Readings, Course Description, Participation and Attendance, Blackboard Assignments, Assessments, Course Grade
Required Texts:
*Jahraus, Oliver and Stefan Neuhaus, eds. Kafkas Urteil und die Literaturtheorie. Ditzingen: Reclam, 2002. ISBN-10: 3150176360, €7.60
*Jeßing, Benedikt and Ralph Köhnen. Einführung in die Neuere deutsche Literaturwissenschaft. 2nd ed. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2007. ISBN-10: 3476021424, €19.95
*Kimmich, Dorothee, Rolf Günter Renner and Bernd Stiegler, eds. Texte zur Literaturtheorie der Gegenwart. 2nd ed. Ditzingen: Reclam, 2008. ISBN-10: 3150185890, €12.00
*Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: MLA, 2003.
*Petersen, Jürgen H., Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf, Dieter Gutzen and Norbert Oellers. Einführung in die neuere deutsche Literaturwissenschaft. Ein Arbeitsbuch. 7th ed. Berlin: Schmidt, 2006. ISBN-10: 3503079599, €16.80
**Various Handouts
Recommended Texts: (We will be working with excerpts, but I encourage you to read the entire text. You must read the entirity of whichever text you choose for your writing assignments. If you would like to order these texts, the best place to do so is IBIS, the International Book Import Service, at http://www.ibiservice.com/)
Aue, Hartmann von. Der arme Heinrich: Mittelhochdeutsch / Neuhochdeutsch. Ed. Ursula Rautenberg. Trans. Siegfried Grosse. Ditzingen: Reclam, 1993. ISBN-10: 315000456X, € 4,00
Historia von D. Johann Fausten: Text des Druckes von 1587. Kritische Ausgabe. Mit den Zusatztexten der Wolfenbütteler Handschrift und der zeitgenössischen Drucke. Ed. Stephan Füssel and Hans Joachim Kreutzer. Ditzingen: Reclam, 1988. ISBN-10: 3150015162, € 8,80
Grimmelshausen, Hans Jakob Christoffel von. Lebensbeschreibung der Landstörtzerin Courasche. Ditzingen: Reclam, 2001. ISBN-10: 315007998, € 4,40
or: http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=5&xid=974&kapitel=1#gb_foundLessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Emilia Galotti. Reclam Universal-Bibliothek 45. Ditzingen: Reclam, 1986. ISBN-10: 3150000459
or: http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=5&xid=1612&kapitel=1#gb_foundGoethe, Johann Wolfgang. Die Leiden des jungen Werthers. Studienausgabe. Paralleldruck der Fassungen von 1774 und 1787. Ed. Matthias Luserke. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1999.
http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=5&xid=3793&kapitel=1#gb_foundBüchner, Georg. Woyzeck. Kritische Lese- und Arbeitsausgabe. Ed. Lothar Bornscheuer. Ditzingen: Reclam, 1999. ISBN-10: 3150093473
http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=5&xid=263&kapitel=1#gb_foundFontane, Theodor. Effi Briest. Roman. Ditzingen: Reclam, 1986. ISBN-10: 3150069610, EUR 4,60
or: http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/?id=5&xid=677&kapitel=1#gb_foundBrecht, Bertolt. Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder: Eine Chronik aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg. Stuttgart: Suhrkamp, 2007. ISBN-10: 3518100491, EUR 5,50
Keun, Irmgard. Das kunstseidene Mädchen: Editionen mit Materialien. Ed. Thomas Kopfermann and Jens Kapitzky. Leipzig: Klett, 2007. ISBN-10: 3123511413
Plenzdorf. Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. Stuttgart: Suhrkamp, 2008. ISBN-10: 3518188399, EUR 6,00
Süskind, Patrick. Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines Mörders. Diogenes 1994. ISBN-10: 3257228007, EUR 9,90
Özdamar, Emine Sevgi. Mutterzunge. Erzählungen. Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1998.
*Available in the Barnes and Noble Bookstore
**Available on Blackboard
What do you say when someone asks you what your major field of study is at the university? What do you say when they ask you what you do? What does it mean to “study German” or to be involved in “German studies”? This course combines theory and practice in order to illuminate what Germanists do when we study the German. In other words, this is a course about what we--as Germanists--do and how we do it. More specifically, the course is an introduction to fundamental critical approaches that we use in the study of German literary and cultural texts. We will explore basic questions that drive German studies and the tools we use to produce the answers we call knowledge. If those of us involved in German studies are engaged in the study of Literatur- bzw. Kulturwissenschaft, then you might say that the basic question this course tries to answer is: “Wie schafft man das Wissen in der Wissenschaft?” This course will focus on the methods, perspectives, and tools that enable us to become knowledgeable—from a critical, scholarly perspective--about German texts. We’ll also examine how those who practice German studies organize the field, how we lay our claims to authority, and how we communicate what we think we know.
The course will provide you with an overview of:
*Current questions in German Studies
*German literary history from the Middle Ages to the present, and some of the canonical and non-canonical texts that contribute to that history
*The genres of poetry, drama, narrative, and film and some of the subgenres related to them.
*The notion of the "text" as it relates to cultural studies
*Key concepts in literary, textual, and cultural analysis and criticism
*Research methods in German studies.
*Approaches to reading primary, theoretical and secondary texts.
Attendance and active participation in class discussions are required. I expect you to come to class having read the assignment closely. Please make sure to bring your texts and notes with you to all classes, and please be ready to begin class on time. 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.
Departmental policy requires that all cell phones and pagers to be turned off for the duration of the class period.
The WSU Blackboard system will be used to organize the materials for this course. Your WSU Access-ID and password will give you access to the course page for Blackboard.
*You will be expected to check your WSU email account (accessID@wayne.edu) on a regular basis. If you prefer to use a non-WSU account, please make sure to have your WSU email forwarded to it. You can do this at http://pipeline.wayne.edu. Your access ID number and password will also allow you to enter the Blackboard site for this course.
*You will find a link to this syllabus as well as all handouts for German 6100 on the course Blackboard page.
*Blackboard will allow you to check your course grade throughout the semester.
Throughout the semester, you will be asked to post materials to the blackboard discussion board (Diskussionsplattform) or to respond to posted materials.
*Midterm: definition, short answer, essay, due 26 October
*Final: definition, short answer essay, 16 December
*Writing Assignments (Choose one text from the list of recommended texts—ideally related to something you’d like to pursue further during the course of your studies. In other words, all assignments can be related to the one text). If you are not satisfied with your grade on any of these assignments, you may revise it and I will average the two grades together. Revisions are due one week after you receive my comments on the initial version:
*Schriftliche Aufgabe 1: Bibliography: MLA format/ organized according to sources consulted, due 12 September
*Schriftliche Aufgabe 2 : Analysis focusing on relationship of text to epoch, due 26 September (3 pp for students taking the course for 3 hours credit; 4 pp for students taking the course for 4 hours credit)
*Schriftliche Aufgabe 3: Analysis focusing on poetic/ stylistic elements of a text, due 10 October (3 pp for students taking the course for 3 hours credit; 4 pp for students taking the course for 4 hours credit)
*Schriftliche Aufgabe 4: Analysis of an article from secondary literature in which you summarize main arguments and theoretical approach, due 7 November (3 pp for students taking the course for 3 hours credit; 4 pp for students taking the course for 4 hours credit)
*Schriftliche Aufgabe 5: Text analysis—employing a critical approach, due 21 November (5 pp for students taking the course for 3 hours credit; 7 pp for students taking the course for 4 hours credit)
*Schriftliche Aufgabe 6: Text analysis including one article from secondary literature and a theoretical approach, due 5 December (5 pp for students taking the course for 3 hours credit; 7 pp for students taking the course for 4 hours credit)
Your course grade will be determined as follows:
| Active Participation (including homework) | 35% |
| Midterm | 10% |
| Final | 15% |
| Schriftliche Aufgabe 1 (Bibliographie) | 5% |
| Schriftliche Aufgabe 2 (Epochenanalyse) | 5% |
| Schriftliche Aufgabe 3 (Stilanalyse) | 5% |
| Schriftliche Aufgabe 4 (Sekundärliteratur) | 5% |
| Schriftliche Aufgabe 5 (theoretische Analyse) | 10% |
| Schriftliche Aufgabe 6 (Textanalyse) | 10% |
| 100% |
Because participants in this class are at different levels, I will use the following grading scales:
| Undergraduate Students | Graduate Students | ||
| A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- |
96-100 % 92-95 88-91 85-87 81-84 78-80 75-77 71-74 68-70 65-67 61-64 58-60 |
A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- |
97-100 % 93-96 90-92 87-89 83-86 80-82 77-79 73-76 70-72 67-69 63-66 60-62 |
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 also 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 (487 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.