92281

GER 106  Beginning German Intensive

Stephanie Kufner

M T W Th               8:30 am-11:30 am

OLINLC 120

FL

Beginning German Intensive (offered in fall semesters only) is designed to enable students with little or no previous experience in German to complete three semesters of college-level German within five months: One eight-credit fall semester at Bard, plus an intensive course abroad at Bard College Berlin during winter break (carrying four additional credits - upon successful completion). Students will take 12 class hours per week during the semester at Bard Annandale, plus a weekly one-hour conversation class with the German language tutor. The communicative approach actively involves students from day one in this class. Outside of class, students will have the opportunity to connect and prepare for course work with innovative teaching and learning experiences online. As the course progresses, the transition is made from learning the language for everyday communication to the reading and discussion of classical and modern texts (such as Goethe, Heine, Kafka, Brecht) as well as of music and film. The concluding section of the program will be spent at Bard’s sister campus in Berlin in January 2021: Students will further explore German language and culture in an intensive format (4 hours/day), which is accompanied by guided tours introducing participants to Berlin’s intriguing history, architecture, and vibrant cultural life. Students interested in this class must consult with Prof. Stephanie Kufner before on-line registration. (Need-based financial aid for the Berlin section of the course is available; please discuss further details with instructor.)

Class size: 22

 

92282

GER 303  Grimms' Marchen

Franz Kempf

M  W 1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLIN 305

FL

“Enchanting, brimming with wonder and magic, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are the special stories of childhood that stay with us throughout our lives,” writes translator and Grimm scholar Jack Zipes. Unfortunately, we seem to know these tales only in adaptations that greatly reduce their power to touch our emotions and engage our imaginations. Through a close reading of selected tales, with emphasis on language, plot, motif, and image, this course explores not only the tales’ poetics and politics but also their origins in the oral tradition, in folklore and myth. The course considers major critical approaches (e.g., Freudian, Marxist, feminist) and conducts a contrastive analysis of creative adaptations (Disney, classical ballet, postmodern dance) and other fairy-tale traditions (Perrault, Straparola, Arabian Nights). Creative and critical writing assignments. Conducted in German.

 Class size: 16

 

92283

GER 418  German Expressionism

Franz Kempf

T  Th      1:30 pm-2:50 pm

OLIN 301

FL

Less a style than a Weltanschauung of a rebellious generation, German Expressionism – flourishing roughly between 1905 and 1925 – is generally seen as an artistic reflection of a common feeling of crisis whose origins can be sought, for instance, in the loss of a cohesive world view, especially in the wake of Nietzsche's pessimistic diagnosis; the disappearance of individualism in burgeoning urban centers; the hypocrisy of Imperial Wilhelminian Germany; the soulless materialism and the (self-) alienation of increased industrialization; and the collapse of Newtonian science. Readings will include works by Frank Wedekind, Gottfried Benn, Georg Heym, Else Lasker-Schüler, Kafka, Georg Kaiser, and Georg Trakl. Since Expressionism involved not just literature but painting, music, and film, we will also consider works by the Brücke- and Blaue Reiter-associations of painters, Richard Strauss's opera Salome, and films such as Der letzte Mann, M, and Die Büchse der Pandora. Taught in German.

 Class size: 12

 

 

 

92312

ARTH 262  Twentieth Century German Art

Tom Wolf

W Th     10:10 am-11:30 am

FISHER ANNEX

AA

Cross-listed: German  Studies Class size: 22

 

92220

LIT 206  Goethe's Faust

Franz Kempf

T  Th      10:10 am-11:30 am

OLIN 308

LA

Cross-listed: German  Studies Class size: 22