Fall 2024

Not open for credit to students who have had two or more years of high-school German. Such students should contact the German undergraduate director for more information.

 Taught by Nadja von Bossel in person (470:102:01) and Alexander Pichugin online (470:102:90)

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. 

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 or the equivalent.

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.

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 or the equivalent.

Professor Alexander Pichugin

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.

Prerequisite: 01:470:102, 01:470:108, 01:470:121, or placement.

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 AHq.

Prerequisites: German 132 or placement test.

In German.

Advanced German. 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.

Professor Michael Levine

Psychoanalysis is usually viewed as a theory of interpretation, a hermeneutics, a way of deciphering the meaning of a symptom or dream. Yet, it is also and perhaps above all a unique form of human interaction, an experience, a happening. One name Freud gave to this potentially transformative encounter was transference. The course will explore these different dimensions of analytic thought and practice through close readings of Freud’s own case studies and theoretical writings as well as through the study of literature, film, and television series. In English. No prerequisites. Course fulfills the Core requirements AHo & AHp.

Professor Alexander Pichugin

In English. No prerequisites.

This course is an interdisciplinary inquiry into seminal literary, artistic, social, political, and intellectual developments in the history of German-language cultures and thought from around 1750 to 1900. The course is open to first-year students and to all who might not necessarily wish to become a German major or minor but who seek, as part of a well-rounded liberal arts education, basic familiarity with the rich and often vexed history of things German and their impact on Europe and the world.

Topics include: Tolerance and the age of Enlightenment; Romantic music, painting and poetry; Romantic science; the Faust legend; industrialization and social change in the 19th Century; and others. Short readings of texts by Lessing, Kant, Goethe, the Brothers Grimm, Marx, Nietzsche, and others. Music by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, etc.

By studying different genres of film and other forms of cultural production (literature, music, art) in relation to the general intellectual development of the period, students will gain insights into ideas, trends and discourses that have shaped contemporary German culture. As a learning outcome of the course, students will develop their ability to approach texts and works of art both analytically and synthetically, exploring the connections between the historical period and its cultural representation in critical and creative ways. The course is conducted in English. All course materials, discussions, and readings are in English. Some optional supplemental materials are in German. Students will have an option to complete written assignments in German.

Course fulfills the Core requirements AHp, WCD.  

Professor Nicola Behrmann

Crosslisted with 195:277 and 082:276

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the European avant-garde movements at the beginning of the 20th century. We will consider innovations in art, music, film, and literature, beginning with German Expressionism, followed by Italian Futurism, the international Dada movement, and French Surrealism. We will look at the various ways in which these movements discover the irrational, the pathological, the unconscious, the precarious and the abandoned as revolutionary and subversive gesture with the utopian potential of changing the world. We will explore what binds and what separates these movements from each other. And we will trace the influences on European avant-gardes.

In English. No prerequisites. Taught asynchronously. This course satisfies core requirements AHo, AHp.

Professor Martha Helfer

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.

Prerequisite: 01:470:102 or 01:470:121, or higher. 

In German. If taken twice, 470:299 may be counted for three credits towards the major or minor. 

The main goal of this course is to increase the students' cultural awareness through the study of the various media and their role in contemporary German society, while furthering the students' German language skills through consistent speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In this course, students will explore the traditional, modernized, and news media and the role they play in different realms of contemporary German society. Chosen topics of the course are crucial to understanding the modern German-speaking world and include themes such as social structure, politics, culture, and everyday life. Special attention is paid to cultural comparisons between Germany and the United States.

Professor Nicholas Rennie

German 01:470:371-01, Comparative Literature 01:195:374-01, Philosophy 01:730:344-01

Monday/Thursday 12:10 PM - 1:30 PM College Avenue Frelinghuysen Hall [FH] B2

• Exploration of the work of three German writers who revolutionized modern philosophy, theology, psychology, aesthetics, social and political science, gender studies, historiography, literature and the arts. We will be reading and discussing a selection of key writings by Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud. Along with these we’ll examine a sampling of texts that were important for their work, and writings that later both reflected their influence and drew their ideas in new directions. 
• Students who have completed Introductory German 101 or the equivalent, or who have Prof. Rennie’s permission, are encouraged to enroll in the 1-credit, optional companion module “The Language of Marx, Nietzsche and Freud” (01:991:121:E1, meeting times to be arranged with participating students in September), which will focus on the original German-language concepts and formulations in select passages relevant to the principal themes of the main course “Marx, Nietzsche, Freud.” Contact Prof. Rennie at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information and/or to register.
• In English. No prerequisites. Fulfills SAS core goals HST-1, AHo.

Readings for “Marx, Nietzsche, Freud” (other readings available in PDF form):

• Freud, Sigmund. The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud (Psychopathology of Everyday Life, the Interpretation of Dreams, and Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex) [ISBN: 9780679601661]
• Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels. The Marx-Engels Reader [ISBN: 9780393090406]
• Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Nietzsche Reader [ISBN: 9780631226543]