Courses of Instruction

German - GER

101F-102F. Beginning German I and II. 101F is prerequisite to 102F. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits each semester. Oral drill and discussion of grammar principles, written exercises, and reading assignments. This course requires extensive work in the language laboratory.

195, 196. Topics in German. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisite: none. A study of selected topics designed as electives for non-majors. These courses will appear in the course schedule booklet, and will be more fully described in a booklet distributed to all academic advisors.

201-202. Intermediate German I and II. 201 is prerequisite to 202. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits each semester. Prerequisite: GER 102F or satisfactory score on the placement test.  An introduction to German grammar, literature, and civilization.

295, 296. Topics in German. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisite: none. A study of selected topics designed as electives for non-majors. These courses will appear in the course schedule booklet, and will be more fully described in a booklet distributed to all academic advisors.

311. Communicative Competence: Speaking and Listening. (oral communication course) Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 202 or equivalent. An intensive study of the principles of German grammar and syntax accompanied by oral and written exercises.

312W. Communicative Competence: Writing and Reading. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 202, advanced placement or permission of the instructor. A functional approach to the development of reading and writing skills targeting a variety of subjects, styles, and audiences.

321. German Civilization from the Age of Enlightenment to World War I. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 311 or 312W. A study of the major developments of German culture, highlighting its contributions to the modern culture of Western Civilization. Examples include the "German-Jewish Symbiosis" of the enlightenment, German Classicism (Goethe, Humboldt and their humanistic ideals), German Romanticism (music, poetry, "Lieder"), the German Gothic (the "uncanny" and its influence on the Western imagination from E.A. Poe to Baudelaire and Hollywood cinema), German philosophy, Vienna 1900 ("Art nouveau," psychoanalysis), and German Expressionism (poetry, painting and the utopian imaginary).

350. Modern Swiss German Literature: A Multicultural Model. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 311 or 312W or permission of the instructor. Readings and discussions of selected master works by Frisch and Durrenmatt, the two literary giants of modern Swill culture. Topic include the multicultural aspects of modern Switzerland, the dialectics of myth and modernity, provincialism versus globalism, Old World versus New World, the mixed blessing of technology, as well as the discourses of gender ideology.

355. The City as Cultural Focus.  Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 311 or 312W or permission of the instructor. This course will focus on a particular German city such as Berlin, Vienna, or Munich in light of historical and cultural shifts and continuities.  Students will read literary and historical texts, poetry and newspaper articles and screen films.

366. Business German: Language and Culture. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 311 or 312W or permission of the instructor. An advanced language course focusing on practical vocabulary building, grammar, and cultural information for career and business-related situations.

369. Practicum. 3 credits. Prerequisites: nine credit hours of upper-level language at Old Dominion University and junior standing. Internships in private, public and business organizations that deal with foreign nationals, foreign products or are involved in teaching German. (qualifies as a CAP experience)

377, 378. Extracurricular Studies. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisite: approval by the department and the dean, in accordance with the policy on granting credit for extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities may be approved for credit based on objectives, criteria, and evaluative procedures as formally determined by the department and the student prior to the semester in which the activity is to take place. Such credit is subject to review by the provost.

380.  German Literature from Sturm and Drang to Jugendstil. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 311 or 312W.  The course will cover representatve literary works from Weimar Classicism to the literature of 1900, such as Goethe, Eichendorff, Buchner, Heine, Nietzsche, Rilke, et al.

395, 396. Topics in German. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisite: GER 202 or the equivalent. A study of selected topics designed for non-majors, or for elective credit within a major. These courses will appear in the course schedule booklet, and will be more fully described in a booklet distributed to all academic advisors.

407/507. Advanced Grammar and Syntax. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: GER 311 and 312W, or permission of the department chair. This course deals with idioms and the fine points of grammar with the aim of helping students to develop a good style in written and spoken German. After a short introduction to pronunciation, special problems of non-native speakers are analyzed and treated individually.

408/508. Conversation and Composition. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: GER 311 and 312W, or permission of the department chair. Designed to develop the mastery of spoken and written German. Recommended for prospective teachers.

410W/510. Berlin-Paris: Crucibles of European Ideas. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: German and French students must read and write in the target language. This course explores the cultural movements that hav4e characterized the German-French commonalities and differences from the early 1900s through the 1990s in cross-disciplinary discourses such as film, literature, art, politics, and economics. Cross-listed with FLET 410W/510.

420/520. Masterpieces of German Poetry. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: GER 311 and 312W, or permission of instructor. The course will focus on exemplary poems of distinct cultural periods, ranging from the courtly love tradition of the Middle Ages to the political poetry surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall.

445/545. German Cinema. Lecture 2 hours; Laboratory 2 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 311 or 312W or permission of instructor.  This course will focus on the German cinema from perspectives such as fascism and its legacy, film as historical critique, or Weimar cinema.  (Cross-listed with FLET 445/545 and COMM 444/544)

450/550. German Satires and Parodies. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: GER 311 and 312W, or permission of instructor. The course will analyze satirical features and parodic strategies in exemplary literature and visual texts from late medieval carnivals plays to contemporary cabaret. Texts include excerpts from Brant's Ship of Fools, examples of romantic irony in Bonaventura and Heine, the graphic art of caricature from Reformation broad sheets to today's political cartoons, as well as literary parodies from Wagnerian opera to Viennese chanson.

455/555. Germany 1900-1945: From High Culture to Holocaust.  Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: GER 311 and 312W.  A study of representative works from the last years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Wilhelmine Empire and the Weimar Republic, including Freud, Hofmannsthal, Kafka, Brecht, Hesse, Thomas Mann et al.  The course will also discuss literature illustrating the genesis and ideology of the Third Reich.

460/560. The Weimar Republic and the Third Reich: Dreams and Traumas of Modern Germany. Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: GER 311 and 312W, or permission of instructor. The twelve years of Hitler's rule remain the most traumatic years of the 20th century. This course focuses on texts by German- speaking authors that explore the salient features of this time. It begins with a survey of the cultural and political development of Germany's Weimar Republic from its origins in the chaotic aftermath of a lost war and failed revolution through the "roaring twenties" to its breakdown during the Great Depression, and its end with the Nazi's seizure of power in 1933. Then, the focus shifts to Hitler's rise of power, civilian life in Nazi Germany, World War II, the Holocaust, and ends with a glimpse of post-war Germany.

470/570.  Post World War II Germany.  Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 311 or 312W.  The course will cover representative literary texts and cultural events of divided and united Germany, including Heinrich Boll, Gunter Grass, Max Frisch, Christa Wolf, Doris Dorrie et al., as welll as film, painting, popular music, the culture of memory and German Jewish relations after the Shoah.

473/573.  The Enlightenment and its Critics.  Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: GER 311 and 312U.  This course focuses on German intellectual history as represented by thinkers such as Lessing, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud.  More recent works by Frankfurt School writers Adorno and Horkheimer represent critical engagements with the tenets of the European Enlightenment. 

476/576.  German-Jewish Literature and Culture.  Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisite: junior standing.  A survey of seminal texts by German-Jewish authors from the Enlightenment to the present day, including figures such as Marx, Kafka, Freud, Schnitzler and Arendt.  (Cross-listed with FLET 476/576).

478/578.  German Drama.  476/576.  German-Jewish Literature and Culture.  Lecture 3 hours; 3 credits. Prerequisites: GER 311 and 312W.  An exploration of German dramatic works ranging from the Enlightenment period to contemporary drama.  Students will read individual works by authors such as Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Hebbel, Brecht, or Jelinek as well as texts concerned with the function of drama in German culture by these and other authors.  

495/595, 496/596. Topics in German. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisite: appropriate survey course or permission of the instructor. The advanced study of selected topics designed to permit small groups of qualified students to work on subjects of mutual interest which, due to their specialized nature, may not be offered regularly. These courses will appear in the course schedule booklet, and will be more fully described in a booklet distributed to all academic advisors.

497, 498. Tutorial Work in Special Topics in German. 1-3 credits each semester. Prerequisites: senior standing and approval of the department chair. Independent reading and study on a topic to be selected under the direction of an instructor. Conferences and papers as appropriate.