Fall 2026

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.

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.

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.

Professor Martha Helfer

In English. No prerequisites.

01:470:225:01 2nd-year section
01:470:225:02 German majors and minors
Note: This course will be offered again in Spring 2027

This course analyzes the structure, meaning, and function of fairy tales and their enduring influence on literature and popular culture. While we will concentrate on the German context, and in particular the works of the Brothers Grimm, we also will consider fairy tales drawn from a number of different national traditions and historical periods, including the American present. Various strategies for interpreting fairy tales will be examined, including methodologies derived from structuralism, folklore studies, gender studies, and psychoanalysis. We will explore pedagogical and political uses and abuses of fairy tales. We will investigate the evolution of specific tale types and trace their transformations in various media from oral storytelling through print to film, television, and the stage. Finally, we will consider potential strategies for the reinterpretation and rewriting of fairy tales.

All sections meet together. No prerequisites. Taught in English.Satisfies SAS Core Curriculum Requirements AHp, WCd.

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.

Taught in German. Prerequisite: 470:232, or simultaneous enrollment in 01:470:231 or 232.

Fulfills SAS core requirements AHp, 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.

Taught in English. No prerequisites.
Crosslisted with Comparative Literature 01:195:314:01

Technology and Melancholia

Prof. Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky

In Greek mythology, Niobe is the queen of Thebes and mother of seven daughters and seven sons. She rebelled against the gods and was severely punished for it: her children were killed and she herself was petrified in eternal mourning. In Walter Benjamin's much-discussed essay "On the Critique of Violence", Niobe's fate is a memorial to a mythical violence that has never been overcome. According to Benjamin, this violence today is linked to an instrumental approach to technology. In the seminar, we will discuss media- and technology-philosophical approaches by Benjamin, Heidegger, Günther Anders, Simondon, Haraway, Chude-Sokei, among others, but also texts by Kant, in order to explore the question of how we should understand the entanglement of melancholy, violence and an instrumental understanding of technology. Furthermore, we will discuss how this link between violence, technology and melancholy can be resolved from the perspective of Benjamin's critique of violence. Taught in English.

Fulfills SAS Core Goals AHo, AHp, WCd

Professor Michael Levine

The course provides an introduction to Franz Kafka’s work and its impact on World literature. Among the texts to be considered are the introduction to his writing in “comix” form by David Zane Mairowitz and Robert Crumb; the fiction of Clarice Lispector, Jorge Luis Borges, Mana Neyestani, JM Coetzee, and Philip Roth; the music of Philip Glass; and films of David Cronenberg and Orsen Welles. Readings also include canonical texts by Ovid and Homer and critical/biographical works by Benjamin, Butler, Deleuze and Guattari, and others. Taught in English. Course fulfills the Core requirements AHo & AHp.

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 film 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. We will also look closely at issues of style and genre. 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.

Taught in English. Fulfills SAS Core Course Goal AHo.

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]