Germanic Languages & Literatures

In this course, we will investigate Berlin as a narrative site, a place where the Berlin myths of various epochs, such as Berlin, capital of Imperial Germany;  Berlin of the Weimar Republic and of the wide open, Roaring Twenties; Berlin divided in the Cold War; Berlin after the fall of the Wall in reunited Germany.  We will focus on literary texts, with occasional glances at the historical context art, architecture, and film.  The emphasis will be on the post-war period. 

This course is designed for –but not limited to—German majors in their fourth year.
Readings will be chosen from such older authors as Fontane, Tucholsky, and  Keun, as well as more recent writers such as Annett Gröschner, Peter Schneider, Thomas Brussig, Uwe Timm, Yade Kara.

This course introduces students to the history of The Frankfurt School in Europe and the United States. Most closely associated with Juergen Habermas, the Frankfurt School is known for Neo-Marxist social theory. The many facets of the Frankfurt School and its interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of Western cultures, as well as the fruitful interchange between the German and the American version of the Frankfurt School, comprise the focus of this course, which appeals to both graduate and undergraduate students.

The purpose of the course is to introduce the most important works of narrative theory that shape current theoretical debate and critical practice.  We will focus on "classical" narrative theory, to include Wayne Booth, The Rhetoric of Fiction; Franz Stanzel, Typische Formen des Romans; Roland Barthes, S/Z; Gérard Genette, Narrative Discourse; Dorrit Cohn, Transparent Minds.  But we will also look at some earlier narrative theory, such as Benjamin, "The Storyteller," M.H. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination, and Frank Kermode, The Sense of an Ending, as well as some later applications of psychoanalytic theory, deconstruction, and feminist theory to narrative by Lacan, Derrida, Johnson, Felman, and Lanser. Some time will be reserved for very recent theory, e.g., theory inspired by virtual reality and/or cognitive approaches. In addition, students will be expected to be acquainted with certain works of fiction that play a central role in the theories:  James, The Turn of the Screw; Poe, "The Purloined Letter"; Melville, Billy Budd.