German Literature and Cultural History

GERM The Berlin Consortium Program The Berlin Consortium makes it possible for science, social science, and humanities majors who have completed at least two years of college German to become German university students for an entire academic year or the spring semester. After a brief period of orientation and intensive language instruction, undergraduates from Columbia College, The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, General Studies, and Barnard College attend classes at the Freie Universität (FU) Berlin. Instruction is in German. The FU offers an exceptionally wide range of courses. Medicine, the natural sciences, and the humanities and social sciences are the largest faculties. Smaller, more specialized disciplines are particularly well represented and range from religious studies and ethnology to studies in Asian culture and in the antiquities, art history, and musicology. The Berlin Consortium Program is also open to a limited number of participants from beyond the Consortium institutions--Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. A bulletin with an application and information about all aspects of the program is available in the Berlin Consortium Office in 203 Lewisohn, 854-2820.

DTCH W1101x-W1102y Elementary Course 4 pts. Fundamentals of grammar, reading, speaking, and comprehension of the spoken language. During the spring term supplementary reading is selected according to students' needs.

FINN W1101x-W1102y Elementary Course 4 pts. Fundamentals of grammar and lexicon. Building proficiency in aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing. Linguistic structures in the cultural context.

GERM V1101x or y Elementary German Language Course, I 4 pts. Upon completion of the course, students understand, speak, read, and write German at a level enabling them to communicate with native speakers about their background, family, daily activities, student life, work, and living quarters. Daily assignments and laboratory work.

SWED W1101x-W1102y Elementary Swedish 4 pts. Instruction in speaking, reading, and writing basic Swedish. Ample practice in pronunciation and key conversation patterns. Examination of links between the language and the culture(s) in which Swedish is spoken.

YIDD W1101x-W1102y Elementary Yiddish 4 pts. With the instructor's permission the second term may be taken without the first. Thorough study of elementary Yiddish grammar, with reading, composition, and oral practice. The cultural and linguistic background of the language is discussed.

GERM V1102x or y Elementary German Language Course, II 4 pts. Prerequisites: Prerequisite: GERM V1101 or the equivalent. Students expand their communication skills to include travel, storytelling, personal well-being, basic economics, and recent historical events. Daily assignments and laboratory work.

GERM F1113x Elementary Intensive Reading Course, I 2 pts. Primarily for graduate students and others who need to acquire a reading knowledge of German. This course does not fulfill any part of the language requirement for the bachelor's degree. A comprehensive introduction to German grammar accompanied by reading of appropriate texts.

GERM F1114x or y Elementary Intensive Reading, II 2 pts. Prerequisites: German V1113 or the equivalent. This course does not fulfill any part of the language requirement for the bachelor's degree. Intensive readings of graded expository texts, with review of the essentials of German grammar.

GERM V1125x Accelerated Elementary German I & II 8 pts. No prerequisites. Equivalent to German V1101 and V1102. This intensive semester provides all of elementary German enabling students to understand, speak, read, and write in German. Topics range from family and studies to current events. Conducted entirely in German, requirements include oral and written exams, essays, German-culture projects, and a final exam.

DTCH W1201x-W1202y Intermediate Course 4 pts. Prerequisite: DTCH W1101-W1102 or the equivalent. Continued practice in the four skills (aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing); review and refinement of basic grammar; vocabulary building. Readings in Dutch literature.

FINN W1201x-W1202y Intermediate Course 4 pts. Prerequisites: FINN W1101-W1102 or the instructor's permission. Continued practice in aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing; review and refinement of grammatical structures; vocabulary building. Readings include Finnish fiction and nonfiction.

GERM V1201x or y Intermediate German Language Course, I 4 pts. Prerequisite: GERM V1102 or the equivalent. Recommended parallel: GERM W1521. Prepares students for advanced German language and literature courses. Topics emphasize contemporary German life and cross-cultural awareness. Daily assignments, video material, and laboratory work.

YIDD W1201x-W1202y Intermediate Yiddish 4 pts. Prerequisites: YIDD W1101-W1102 or the instructor's permission. Continuing study of grammar on a higher level. Continuing oral practice; readings from texts of significant literary value dealing with important aspects of Jewish life and culture.

GERM V1202x or y Intermediate German Language Course, II 4 pts. Prerequisites: GERM V1201 or the equivalent. Recommended parallel: GERM W1522. Students read a German novel. Intermediate-high to advanced-low proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing German is expected upon completion. Daily assignments, video material, and laboratory work.

GERM V1225y Accelerated Intermediate German 8 pts. Prerequisites: GERM V1102 or the equivalent. Equivalent to German V1201 and V1202, prerequisite 1102 or equivalent. This intensive semester prepares students for advanced German and/or study abroad. Grammar review precedes topics highlighting German history, politics and cultural life. Emphasis on communication including essay writing and group presentations; final portfolio includes essays, creative writing, and German-culture project.

GERM W1521x or y Intermediate Conversation, I 2 pts. Prerequisites: Prerequisite: GERM V1102 or the equivalent, or placement by the director of undergraduate studies. Highly recommended parallel course to GERM V1201. Practice in idiomatic conversational German through discussion of a wide variety of topics.

GERM W1522x or y Intermediate Conversation, II 2 pts. Prerequisites: Prerequisite: GERM V1201 or the equivalent, or placement by director of undergraduate studies. Highly recommended parallel course to GERM V1202. Practice in idiomatic conversational German through discussion of a wide variety of topics.

GERM V3001x or y Advanced German, I 3 pts. Prerequisites: Prerequisite: GERM V1202 or the permission of the director of undergraduate studies. Designed to follow up the language skills acquired in first- and second-year language courses (or the equivalent thereof), this course gives students greater proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing German, while focusing on topics from German society today through German newspapers and periodicals.

GERM V3002x or y Advanced German, II 3 pts. Prerequisites: GERM V1202 or the equivalent and the permission of undergraduate studies or the instructor. While continuing to strengthen their overal German skills, students address aspects of practical and/or situational German, e.g., letter writing, shopping, telephone etiquette, understanding and giving directions, etc.

DTCH W3101x-W3102y Advanced Dutch 3 pts.

FINN W3333x-W3334y Advanced Course, I and II 3 pts. Prerequisites: Finnish W1201-W1202 or the instructor's permission. Further development of comprehension and oral and written expression through discussions and readings of varied texts, including contemporary authors. Aspects of Finnish culture also explored through film and video.

GERM W3333x Introduction To German Literature [In German] 3 pts. Prerequisites: GERM V1202 or the equivalent. Examines short literary texts and various methodological approaches to interpreting such texts in order to establish a basic familiarity with the study of German literature and culture.

YIDD W3333x Advanced Yiddish 3 pts. Prerequisite: YIDD W1201-W1202 or the instructor's permission. This course may be repeated for credit. Reading of contemporary authors. Stress on word usage and idiomatic expression, discussion.

GERM W3443x Romanticism, Revolution, Realism [In German] 3 pts. Prerequisites: German W3333 or W3334 or the permission of the director of undergraduate affairs or the instructor. Literary, philosophical, and political cross currents of the 19th century. Authors include Novalis, Brentano, Eichendorff, Tiech, Hoffmann, Büchner, Heine, Keller, Strorm, Fontane, and others.

GERM W3444y Decadence, Modernism, Exile [In German] 3 pts. Prerequisites: German W3333 or W3334 or the permission of the director of undergraduate affairs or the instructor. Naturalism, the turn of the century, expressionism, literature of the Weimar Republic, and the exile period. Works of Hauptmann, Wedekind, Schnitzler, Mann, Rilke, Kafka, Brecht, Hesse, and others.

GERM W3675x German Literature In World Context [In English] 3 pts.

YIDD W3800x Readings in Yiddish Literature: The Yiddish Experience [In English] 3 pts. This course will be exploring the traditional structure and the collective expression of Jewish Culture as a national sense of identity, while integrating into the unfamiliar modes of the surrounding world. The Yiddish language was the central means of national Jewish expression throughout its thousand year European sojourn while reflecting two thousand years of Jewish upheaval and creative upswings on the European continent.

GERM C3991y Senior Seminar: Goethe [in German] 3 pts. Required of all German majors in their senior year. Lectures and readings in German. Prerequisites: one of the Introduction to German literature courses and one upper-level literature course, or the instructor's permission.

DTCH W3994y Special Reading Course 1 pt.

CLSW G4450x Scandinavian Crime in Film and Literature (in English) 3 pts. This course introduces students to the Scandinavian crime novel and its key themes and debates going back to 1965. It also trains students to develop critical approaches to analysis of the crime novel-and other forms of popular culture. The course divides into four sections. First, we acquire methods of analysis that help us identify the "parts" of the crime novel and their history. Subsequent sections of the course focus on the way in which authors modify and repurpose these parts to engage in debate. We will focus on the criminal (Who is the criminal? Why him or her?); the identity of the investigator (Who is the investigator? Does it matter?); the setting the crime story (How does it matter?).