Language Courses
Literature & Culture Courses
SAS Core Goal Courses:
Intermediate German I 01:470:131
Intermediate German II 01:470:132
Tales of Horror 01:470:227
Enchanted Worlds 01:470:285
Introduction to Literary and Cultural Analysis 01:470:301
Critical Issues in German Studies 01:470:303
German and Comparative Literature 01:470:304
Classics of German Cinema 01:470:360
A Note for Students:
Fall 2021 courses offered by the Rutgers German program will include courses offered face to face, fully online, and hybrid (partly in person and partly online). Courses will be held at the days and times indicated below, with online synchronous instruction times as noted. For details, consult individual course syllabi and/or contact your instructor. See also the following information from SAS about Fall 2021 Course Scheduling and Registration FAQs, and the message from the Chancellor about the Fall Return to the Banks.
Language Courses
Elementary German 101 (4 cr)
01:470:101:01
Nicole Uberreich
MWTh1 - MTh1 9:00am - 10:20am, SC 204, W1 online
In Fall 2021, this section is being delivered in hybrid format, with two class sessions meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
This course will introduce students to the language and culture of German-speaking countries, using both prepared and authentic materials with theme-related vocabulary and grammatical structures. Students will have the opportunity to practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking in German through in-class activities and homework assignments. The program of the course corresponds to the Level A1 (Beginner) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely accepted European standard for language proficiency.
By the end of the semester students will be able to:
- understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type
- introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people they know and things they have
- interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.More specifically, students will be able to:
- talk about themselves, their families, and their origins
- talk about weather and clothing
- order food and drinks in a restaurant or a café, discuss food and cooking, use cooking recipes
- discuss different living situations, talk about houses, rooms, etc.
- talk about their time and make appointments
- orient themselves in a German-speaking urban setting and ask for directions
- talk about things that happened in the past;
- talk about professions, job, study, recreation, and daily life
- talk about some major landmarks and places of interest of the German-speaking countries
- talk about health and health issues
- express their intentions, obligations and necessities.
No prerequisites. This course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points in English. Not open for credit to students who have had two or more years of secondary school German. Students of 101 are strongly encouraged to enroll in Elementary German Lab 103 or Elementary German Lab 104.
Elementary German 101 (4 cr)
01:470:101:02
Silke Wehner-Franco
MWTh5 - MW5 5:00pm - 6:20pm, SC 203, Th5 online
In Fall 2021, this section is being delivered in hybrid format, with two class sessions meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
This section of Elementary German I is offered in the hybrid format, which combines face-to-face and online instruction. Instead of 3 meetings a week, the class will meet face-to-face for two 80-minute sessions per week, and a substantial portion of material will be covered online.
This course will introduce students to the language and culture of German-speaking countries, using both prepared and authentic materials with theme-related vocabulary and grammatical structures. Students will have the opportunity to practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking in German through in-class activities and homework assignments. The program of the course corresponds to the Level A1 (Beginner) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely accepted European standard for language proficiency.
By the end of the semester students will be able to:
- understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type
- introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people they know and things they have
- interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. More specifically, students will be able to:
- talk about themselves, their families, and their origins
- talk about weather and clothing
- order food and drinks in a restaurant or a café, discuss food and cooking, use cooking recipes
- discuss different living situations, talk about houses, rooms, etc.
- talk about their time and make appointments
- orient themselves in a German-speaking urban setting and ask for directions
- talk about things that happened in the past;
- talk about professions, job, study, recreation, and daily life
- talk about some major landmarks and places of interest of the German-speaking countries
- talk about health and health issues
- express their intentions, obligations and necessities.
No prerequisites. This course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points in English. Not open for credit to students who have had two or more years of secondary school German. Students of 101 are strongly encouraged to enroll in Elementary German Lab 103 or Elementary German Lab 104.
Elementary German 102 (4 cr)
01:470:102:01
Liliana Janhofer
MWTh1 - MTh1 9:00am - 10:20am, FH B3, W1 online
Not open for credit to students who have had two or more years of high-school German. Such students should enroll in German 121, unless they have placed into a higher-level German course.
In Fall 2021, this section is being delivered in hybrid format, with two class sessions meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
This course will continue introducing students to the language and culture of German-speaking countries, using both prepared and authentic materials with theme-related vocabulary and grammatical structures. Students will have the opportunity to practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking in German through in-class activities and homework assignments. The program of the course corresponds to the Level A2 (Elementary) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely accepted European standard for language proficiency.By the end of the semester students will be able to:
- understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).
- communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters.
- describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.More specifically, students will be able to:
- understand non-fiction texts on some topics, including classified ads
- talk about migration, backgrounds, and languages, compare cities and countries
- talk about families and everyday life, about city and country life
- describe people
- talk about travel
- talk about leisure, hobbies and interests, as well as holidays and traditions
- talk about media
- talk about inventions, products and goods
- organize a trip to a theater, etc.
- talk about professional life
- leave a message on the phone
- express emotions and react to them using language
The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points in English.
German for Travel (1 cr)
01:470:103:01
Christiane Fischer
M2 11:00am - 12:20pm, SC 203
In Fall 2021, this course will meet in person.
This course will introduce students to the language and culture of German-speaking countries focusing on the language competencies particularly relevant in travel situations.
By the end of the semester students will be able to speak about themselves in general and as travelers, ask basic questions about travel, discuss their travel interests and express likes and dislikes, speak about German-speaking countries and their inhabitants, orient themselves in means of transportation and accommodations used in Europe, purchase tickets and book hotel rooms on German-language websites.
The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points and cultural references in English. Not open to students who have completed 01:470:102, 01:470:121, or the equivalent.
German Conversation (1 cr)
01:470:104:01
Elisabeth Oberlerchner
Th2 11:00am - 12:20pm, SC 203
In Fall 2021, this course will meet in person.
This course will introduce students to the language and culture of German-speaking countries focusing on the language competencies particularly relevant for oral communication in everyday situations.By the end of the semester students will be able to:
- speak about themselves;
- ask basic questions;
- share basic information about their families and relatives;
- speak about their studies;
- speak about objects relevant to everyday situations;
- speak about the weather;
- express likes and dislikes.The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points and cultural references in English.
German for Reading Knowledge (3 cr)
01:470:105:01
Alexander Pichugin
MTh2 11:00am - 12:20pm, online
In Fall 2021, this course will meet synchronously online. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
This course, taught in English and German, is intended for undergraduate students without previous knowledge of the German language. The course develops basic reading competencies in German. The texts read in the course are chosen from the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences.
By the end of the semester students will be able to:
- apply specific reading strategies to reading a text in German;
- read a text in German with correct pronunciation;
- recognize some grammar phenomena and apply this knowledge to understanding;
- apply some basic passive vocabulary to reading German texts;
- efficiently use online and paper-based dictionaries.
German Intensive Review (4 cr) - Hybrid Section
01:470:121:01
Liliana Janhofer
MWTh1 - MTh1 9:00am - 10:20am, FH B3, W1 online
(121 is for students with two or more years of high-school German who do not place into German 131.)
Not open to students who have taken 01:470:101-102.
In Fall 2021, this section is being delivered in hybrid format, with two class sessions meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
An intermediate reinforcement course. Practice in speaking, reading, and writing German; extensive grammar review; cultural topics. Prepares students to take German 131.
Languages and Cultures Across the Curriculum: Germanic Languages in Cultural and Historical Context (1 credit)
01:991:121:E4
Alexander Pichugin
T 1* - 9:00am - 9:55am, SC 202
Taught in English and German. Students must also be registered for a German course.
This 1 credit module is intended for students of German interested in knowing more about the history of German language and people speaking it as well as languages related to German. It provides students a brief overview of German and other Germanic languages from both historical and linguistical perspectives.
In the first part of the module students will explore the history of German from Proto-Indo-European to modern High German. Both the historical context and the language structure, as well as literature produced in the period will be examined.
The second part of the module is devoted to an overview of modern Germanic languages as they are spoken today, such as English, Frisian, Old Saxon, Dutch, Afrikaans, Yiddish, as well as Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Faroese, Icelandic. Students will focus on separate languages or features of several languages in preparing in-class presentations.
Intermediate German I (3 cr)
01:470:131:01
Arielle Friend
MTh1 - Th1 9:00am - 10:20am, SC 203, M1 online
Prerequisite: 01:470:102, 01:470:108, 01:470:121, or placement.
In Fall 2021, both sections of this course will be delivered in hybrid format, with one class session meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
The first semester of Intermediate German further develops students' German language skills with an emphasis on conversation and composition based on everyday situations, aspects of culture, contemporary German short stories, and review of major grammatical points. Students will strengthen their listening, reading, and writing skills, as well as cultural competency by discussing a variety of cultural topics and themes in the German-speaking world, including personal and community life, media, travel, and art. Fulfills SAS core goal AH q.
Intermediate German II (3 cr)
01:470:132:01
Elisabeth Oberlerchner
MTh1 - Th1 9:00am - 10:20am, SC 202, M1 online
Prerequisite: 01:470:131 or placement.
In Fall 2021, this course will be delivered in hybrid format, with one class session meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
In this course students will further develop their competencies in German language and culture of the German-speaking countries on the intermediate level, using both prepared and authentic materials with theme-related vocabulary and grammatical structures. Students will have the opportunity to practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking in German through various in-class activities and homework assignments. Using a variety of media, such as written texts, video, and audio clips, students will explore the course’s five major themes: Climate and Environment; Social Behaviors; Generations; Migration; Europe.
The program of the course corresponds to the Level B1.2, which is the first half of Level B1 (Intermediate) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely accepted European standard for language proficiency. By the end of the course sequence, students will be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.; deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken; produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest; describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points in English.
Fulfills SAS core goal AH q.• Understanding the nature of human languages and their speakers.
Advanced German I (3 cr)
01:470:231:01
Christiane Fischer
MTh1 - M1 9:00am - 10:20am, SC 202, Th1 online
In German.
In Fall 2021, this course will be delivered in hybrid format, with one class session meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
This course explores 20th century German culture, literature, and politics through an examination of the city of Berlin. Drawing on film, literature, and audio features we will focus on the following topics: Expressionism and Dada, Cabaret in the Golden Twenties, resistance against the Nazis, 1968 movement & left wing terrorism, the Berlin Wall & GDR protest culture, and contemporary Berlin scene. An emphasis will be placed on written exercises, listening and reading skills developing the ability to discuss and argue opinions, as well as a thorough review of grammar. All readings, discussions, and written works are in German. Prerequisites: German 132 or placement test.
Literature and Culture Courses
Tales of Horror (3 cr)
01:470:227:01
Nicola Behrmann
Crosslisted with Comparative Literature 01:195:227:01
M12 9:00am - 12:00pm, online
In English. No prerequisites.
In Fall 2021, this course will meet synchronously online. Vampires and zombies, doppelgänger and artificial humans continue to haunt our cultural imagination throughout the centuries. This course explores the return of the repressed in some of the most spellbinding creatures and fantasies. We will consider the psychoanalytical underpinnings of each tale and the ways in which a text or a film establishes, fears, safeguards, or releases its horrific kernel. We will investigate why moving images relate particularly well to horror and the uncanny. And we will play close attention to the historical and political context of each tale of horror and to the ways in which these narratives speak of the horrors of racism, homophobia, and genocide.
Readings include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “The Sandman”, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat”, Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw”, Zora Neale Hurston’s Tell My Horse and Franz Kafka’s “A Country Doctor”, and conclude with Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved. Filmic contributions are coming from F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu), Alain Resnais (Night and Fog), and Jordan Peele (Get Out).
This course satisfies SAS Core Curriculum Learning Goals AHo, AHp.
Enchanted Worlds (3 cr)
01:470:285:01
01:470:285:02 (First years and sophomores)
Martha Helfer
MW4 - M4 3:00pm - 4:20pm, AB 1180; W4 online
Enchanted Worlds
Fantasy, the Fantastic, and the Supernatural in German Literature and Thought
In Fall 2021, this section is being delivered in hybrid format, with one class session meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
Meet devils and doppelgänger, sandmen and spider women, elf kings and alchemists, magicians, and marble statues that come to life! This course explores how fantasy, the fantastic, and the supernatural function as a site of cultural and aesthetic critique in German literature and thought from the Enlightenment to the early twentieth century. Readings include immensely creative and influential masterpieces of world literature. Emphasis placed on developing critical reading and writing skills.
No prerequisites. All readings and discussions in English.
This course satisfies SAS Core Curriculum Learning Goals AHp, WCd.
Introduction to Literary and Cultural Analysis: Amerikabilder (3 cr)
01:470:301:01
Dominik Zechner
MW3 - M3 1:00pm - 2:20pm, SC 202, W3 online
In Fall 2021, this section is being delivered in hybrid format, with one class session meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
German-speaking literature, film, and music in the 20th century are marked by a palpable fascination with the signifier “Amerika.” From Kafka’s early speculations in his first novel, Der Verschollene, which misdescribes the Statue of Liberty as carrying a “sword” instead of a torch, through the literary works produced by German-speaking writers in American exile during World War II, and the famous meeting of Gruppe 47 in Princeton in 1966––“America” and, more concretely, the United States of America, is articulated as a place of desire, hope, attraction, but also confusion and even suspicion. The course will offer students the critical vocabulary to analyze the image of America in German-speaking literature and cultural production. How does this image relate to our contemporary discussion of the United States’ colonial history? To what extent does it become readable as the effect of American cultural imperialism during the Cold War era? What does a German or Austrian perspective add to our understanding of America? In the final analysis, the course seeks to achieve a dual goal: while it will familiarize students with German-speaking cultural production and some of its seminal output, it will prompt them to critically interrogate their own educational context, situated as it is in New Jersey, USA. Perhaps one can only truly learn about one’s own culture of one views it through the eyes of another? We will be reading seminal works by Franz Kafka, Ingeborg Bachmann, Max Frisch, Peter Handke, and Rolf Dieter Brinkmann; consider philosophical snippets from Theodor Adorno and Hans Magnus Enzensberger; & listen to music from Richard Strauss to Rammstein. Taught in German. Fulfills SAS core requirements AHp, WCr, WCd. 300-level German-language courses open to students who have either successfully completed German 232 or will be simultaneously enrolled in either German 231 or 232. May be repeated for credit.
Critical Issues in German Studies: German Music (3 cr)
01:470:303:01
Alexander Pichugin
TTh4 3:00pm - 4:20pm, online
In English. No prerequisites.
In Fall 2021, this course will meet synchronously online. This course invites students to explore the world of German music and its connections to other forms of cultural production, such as literature and cinema. German-speaking countries produced some of the most renowned composers and music performers of the world. German popular music of the 20th and 21st Century with modern movements such as New German Wave, Metal/Rock, Punk, Pop Rock and Hip Hop is extremely popular. Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world. It is very well known for both its many renowned opera houses and many large rock music festivals. By studying German music in its historical and cultural context, students will gain insights into ideas, trends and discourses that have shaped contemporary German-language culture. The course offers a wide range of materials, including music pieces, non-fiction and literary prose texts, documentary and feature films, audio productions, as well as selections from newspapers and magazines related to music. Fulfills SAS Core goals AHp, WCd.
German and Comparative Literature: Happy Place (3 cr)
01:470:304:01
Nicola Behrmann
Cross-listed with Comparative Literature 01:195:314:01
Th23 11:00am - 2:00pm, online
Taught in English. No prerequisites.
In Fall 2021, this course will meet synchronously online. “The notion of happiness is,” according to Immanuel Kant, “so indeterminate that although every human being wishes to attain it, yet he can never say definitely and consistently what it is he really wishes and wills.” Matthew 7:14 agrees: “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” This course takes you on a journey to the happy place in literature and across time—that place which might remain utopian, with barred access, only attainable via detours, downfalls, or break-ups, and which emerge unexpectedly and sporadically, often as the pursuit of happiness itself, not necessarily as a fixed location, sometimes retrospectively, sometimes as the future to come.
Readings include: Ovid, Orpheus and Eurydice; Miguel Cervantes, Don Quixote (excerpts); Novalis, Heinrich of Ofterdingen (1802); E.T.A. Hoffmann, “The Mines of Falun” (1819); Kafka, Amerika (1927); Joseph Roth, Job (1930); Camus, The Myth of Sisyphos (1942); Samuel Beckett, Happy Days (1961); Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star (1977); with filmic examples by F.W. Murnau (Sunrise, 1927) and Werner Herzog (Family Romance LLC, 2020).
Translation Seminar I (3 cr)
01:470:315:01
Alexander Pichugin
MTh1 9:00am - 10:20am, online
Taught in German. Prerequisite: 01:470:232 or placement.
In Fall 2021, this course will meet synchronously online. This course introduces students to the current theories and practices of translation between German and English of texts of different nature from different subject areas. Students will practice translations concentrating on typical issues a translator encounters when working with texts relating to literature, film, technology, natural and social sciences, history, and business. Through practical translation exercises, students will familiarize themselves with the use of modern translation technologies. Students will also learn about the history of translation studies and discuss the practical applications and typical tasks that a translator faces today. In the course, students will acquire a necessary translation-related metalanguage, which allows the textual analysis and the evaluation of translation process and results, developing a solution-driven mind of a translator.
The Ghosts of Generations: Classics of German Cinema (3 cr)
01:470:360:01
Regina Karl
Crosslisted with Cinema Studies 01:195:360:01
TF1 9:00am - 10:20am, online
Taught in English. No prerequisites.
In Fall 2021, this course will meet synchronously online. This course introduces students to films of the Weimar, Nazi, and post-war period, as well as to contemporary German cinema. We will explore issues of social class, gender, historical memory, violence, and conflict by means of close analysis. The class seeks to sensitize students to the cultural context of these films and the changing socio-political climates in which they were made. Special attention will be paid to the issue of style. Directors and films include Robert Wiene, Fritz Lang, Richard Oswald, Josef von Sternberg, Leontine Sagan, Leni Riefenstahl, Billy Wilder, Alexander Kluge, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Harun Farocki, Christian Petzold, Valeska Grisebach, Fatih Akin among others. Fulfills SAS Core Course Goal AHo.
Topics in German Literature and Civilization: German Thought in the 20th Century (3 cr)
01:470:390:01
Dominik Zechner
Crosslisted with Comparative Literature 01:195:395:01 and Philosophy 01:730:375:01
MW5 - M5 5:00pm - 6:20pm, CA A5, W5 online
Taught in English. No prerequisites.
In Fall 2021, this section is being delivered in hybrid format, with one class session meeting each week in person, and one class session each week online at the above scheduled time. All course materials will be posted to Canvas (https://tlt.rutgers.edu/canvas).
The history of German philosophy and thought in the 20th century is a problematic one. Against the backdrop of Germany’s political decline into atrocity and disaster, the German intellectual tradition became radically fragmented and dislodged. While German Jewish thinkers were persecuted and had to escape into exile, other philosophers remained active in Germany, some even supported the Nazi regime. In the course of the semester, we will study some of the towering proponents of German thought, including vexing figures like Martin Heidegger and tragic ones like Walter Benjamin, as students will become familiarized with some of their most impactful works. The course’s guiding concepts––history, language, technology––will allow us to cover a broad spectrum of questions while at the same time analyzing specific issues with precision and acuity, from the “language crisis” inherited from the 19th century through post-humanist concerns raised with regard to the so-called “Question Concerning Technology.” While the course’s main goal is to convey a broad understanding of German thought and its recent history, it will also acquaint students with a variety of fields of inquiry including hermeneutics, philology, historical materialism, logical positivism, and cybernetics, as well as introduce important methods of textual analysis and close reading.
