Going Too Far: Transgressive Texts (Seminar in German Studies)
GRST 299
Spring 2009
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
COL 299, GELT 299 |
The annual Seminar in German Studies serves as an introduction to the increasingly diverse and interdisciplinary field of German studies. The goal of the seminar is to help students critically examine significant themes in the culture of the German-speaking countries through a variety of media and genres (literature, music, the visual arts, philosophy, and historiography). The course will emphasize the improvement of analytic and interpretive skills and the expression of complex problems in a concise and lucid fashion. The topic for 2009 is "Going Too Far: Transgressive Texts." Can a text go "too far"? Excess, violation, and transgression are frequent topics in literature, and in this course we will study (in translation) a number of German and Austrian texts that either present stories of transgression or are transgressive in their particular narrative or textual form. Themes to be studied include war and the dissolution of social and political order; madness and the disintegration of a unified ego; crime and punishment; the crisis of political legitimacy and the terrorist response; the transgression of taboos and social conventions; the crisis of communicative language and the artistic response; repression and sexual transgression. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Intercultural Literacy, Writing
Intercultural literacy: Interrogation of the connection between language and culture and of cultural distinctions within German-language regions.
Writing: frequent writing assignments with detailed feedback.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA GRST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Heinrich von Kleist, PENTHESILEA; SELECTED WRITINGS
Thomas Bernhard, YES
Georg Büchner, LENZ
Friedrich Schiller, ¿The Criminal from Lost Honor¿
E.T.A. Hoffmann, ¿The Sandman;¿ ¿Mademoiselle de Scuderi;¿ ¿Councilor Krespel¿
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, ¿The New Melusine¿
Elfriede Jelinek, THE PIANO TEACHER
Franz Kafka, ¿In the Penal Colony;¿ ¿The Judgment;¿ ¿A Country Doctor¿
Robert Musil, THE CONFUSIONS OF YOUNG TÖRLESS
Thomas Mann, DEATH IN VENICE
MOVIES:
Eric Rohmer, THE MARQUISE OF O
Michael Haneke, THE PIANO TEACHER
Volker Schlöndorff, YOUNG TÖRLESS
Luchino Visconti, DEATH IN VENICE
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Examinations and Assignments:
There will be weekly response papers, two oral reports and a final research paper (8 - 10 pages). |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course is required for all German Studies majors. |
| Instructor(s): Plass,Ulrich Times: ..T.R.. 10:30AM-11:50AM; Location: FISK403; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 4 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 5 | FR: 4 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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