Germanic Languages and Literatures
Courses for Spring 2025
| Title | Instructor | Location | Time | All taxonomy terms | Description | Section Description | Cross Listings | Fulfills | Registration Notes | Syllabus | Syllabus URL | Course Syllabus URL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTCH 0020-401 | Amsterdam at 750: Exploring Culture, Society, and Policy in the Dutch Capital | Robert A Naborn | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | Join us on an immersive journey through the vibrant city of Amsterdam as it celebrates its 750th anniversary. This seminar will delve into the rich tapestry of Dutch culture, society, and policy, offering a unique perspective guided by a native Dutch academic (who celebrated Amsterdam’s 700th in 1975!). Through a series of virtual trips, classroom discussions, readings, and multimedia resources, participants will gain an understanding of Amsterdam's past, present, and future. | GRMN0020401 | History & Tradition Sector (all classes) | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=DTCH0020401 | |||||||
| DTCH 0200-401 | Elementary Dutch II | Robert A Naborn | TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | Continuation of DTCH 0100. | DTCH5020401 | |||||||||
| DTCH 5020-401 | Elementary Dutch II | Robert A Naborn | TR 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | Continuation of DTCH 0100. | DTCH0200401 | |||||||||
| FIGS 5000-301 | M.A. Exam Preparation | Eva Del Soldato | M 5:15 PM-7:14 PM | This course will provide a forum for collective preparation for the Master's exam across the three section in FIGS. Faculty will guide students in their work with their M.A. reading list(s) | ||||||||||
| FIGS 5550-401 | Queer European Cinema |
Ian Fleishman Filippo Trentin |
M 1:45 PM-3:44 PM | This graduate seminar will explore the intertwined histories of queer European cinemas, focusing on French, German, and Italian films. From the inherent queerness of early cinema's attractions (e.g., Meliès, the Lumière brothers, the Skladanowsky brothers) to the gender-bending comedies of the Weimar Republic; from the queer auteurism of new wave cinema (Visconti, Fassbinder, Pasolini, Démy) to the fluid, boundary-pushing sensibilities of more recent works by filmmakers like Akerman, Ozon, Guadagnino and Rohrwacher, this course will examine how representations of gender and sexuality emerge and evolve across different national contexts. In doing so, we will also take a transnational perspective, tracing connections and influences those cross borders and complicate traditional cinematic narratives. The seminar provides an introduction to both film history and queer studies, open to graduate students and qualified undergraduates by permission of the instructors. No prior knowledge of film or queer theory is required. | CIMS5555401, GSWS5555401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 0020-401 | Amsterdam at 750: Exploring Culture, Society, and Policy in the Dutch Capital | Robert A Naborn | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | Join us on an immersive journey through the vibrant city of Amsterdam as it celebrates its 750th anniversary. This seminar will delve into the rich tapestry of Dutch culture, society, and policy, offering a unique perspective guided by a native Dutch academic (who celebrated Amsterdam’s 700th in 1975!). Through a series of virtual trips, classroom discussions, readings, and multimedia resources, participants will gain an understanding of Amsterdam's past, present, and future. | DTCH0020401 | History & Tradition Sector (all classes) | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0020401 | |||||||
| GRMN 0100-401 | Elementary German I | David R.F. James | MTWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM | Designed for the beginning student with no previous knowledge of German. German 0100, as the first course in the first-year series, focuses on the development of language competence in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. By the end of the semester, students will be able to engage in simple conversations about familiar things, know greetings and everyday expressions, they will be able to count and tell time, and negate sentences in day-to-day contexts. Furthermore, students will be able to speak about events that happened in the immediate past and express plans for the future. In addition, students will have developed reading strategies that allow them to glean information from simple newspaper and magazine articles and short literary texts. Because cultural knowledge is one of the foci of German 0100, students will learn much about practical life in Germany and will explore German-speaking cultures on the Internet. | GRMN5010401 | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0100401 | ||||||||
| GRMN 0200-401 | Elementary German II | MTWR 9:00 AM-9:59 AM | This course is a continuation of GRMN 0100 and is designed to strengthen and expand students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing competence and to deepen an understanding of German-speaking cultures. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle a variety of day-to-day needs in a German-speaking setting and engage in simple conversations about personally significant topics. Students can expect to be able to order food and beverages, purchase things, and to be familiar with the German university system, the arts, and current social topics. Students will begin to be able to talk about the past and the future, make comparisons, describe people and things in increasing detail, make travel plans that include other European countries, and make reservations in hotels and youth hostels. By the end of the course students will be able to talk about their studies and about their dreams for the future. In In addition, students will develop reading strategies that should allow them to understand the general meaning of articles, and short literary texts. Furthermore, students will feel more able to understand information when hearing German speakers talking about familiar topics. Cultural knowledge remains among one of the foci of German 0200, and students will continue to be exposed to authentic materials. | GRMN5020401 | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0200401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 0200-402 | Elementary German II | MTWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM | This course is a continuation of GRMN 0100 and is designed to strengthen and expand students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing competence and to deepen an understanding of German-speaking cultures. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle a variety of day-to-day needs in a German-speaking setting and engage in simple conversations about personally significant topics. Students can expect to be able to order food and beverages, purchase things, and to be familiar with the German university system, the arts, and current social topics. Students will begin to be able to talk about the past and the future, make comparisons, describe people and things in increasing detail, make travel plans that include other European countries, and make reservations in hotels and youth hostels. By the end of the course students will be able to talk about their studies and about their dreams for the future. In In addition, students will develop reading strategies that should allow them to understand the general meaning of articles, and short literary texts. Furthermore, students will feel more able to understand information when hearing German speakers talking about familiar topics. Cultural knowledge remains among one of the foci of German 0200, and students will continue to be exposed to authentic materials. | GRMN5020402 | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0200402 | |||||||||
| GRMN 0200-403 | Elementary German II | MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | This course is a continuation of GRMN 0100 and is designed to strengthen and expand students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing competence and to deepen an understanding of German-speaking cultures. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle a variety of day-to-day needs in a German-speaking setting and engage in simple conversations about personally significant topics. Students can expect to be able to order food and beverages, purchase things, and to be familiar with the German university system, the arts, and current social topics. Students will begin to be able to talk about the past and the future, make comparisons, describe people and things in increasing detail, make travel plans that include other European countries, and make reservations in hotels and youth hostels. By the end of the course students will be able to talk about their studies and about their dreams for the future. In In addition, students will develop reading strategies that should allow them to understand the general meaning of articles, and short literary texts. Furthermore, students will feel more able to understand information when hearing German speakers talking about familiar topics. Cultural knowledge remains among one of the foci of German 0200, and students will continue to be exposed to authentic materials. | GRMN5020403 | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0200403 | |||||||||
| GRMN 0300-402 | Intermediate German I | TWF 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | This course is designed to improve students writing and speaking competence, to increase vocabulary, to deepen grammar usage, and to help develop effective reading and listening strategies in German across literary genres and media as students interpret and analyze cultural, political, and historical moments in German-speaking countries and compare them with their own cultural practices. This course is organized around content-based modules and prepares students well for GRMN 0400 and a minor or major in German. | GRMN5030402 | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0300402 | |||||||||
| GRMN 0350-401 | Accelerated Intermediate German | Sibel Sayili-Hurley |
TR 8:30 AM-9:59 AM MW 8:30 AM-9:29 AM |
This course is intensive and is intended for dedicated, highly self-motivated students who will take responsibility for their learning and creation of meaning with their peers. This accelerated course is designed to improve students writing and speaking competencies, to increase vocabulary, to deepen grammar usage, and to help develop effective reading and listening strategies in German across literary genres and media as students interpret and analyze cultural, political, and historical moments in German-speaking countries and compare them with their own cultural practices. This course is organized around content-based modules. Students conclude the basic-language program at PENN by reading an authentic literary text; offering the opportunity to practice and deepen reading knowledge and to sensitize cultural and historical awareness of German-speaking countries. | GRMN5140401 | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0350401 | ||||||||
| GRMN 0400-401 | Intermediate German II | TWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM | A continuation of GRMN 0300. Expands students writing and speaking competence in German, increases vocabulary and helps students practice effective reading and listening strategies. Our in-class discussions are based on weekly readings of literary and non-literary texts to facilitate exchange of information, ideas, reactions, and opinions. In addition, the readings provide cultural and historical background information. The review of grammar will not be the primary focus of the course. Students will, however, expand and deepen their knowledge of grammar through specific grammar exercises. Students will conclude the basic-language program at PENN by reading an authentic literary text; offering the opportunity to practice and deepen reading knowledge and to sensitize cultural and historical awareness of German-speaking countries. | GRMN5040401 | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0400401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 0400-402 | Intermediate German II | Claudia Lynn | TWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | A continuation of GRMN 0300. Expands students writing and speaking competence in German, increases vocabulary and helps students practice effective reading and listening strategies. Our in-class discussions are based on weekly readings of literary and non-literary texts to facilitate exchange of information, ideas, reactions, and opinions. In addition, the readings provide cultural and historical background information. The review of grammar will not be the primary focus of the course. Students will, however, expand and deepen their knowledge of grammar through specific grammar exercises. Students will conclude the basic-language program at PENN by reading an authentic literary text; offering the opportunity to practice and deepen reading knowledge and to sensitize cultural and historical awareness of German-speaking countries. | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN0400402 | |||||||||
| GRMN 1110-401 | Jewish American Literature |
Kathryn Hellerstein Chaya Sara Oppenheim |
TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM | What makes Jewish American literature Jewish? What makes it American? This course will address these questions about ethnic literature through fiction, poetry, drama, and other writings by Jews in America, from their arrival in 1654 to the present. We will discuss how Jewish identity and ethnicity shape literature and will consider how form and language develop as Jewish writers "immigrate" from Yiddish, Hebrew, and other languages to American English. Our readings, from Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology, will include a variety of stellar authors, both famous and less-known, including Isaac Mayer Wise, Emma Lazarus, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Celia Dropkin, Abraham Cahan, Anzia Yezierska, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, and Allegra Goodman. Students will come away from this course having explored the ways that Jewish culture intertwines with American culture in literature. | COML1110401, JWST1110401 | Arts & Letters Sector (all classes) | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN1110401 | |||||||
| GRMN 1132-401 | Forest Worlds: Mapping the Arboreal Imaginary in Literature and Film | Simon J Richter | MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | The destruction of the world's forests through wild fires, deforestation, and global heating threatens planetary bio-diversity and may even, as a 2020 shows, trigger civilizational collapse. Can the humanities help us think differently about the forest? At the same time that forests of the world are in crisis, the "rights of nature" movement is making progress in forcing courts to acknowledge the legal "personhood" of forests and other ecosystems. The stories that humans have told and continue to tell about forests are a source for the imaginative and cultural content of that claim. At a time when humans seem unable to curb the destructive practices that place themselves, biodiversity, and forests at risk, the humanities give us access to a record of the complex inter-relationship between forests and humanity. Forest Worlds serves as an introduction to the environmental humanities. The environmental humanities offer a perspective on the climate emergency and the human dimension of climate change that are typically not part of the study of climate science or climate policy. Students receive instruction in the methods of the humanities - cultural analysis and interpretation of literature and film - in relation to texts that illuminate patterns of human behavior, thought, and affect with regard to living in and with nature. | CIMS1520401, COML1054401, ENVS1550401 | Arts & Letters Sector (all classes) | ||||||||
| GRMN 1151-401 | Comparative Cultures of Resilience and Sustainability in the Netherlands and the United States | Simon J Richter | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | Coastal and riverside cities worldwide are under increasing pressure from sea level rise and other effects of climate change. Resilience and sustainability are paradigmatic concepts for the ways in which cities address the effects associated with global warming: sea level rise, extreme weather, changing climate, and their impacts on water, food, energy, and housing. This course focuses on the cultural side of resilience and sustainability in four signature cities: Rotterdam (with areas 6 meters below sea level), Nijmegen (which has devised a new way to live with a major river), New York City (which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy), and New Orleans (one of the most vulnerable American cities). Of course, other cities (Amsterdam, Arnhem, Boston, The Hague, Houston, Miami, etc.) will also come into play. In deeply uncertain times, cities such as these confront an array of interconnected choices that involve not only infrastructural solutions, but priorities, values, and cultural predispositions. Ideally, the strategies that cities devise are generated through inclusive processes based on the understanding that resilience and sustainability should be grounded in the cultural life of their communities. When this is the case, resilience and sustainability can become unique and motivating narratives about how cities and their residents co-develop the kinds of hard, soft, and social infrastructure the climate emergency requires. With this in mind, we will analyze the cities’ climate action plans and resilience strategies; explore their cultural histories relative to flooding events; and consult with Dutch and American experts in climate adaptation, governance, community development, and design. The highlight of the course will be travel to the Netherlands during spring break for site visits and discussions with experts. | URBS1151401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 1210-401 | Witnessing, Remembering, and Writing the Holocaust | Liliane Weissberg | MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | Witnessing, Remembering, and Writing the Holocaust What is a witness? What do the witnesses of the Shoah see, hear, experience? And how will they remember things, whether they are victims, perpetrators or bystanders? How are their memories translated into survivors' accounts: reports, fiction, art, and even music or architecture? And what does this teach us about human survival, and about the transmission of experiences to the next generation? The course will ask these questions by studying literature on memory and trauma, as well as novels, poetry, and non-fiction accounts of the Holocaust. We will also look at art work created by survivors or their children, and listen to video testimonies. Among the authors and artists discussed will be work by Primo Levi, Paul Celan, Jean Amery, Christian Boltanski, Daniel Libeskind. The course is supported by the USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archives. | ARTH2871401, COML1210401, JWST1210401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 1240-401 | Reckoning: Art and Monuments in Europe and the Americas | Vance Byrd | MW 8:30 AM-9:59 AM | In this course, we will examine how commemorative traditions in Europe and the Americas have been invented and contested since the nineteenth century. We will discuss why certain events in the past rather than others have been the object of commemoration; what these creations stood for originally; how their meanings have changed over the time; and the lessons, if any, these commemorative practices continue to teach us today. We also will examine the ways in which Europeans and Americans have protested, torn down old monuments, erected new ones, and turned to a wide variety of artistic forms to call into question stories about empire, fascism, communism, westward expansion and settler colonialism, enslavement, as well as military victory and loss. To answer these questions, we will focus on the history and theory of public monuments and sculpture, painting, commemorative sites, museum exhibitions, and film. The lecture topics will range from the Napoleonic Wars and Occupation, the American Civil War, German Unifications, National Socialism and Fascism, Holocaust Memorials and Museums, the Disappeared in Argentina, Spanish Civil War and Post-Francoism, Refugees and Migrants in the Mediterranean, as well as works by individual artists who have reflected on these historical events. Taught in English. | ARTH2779401, ARTH6779401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 1304-401 | Modernism Seminar: When was Modernism? | Jean-Michel Rabate | TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM | This course explores literary modernism as a global and cross-cultural phenomenon. See the English Department's website at www.english.upenn.edu for a description of the current offerings. | ARTH3850401, COML2071401, ENGL2071401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 1340-401 | In Babel: Translation and Narration in the Jewish World | Marina Mayorski | MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM | “Modern Jewish culture speaks with many voices,” wrote the poet, translator, and scholar Benjamin Harshav. In this course, we will echo these voices by exploring how Jewish life was shaped by cross-cultural contact and exchange with non-Jews and other Jewish communities, by studying literary manifestations of multilingualism, translation, adaptation, and circulation of texts and ideas. With a wide variety of texts - fiction, poetry, historiography, and literary criticism - from different languages and cultural contexts, this course will address several fundamental questions about, on the one hand, the ways Jews translated texts for Jewish readers, and, on the other, how Jewish experiences and traditions were translated for broader audiences. In a broader sense, we will consider what is at stake in translating Jewishness and how cultural and linguistic borders are crossed and discussed in different historical contexts. Course assessment is comprised of two short response papers to key concepts and a literary text (with the option for a creative format), and a final paper that can be either research-based or a translation and a translator’s introduction. All materials will be available in English but students are encouraged to read materials in their original languages if they are fluent. | COML1340401, JWST1340401, YDSH1340401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 1500-401 | Texts and Contexts | Claudia Lynn | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | In this course, you will explore themes of cultural and historical significance in contemporary German-speaking countries through literature and nonfiction, through film and current event media coverage. Whether you wish to dive deeply into historical or political contexts, explore untranslatable cultural phenomena or the aesthetic rhythm and semantic complexity of the German language, "Texts and Contexts" will inspire your imagination and deepen your understanding of German language, culture and literature. Students will develop intercultural competence and understandings that are fundamental to communicative competence, as well as appropriate levels of linguistic and discourse competencies necessary for cross-cultural and interactional communication in all modalities. By the end of the semester, you will be able to: - Gain insight into complexities of concepts of Heimat, Identity, and Belonging in relation to Black and Peoples of Color (BPoC) in the German context. - Develop analytical and critical thinking skills, including the ability to interpret and analyze a wide range of cultural practices, products, and perspectives within their socio-historical contexts. - Gain awareness of cross-cultural differences between your own society & German society, including social and political structure, and an understanding of how these differences inform concepts of Heimat, identity, and belonging. - Develop all four proficiencies (reading, writing, speaking, listening) in German to meet the standards of the advanced-mid level. | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN1500401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 1510-301 | Handschrift-Hypertext: Deutsche Medien | Christina E Frei | MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | This course will provide an introduction to German-language literary studies through exemplary readings of short forms: fables, fairy tales, aphorisms, stories, novellas, feuilletons, poems, songs, radio plays, film clips, web projects and others. Paying particular attention to how emergent technology influences genre, we will trace an evolution from Minnesang to rock songs, from early print culture to the internet age and from Handschrift to hypertext. Students will have ample opportunity to improve their spoken and written German through class discussion and a series of internet-based assignments. Readings and discussions in German. | ||||||||||
| GRMN 1530-301 | Business German: A Micro Perspective | David R.F. James | MW 8:30 AM-9:59 AM | This course is designed to enhance your speaking, reading and writing skills, in addition to helping you build a strong foundation in business vocabulary. Course objectives include acquiring skills in cross cultural communication, teamwork, business management, and creating a business plan. German grammar will be covered on a need be basis. This course will prepare you to perform and contribute while in a German-speaking business environment. | ||||||||||
| GRMN 1800-301 | German in Residence | T 6:00 PM-7:29 PM | The German House is a half-credit course with concentrations in German conversation, film, and culture. Though many students enroll for credit, others often come to select events. All interested parties are invited, and you do not have to actually live in the house to enroll for credit. Students from all different levels of language proficiency are welcome. Beginners learn from more advanced students, and all enjoy a relaxed environment for maintaining or improving their German language skills. | |||||||||||
| GRMN 2290-301 | Business German: A Micro Perspective | David R.F. James | CANCELED | This course is designed to enhance your speaking, reading and writing skills, in addition to helping you build a strong foundation in business vocabulary. Course objectives include acquiring skills in cross cultural communication, teamwork, business management, and creating a business plan. German grammar will be covered on a need be basis. This course will prepare you to perform and contribute while in a German-speaking business environment. | ||||||||||
| GRMN 3275-301 | Poetry and Songs: A German Language Legacy | Christina E Frei | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | What does the 2011 founded German rock band AnnenMayKantereit have in common with the idiosyncratic 19th-Century poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke? Beginning with this question, the course traces the long tradition of German language poetry and song from the epic medieval Nibelungenlied to the lyrics of 21-century German pop songs. Situated firmly in the context of literary analysis and literary history this course introduces students to recognizing and analyzing genre conventions of German lyrical legacies. Spanning examples from German Romanticism, Expressionism, Dada, Exile, GDR, and contemporary German poetry and song the course familiarizes students with the legacy of German language poetry and song lyrics including examples from Switzerland and Austria. Course taught in German. | ||||||||||
| GRMN 5010-401 | Elementary German I | David R.F. James | MTWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM | Designed for the beginning student with no previous knowledge of German. German 101, as the first course in the first-year series, focuses on the development of language competence in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. By the end of the semester, students will be able to engage in simple conversations about familiar things, know greetings and everyday expressions, they will be ble to count and tell time, and negate sentences in day-to-day contexts. Furthermore, students will be able to speak about events that happened in the immediate past and express plans for the future. In addition, students will have developed reading strategies that allow them to glean information from simple newspaper and magazine articles and short literary texts. Because cultural knowledge is one of the foci of German 101, students will learn much about practical life in Germany and will explore German-speaking cultures on the Internet. | GRMN0100401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 5020-401 | Elementary German II | MTWR 9:00 AM-9:59 AM | This course is a continuation of GRMN 101 and is designed to strengthen and expand students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing competence and to deepen an understanding of German-speaking cultures. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle a variety of day-to-day needs in a German-speaking setting and engage in simple conversations about personally significant topics. Students can expect to be able to order food and beverages, purchase things, and to be familiar with the German university system, the arts, and current social topics. Students will begin to be able to talk aboutthe past and the future, make comparisons, describe people and things in increasing detail, make travel plans that include other European countries, and make reservations in hotels and youth hostels. By the end of the course students will be able to talk about their studies and about their dreams for the future. In In addition, students will develop reading strategies that should allow them tounderstand the general meaning of articles, and short literary texts. Furthermore, students will feel more able to understand information when hearing German speakers talking about familiar topics. Cultural knowledge remains among one of the foci of German 102, and students will continue to be exposed to authentic materials. | GRMN0200401 | ||||||||||
| GRMN 5020-402 | Elementary German II | MTWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM | This course is a continuation of GRMN 101 and is designed to strengthen and expand students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing competence and to deepen an understanding of German-speaking cultures. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle a variety of day-to-day needs in a German-speaking setting and engage in simple conversations about personally significant topics. Students can expect to be able to order food and beverages, purchase things, and to be familiar with the German university system, the arts, and current social topics. Students will begin to be able to talk aboutthe past and the future, make comparisons, describe people and things in increasing detail, make travel plans that include other European countries, and make reservations in hotels and youth hostels. By the end of the course students will be able to talk about their studies and about their dreams for the future. In In addition, students will develop reading strategies that should allow them tounderstand the general meaning of articles, and short literary texts. Furthermore, students will feel more able to understand information when hearing German speakers talking about familiar topics. Cultural knowledge remains among one of the foci of German 102, and students will continue to be exposed to authentic materials. | GRMN0200402 | ||||||||||
| GRMN 5020-403 | Elementary German II | MTWR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | This course is a continuation of GRMN 101 and is designed to strengthen and expand students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing competence and to deepen an understanding of German-speaking cultures. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle a variety of day-to-day needs in a German-speaking setting and engage in simple conversations about personally significant topics. Students can expect to be able to order food and beverages, purchase things, and to be familiar with the German university system, the arts, and current social topics. Students will begin to be able to talk aboutthe past and the future, make comparisons, describe people and things in increasing detail, make travel plans that include other European countries, and make reservations in hotels and youth hostels. By the end of the course students will be able to talk about their studies and about their dreams for the future. In In addition, students will develop reading strategies that should allow them tounderstand the general meaning of articles, and short literary texts. Furthermore, students will feel more able to understand information when hearing German speakers talking about familiar topics. Cultural knowledge remains among one of the foci of German 102, and students will continue to be exposed to authentic materials. | GRMN0200403 | ||||||||||
| GRMN 5030-402 | Intermediate German I | TWF 12:00 PM-12:59 PM | This course is designed to improve students writing and speaking competence, to increase vocabulary, to deepen grammar usage, and to help develop effective reading and listening strategies in German across literary genres and media as students interpret and analyze cultural, political, and historical moments in German-speaking countries and compare them with their own cultural practices. This course is organized around content-based modules and prepares students well for GRMN 104 and a minor or major in German. | GRMN0300402 | ||||||||||
| GRMN 5040-401 | Intermediate German II | TWR 10:15 AM-11:14 AM | A continuation of GRMN 103. Expands students writing and speaking competence in German, increases vocabulary and helps students practice effective reading and listening strategies. Our in-class discussions are based on weekly readings of literary and non-literary texts to facilitate exchange of information, ideas, reactions, and opinions. In addition, the readings provide cultural and historical background information. The review of grammar will not be the primary focus of the course. Students will, however, expand and deepen their knowledge of grammar through specific grammar exercises. Students will conclude the basic-language program at PENN by reading an authentic literary text; offering the opportunity to practice and deepen reading knowledge and to sensitize cultural and historical awareness of German-speaking countries. | GRMN0400401 | ||||||||||
| GRMN 5060-401 | Texts and Contexts | Claudia Lynn | TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM | In this course, you will explore themes of cultural and historical significance in contemporary German-speaking countries through literature and nonfiction, through film and current event media coverage. Whether you wish to dive deeply into historical or political contexts, explore untranslatable cultural phenomena or the aesthetic rhythm and semantic complexity of the German language, GRMN 203 Texts and Contexts will inspire your imagination and deepen your understanding of German language, culture and literature. This is a required course for all courses taught in German at or above the 200 level. | ||||||||||
| GRMN 5140-401 | Accelerated Intermediate German | Sibel Sayili-Hurley |
TR 8:30 AM-9:59 AM MW 8:30 AM-9:29 AM |
This course is intensive and is intended for dedicated, highly self-motivated students who will take responsibility for their learning and creation of meaning with their peers. This accelerated course is designed to improve students writing and speaking competencies, to increase vocabulary, to deepen grammar usage, and to help develop effective reading and listening strategies in German across literary genres and media as students interpret and analyze cultural, political, and historical moments in German-speaking countries and compare them with their own cultural practices. This course is organized around content-based modules. Students conclude the basic-language program at PENN by reading an authentic literary text; offering the opportunity to practice and deepen reading knowledge and to sensitize cultural and historical awareness of German-speaking countries. | GRMN0350401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 5260-401 | The Trouble with Freud: Psychoanalysis, Literature, Culture | Liliane Weissberg | T 1:45 PM-3:44 PM | For professionals in the field of mental care, Freud's work is often regarded as outmoded, if not problematic psychologists view his work as non-scientific, dependent on theses that cannot be confirmed by experiments. In the realm of literary and cultural theory, however, Freud's work seems to have relevance still, and is cited often. How do we understand the gap between a medical/scientific reading of Freud's work, and a humanist one? Where do we locate Freud's relevance today? The graduate course will concentrate on Freud's descriptions of psychoanalytic theory and practice, as well as his writings on literature and culture. | COML5260401, GSWS5260401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 5370-401 | Translating Literature: Theory and Practice | Kathryn Hellerstein | R 1:45 PM-3:44 PM | The greats all have something to say about translation. The Hebrew poet H. N. Bialik is attributed with saying that “he who reads the Bible in translation is like a man who kisses his bride through a veil.” That, however, is a mistranslation: What Bialik really wrote was, “Whoever knows Judaism through translation is like a person who kisses his mother through a handkerchief." (http://benyehuda.org/bialik/dvarim02.html), a saying that he probably translated and adapted from Russian or German. (https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/discussions/116448/query-bialik-kissing-bride) Robert Frost wrote, “I could define poetry this way: it is that which is lost out of both prose and verse in translation.” Walter Benjamin defines it: “Translation is a form. To comprehend it as a form, one must go back to the original, for the laws governing the translation lie within the original, contained in the issue of its translatability.” Lawrence Venuti rails against translation that domesticates, rather than foreignizes, thus betraying the foreign text through a contrived familiarity that makes the translator invisible. Emily Wilson wants her translation “to bring out the way I think the original text handles it. [The original text] allows you to see the perspective of the people who are being killed.” https://bookriot.com/2017/12/04/emily-wilson-translation-the-odyssey/ Is translation erotic? A form of filial love? Incestuous? A mode of communion, or idol worship? Is translation a magician’s vanishing trick? Is translation traitorous, transcendent? Maybe translation is impossible. But let’s try it anyways! In this graduate seminar, we will read key texts on the history and theory of translating literature, and we sample translations from across the centuries of the “classics,” such as the Bible and Homer. We will consider competing translations into English of significant modern literary works from a variety of languages, possibly including, but not limited to German, Yiddish, French, Hebrew, and Russian. These readings will serve to frame each student’s own semester-long translation of a literary work from a language of her or his choice. The seminar offers graduate students with their skills in various language an opportunity to take on a significant translation project within a circle of peers. | COML5370401, JWST5370401 | |||||||||
| GRMN 5480-401 | 19th Century Philosophy | Carlos J Pereira Di Salvo | MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM | Graduate seminar on selected figures in 19th century philosophy. Figures to be studied may include Hegel, Fichte, Schelling, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and, Kierkegaard. | PHIL4190401, PHIL6190401 | https://coursesintouch.apps.upenn.edu/cpr/jsp/fast.do?webService=syll&t=202510&c=GRMN5480401 | ||||||||
| GRMN 5570-301 | Reading the Twentieth Century | Javier Samper Vendrell | W 5:15 PM-8:14 PM | Taught in German, this graduate anchor course gives an introduction to German-language literary traditions through an overview of important authors, texts and movements of the long twentieth century. Short texts by Franz Kafka and Elfriede Jelinek provide conceptual bookends permitting an understanding of the evolution of literary modernism into the postmodern—from psychoanalysis to the postnational, Expressionism to postdramatic theater and from language crisis to the (im)possibility of poetry after Auschwitz. Longer works of narrative and theater are complemented by accompanying poetry, theoretical or philosophical approaches. Readings include works by Hofmannsthal, Rilke, Schnitzler, Musil, Brecht, Celan, Özdamar and Tawada, among others. | ||||||||||
| GRMN 5770-401 | Inside the Archive | Liliane Weissberg | CANCELED | What is an archive, and what is its history? What makes an archival collection special, and how can we work with it? In this course, we will discuss work essays that focus on the idea and concept of the archive by Jacques Derrida, Michel de Certeau, Benjamin Buchloh, Cornelia Vismann, and others. We will consider the difference between public and private archives, archives dedicated to specific disciplines, persons, or events, and consider the relationship to museums and memorials. Further questions will involve questions of property and ownership as well as the access to material, and finally the archive's upkeep, expansion, or reduction. While the first part of the course will focus on readings about archives, we will invite curators, and visit archives (either in person or per zoom) in the second part of the course. At Penn, we will consider four archives: (1) the Louis Kahn archive of architecture at Furness, (2) the Lorraine Beitler Collection of material relating to the Dreyfus affair, (3) the Schoenberg collection of medieval manuscripts and its digitalization, and (4) the University archives. Outside Penn, we will study the following archives and their history: (1) Leo Baeck Institute for the study of German Jewry in New York, (2) the Sigmund Freud archive at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., (3) the German Literary Archive and the Literturmuseum der Moderne in Marbach, Germany, and (4) the archives of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. | ARTH5690401, COML5771401, JWST5770401 | |||||||||
| SWED 0200-680 | Elementary Swedish II | Heli Sirvioe | TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM | Part two of the elementary level Swedish course. Authentic texts and media will be introduced, as well as opportunities to communicate with native speakers. By the end of the spring semester you will be able to handle a range of practical situations, such as ordering in restaurants and cafes, shopping, talking about family, holidays, plans, daily routines, health, sports/hobbies, jobs and studies. You will work on expressing your opinions and intentions, likes and dislikes, and understanding basic authentic source media, spoken language, etc. You will also learn about Sweden in an international context. | ||||||||||
| YDSH 0200-401 | Beginning Yiddish II | Alexander Botwinik | TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM | In this course, you can continue to develop basic reading, writing and speaking skills. Discover treasures of Yiddish culture: songs, literature, folklore, and films. | JWST0260401 | |||||||||
| YDSH 0400-401 | Intermediate Yiddish II | Alexander Botwinik | TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM | Continuation of YDSH 0300. Emphasis on reading texts and conversation. | JWST0460401 | |||||||||
| YDSH 1340-401 | In Babel: Translation and Narration in the Jewish World | Marina Mayorski | MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM | “Modern Jewish culture speaks with many voices,” wrote the poet, translator, and scholar Benjamin Harshav. In this course, we will echo these voices by exploring how Jewish life was shaped by cross-cultural contact and exchange with non-Jews and other Jewish communities, by studying literary manifestations of multilingualism, translation, adaptation, and circulation of texts and ideas. With a wide variety of texts - fiction, poetry, historiography, and literary criticism - from different languages and cultural contexts, this course will address several fundamental questions about, on the one hand, the ways Jews translated texts for Jewish readers, and, on the other, how Jewish experiences and traditions were translated for broader audiences. In a broader sense, we will consider what is at stake in translating Jewishness and how cultural and linguistic borders are crossed and discussed in different historical contexts. Course assessment is comprised of two short response papers to key concepts and a literary text (with the option for a creative format), and a final paper that can be either research-based or a translation and a translator’s introduction. All materials will be available in English but students are encouraged to read materials in their original languages if they are fluent. | COML1340401, GRMN1340401, JWST1340401 |