Deutsch 5670/7670
Professor Lisabeth Hock--Winter 2002
Wayne State University

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Die deutsche Familie im neunzehnten Jahrhundert

 

Winter 2002
Tu, Th 6-7:20
Manoogian 446

Required Texts, Course Description, Participation
Requirements for Undergraduate Students:
Homework, Writing, Exams, Course Grade
Requirements for Graduate Students:
Homework, Research Paper, Exams, Course Grade


Required Texts:

Available in Marwil's Book Store at Cass and Warren:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Die Wahlverwandschaften, 1809
Fanny Lewald, Jenny, 1842
Eugenie Marlitt, Das Geheimnis der alten Mamsell, 1867
Gabriele Reuter, Aus guter Familie, 1895
Frank Wedekind, Frühlings Erwachen, 1891
Arnold Schnitzler, Traumnovelle, 1925

Available on reserve in UGL and in the Foreign Language Technology Center

Woyzek , Regie: Werner Herzog (Film), 1978
Effi Briest, Regie: Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Film), 1972-74
Eyes Wide Shut, Regie: Stanley Kubrick (Film), 1999


Course Description:

This course examines gender roles as they relate to the construction of the family in German-language texts of the nineteenth century. While our primary focus will be on prose works, we will also read both nineteenth-century documentary material and scholarly articles that deal with issues of gender and the family during this period. We will also view the film versions of three texts (one of which we are reading) in order to explore how the nineteenth-century family has been portrayed and reinterpreted in this medium. The course will be organized chronologically to allow us to examine changes in gender roles within the family as the nineteenth century progresses. Topics include: constructions of femininity and masculinity, the family as the arbiter of sexuality, gender roles in the family and how these roles are affected by class and race, possibilities for and limits on agency of men and women, gendered conceptions of public and private spheres, the family as an economic unit, the socialization of children, and the women's movement and the family.


Participation:

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.


Assignments:

Undergraduate Students 


Homework Assignments:

The following three types of assignments are intended to help you read the texts as closely as possible, which will help us in our class discussions and you in your writing.

*Oral Reports--You will give one oral report (Referat) (two if you have enrolled for four hours of credit) during the course of the semester in which you summarize a scholarly article and relate its contents to our primary readings. You may work with another person on this. The topics are listed on the Referate page of the syllabus.

In addition, you will give one oral report about the biography of one of the authors we will read in the second half of the semester (Marlitt, Reuter, Wedekind or Schnitzler). This will be based on your first paper (see below). You will work in groups on these reports.

*Film Worksheets and Discussion Questions--You will receive worksheets for each of the films we view and will be expected to post discussion questions about the films to the class listserve.

*Reading Journal--For one class meeting per week you should write a one-page response, in German, to what you have read. What you focus on in the response is up to you, but it might help to summarize what you have read and then to respond to one or more of the study questions I give you or to your own questions about at you have read. You should turn in your response at the beginning of the hour in which we discuss the pages about which you have written. I will not accept responses to reading assignments from previous class sessions.


Writing Assignments:

These assignments are intended to deepen your understanding of the texts we read and to improve your writing skills.

You will write three 5-7 page papers, in German. (If you have enrolled for four hours of credit, your final paper should be 9-12 pages). They will be due on Feb 1., Mar. 8 or 21 (before or after Spring Break), and Apr. 19, respectively. You will present the findings of your third paper in a five- to ten-minute oral report during the final exam period.

The first paper will be a biographical report; the second will be a close reading of a text, and the third will be an analysis in which you incorporate the arguments of at least two secondary sources. Ideally, you will focus on one author for all three of your reports and no more than two or three of you will concentrate on any one author.

Because good writing is a product of recursivity, I suggest that in the second and third paper you use and develop an idea that you have worked on in your journal entries.

If you are not happy with the grade you receive on a paper, you may rewrite it and I will then average the two grades together. Revisions are due two weeks after I return the papers to you.


Exams:

There will be a written midterm examination (identification, short-answer, and essay format) on February 21.

The final exam will be a 10-minute presentation to the class based on your last paper.


Course Grade

Your grade will be determined as follows:

15%--Participation (includes regular attendance):

15%--Homework (weekly reading journal, film worksheets, and oral reports)

45%--Papers (three 5-7 page papers, #1=10%, #2=15%, #3=20%)

20%--Midterm

5%--Final Presentation

Graduate Students


Homework Assignments:

The following three types of assignments are intended to help you read the texts as closely as possible, which will help us in our class discussions and you in your writing.

*Oral Reports--You will give two oral reports (Referate) during the course of the semester (three if you are taking this course for 4 hours of credit and/or have enrolled in 7670.) In these reports, you will summarize scholarly articles and relate their content to our primary readings. The topics are listed on the Referate page of the syllabus.

*Film Worksheets and Discussion Questions--You will receive worksheets for each of the films we view and will be expected to post discussion questions about the films to the class listserve.

*Thought Papers--These assignments are intended to help you develop your skills as literary scholars.

You will write three three-to-four page critiques ("thought papers") in German. The critiques are due at the beginning of class on the day we discuss the pages you analyze. I urge you to turn in the first one by the end of January at the latest, and second one by Spring Break. These critiques may (1) take a passage from the work in question, analyze it briefly and explain how it relates to larger issues raised by the work or (2) formulate and ponder a problem raised by the work. If you choose the second option it is extremely important that you are precise in your use of language. My hope is that these writing exercises will be an aid to you in choosing your final paper topics as well as preparing you to raise and discuss issues in class. The prupose of these short papers is also to help train you in formulating thoughts clearly and succinctly as you might , for example, for grant proposals, conference paper proposals, a publisher's precis.

If you use secondary materials, you must acknowledge them. The critiques should be typed, three to four pages long, and no longer than five pagers. Papers are due on the day we begin the discussion of the work you are treating.

I will comment on the critiques extensively. If you have questions about any of my comments, please do not hesitate to talk to me about them. I will not assign letter grades to the papers, but should a paper fail to make a coherent argument or be very poorly written, I will ask you to rewrite it. Late papers are inappropriate.


Research paper:

You will write a research paper in English or German. While I will not put a limit on the length of the papers I consider 12-15 pages (including endnotes) of focused prose preferable to longer papers that ramble. If you are taking this course for four hours of credit, or are enrolled in 7670, your paper should be 16-18 pages including endnotes. I expect you to supply me in writing with a brief statement of your paper topic by March 7. Bibliographies are due by March 22; rough drafts are due by April 11 final papers are due on April 23.

You will present the findings of your paper in a 10-minute presentation during the final-exam period.


Exams:

There will be a written midterm examination (identification, short-answer and essay format) on February 21.


Course Grade

Your grade will be determined as follows:

15%--Participation (includes regular attendance):

15%--Homework (thought papers, film worksheets, and three oral reports)

20%--Midterm

50%--Research Paper (12-15 pages)

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 (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, .