from Christianization to the Reformation, from courtly poetry to the invention of printing, on language use. Students will read short texts in the main historical forms of the language — Old Saxon, Old High German, Middle Low German, Middle High German and Early New High German. Undergraduate prerequisite: GERM 301, 302, and 303 or equivalent. Graduate student prerequisite: Advanced reading proficiency in German. Course Poster: GERM500
MW 03:10 PM-04:25 PM. Instructor: Dr. Roberge.
GERMAN 820: Consent: Sex and Governance in the Age of Revolution . (3 Credits) Now is not the first period of rampant interest in consent. This seminar will explore the ways in which consent came to serve as the foundation of both political and marital legitimacy in the 18th century. Women’s contractual agency remained ambiguous in both cases, embedding discourses on rape and disenfranchisement within political theory. We will focus on constructions of will, desire, reason, autonomy, political voice, and law in theory and literature, and will examine their legacy for liberalism. Particular attention will be paid to the reciprocal authorization between political theory and the emerging field of biology. We will also engage with current debate on consent. Readings to include Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Schiller, Fichte, Marquis de Sade, Heinrich von Kleist, Percy Shelley, Hannah Arendt, and Carole Pateman. Students will have the opportunity to suggest readings.
Course Poster: GERM820
T 04:40 PM-07:10 PM. DUKE CAMPUS. Instructor: Dr. Engelstein.
GERM 880: Form and Experience: Film and the Melodramatic . (3 Credits) Melodrama is pure cinema. Films are marked by excess in both mise-en-scène and affect and by an intricate relationship between form and emotional content as well as between the personal and the social-political. Though often derided as low form, kitsch, “just” woman’s film or tearjerker, film scholars have long recognized that melodramas are stylistically highly complex and push the boundaries of cinematic form and spectatorship. We will approach melodrama as a question that concerns all of cinema. Rather than engage with melodrama as a genre, we will define the contours of a melodramatic style in the cinema—a style that, as some have argued, seems synonymous with narrative film itself, as the melodramatic is defined by pure visibility, external signs, and a focus on gesture. By looking at films from a variety of national contexts we will refine our understanding of the melodramatic as a mode that conveys concrete historical experience. Our course is divided into four sections. We will begin with a survey of the main characteristics of film melodrama and its indebtedness to 19th century stage melodrama. We will then focus on two case studies, Douglas Sirk (Detlef Sierck) and Max Ophüls, who started their career in Germany and Austria and went into exile during the 1930s (Netherlands, Italy, USA, and France). Their films will not only allow us to probe the relationship between film form, affect and national and cultural environment, but will also highlight how elements of German cinema from the 1920s (New Objectivity, Expressionism) infiltrate American melodrama and how this film language cycles back to Germany and amalgamates with French cinema. Finally, we will look at diverse examples of contemporary films that recycle, and redefine, melodramatic elements. The class discussion will be in English and all readings will be provided in English (and the German original where applicable); German and other foreign films will be subtitled in English. Course Poster: GERM880
Th 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Dr. Pollmann.
Slavic and Uralic Courses, Spring 2016
Slavic & Uralic Language Courses
CZCH 404: Intermediate Czech (3 Credits).Continuation of proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Czech, continued. Course Poster: CZCH404
TTH 2:00 – 3:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. Pichova.
PLSH 402: Elementary Polish Continued (3 Credits). Pronunciation, structure of language, and reading in modern Polish, continued. Course Poster: PLSH404
MWF 09:05 AM-9:55 AM. Instructor: Dr. Wampuszyc
RUSS 102: Elementary Russian (4 Credits). Continuation of the introductory course designed to lay the foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills. Course Poster: RUSS102&204
Section 001: MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM, Th 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM. Instructor: TBA.
Section 002: MWF 1:25 AM – 2:15 AM, Th 1:30 AM – 2:20 AM.. Instructor: TBA.
Section 003: MWThF 2:30 AM – 3:20 AM. Instructor: Dr. Magomedova
RUSS 204: Intermediate Russian (3 Credits). Grammar-translation work with increasing proportions of free reading and oral work, continued. Course Poster: RUSS102&204
MWF 12:20PM – 1:10 PM. Instructor: TBA.
RUSS 322: Russian Conversation Continued. (3 Credits) Designed to develop conversational skills in a variety of situations and subjects. Russian used, except for a minimum of linguistic explanations or comment.
MWF 11:15 AM-12:05 PM. Instructor: Dr. Reese.
RUSS 407: Advanced Russian Grammar. (3 Credits) A comprehensive review of Russian grammar on an advanced level, emphasizing reading and writing skills.
MWF 09:05 AM-9:55 AM. Instructor: Dr. Reese.
RUSS 412: Advanced Russian Conversation and Composition. (3 Credits)Designed to develop conversational and writing skills in a variety of situations and subjects.
MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. Magomedova.
SECR 404: Intermediate Serbian and Croatian Language Continued (3 Credits). Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Serbian and Croatian language. Course Poster: SECR404
MWF 03:35 PM-04:25 PM. Instructor: Dr. Grlic.
Central European Seminars
CZCH 469: Milan Kundera and World Literature (CMPL 469). (3 Credits) This course offers a survey of one of the world’s greatest living authors. Milan Kundera’s philosophical novels enjoy an enormous international reputation and are devoured by undergraduates and intellectuals alike. Almost single-handedly, Milan Kundera put the Czechs on the map of world literature. His reception in his homeland, however, is not so auspicious. We will trace Kundera’s literary path from his procommunist poetic youth to his present postmodern Francophilia, and compare his works with those authors he himself considers his predecessors and influences in European literature, such as Franz Kafka, Lawrence Sterne, Robert Musil, and Miguel Cervantes. Taught in English. Some readings in Czech for qualified students. Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic Course Poster: CZCH 469
TR 9:30 AM-10:45 AM. Instructor: Dr. Pichova.
GSLL 260: From Berlin to Budapest: Literature, Film, and Culture of Central Europe. (3 Credits) Central Europe, at the center of dramatic historical changes–WWI, emergence of independent nation states, WWII and Holocaust, Communism and its end, incorporation into the European Union–produced unprecedented cultural results. The creative voices of writers and filmmakers have relevance far beyond this region. Readings and class discussions in English. Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: Global Issues Course Poster: GSLL260
TR 11:00 AM-12:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. Pichova.
PLSH 412: 20th-Century Polish Literature and Culture (JWST 412). (3 Credits) By studying literature, essays, historical writings, cinema and journalism, this interdisciplinary course offers a unique view of 20th-century dynamics through the prism of Polish history and culture. It approaches Poland as a laboratory to explore some of the most important “-isms” of the past one hundred years, including: communism, socialism, anti-Semitism, capitalism, and Europeanism. The course also examines the stabilizing role of culture and national paradigms in the context of economic and political transformation and trauma. Taught in English. Some readings in Polish for qualified students. Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic.
Course Poster: PLSH412
MW 03:35 PM-04:50 PM. Instructor: Dr. Wampuszyc.
Upper-Level Russian-Language Seminar
RUSS 250: Introduction to Russian Literature. (3 Credits) Prerequisite: Six semesters of Russian or permission of instructor.
Reading and discussion of selected authors aimed at improving reading skills and preparing the student for higher-level work in Russian literature. Readings & Class Discussions in Russian. Course Poster: RUSS250
MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: Dr. Magomedova.
Upper-Level English-Language Russian Seminar
RUSS 274: Russian Literature after 1917. (3 Credits) Russian writers and literary problems from the Revolution to the present. Key works of Russian and Soviet fiction of the 20th century. Readings and class discussions in English. Approach: Literary Arts. Connection: Beyond the North Atlantic
Course Poster: RUSS274
MWF 12:20 PM-01:10 PM .Instructor: Dr. Reese.
Germanic Courses, Fall 2015
Undergraduate Courses
First-Year Seminars
GERM 056.001: Germans, Jews, and the History of Anti-Semitism: (3 Credits).This course seeks to explore the historically difficult position of minorities in the modern world, using the situation of Jews in Germany from the 18th century to the Holocaust as a case study.
MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: Professor Hess.
GERM 059.001: Moscow 1937: Dictatorships and Their Defenders: (3 Credits). This course offers a novel approach to the study of recurrent problems of enormous consequence: the origins and emergence of dictatorships that engage in grievous practices of repression and mass murder, in what ways these regimes are understood, and by whom, as they develop and mature”—philosophically, ideologically, historically; and how such regimes tend often to be enveloped in rationalizations that facilitate their continuing existence. The Soviet Union, particularly during the 1930s and the blood purges, serves as the axis. However, a main objective is to use this “case study” to branch off into different directions of student inquiry.
TTh 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Pike.
German Language Instruction
GERM 101: Elementary German (4 Credits). Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German (4 Credits). This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant
GERM 203: Intermediate German (3 Credits). Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. Prerequisite: GERM 102. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant
GERM 204: Advanced Intermediate German (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 203. Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
Section 001: MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: Professor Wegel
Section 002: MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Trop
GERM 301: Conversation and Composition (3 Credits). in this advanced language and literature courses you will read and discuss a variety of contemporary texts and watch films. Throughout the course, we will discuss what decisions different people make and how those decisions influence their lives for better or worse. This course also provides advanced language learners with opportunities to strengthen their writing and speaking skills – while discussing engaging texts, such as Benjamin Lebert’s novel Crazy or the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tales. Over the course of the semester, you will work toward improving your discussion skills in German; increase your active and passive vocabulary; review your command of German grammar with a particular emphasis on developing more sophisticated grammar rules; and learn to read and interpret a wide array of fictional and non-fictional texts. Genres slated for discussion include: a novel, short stories, fairy tales, newspaper articles, and song lyrics. Prerequisite, GERM 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Required for the major and the minor. Course Poster: GERM301
Section 001: MWF 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM. Instructor: Professor Hess.
Section 002: TTh 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM. Instructor: Professor von Bernuth.
GERM 302: German Language and Culture (3 Credits). German 302 is an advanced language and culture course aimed at familiarizing you with the political, cultural, and societal issues of contemporary Germany. We will read an array of non-fictional texts that students at the advanced Gymnasium level are reading. We will also engage with fictional texts, music, and the news, as well as watch several short films and full-length movies that lend us a critical view of Germany in the 21st century. German 302 also provides you with opportunities to strengthen your written German and to solidify your speaking skills in a communicative and culturally meaningful context. Prerequisite, GERM 301. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Required for the major and the minor. Course Poster: GERM302
Section 001: MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Layne.
Section 002: MWF 3:35 PM – 4:25 PM. Instructor: Professor Layne.
N.B. Starting in Fall 2015, students may take GERM 301, GERM 302, GERM 303, GERM 304, and GERM 305 in any order or concurrently. The only exception is that students should plan on taking either GERM 301 or GERM 302 before or concurrently with GERM 303.
Large English-Language Lecture on German Literature, Film, Art and Philosophy
GERM 216.001: The Viking Age (3 Credits). Lecture/discussion course on Viking culture, mythology, exploration, and projection of power in northern Europe (approx. 750-1050 C.E.) as represented in the literature of medieval Iceland. In Iceland, which is itself a product of Norse exploration and colonization, the age of the Vikings is also called the Saga Age. Though composed between 1120-1400, the so-called ‘family sagas’ relate events during the time of the Vikings: from the settlement of Iceland (from 870) through the conversion to Christianity (officially in 1000). These sagas are to varying degrees fictionalized accounts of earlier events and persons, the purport of which was as much to entertain as to inform. However, the saga writers used these prose narratives to consider the history and current situation of their own people. We shall seek to extrapolate from this literature — supplemented by historical and archeological information — a composite picture of Viking culture and society.
MW 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM. Required Recitation: 601: F @ 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM or 602: F @ 2:30 PM – 3:20 PM. Instructor: Professor Roberge.
GERM 246.001: Reality and Its Discontents: Kant to Kafka (3 Credits). Will examine one of the most fundamental and contested ideas of the modern world, the concept of “reality.” The course will treat some of the most important philosophers and philosophical issues of the past 250 years, placing these ideas in the cultural context from which they emerged and upon which they had a decisive impact. The course places a major emphasis on the seminal influence of Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and the romantic philosophers, but it also includes literary and cultural material concerned with the problem of the relation between the way we perceive the world and the way that world may be actually constructed. A major goal of the course is to show how subtle and apparently esoteric philosophical issues play a role in the way in which people actually understand and live their lives, with examples from literary depictions of such people.
MW 11:15 PM – 12:05 PM. Required Recitation: 601: F @ 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM; 602: F @ 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM; 603: F @ 11:15 PM – 12:05 PM or 604: F @ 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM. Instructor: Professor Koelb.
Small English-Language Seminars on Germanic Literature and Culture
GERM 251.001: Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism and Literature (3 Credits).Examination of the clash between 20th-century writers and the state, in countries where a single political government or party used an exclusive ideology as justification for interference in cultural and literary affairs. Crosslisted as SLAV 251.001.
TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Pike.
Upper-Level German-Language Literature and Culture Courses
GERM 303: Introduction to German Literature (3 Credits). The course will give an overview of German literature, culture, and politics. It will highlight works from various periods, engage in discussions about German literature, and encourage students to think and re-think the significance of literary production beyond the confines of the written word. Prerequisites, GERM 301 and 302. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisites. May be taken concurrently with 301 or 302; however students lacking either course must have permission from the instructor. Readings, discussions, and essays in German. Required for the major and the minor. Course Poster: GERM303
Section 001: TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM, Instructor: Staff.
Section 002: TTH 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM, Instructor: Professor Trop.
GERM 304.001: Business German I (3 Credits). This course provides students with a solid foundation in the vocabulary and etiquette necessary for success in a German-language business context, whether overseas or in an international firm closer to home. To achieve this objective, we will learn and practice the fundamentals of communicating effectively over the phone, in job interviews, during product or company presentations, via e-mail and in more formal writing such as cover letters and résumés. While we will engage current European economic topics in our classroom discussions and activities incorporating internet texts, videos and news reports, the course will emphasize the attainment of linguistic and cultural proficiency through in-class role plays, team activities, and individual and group presentations. At the end of the course each student should be able to: write an appropriate résumé and job application letter; communicate successfully in common business situations such as telephone conversations, job interviews, company visits, product or company presentations for prospective clients; write a variety of business letters, e-mails and other documents in German for transactions such as ordering or advertising a product or position; understand, describe and explain various German business practices that differ from those in the American business culture; apply with confidence for an internship with a German-language company; and converse on a wide-range of topics of current interest to German-language firms. GERM 304 recommended but not required.
MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM. Instructor: Professor Wegel.
GERM 382.001: Gangsters, Freedom Fighters, and Cold-Blooded Killers: Representations of Violence and Terrorism in Contemporary German Literature and Film (3 Credits). Between the years 1967 and 1977, West Germany was consumed by leftist political demonstrations, street riots, and guerrilla terrorism, calamities that brought an entire nation to question more forcefully than ever before its relationship to violence after Nazism. This course investigates the ideas of violence and terrorism as they developed during the postwar period by investigating their relationship to the figures of the gangster, the freedom fighter, and the terrorist, all of which figured prominently in the German literary and cinematic imagination of the time. The question at the core of our discussions will be: Why do literary texts and films evaluate violence in the shadow of fascism so differently? Prerequisite: GERM 303. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Readings, screenings and discussions in German.
TTh 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Langston.
GERM 390.001: The Films of the Berlin School and New Austrian Cinema (3 Credits). Over the past fifteen years, a new generation of filmmakers in Germany and Austria has emerged whose films have been internationally recognized as a new voice depicting the Lebensgefühl of the current generation. These films focus on characters who are lost, adrift, or in a period of transition; they might have lost their grip on reality, have fallen between the cracks socially or professionally, or had their life derailed following an unexpected event. This state is often tied to contemporary social transformations related to immigration, cultural assimilation, neoliberalism, or the role of new media and technology. The action in these films takes place in transitional spaces such as cars, hotels, unfurnished apartments, and foreign environments, where reality becomes a relative category. The films slowly unfold worlds of uncanny spaces and complex temporalities, employing a distinct aesthetic to capture, describe and investigate the characters’ state of drift and derailment: the images are sparse, the camera is static and grants unusual, selective views of events, and sound and image often work against one another. In this course, we will engage with and develop skills in film criticism as well as film theory. Students will learn and apply the critical concepts and vocabulary necessary to analyze films; read critical film reviews, interviews, and film-theoretical texts; and learn to write a film review. We will also make a few forays into German film history to situate these films historically. Films include Im Schatten (Thomas Arslan, 2012), Der Räuber (Benjamin Heisenberg, 2010), Marseille (Angela Schanelec, 2004), Barbara (Christian Petzold, 2013), Fallen (Barbara Albert, 2006), and others. Readings and class discussions are in German; films will be in German with German subtitles. Prerequisite: GERM 303. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
TTh 3:30 PM – 5:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Pollmann.
Carolina-Duke Graduate Seminars
GERM 616.001: Cultural Foundations in German Studies, 1800 to Present. (3 Credits) Sampling of major authors and works from Romanticism, Realism and Poetic Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, as well as postwar and contemporary periods. Works will be placed within their literary-aesthetic, as well as their social and intellectual contexts. Authors include Fontane, Nietzsche, Freud, Schnitzler, Rilke, Thomas Mann, Kafka, Grass, and others. All primary texts will be read in German. Permission of the instructor required for undergraduate students.
TTh 3:10 PM – 4:25 PM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Professor Langston.
GERM 640.001: Get Real! Or not…: German Poetic Realism (3 Credits). This course will focus on the rise of Realism and the wake of Romanticism in German-language literature of the second half of the nineteenth century. Emphasis will be on the delineation of realist literary strategies, with a special focus on the genre of the novella; on the political and historical complicities of the movement in terms both overt (e.g., the rise of nationalism, regionalism) and indirect (e.g., visual practices, gender politics); the relation to other cultural fields (e.g., philosophy, historiography, education, art history); and the relation to other nineteenth-century realist movements in England and France. I have a particular interest in issues of inheritance I hope we can explore: as part of this, we will be asking why Romanticism, the supposedly superseded movement of the earlier part of the century, continued its afterlife in the Realism period. Although mostly focused on our primary texts, we will also consider various theoretical approaches to the problem of realism in general. Readings in German and English; class discussions in English. Permission of the instructor required for undergraduates.
T 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Professor Downing.
GERM 700.001: Foreign Language Pedagogy: Theories and Practice. (3 Credits) This course introduces new graduate teaching assistants in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, as well as affiliated programs to current methodologies and pedagogies relevant to teaching in a foreign-language classroom. We will consider theoretical developments, as well as current issues in language pedagogy discussed in recent articles (Die Unterrichtspraxis, Foreign Language Annals et al.) and such readings as Making Communicative Language Teaching Happen (Lee and VanPatten), Teaching Language In Context (Omaggio-Hadley), and Approaches and Methods in Language Training (Richards and Rodgers). Furthermore, we will explore practical applications of the studied approaches and theorems, debate and engage with language, literature and culture classroom settings and methods and start building online teaching portfolios containing sample lesson plans, syllabi, and teaching philosophies.
F 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM. Carolina & Duke Campuses. Instructors: Professor Kahnke & Professor Wegel.
GERM 820.001: Topics in Medieval Literature: Origin and Genealogy (3 Credits). This course offers an introduction to one of the dominant patterns of medieval and early modern world explanation. Genealogy and family relations situate individuals within society, relate the multiplicity of the world to a single and consistent origin, and deal with the problem of how to preserve identity given the passing of time. Genealogy is a form of thinking, a social practice, an ordering of knowledge, and a mode of artistic activity, influenced by and reflected in literary texts. Through readings in different genres from the medieval and early modern period, such as religious narratives, heroic epic (Nibelungenlied), romance (Parzival, Tristan), world chronicles, legal texts (Sachsenspiegel), historical documents and early modern drama (Lohenstein’s Agrippina) and novels (Melusine, Simplizissimus) we will examine how literature is capable of blurring conceptual boundaries and transforming this central cultural pattern. This will ultimately lead us to ask what kind of political, social, and aesthetic changes take place once genealogy is no longer the dominant category of order, or why and how it is reintroduced in modern notions of art, society, and politics. For this purpose we will look into Nietzscheʼs Genealogie der Moral, Michel Foulcautʼs Ordre du discours, Freud’s Totem und Tabu and Georg Simmel’s Zur Soziologie der Familie. Reading knowledge of (modern) German required.
Th 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Professor Downing.
Slavic and Uralic Courses, Fall 2015
First-Year Seminar
SLAV 88H.001: Honors First-Year Seminar: Gender and Fiction in Central and Eastern Europe: (3 Credits). This course explores definitions of “masculine” and “feminine” in fiction, film, and essays by and about women from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. We will begin in the late 19th century with the “Woman Question”; discuss gender issues during the communist period; and analyze works by contemporary authors. Our discussions will shed light on the relationship between gender and such important issues as nationalism, political dissent and oppression, and consumerism. Readings include novels by Herta Müller and Slavenka Drakulić and films by Věra Chytilová and Márta Mészáros. Readings and class discussions in English.
MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: Professor Hess.
Slavic Language Courses
PLSH 401.001: Elementary Polish (3 Credits). Pronunciation, structure of language, and reading in modern Polish.
MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM. Instructor: Professor Wampuszyc.
RUSS 101: Elementary Russian (4 Credits). Introductory course designed to lay the foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills.
Multiple sections. Instructors: Staff.
RUSS 203.001: Intermediate Russian (3 Credits). Grammar-translation work with increasing proportions of free reading and oral work.
Instructor: TBA.
SECR 403.001: Intermediate Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian (3 Credits). Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Serbian and Croatian language.
MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM. Instructor: Staff.
Upper-Level Russian-Language Seminars
RUSS 321.001: Russian Conversation. (3 Credits) Designed to develop conversational skills in a variety of situations and subjects. Russian used, except for a minimum of linguistic explanations or comment. Prerequisite, RUSS 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
MWF 9:05 AM – 9:55 AM. Instructor: Professor Reese.
RUSS 406.001: Advanced Russian Grammar. (3 Credits) A comprehensive review of Russian grammar on an advanced level, emphasizing reading and writing skills. Prerequisite, RUSS 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
MWF 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM. Instructor: Professor Reese.
RUSS 411.001: Advanced Russian Conversation and Composition. (3 Credits) Designed to develop conversational and writing skills in a variety of situations and subjects. Prerequisite, RUSS 322 or 407. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite.
MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 AM. Instructor: Professor Magomedova.
Upper-Level English-Language Slavic Seminars
GERM 251.001: Ideology and Aesthetics: Marxism and Literature (3 Credits).Examination of the clash between 20th-century writers and the state, in countries where a single political government or party used an exclusive ideology as justification for interference in cultural and literary affairs. Crosslisted as SLAV 251.001.
TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Pike.
RUSS 275.001: Russian Fairy Tale. (3 Credits)An introduction to the Russian fairy tale together with its history and cultural context. Students will read both authentic Russian fairy talkes, and literary permutations of the Russian folk tradition.
MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM. Instructor: Professor Reese.
RUSS 277.001: Love, Sex, and Marriage in Soviet Culture. (3 Credits) This course surveys the themes of love, sex, and marriage as they developed in Russian literature and culture from Revolution and Civil War to industrialization and GULAG, World War, post-Stalinism, including the “Thaw,” the period of stagnation, and, finally, Perestroika.
TTh 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Lapushin.
RUSS 465.001: Chekhov. (3 Credits) In addition to the study of Chekhov’s major works, this course analyzes the relationship between his texts and their various adaptations on stage and screen.
TTh 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Lapushin.
RUSS 473.001: Vladimir Nabokov: Life and Art. (3 Credits) This course will explore Vladimir Nabokov’s prose fiction written in Germany and America. All of Nabokov’s novels are famous for their displays of artifice, narrative games, elaborate patterning, and language puzzles. We will study these artistic techniques in relation to the author’s complex life; one of a young Russian nobleman, a destitute émigré living in Germany and Paris, a lepidopterist and professor of literature in America, and finally a wealthy and much-regarded European man of letters. [Some readings in Russian for advanced Russian students.] TTh 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Pichova.
SLAV 465.001: Literature of Atrocity: The Gulag and the Holocaust in Russia and Eastern Europe (3 Credits) Literary representation in fiction, memoirs, and other genres of the mass annihilation and terror in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union under the Nazi and Communist regimes. Crosslisted with JWST 465 and PWAD 465.
TTh 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Pichova.
Germanic & Slavic Courses, Summer 2015
Maymester: May 13-29
Germanic Courses
GERM 290.01M: 20th-Century European History in Graphic Novels (3 Credits). We will examine graphic novels on an intellectual level, scrutinizing crucial historical events in Europe as diverse as WWI, the Holocaust, German Reunification, and the Bosnian War. How does this genre, working with words and visual modes of representation, interpret historical events? Fulfills LA and NA Gen Ed requirements.
M-F: 9AM – 12:15PM. Instructor: Professor Wegel.
Summer Session I
Germanic Courses
GERM 101: Elementary German (4 Credits). Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-F, 9:45AM – 11:15AM and M, 1:15 – 3:15PM. Instructor: Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 203: Intermediate German (3 Credits). Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. Prerequisite: GERM 102. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-F, 9:45AM – 11:15AM. Instructor: Graduate Teaching Assistant
Slavic Course
RUSS 275.001: Russian Fairy Tale. (3 Credits)An introduction to the Russian fairy tale together with its history and cultural context. Students will read both authentic Russian fairy talkes, and literary permutations of the Russian folk tradition.
M-F, 11:30AM – 1:00PM. Instructor: Professor Lapushin.
Summer Session II
Germanic Course
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German (4 Credits). This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-F, 9:45AM – 11:15AM and M, 1:15 – 3:15PM. Instructor: Graduate Teaching Assistant
GERM 270.001: German Culture and the Jewish Question (3 Credits). A study of the role of Jews and the “Jewish question” in German culture from 1750 to the Holocaust and beyond. Discussions and texts (literary, political, theological) in English. Crosslisted with CMPL 270, JWST 239 and RELI 239.
M-Th, 3:00PM – 5:00PM. Instructor: Professor Hess.
Germanic Courses, Spring 2015
Undergraduate Courses
First-Year Seminars
GERM 068: Intensity, Vitality, Ecstasy in Literature & Philosophy: (3 Credits). What cultural and intellectual resources do we have to increase the intensity of our inner lives, to feel more vitally plugged into the world, and to be attracted to extraordinary modes of perception? We will read shorter texts by famous philosophers, mystics, and poets in order to help us answer these questions. Assignments will explore creative and alternative forms of writing (rather than the standard academic essay), including dialogues, meditations, and free writing. Authors include: Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Descartes, Montaigne, Meister Eckhart, Hildegard von Bingen, Mechthild von Magdeburg, Goethe, Musil, Heidegger, and Rilke, among others. Course Poster: GERM 068
MWF 3:35 PM – 4:25 PM. Instructor: Professor Trop.
German Language Instruction
GERM 101: Elementary German (4 Credits). Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant.
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German (4 Credits). This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant
GERM 203: Intermediate German (3 Credits). Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. Prerequisite: GERM 102. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant
GERM 204: Advanced Intermediate German (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 203. Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film. Course Poster: GERM 101-204
M-Th, Times vary. Instructor: Lecturer or Graduate Teaching Assistant
GERM 301: Conversation and Composition (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Emphasis is on speaking and writing, with shorter readings on contemporary German life to provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions. Further goals include improvement of pronunciation and a mastery of grammar. Required for the major and the minor. Course Poster: GERM301
Section 001: MWF 1:25-2:15, Instructor: Graduate Teaching Assistant.
Section 002: MWF 4:40-5:30, Instructor: Professor Trop.
GERM 302: German Language and Culture (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 301. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Introduction to issues shaping modern German culture and history through a wide range of texts and media while expanding and strengthening reading, writing, and speaking skills. Required for the major and the minor. Course Poster: GERM302
Section 001: MWF 9:05-9:55, Instructor: Professor Langston.
Section 002: MWF 2:30-3:20, Instructor: Professor von Bernuth.
Large English-Language Lecture on German Literature, Film, Art and Philosophy
GERM 290.001: The German Idea of War (3 Credits). Offered in conjunction with UNC’s World War I Centenary Project, this large English-language lecture course explores how the arts – literature, film and painting – shaped the idea of war before, during and after World War I. Questions this course poses include: Why and how did the arts praise war before its outbreak? How did the arts idealize the experience of war? How did the war push the limits of artistic expression? What exactly was war supposed to achieve and how did the brutality of war alter these aspirations? What lessons did art learn in the shadow of the Great War? In addition to literary texts by some of the greatest German-language writers of the early 20th century (Jünger, Kraus, Remarque, Richthofen, Rilke, Schnitzler, Trakl), students will encounter attendant philosophical ideas by such thinkers such as Benjamin, Dilthey, Freud, Lukcás, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein as well as screen films (Hofer, Lang, Reinert, Wiene) and view art (Dix, Kandinsky, Marc, Nolde) held in the Ackland collection. Requires no previous knowledge of the German language. Course Poster: GERM290
N.B.: This is section 001 of GERM 290.
N.B.: Once receiving a grade in this lecture course, it is possible to petition to have it count toward the following gen ed requirements: Philosophical and Moral Reasoning (PH), North Atlantic World (NA), or Literary Arts (LA).
MW 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM. Recitation (TH/F) required. Instructor: Professor Langston.
Small English-Language Seminars on Germanic Literature and Culture
GERM 252: South Africa in Literary Perspective (3 Credits). Like the United States, southern Africa was long populated by indigenous peoples and was colonized by the Dutch (in 1652) and then by the British (from 1806). Non-indigenous slave and indentured labor was imported from Asia and other parts of Africa, and their descendants also live in South Africa today. (Germany colonized Southwest Africa—today Namibia—in the 1870s, which after World War I was controlled by South Africa until independence in 1990.) In 1948, Afrikaner nationalists won control of the South African state and instituted a pervasive system of racial domination that came to be known as apartheid. Encouraged by decolonization elsewhere on the continent, native Africans and other people of color sought a more effective voice in the country’s affairs, which intensified into more overt forms of resistance to the apartheid regime. White rule formally came to an end in 1994, with the election by universal franchise of Nelson Mandela as state president. Against this backdrop, this course will survey South African writing from the 1950s to the present, with a view toward studying the rise and fall of apartheid and its legacy, as revealed in the country’s literature. Authors include J. M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Es’kia Mphahlele, Alan Paton, Njabulo Ndebele, Zakes Mda, Zoe Wicomb, Athol Fugard. Course Poster: GERM252
TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Roberge. This course has been canceled.
GERM 254H: The Occupation of Germany. The Origins of the first (1945‐1949) and the Beginnings of a new Cold War (2000 – 2009) (3 Credits). Though scholars have long disagreed about the causes of the Cold War, no one disputes that the “German question” played a central role in the break-up of the wartime alliance and the political division of western and eastern Europe that lasted for almost half a century. But was this division of Germany inevitable, and if so, why? If not, how did it happen? Was the Cold War inevitable? If yes, why? If not, why not? The course will explore these questions in two main chronological contexts – 1945 to 1949 and 1989 to the present, using technology to explore Russian archival documents in search of answers. Course Poster: GERM254H
N.B.: This is an honors seminar: Only members of Honors Carolina may register when term enrollment begins; other eligible students may register beginning at 8:00 AM on Monday, November 17. A cumulative GPA of 3.000 or higher is required to enroll in any Honors course.
TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Pike.
GERM 257: Society and Culture in Postwar Germany (3 Credits). Germany’s so-called “Zero-Hour” began in May 1945. After promises of a 1000-year Reich, hegemonic rule over Europe and beyond, and illusions of racial superiority, Germany lay in ruins. In the shadow of military defeat and Allied occupation, Germans struggled to wipe their slate clean and begin anew. Once a dictatorship, contemporary Germany is now an economically powerful and cultural diverse democracy. How, this upper-level seminar asks, did Germans manage in sixty-five years to transform their country so radically? How has the German past shaped Germany’s progress? What difficulties, setbacks and challenges shaped this transformation? With one eye on primary historical and cultural documents and another on scholarship in German Studies, participants in this course will investigate: the ideological tensions at work in the immediate postwar period; the troublesome influx of American ideals in the West and the incorporation of the East into the Soviet-bloc; the economic rehabilitation in the West and the rise of a protest culture; the geopolitics at work in Berlin at the height of the Cold War; the emergence of dissatisfaction and critique in the East; the rise of alternative cultures in the West; the problems with and controversies around remembering the Holocaust and German suffering; the path toward German unification; the rebuilding of Berlin as capital; and the contemporary struggles to normalize German history in the face of Germany’s increasing multiculturalism.
N.B.: This course is cross-listed as: HIST/POLI/SOCI 257.
TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Jarausch (History Department).
GERM 290.002: Modern German Masterpieces in English Translation. (3 Credits) The idea of world literature was a German invention, a concept proposed by none other than J.W. von Goethe to describe literature of universal importance for all of humanity. While our appreciation of world literature has grown to include non-Western literature, German literature remains an important component in this canon. This English-language literature seminar introduces newcomers to some of the highlights of modern German literature beginning with the eighteenth-century playwright Lessing and ending with Nobel Prize winner Günter Grass. In addition to short lectures intended to situate individual texts within their historical contexts, class meetings will also give students ample opportunity to analyze texts in detail. Readings and class discussions in English. N.B.: This is section 002 of GERM 290. Course Poster: GERM290.002
TTH 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Pike.
Dutch Literature Courses
DTCH 405: Topics in Dutch Culture: A Literary Survey (3 Credits). This survey of Dutch Literature, taught entirely in Dutch, aims to introduce students to the highlights of Dutch literature through the ages in their cultural and historical contexts. The emphasis is on how literature can serve as a lens to view such phenomena as the rise of the Dutch Republic, internal religious strife and the formation of a tolerant society, the Dutch colonial experience, the Holocaust and the 2nd World War in its Dutch context, post-modern reflections of contemporary Dutch society, and the current struggle with a new wave of immigration. Course Poster: DTCH405
MWF 3:35 PM – 4:25 PM. Instructor: Professor Thornton.
Upper-Level German-Language Literature and Culture Courses
GERM 303: Introduction to German Literature (3 Credits). Prerequisites, GERM 301 and 302. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisites. Presents major authors (Goethe, Mann, Kafka, and Brecht), periods, genres, and analysis. An appropriate conclusion to GERM 101–204, it also provides the background for more advanced undergraduate literature courses. Readings, discussions, and essays in German. Required for the major and the minor. Course Poster: GERM303
Section 001: TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM, Instructor: Professor Layne.
Section 002: TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM, Instructor: Professor Pollmann.
GERM 305: Business German II (3 Credits). A continuation of GERM 304, this course is designed to provide students with in-depth knowledge of current economic issues in the German-speaking world, and will prepare students for the internationally-recognized certificate exam “Wirtschaftsdeutsch als Fremdsprache.” Students will closely familiarize themselves with the German corporate world through specific case studies. They will attain detailed linguistic and factual knowledge of German business culture and, more generally, of the European market. Frequent guest lecturers representing local German companies complement classroom learning. Differences between American and European corporate culture will be explored through extensive reading and in-class discussions. GERM 304 recommended but not required. Course Poster: GERM305
MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM. Instructor: Professor Summers.
GERM 374: World War I in German Theater and Drama (3 Credits).This advanced German literature course will take you out of the traditional classroom into a theater space. We will not only read and discuss dramas centered around World War I, but also put on a full-length performance. Both the performance and the discussions in class will afford you a more thorough understanding of the forces at work within different plays. You will immerse yourself in the literary, social, political, and historical context of the first half of the 20th century, as well as read seminal theoretical texts of performance theory. Readings, discussions, and rehearsals in German. Course Poster: GERM374
TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM; Rehearsals T 5:30-7:30 PM. Instructor: Professor Wegel.
GERM 380: Austrian Literature (3 Credits).This course offers an introduction to Austrian literature and culture from the 1820s through WW II and beyond, studying literary texts against the backdrop of developments in music, philosophy, and the visual arts. Readings and Class Discussions will be in German. Prerequisite: GERM 303. Course Poster: GERM380
TTH 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM. Instructor: Professor Hess.
Advanced Undergraduate & Graduate Seminars
GERM 400: German Grammar in Context. (3 Credits) This is an intensive German grammar course for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Over the course of the semester, we will study current German structures and their usages, as well as idiomatic expressions. We will work to strengthen your writing and speaking skills, as well as your attention to different modes of expressions. Required book: Grammatik mit Sinn und Verstand (2011) by Wolfgang Rug and Andreas Tomaszewski. Readings in German; class discussions in German and English. Course Poster: GERM400
F 12:20 PM – 2:50 PM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Professor Wegel.
GERM 502: Middle High German. (3 Credits) This course teaches the basic elements of the Middle High German language and exposes students to a variety of textual genres from the high Middle Ages such as courtly romance, heroic epic, love lyric, and late medieval rhymed couplets. The focus is on language and translation, but the close textual work also provides an introduction to Middle High German literature and culture. Readings in English, German, and Middle High German; class will be conducted in German. Course Poster: GERM502
W 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Professor von Bernuth.
GERM 590S.01: Classics of Literary Criticism (3 Credits). This course will examine some of the great literary critics of the 20th century, writers whose ability to produce focused, inspired, and influential readings of major works of literature has been widely recognized. Our focus will be on studying, and learning from, exemplary readings of major literary works. In other words, this is not a course in literary theory. Readings of landmark critical texts will be combined with selections of canonical texts of English and continental European literature. While the syllabus has not yet been finalized, we will almost certainly attend to the following critics/literary works: William Empson and Stanley Fish on Milton’s Paradise Lost; Erich Auerbach, T.S. Eliot, and Charles Singleton on Dante’s Divine Comedy; Christopher Ricks, John Bayley, and Cleanth Brooks on Keats; Frank Kermode and Rene Girard on secrecy and desire in the nineteenth-century novel; Geoffrey Hartman and Alan Liu on Wordsworth; Jean Starobinski and Paul de Man on Rousseau, and Walter Benjamin on Goethe’s Elective Affinities. Course Poster: CDG Spring 2014
M 4:40 PM – 7:10 PM. Duke Campus. Instructor: Professor Pfau.
GERM 855: Postcolonial German Literature. (3 Credits) In this seminar, our main focus will be German texts and films that could be considered postcolonial. Some of these texts might be set in the so-called “Third World,” while others might depict the experiences of foreigners in postwar Germany. A few of the questions that will guide our discussion over the course of the semester are: What is postcolonial German literature? Do the German authors of the postwar period succeed in a cultural exchange with the “Third World” that does not simply repeat the racism and fetishism found in colonial literature? And to what extent is a postcolonial approach useful for discussing texts by foreign authors who are not from former colonies? In addition to reading aesthetic texts, we will also read essays from postcolonial theory and German Studies to complement our analyses and help us consider what differentiates German post-colonial theory from the theoretical texts from other countries. Readings in German; class discussions in English. Course Poster: CDG Spring 2014
TTH 3:10 PM – 4:25 PM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Professor Layne.
GERM861: Theater, Culture, and Commerce in 19th-Century Germany. (3 Credits) This course offers an introduction to nineteenth-century theater history that focuses on the interplay between cultural innovation and the market, studying the texts of dramas against the backdrop of their performance and reception history. A significant portion of the seminar will be devoted to close reading and analysis of plays that dominated the theater repertoire in the nineteenth century. In this context we will consider both canonical dramas (Schiller’s Maria Stuart, Grillparzer’s Medea, Shakespeare’s Der Kaufmann von Venedig) and more popular fare (Kotzebue’s Die deutschen Kleinstädter, Birch-Pfeiffer’s Die Waise von Lowood, Mosenthal’s Der Sonnwendhof, etc.). We will supplement our readings of these texts with an exploration of nineteenth-century productions of them throughout the German-speaking world and abroad. Our discussion of these dramas and their performances will be set in dialogue with both nineteenth-century theoretical writings on drama and research into key players in the world of the nineteenth-century theater: representative theater companies, directors, actors, etc. Readings in German, class discussion in English. Course Poster: CDG Spring 2014
F 9:05 AM – 11:35 AM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Professor Hess.
Related Graduate Courses
CMPL 841.001: History of Literary Criticism I (Classicism) (3 Credits). This course is designed to introduce students to some of the major strains in literary criticism from the Classical Period to the 18th century. Readings of major authors will be paired not only with literary examples contemporary with our chosen critics, but also with modern day theoretical responses to their works. Our objective is a working knowledge of dominant trends in European literary criticism up to (and including) the Enlightenment, useful in understanding the literature of the successive historical periods and also as a continuing, vital influence on twentieth-century poetics. We will also be devoting some time to the primary non-Classical tradition of early Western literary criticism, namely Biblical interpretation. Authors read include Gorgias, Plato, Aristotle, Aristophanes, Horace, Longinus, Philo, Proclus, Plotinus, Augustine, Scaliger, Luther, Boileau, Sidney, Burke, Young, and Lessing; Homer, Pindar, Callimachus, Ovid, Vergil, Dante, and Pope; and Auerbach, Derrida, Genette, Ricouer, Benjamin, and Bernal.
TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. Carolina Campus. Instructor: Professor Downing. Course Poster: CDG Spring 2014
Slavic and Uralic Courses, Spring 2015
Slavic & Uralic Language Courses
CZCH 404: Intermediate Czech (3 Credits).Continuation of proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Czech, continued. Course Poster: CZCH404
TTH 2:00 – 3:15 PM. Instructor: Dr. Hana Pichova.
HUNG 404: Intermediate Hungarian Language (3 Credits). Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Hungarian, continued. Course Poster: HUNG404
TBA. Instructor: Ildiko Horovitz Balintfy
PLSH 404: Intermediate Polish (3 Credits). Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Polish, continued. Course Poster: PLSH404
TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Ewa Wampuszyc.
RUSS 102: Elementary Russian (4 Credits). Continuation of the introductory course designed to lay the foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills. Course Poster: RUSS102&204
Section 001: MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM, Th 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM. Instructor: TBA.
Section 002: MWF 1:25 AM – 2:15 AM, Th 1:30 AM – 2:20 AM.. Instructor: TBA.
Section 003: MWThF 2:30 AM – 3:20 AM. Instructor: TBA.
RUSS 204: Intermediate Russian (3 Credits). Grammar-translation work with increasing proportions of free reading and oral work, continued. Course Poster: RUSS102&204
MWF 12:20PM – 1:10 PM. Instructor: Dr. Kevin Reese.
SECR 402: Elementary Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian (3 Credits). Pronunciation, structure of the language, and readings in modern Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian language, continued. Course Poster: SECR402
TTH 5:00 PM – 6:15 PM. Instructor: Adnan Dzumhur.
RUSS 322: Advanced Russian Conversation/Composition. (3 Credits) Conversational Russian, with the master of magical realism, Mikhail Bulgakov. Learn, improve, share, and enjoy your spoken Russian in the company of one of Russia’s greatest and funniest writers, along with a talking dog, and Marxist-Leninist revolutionary ideals, as they converge in the harsh everyday life of War-Communism Russia. This course is built around two cult classics: Bulgakov’s novella The Heart of a Dog (1925) and its cinematic adaptation by Vladimir Bortko (1988). Be sure to bring your Pavlovian instincts along. Course Poster: RUSS322
MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Shvabrin.
RUSS 407: Advanced Russian Grammar. (3 Credits) A comprehensive review of Russian grammar on an advanced level, emphasizing reading and writing skills.
MWF 10:10 AM – 11:00 AM. Instructor: Dr. Reese.
RUSS 412: Advanced Russian Conversation and Composition. (3 Credits) Designed to develop conversational and writing skills in a variety of situations and subjects.
MWF 1:25 PM – 2:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Magomedova.
Central European Seminars
GSLL 260: From Berlin to Budapest: The Literature, Film, and Culture of Central Europe. (3 Credits) Throughout the twentieth century, Central Europe has been at the center of dramatic historical changes: the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the rise and fall of the Nazi regime, the spread of communism, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and finally, incorporation into the European Union. These tumultuous historical events have culturally shaped the region in unexpected, even contradictory ways, and have ironically produced some of Europe’s most creative and relevant cultural voices, that have relevance far beyond the region. We will concentrate on the work of writers and filmmakers who depict the turbulent events of this region, specifically as played out in the four capital cities of Berlin, Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw. Through their work we will understand how these cities changed with each political upheaval, what type of atmosphere they provided for artists, what fears they awoke among their populous, and how imagination and creativity flourished in these cities’ cafes and pubs. Course Poster: GSLL260
TTH 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Pichova.
GSLL 475: Magical Realism. (3 Credits) One of the most oxymoronic terms of contemporary literary criticism is “magical realism”. The inherent contradiction of the marriage between the “magical” and the “real” not only makes the term difficult to define, but it also makes the mode of writing one of the most intriguing literatures to read and discuss! Until recently, “magical realism” has most often been associated with Latin American literature and post-colonial theory. Today, however, many scholars have started to look at this mode of writing as a global phenomenon. That is why, in this course, I invite you to enjoy a semester of literature and film from Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on Polish literature, to see how magical realism has been adapted in a part of the world that might be new to you! And if you already know something about Central and Eastern Europe, then join us for a new perspective on some of your old favorites. All the readings are in English. No prerequisites required. Course Poster: GSLL475
TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM. Instructor: Professor Wampuszyc.
Upper-Level Russian-Language Seminar
RUSS 250: Introduction to Russian Literature. (3 Credits) Reading and discussion of selected authors aimed at improving reading skill and preparing the student for higher-level work in Russian literature. Readings & Class Discussions in Russian. Course Poster: RUSS250
MWF 11:15 AM – 12:05 PM. Instructor: Professor Magomedova.
Upper-Level English-Language Russian Seminars
RUSS 274: Russian Literature From 1917 to the Present. (3 Credits) This course examines one of the most eventful and dynamic periods in Russian history and culture. It will lead us from Revolution and Civil War to industrialization and GULAG, World War, post-Stalinism, including the “Thaw,” the “period of stagnation,” Perestroika, and, finally, post-Modernism. Readings and class discussions in English. Course Poster: RUSS274
TTH 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Lapushin.
RUSS 432: Great Novels and Cursed Questions: Russian Literature and Culture, 1850-1881. (3 Credits) A survey of major works of Russian literature & culture in the Golden Age, an era of socio-political reform. Taught in English. Some readings in Russian for qualified students. Course Poster: RUSS432
TTH 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM. Instructor: Dr. Reese.
RUSS 450: The Russian Absurd: Text, Stage, Screen. (3 Credits) This course examines “The Absurd” in Russian literature and culture as it developed from the 19th century to the present. Through works by important Russian writers (Gogol, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Nabokov), students explore facets of “The Russian Absurd” viewed as a literary, cultural, and social phenomenon. Taught in English. Some readings in Russian for qualified students. Course Poster: RUSS450
TTH 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM. Instructor: Professor Lapushin.
RUSS 460: The Russian Short Story. (3 Credits) A survey of outstanding examples of Russian short fiction from the Seventeenth Century to the present day. Taught in English. Some readings in Russian for qualified students. Course Poster: RUSS460
MW 3:35 PM – 4:50 PM. Instructor: Professor Shvabrin.
Germanic Courses, Fall 2014
Undergraduate Courses
First-Year Seminars
GERM 051: Stalin and Hitler: Historical Issues in Cultural and Other Perspectives (3 Credits). Critical issues that dominated the 20th century: WWI and Bolshevik Revolution; rise of fascism, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and their roles; origins and evolution of Cold War; collapse of Eastern Bloc. Instructor: Dr. David Pike
GERM 067: Blackness in the European Imaginary, Europe in the Black Imaginary (3 Credits). This seminar deals with how encounters between Europe and the African Diaspora have changed notions of race, nation, identity, and belonging in the 20th century. Through engaging with diverse texts—literary, nonliterary, and visual, we will explore the construction of blackness in various national and historical contexts. Instructor: Dr. Priscilla Layne
German & Dutch Language Instruction
GERM 101: Elementary German (4 Credits). Develops the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) in a cultural context. In addition to mastering basic vocabulary and grammar, students will communicate in German about everyday topics. This course meetings four days a week: MTWTh.
GERM 102: Advanced Elementary German (4 Credits). This continuation of GERM 101 emphasizes speaking, listening, reading, writing in a cultural context. Students enhance their basic vocabulary and grammar and will regularly communicate in German about everyday topics. This course meetings four days a week: MTWTh.
GERM 203: Intermediate German (3 Credits). Students acquire necessary materials and opportunities to develop further their language skills in a cultural context. They review and expand upon the basic grammar covered in beginning German. Prerequisite: GERM 102. This course meets three days a week: MWF.
GERM 204: Advanced Intermediate German (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 203. Emphasizes further development of the four language skills (speaking, reading, writing, listening) within a cultural context. Discussions focus on modern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in literature and film. This course meets three days a week: MWF.
GERM 301: Conversation and Composition (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Emphasis is on speaking and writing, with shorter readings on contemporary German life to provide subject matter for in-class discussion and regular written compositions. Further goals include improvement of pronunciation and a mastery of grammar. Required for the major and the minor. Instructor: Dr. Christina Wegel
GERM 302: German Language and Culture (3 Credits). Prerequisite, GERM 301. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Introduction to issues shaping modern German culture and history through a wide range of texts and media while expanding and strengthening reading, writing, and speaking skills. Required for the major and the minor. Instructor: Dr. Sandra Summers
DTCH 404: Advanced Intermediate Dutch (3 Credits). Aims to increase proficiency in language skills (reading, speaking, writing) and is constructed around a series of themes meant to introduce students to Dutch society, culture, and history. Instructor: Dr. Dan Thorton
Upper-Level German-Language Courses
GERM 303: Introduction to German Literature (3 Credits). Prerequisites, GERM 301 and 302. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisites. Presents major authors (Goethe, Mann, Kafka, and Brecht), periods, genres, and analysis. An appropriate conclusion to GERM 101–204, it also provides the background for more advanced undergraduate literature courses. Readings, discussions, and essays in German. Required for the major and the minor. Instructor: Dr. Richard Langston
GERM 304: Business German (3). Prerequisite, GERM 301. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. An introduction to the language and culture of German business, commerce, and industry. Special emphasis is given to the acquisition of advanced business-related language skills. Instructor: Dr. Sandra Summers
GERM 350: The World Wars and their Treatment in German Literature (3 Credits). Separated by only twenty-one years, the Great War (1914-1918) and the Second World War (1938-1945) were both global wars that involved not just Europe but the entire world. In both instances, German society and culture were thoroughly ravaged. This advanced seminar will explore comparatively how writers responded to these global wars and how war affected both literature and its place in society. Prerequisite: GERM 303. Instructor: Dr. David Pike
GERM 390: Schein und Sein: Türkisch-deutsche Kultur, 1964-2014 (3 Credits). This course draws on a variety of texts (poetry, short stories, plays, films) in order to understand Turkish migration to Germany. In the first half of the class, students will will read fiction and nonfiction written either by or about Turkish guest workers. In the second half of the course, readings will engage the cultural productions of second and third generation Turkish Germans. Of concern will be: how Turkish-German culture developed, how those born in Germany respond to German stereotypes, and how Turks in Germany have changed Germany and German identity. Prerequisite: GERM 303. Instructor: Dr. Priscilla Layne
English-Language Courses
GERM 279: Once upon a Fairy Tale: Fairy Tales and Childhood, Then and Now (CMPL 279) (3 Credits). Not intended for students who have taken GERM 54. Considers fairy tales from several different national traditions and historical periods against the backdrop of folklore, literature, psychoanalysis, and the socializing forces directed at children. Instructor: Dr. Eric Downing
GERM 290: Inspired States and Cynical Minds: Romanticism and Postromanticism in Germany, England, and France (3 Credits). This seminar uncovers intellectual resources in Romanticism that foster critical thought and by examining seemingly cynical Postromantic attitudes that gravitate to peculiar forms of affective enthusiasm. At stake is an attempt to position the human being as an agent that can be both suspicious of the world—its manifold institutions, technologies, and political forms of power—and attuned to possibilities for transcendence and self-overcoming. Instructor: Dr. Gabriel Trop
Graduate Courses
GERM 514: Old Norse I (Old Icelandic) (3 Credits). Introduction to the language of medieval Scandinavia, with a primary focus on developing a basic reading proficiency so that students can avail themselves of the prose literature in the original with a dictionary. Students will be expected to work closely through the grammar and the translation of texts from the original language into English. There will be plenty of grammatical analysis, dictionary work, vocabulary and paradigm memorization, and translation (but no speaking component, obviously, beyond learning the medieval pronunciation). We shall also examine the linguistic structure of Old Norse from a diachronic perspective. This class is intended for students who have an interest in medieval studies, linguistics, and/or philology but have had no prior exposure to Old Norse. Some previous study of a “philological” language (e.g., Old English, Middle High German) and/or a modern Scandinavian language would be helpful, though it is not required. Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. Instructor: Dr. Paul Roberge
GERM 615: Cultural Foundations in German Studies, to 1800 (3 Credits). First part of a two-semester sequence offering students a comprehensive, text-based survey of German literary history from the High Middle Ages to the present. Permission of the instructor for undergraduates. Instructor: Dr. Gabriel Trop
GERM 700: Foreign Language Pedagogy: Theories and Practice (3 Credits). This course introduces new Graduate Teaching Assistants in the Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies, as well as affiliated programs to current methodologies and pedagogies relevant to teaching in a foreign-language classroom. We will explore practical applications of the studied approaches and theorems, debate and engage with language, literature and culture classroom settings and methods and start building online teaching portfolios containing sample lesson plans, syllabi, and teaching philosophies. Instructors: Dr. Christina Wegel and Dr. Corinna Kahnke
GERM 790.02: “Mensch ohne Welt”: 20th-Century German-Jewish Literature (3 Credits). This course will offer a survey of German-Jewish literature from 1900 to the present. Readings will include works by Jakob Wassermann, Franz Kafka, Alfred Döblin, Arthur Schnitzler, Joseph Roth, Soma Morgenstern, Arnold Zweig, Veza Canetti, Else Lasker-Schüler, Paul Celan, Ilse Aichinger, Nelly Sachs, Edgar Hilsenrath, Robert Menasse, Ruth Klüger, and Barbara Honigmann. We will be attentive to historical and geographical contexts, as well as theoretical issues, such how German-Jewish writers negotiate questions of modernity and modernism, tradition and ritual, multilingualism and multiculturalism, memory and nostalgia, and trauma and violence. Instructor: Dr. Kata Gellen
GERM 790.03: German Political Thought (3 Credits). This course serves as an introduction to German political and social thought. We will read short but important and influential texts by, for instance, Immanuel Kant, J. G. Herder, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Carl Schmitt, and Hannah Arendt. Discussions will cover the central concerns and key concepts of the German tradition of political and social thought, such as autonomy, state, society, people, and community. The seminar is intended as a complement to studies in German literary and intellectual history. Instructor: Dr. Jakob Norberg
GERM 840: Kleist (3 Credits). All of the major and minor works of Kleist, including letters and occasional pieces, form the basic subject-matter for the course. In addition, we will examine some of the biographical material available documenting his short life, along with some of the pertinent secondary literature. Instructor: Dr. Clayton Koelb
Related Graduate Courses
JWST 697.001: How Jewish is Jewish Humor? (3 Credits). Jews and non-Jews alike have credited Jewish people with a particular sense of humor. But what turns a joke, an anecdote, a graphic novel, or a movie into a representation of Jewish humor? Based on theories of humor such as Bergson’s “Laughter: An Essay in the Meaning of Comic” (1900) and Freud’s “Jokes and Its Relation to the Unconscious” (1905), the course seeks to define how humor and Jews were related in history by exploring material from a variety of sources from Europe, Israel, and America. Instructor: Dr. Ruth von Bernuth
Slavic and Uralic Courses, Fall 2014
First-Year Seminars
SLAV 86: Literature and Madness (3 Credits). This course examines the ways in which modern European and American fiction, essays, and film construct representations of madness. Instructor: Dr. Radislav Lapushin
SLAV 88H: Gender and Fiction in Central and Eastern Europe (3 Credits). An introduction to the region, this course examines the role of gender in central and east European literature from the end of the 19th century to contemporary times. Course materials include novels, films, historical readings, and essays. Readings and class discussions in English. Instructor: Dr. Ewa Wampuszyc
Slavic & Uralic Language Courses
CZCH 403: Intermediate Czech (3 Credits). Continuation of proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Czech. Instructor: Dr. Hana Pichova
HUNG 403: Intermediate Hungarian Language (3 Credits). Intermediate Hungarian Language (3). Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Hungarian. Instructor: Ildiko Horovitz Balintfy
PLSH 403: Intermediate Polish (3 Credits). Continuation of the proficiency-based instruction begun in Elementary Polish. Instructor: Dr. Ewa Wampuszyc
RUSS 101: Elementary Russian (4 Credits). Introductory course designed to lay the foundation of grammar and to convey basic reading and pronunciation skills. This course meets four times a week. Instructors: Natalia Chernysheva, Dr. Eleonora Magomedova, Kirill Tolpygo
RUSS 203: Intermediate Russian (3 Credits). Grammar-translation work with increasing proportions of free reading and oral work. Instructor: Dr. Kevin Reese
RUSS 321: 321 Russian Conversation (3 Credits). Prerequisite, RUSS 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Designed to develop conversational skills in a variety of situations and subjects. Russian used, except for a minimum of linguistic explanations or comment. Instructor: Dr. Stanislav Shvabrin
RUSS 406: Advanced Russian Grammar (3 Credits). Prerequisite, RUSS 204. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. A comprehensive review of Russian grammar on an advanced level, emphasizing reading and writing skills. Instructor: Dr. Kevin Reese
RUSS 411: Advanced Russian Conversation and Composition (3 Credits). Prerequisite, RUSS 322 or 407. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Designed to develop conversational and writing skills in a variety of situations and subjects. Instructor: Dr. Eleonora Magomedova
RUSS 513: Russian Culture in Transition I (3). Prerequisite, RUSS 411. Permission of the instructor for students lacking the prerequisite. Fifth-year Russian, to expand knowledge of the language necessary for understanding social changes that are taking place in Russian society, in literature, art, culture, and everyday human mentality. Instructor: Dr. Eleonora Magomedova
Upper-Level English-Language Seminars
CZCH 469: Milan Kundera and World Literature (CMPL 469) (3 Credits). This course traces Milan Kundera’s literary path from his communist poetic youth to his present postmodern Francophilia. His work will be compared with those authors he considers his predecessors and influences in European literature. Taught in English. Some readings in Czech for qualified students. Instructor: Dr. Hana Pichova
RUSS 270: Russian Culture and Society: 1890–1917 (3 Credits). Examines the extraordinary diversity of turn-of-the-century Russian culture (1890s to 1917); the proliferation of visual and performance arts; the rise of popular culture; new artistic explorations of gender and sexuality. Lectures and readings in English. Instructor: Dr. Christopher Putney
RUSS 276: Mystery and Suspense in Russian Literature (3 Credits). The study of mystery and suspense in Russian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries. Readings and class discussions in English. Instructor: Dr. Radislav Lapushin
RUSS 431: Dandies and Dead Souls: Russian Literature and Culture, 1800–1850 (3 Credits). A survey of major works of Russian literature and culture in the first half of the 19th century. Readings in English translation. Some readings in Russian for qualified students. Instructor: Dr. Christopher Putney
RUSS 473: Vladimir Nabokov (3 Credits). Exploration of Vladimir Nabokov’s prose fiction written in Germany and America. Emphasis placed on the primary texts, but some secondary readings included. Movies based on Nabokov’s novels will be viewed as well. Readings in Russian for majors, in English for non majors. Instructor: Dr. Stanislav Shvabrin