*Hausaufgaben (Handouts und andere Materialien finden angemeldete Student-Innen auf der Blackboard-Seite für Deutsch 4600.)
Proseminar: Krankheit und Gesellschaft in deutschsprachigen Texten
What matters is how we feel, how we see, what we do after reading; whether the trees and the clouds and the existence of others mean anything to us; whether reading makes us, physically, more alive.
--Gabriel Zaid, So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance
Herbst 2004
M, W 1:55-3:20
Manoogian 446
Texts, Course Description, Participation, Homework, Quizzes and Exams, Final Paper, Course Goals, Course Grade
Texts:Primary Course Texts:
- Mann, Thomas, Der Tod in Venedig. 1912. Edited with Introduction, Notes and Bibliography by T.J. Reed. 2nd. ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1996.*
- Reuter, Gabriele, Aus guter Familie. 1895. Berlin: S. Fischer, 1904.
- Course Handouts--Available on WSU Blackboard
Films:
- Death in Venice**
- Ich klage an
English-language texts:
- Ritter, Naomi. Thomas Mann. Death in Venice. Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contents, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998.*
- Kushner, Tony, Angels in America (Part One: Millennium Approaches; Part Two: Perestroika). New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1995.*
- Wurtzel, Elizabeth, Prozac Nation. Young and Depressed in America. New York: Riverhead Books, 1994.*
- Course Handouts--Available on WSU Blackboard
Grammar and Reference
- Harper Collins German College Dictionary*
- Rankin, Jamie and Larry Wells, Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik, 3rd edition.*
*Available in Marwil's Book Store at Cass and Warren, and on reserve in the Purdy-Kresge Library
**Available on reserve in UGL
Course Description: German 4600 is an introductory seminar in German Studies. As such, this is a class about many things:
- As a German class, it is about helping you to continue to develop your cultural knowledge and hone your language skills.
- As a seminar German Studies, it is intended to help you to understand the work of cultural and literary criticism, something that Gabriel Zaid has defined as the work of gathering texts that are not one's own "into meaningful and appealing assemblages . . . [in which] noise becomes music; scattered stars acquire an outline, names and even legends, and become recognizable constellations that guide navigation."
- As an advanced course in a humanistic discipline, it is about reading both for pleasure and with a critical eye, about learning how others read and have read in the past, about conducting research effectively, and about writing clearly and convincingly.
The thematic focus of this course is illness and society, and we will focus on two German-language texts and one film that deal with this topic using very different stylistic and rhetorical strategies. Questions we will ask include:
- How do these texts, their characters and narrators, and their authors define illness and health?
- What is the relationship between the individual, society, illness, and health in each text?
- How does society treat illness and those who are ill?
- What do we mean when we talk about "society"?
- What symbols and metaphors are associated with illness?
- Should one follow the advice of Susan Sontag's 1977 essay and reject the use of illness as metaphor, or can the use of illness as metaphor be useful and valuable for an individual or for a society?
- What do descriptions of illness tell us about the historical time period in which the texts were written and published?
- Do these texts continue to have meaning for us today?
To help you come up with your own answers to these questions, this class will focus on reading strategies. The continued development of close-reading skills is a central focus of this class. In addition, we will also discuss how scholars have and continue to use different theoretical frameworks to ask and answer questions about these texts. This course will thus provide you with an introduction to psychoanalytic theory, reader-response theory, cultural criticism, gender studies, and New Historicism.
Finally, following the discussion of each German text, we will turn to contemporary English-language texts to investigate ways in which similar topics continue to be explored in our own present. This will also give you an opportunity to review what we have discussed in the German sections of the course and to apply what you have learned about theoretical approaches.
Couse Prerequisites: German 3100 and German 3200 or permission of the instructor.
Participation:For the most part, this class will be conducted in German, but we will switch to English when discussing English-language texts. You will be expected to use only German for our discussion of the German texts; failure to do so will affect your participation grade.
Attendance and active participation in class discussions are required. I expect you to come to class having read the assignment closely and having thought about both the study questions I give you and those generated by the class. If you must miss a class, please notify me ahead of time. Absences are excused only in the case of illness, personal or family emergency, and activities or religious holidays recognized by Wayne State University. You will receive a daily participation grade based on a scale of 5 (= prepared and on time) to 0 (=absent).
If you must miss a session, I expect you to inform me of this before class on that day. Absences are excused when due to illness, personal or family emergency, or activities or religious holidays recognized by Wayne State University.
Excessive tardiness and unexcused absences will affect your grade significantly: The first four unexcused absences will result in your final grade being lowered by one-third point (e.g., A- --> B+); each additional unexcused absence will cause the final grade to be lowered by the same amount.
Departmental policy requires all cell phones and pagers to be turned off for the duration of the class period.
Homework Assignments: The following three types of assignments are intended to help you read the texts as closely as possible. This, in turn, will help us in our class discussions and you in your writing. All assignments should be completed before class on the day for which they are assigned.
*Reading: you should come to class having read the assignment closely and having thought about both the study questions I give you and those generated by the class.
*Reading Journal--During those weeks indicated on the syllabus, you are expected for one class meeting per week to write a one-page, typed response (350 words), in German, to one of the assigned study questions. You should turn in your response at the beginning of the hour. I will not accept responses to reading assignments from previous class sessions. This will help you to work on your writing skills, to prepare for individual class sessions, and to develop ideas for your final paper.
*Grammar: We will focus this semester on the use of adjectival nouns, extended modifiers, adverbs, and particles. You will be assigned weekly homework on these topics. Although a fourth edition of the Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik is now available, we will continue to use the third edition because so many in the class already own it. If you do not own it, a copy is on reserve in the Purdy-Kresge Library.
Quizzes and Exams: There will be three grammar quizzes over the course of the semester. They will be on Oct. 13, Nov. 10, Dec. 13 .
There will be a take-home midterm examination based on material covered in the first five weeks of the course. It will be due on Oct. 22.
The final exam will cover the material from the final ten weeks of the course. Its format will be the same as that of the midterm, but it will take place in class during the final exam period from 1:30-3:50 on December 17.
Final Paper: The culmination of all of your work in this course will be a final 10-12 page paper (not including endnotes and bibliography), written in German. The first draft will be due on Dec. 3, and I will return my comments to you by Dec. 8. The final, significantly revised version of the paper will be due on Dec. 22.
Course Goals This course aims to:
- help you improve your German reading skills.
- help you improve your German writing skills.
- help you improve your analytic skills
- further develop your knowledge of the structures of the German language. At the end of this course, you should be able to accurately use adjectival nouns, extended participle modifiers, adverbs, and particles in your speaking and writing.
- further develop your information literacy skills. At the end of this course you should be able to locate film and book reviews, know how to use the WSU library catalog, know how to use the WorldCat and FirstSearch data bases, use the MLA style sheet, and be familiar with key German reference works.
- improve your understanding of stylistic devices (persuasion, symbol and metaphor, realism).
- introduce you to five approaches to textual criticism (reader-response theory, psychoanalytical theory, gender theory, new historicism, cultural criticism).
- help you come up with your own answers to the questions posed in the course description.
Course Grade Your grade will be determined as follows:
Participation (includes regular attendance): 15% Homework (weekly reading journal, grammar exercises) 10% Midterm 15% Final 20% Grammar Quizzes 15% Final Paper, Draft 1 5% Final Paper, Draft 2 20% 100%
Please inform me as soon as possible of any special learning requirements you have. And please make it a point to see me if you are having difficulties.
The German and Slavic Department has an open-door policy: Students are encouraged to seek out any other instructor in the department for course-related help or advice should their instructor not be available. Office hours of all instructors are posted near the main office (443 Manoogian).
In giving you this syllabus, I agree to fulfill my faculty obligations to you as students. In taking this course and thereby accepting this syllabus, you are also agreeing 1) to fulfill your student obligations to the instructional process, and 2) to adhere to the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. These obligations are outlined in the University Bulletin.
Please make sure to familiarize yourself with the dates, including drop/add information, on the WSU Registration Calendar.