A century ago the late and rapid industrialization of Germany and Austria resulted in the radical transformation of society, including new and unstable configurations of gender roles and sexuality. Artists and intellectuals throughout the English-speaking world avidly read the work of German sexologists (who first coined the term homosexual), the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, and the now nearly forgotten sexual theories of Otto Weininger. In this course we will read these theories alongside the literature of the era, beginning with fin-de-siècle imperial Germany, moving through Expressionism and World War I into the seemingly liberal Weimar era and its abrupt end in 1933. All readings and discussion in English; no knowledge of spoken or written German is required.

Required texts:
• Theodor Fontane. Effi Briest. Penguin Putnam, ISBN 0-14-044766-0
• Sigmund Freud. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality. Harper Collins Trade, ISBN 0-
465-09708-1
• Sigmund Freud. Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-
82946-0
• Frank Wedekind. Spring’s Awakening. Hal Leonard, ISBN 1-55783-245-5
• Thomas Mann. Death in Venice. Dover, ISBN 0-486-28714-9
• Irmgard Keun. The Artificial Silk Girl. W.W. Norton, ISBN 1-892746-81-6
• Course packets with additional readings
• Occasional handouts and online readings