Course descriptions - Royal Holloway, University of London

SCHOOL OF MODERN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES AND CULTURES 

DEGREES IN GERMAN 

LIST OF COURSES (2012-13) 

All the courses listed here are valued at a half-unit, unless otherwise specified. 

First-Year Courses 

GM1009 German Language I 

GM1112 Truth, Language and Art: Key Questions in the Humanities 

GM1113 Modern Germany: History and Society 

GM1120 Introduction to German Studies 

GM1121 Milestones in German Literature 

ML1101 Reading European Film I 

ML1102 The Birth of European Film 

Second-Year Courses 

GM2009 German Language II 

GM2010 Intensive German for Beginners II Unit value: 1 

GM2115 History and Politics as reflected in the German Cinema from the 1930s to the 

1990s (subject to final confirmation) 

GM2121 Fathers and Daughters: Family Dramas (subject to final confirmation) 

GM2122 Death, Desire, Decline: Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka 

GM2123 Love and Marriage in Novels of Fontane 

GM2124 Representations of Childhood and Youth in Modern German Culture 

PY2001 Introduction to European Philosophy I: Kant and Hegel 

PY2005 Philosophy and The Arts 

ML2101 Reading European Film II 

Third-Year Courses 

GM3009 German Language III 

GM3111 Racism and Anti-Semitism (subject to final confirmation) 

GM3119 Goethe (subject to final confirmation) 

GM3124 The GDR and its Legacy 

PY3002 Modern European Philosophy I: Husserl and Heidegger 

GM3128 Gender in Post-War German-Language Literature and Culture 

GM3129 Dissertation in German 

This set of courses is subject to annual revision. They may not all be offered in a given 

year. 

Course specifications are available via the Moodle pages for each course.

YEAR 1 

Return to menu 

Code: GM1009 Course Value: 1 unit Status: 

Title: GERMAN LANGUAGE I Availability: Terms 1 and 2 

Prerequisites: n/a Recommended: 

Co-ordinator: 

Dr Anja Peters 

Course 

Staff 

Aims: 

Dr Anja Peters*, tba 

To build on A-level language capabilities; to improve knowledge of and skill with German 

grammar; to provide practical language skills in the comprehension and production of 

written and spoken German and the means to develop these independently; to establish a 

foundation for higher-level competence in written and spoken German. 

Learning 

Outcomes: 

By the end of this course it is envisaged that students will: 

• have maintained and developed a broad (passive and active) general vocabulary 

in German 

• be able to understand natural, idiomatic spoken German as delivered by a 

sympathetic native speaker or on radio / TV broadcasts designed for non-native 

speakers 

• be able to extract from such passages specific information, both detailed and 

general 

• be able to read and understand simple and more complex written passages of 

authentic German 

• be able to identify and analyze syntactical and grammatical structures in these 

passages 

• be able to extract from them specific information, both detailed and general, and 

present this information in written and spoken German 

• be familiar with a range of different types of modern German written styles and 

conventions 

• be able to write independently short passages of German on a variety of set topics 

• discuss personal and cultural issues in written and spoken German


Content: 

Written German: A range of short texts for comprehension and analysis will be provided by 

the course teacher from a variety of sources. Students will work with the course teacher on 

these texts, developing vocabulary, refining comprehension skills and finally summarizing 

sections or whole texts in German. Furthermore, students will be introduced to writing 

formal letters (letter of complaint, letter to the editor) and short essays. Specific vocabulary 

development exercises will be included. 

Oral German: Part of the teaching time will be dedicated to “oral practice” that will be 

linked to the topics covered in the written components of the class. Furthermore, students 

will be required to give informal mini-presentations on these topics in German. 

Grammar: Grammar topics to be studied include: tenses, verbs, adjectives, prepositions 

and conjunctions. These grammar topics will be coupled with weekly homework exercises. 

Exercises will include grammatical manipulation and substitution exercises. 

Teaching & 

Learning 

Methods 

Contact Hours: 40. Two hours (seminar) per week for 20 weeks, 10 weeks Autumn Term, 10 

weeks Spring Term. Plus 8 hours / week of independent study. 

Teaching Medium: German. 

Key 

Bibliography: 

Works strongly recommended: 

• A large, comprehensive English-German, German-English dictionary (For example: 

Oxford-Duden or Collins-Klett). Pocket bilingual dictionaries are to be avoided. 

• A comprehensive one-volume monolingual German dictionary (For example: Duden 

Universal-Wörterbuch or Wahrig Deutsches Wörterbuch) 

• Paul Stocker, Wort für Wort. A New Advanced German Vocabulary (London: Hodder & 

Stoughton, 1996) or more recent edition 

In-course 

Feedback: 

Assessment: 

Frequent collection, correction and/or marking of written work completed outside of 

contact hours. Including, but not limited to: vocabulary exercises, production exercises, 

grammar exercises, etc. Feedback on oral presentations. 

Exam 80% 

Coursework 20% 


GM1010 Intensive German Language for Beginners 

Unit value: 1

This course is for beginners in German. It is designed to establish a foundation for 

higher-level competence in written and spoken German, providing students with 

practical language skills and the means to develop these independently. 

Contact hours will consist of four hours of weekly language classes, for which you will 

be expected to prepare and complete written and spoken language exercises. You 

should expect to spend at least 6 hours of private study weekly in this full unit. 

Assessment: 

Coursework (40%) 

Oral examination (20%) 

2-hour written examination paper (40%) 

The coursework comprises 10 assignments (20%) and 2 class tests (20%). The written 

paper will test your comprehension of a German text and your ability to produce a 

text. Dictionaries will not be permitted in the examination and class tests. 

All students must pass GM1010 before being allowed to enter the second year in 

German. 

Teacher responsible: Dr Gaby Thomson-Wohlgemuth 

Course structure: 4 classes per week (2 sessions of 2 hours) 

Course books: Hermann Funk et al. Studio d. Deutsch als Fremdsprache. A1, ISBN: 

978-3464207079 AND Hermann Funk et al. Studio d. Deutsch als Fremdsprache. A2. 

ISBN: 978-3464207123 

Students will need to buy a large German-English / English-German dictionary, such 

as: German Dictionary Plus Grammar, Collins, 2004. ISBN 0 00 71268 X. 


GM1112: Truth, Language, and Art: Key Questions in the Humanities 

Unit value: ½ 

This course will encourage the development of the ability (1) to ask theoretical 

questions about the study of the humanities, and (2) to weigh up the advantages 

and disadvantages of competing approaches. Students will gain an awareness of 

questions relating to what makes something true, what makes an interpretation valid, 

how the notion of subjectivity can be understood, and how science and art relate. 

These questions will be explored in relation to both theoretical and literary texts, 

enabling students to reflect on the nature of the difference between kinds of texts. 

The course looks at four topics which are central to the study of humanities subjects: 

Truth; Language and Interpretation; Subjectivity and Gender; Science and Art. These 

are studied via short philosophical and literary texts by Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, de 

Beauvoir, Wittgenstein, Charles Taylor, Stanley Cavell, Thomas Nagel and others.

Coursework: 2 essays, each of between 1,500 to 2,000 words 

Assessment: Essay 1 30%; Essay 2 60%; Class Presentation/Moodle Test 10% 

Teacher responsible: Professor Andrew Bowie 

Course structure: 1 lecture / seminar per week (1 hour) 

Course book required (purchase if possible) 

• Thomas Nagel, What does it all mean? Oxford 1987 [Short Loan 100 NAG] – this 

introduces some basic questions in an easily accessible manner, and which can be 

used to accompany key aspects of the course. 

Programme 

Section A: Truth, Idealism and Materialism 

Andrew Bowie ‘What is Truth?’ 

Friedrich Nietzsche, ‘On Truth and Lie in the Extra-Moral Sense’ in The Portable 

Nietzsche or (http://www.geocities.com/thenietzschechannel/tls.htm) 

Karl Marx, ‘First Premises of Materialist Method’ from The German Ideology 

Franz Kafka, ‘The Giant Mole’ in The Complete Short Stories 

Section B: Language and Interpretation 

Thomas Nagel, Chapter Five What does it all mean? 

Charles Taylor, ‘Language and Human Nature’, from Human Agency and Language 

Ludwig Wittgenstein, from Philosophical Investigations 

Franz Kafka, ‘Before the Law’, in Chapter 7 of The Trial

Section C: Aesthetic Autonomy 

Immanuel Kant, Second Moment. Of the Judgement of Taste: Moment of Quantity 

§6, 7, 8, from Critique of Judgement (http://eserver.org/philosophy/kant/critique-ofjudgment.txt) 

Stanley Cavell, ‘Aesthetic Problems in Modern Philosophy’ from Must we mean what 

we say? 

Ludwig Wittgenstein, brief extracts from Culture and Value: Sections from 1933 p. 24 

on beauty; 1946 p. 55 on irony in music; section from 1947 p. 56 on science and 

technology, p. 58 on Tolstoy and art, p. 59 on taste. 

Franz Kafka, ‘Josefine the Singer, or the Mouse People’ in The Complete Short Stories 

Section D: Modernist Aesthetics 

Viktor Schklovski, ‘Art as Technique’ in Russian Formalist Criticism 

Jurij Tynjanov, ‘On Literary Evolution’ in Readings in Russian Poetics 

Jan Mukarovsky, ‘The Place of Aesthetic Function among the Other Functions’ in 

Aesthetic Function, Norm and Value as Social Facts 

Ernst Bloch, ‘Discussing Expressionism’ in Aesthetics and Politics 

Poems by Jakob van Hoddis, Else Lasker-Schüler and Georg Trakl 


GM1113 Modern Germany: History and Society 


This is an introduction to Germany from 1815 to the present day, covering 

developments in politics, society, the economy and culture. The first term will be 

devoted to German history up to 1949, the foundations of modern Germany and the 

modern German states; the second term will be devoted to post-war Germany, 

including the reunification. It is in the second term that the focus shifts to include a 

consideration of modern Germany society and its institutions. 

The course aims to make students familiar with basic developments in German 

history over the last two centuries (with the emphasis on the 20th century) and to 

improve their knowledge and understanding of the way Germany operates at the 

beginning of the 21st Century. 

Where the ‘make-up’ of the group permits, selected areas of the course will be 

delivered in German, according to students’ abilities and in areas which will not 

require an advanced vocabulary. Where this is not possible (e.g. when there are 

students from other Departments who do not have sufficient German), feedback 

and essay tutorials for the German Department students will be given in German. 

Coursework: 2 essays, each of between 1,500 to 2,000 words 

Assessment: Essay 1 30%; Essay 2 60%; Class Presentation/Moodle Test 10% 

Teacher responsible: Professor Peter Longerich

Course structure: 1 lecture / seminar per week (1 hour) 

In-course feedback will be provided during discussions in classes and by essay return 

in one-to-one or one-to-two tutorials. Here students who make good progress will be 

encouraged and advised to undertake further reading. 

Programme: 

Term 1 

1 Introduction 

2 Germany before 1814 (Allinson, Germany, 1-10) 

3 Germany 1814-1871 (Allinson, Germany, 11-32) 

4-5 Imperial Germany (Allinson, Germany, 33-50) 

6-7 The Weimar Republic (Allinson, Germany, 57-75) 

8-9 Nazi dictatorship (Allinson, Germany, 81-109) 

10 Germany under Allied occupation, 1945-1949 (Allinson, Germany, 115-127) 

Term 2 

11 Basic history of the Federal Republic of Germany (Allinson, Germany, 131-153) 

12 The GDR, 1949-1989 (Allinson, Germany, 155-177) 

13 The collapse of the GDR and German unification (Allinson, Germany, 179-195) 

14-15 Germany today: The political system (Lewis, Germany, 83-116) 

16 Germany today: The economy (Lewis, Germany, 117-137) 

17 Germany today: Social state (Lewis, Germany, 138-149) 

18 Germany today: Media system (Lewis, Germany, 167-183) 

19-20 Current debates in Germany (Lewis, Germany, 183-215) 

Essential Reading 

Allinson, Mark: Germany and Austria 1814-2000. Modern History for Modern 

Languages, London (Arnold) 2002 [943.08 ALL] 

Lewis, Derek: Contemporary Germany. A Handbook, London (Arnold) 2001 [943.087 

LEW] 

Both these texts are available in paperback at less than £15 and for practical 

purposes students will be encouraged to buy at least one of them. 

Further Reading 

Allinson, Mark (ed.): Contemporary Germany, London/New York (Longman) 2000 

[943.08 ALL] 

Balfour, Michael: Germany. The Tides of Power, London (Routledge) 1992 [320.943087 

BAL] 

Blackbourn, David: The Long Nineteenth Century, London (Fontana) 1997 [943 BLA] 

Carr, William: A History of Germany, 1815/1990, London (Arnold) 1991 [943.07/08 

CAR] 

Craig, Gordon A.: Germany 1866-1945, Oxford University Press 1992 [943.08 CRA] 

Fulbrook, Mary: A Concise History of Germany, Cambridge University Press 1994 [943 

FUL] 

Fulbrook, Mary: The Fontana history of Germany, 1918-1990: The divided nation, 

London (Harper Collins) 1991 [943 FUL] 

Kershaw, Ian: The Nazi Dictatorship, 4th ed., London (Arnold) 2000 [943.086 KER] 

Kolb, Eberhard: The Weimar Republic, London (Routledge) 1988 [943.085 KOL]

Kolinski, Eva, Will, Wilfried van der (eds.): The Cambridge Companion to Modern 

German Culture, Cambridge University Press 1998 [301.20943 CAM] 

Orlow, Dietrich: A History of Modern Germany 1871 to Present, New Jersey (Prentice 

Hall) 1995 [943.08 ORL] 

Sheehan, James J.: German History 1770-1866, Oxford (Clarendon) 1993 [943 SHE] 


Department/School: SMLLC Academic Session: 2011-12 

Course Value: 

Course Title: 

Introduction to German Studies 

(UG courses = unit value, 

0.5 

PG courses = notional learning 

hours) 

Course Code: 

GM1120 

Course JACS Code: 

(Please contact Data 

Management for advice) 

R220 

Availability: 

(Please state which teaching 

terms) 

Terms 1 and 2 

Status: 

(i.e.: Core, Core PR, 

Compulsory, Optional) 

Compulsory for 

Joint, Major and 

SH German 

Pre-requisites: 

Co-requisites: 

Co-ordinator: 

Jon Hughes 

Course Staff: 

Aims: 

Andrew Bowie, Jon Hughes, Emily Jeremiah, Peter Longerich, Anja Peters, Dan Wilson 

This course will: 

- Introduce students to four key areas of interest in contemporary German Studies: 

literature, film, history, and philosophy. 

- Introduce students to basic library-based and bibliographical study skills. 

- Teach students how to analyse different kinds of texts (literary, filmic, historical, 

philosophical). 

- Equip students with the vocabulary needed for studying the four areas mentioned 

above. 

Learning Outcomes: 

- Introduce students to techniques used in class discussion and seminar-style work 

at university level. 

At the end of the course, students will: 

- Have gained an understanding of the diversity and richness of German Studies 

today. 

- Have developed techniques and methods essential for studying for a degree in 

German Studies. 

- Be able to articulate their own critical responses to texts in class discussion and 

in written essays.

- Be able to demonstrate independent research skills by drawing on the university 

library and other suitable resources to find information relevant to the aims of the 

course. 

- Be able to combine techniques of textual analysis and personal judgment to form 

clearly expressed critical examinations of a variety of texts which exhibit a 

combination of critical reading, independent thought, and a capacity to construct 

an accurately referenced argument in appropriate scholarly form. 

Course Content: 

The course will consist of four, five-week blocks. 

Block 1: Literature (JH/EJ/AP/DW) 

In this block, students will study a canonical German-language text, reading it in the light 

of a number of critical approaches (e.g. feminism, psychoanalysis, Marxism). 

Block 2: Film (JH/EJ) 

In this block, students will analyse the work of (a) significant German film-maker(s), at the 

same time learning about key concepts in film theory. 

Block 3: Philosophy (AB) 

In this block students will be introduced to the main questions that concern German 

philosophers from Kant and Herder to the present. This will be done via very short texts 

by Kant, Herder, Nietzsche, Marx, and Heidegger, and introductory texts on German 

philosophy. 

Block 4: History (PL) 

In this block, students will analyse historical documents from various periods of modern 

German history and become familiar with source critique as a distinct element of 

historiographical interpretation. 

Teaching & Learning 

Methods: 

Details of teaching 

resources on 

Moodle: 

Key Bibliography: 

Teaching will take place through weekly, one-hour sessions. 

Key secondary reading material will be made available via MOODLE, where there will 

also be a full course outline, details of assessment, course bibliography, links to relevant 

websites etc. Use of quizzes and/or wikis will be considered as appropriate. 

Literature 

Peter Barry, Beginning Theory (Manchester UP, 2009) 

Jonathan Culler, Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford UP, 2000) 

Sample literary text: Franz Kafka, ‘Das Urteil’ (‘The Judgment’) 

Film 

Tim Bergfelder, Erica Carter, Deniz Göktürk, eds, The German Cinema Book (British Film 

Institute, 2002)

Stephen Brockmann, A Critical History of German Film (Camden House, 2010) 

Timothy Corrigan, A Short Guide to Writing about Film (Longman, 1998) 

Thomas Elsaesser, Michael Wedel, The BFI Companion to German Cinema (British Film 

Institute, 1999) 

Philosophy 

Andrew Bowie, German Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford UP, 2010) 

------ Introduction to German Philosophy: From Kant to Habermas (Polity Press, 2003) 

History 

Roger Spalding and Christopher Parker, Historiography: An Introduction (Manchester UP, 

2007) 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 

Students will submit two essays, on which they will receive feedback. They will also be 

encouraged to submit essay plans beforehand, on which they will receive comments. 

Feedback will also be given in sessions in response to individual tasks. 

Summative 

Assessment: 

2 essays of 1500-2000 words (1 st essay: 30%, 2 nd essay: 60%). 

10% to be awarded for class presentation or MOODLE quiz (details to be confirmed). 

Deadlines: to be confirmed on MOODLE and in handbook. 

Return to menu


Department/School: SMLLC (German) Academic Session: 2011-12 



Milestones in German Literature 


0.5 


hours) 


GM1121 




R220 

Availability: 


terms) 

Terms 1 and 2 

Status: 



Compulsory for 

degrees in 

German; Optional 

for CLC degrees 

Pre-requisites: 

Co-requisites: 

Co-ordinator: 

Dan Wilson 


Aims: 

Andrew Bowie, Jon Hughes, Emily Jeremiah, Peter Longerich, Anja Peters, Dan Wilson 


- Introduce students to the main periods of German literature and culture from 

about 1750 to 1914: Enlightenment, ‘Sturm und Drang’, Classicism, Romanticism, 

‘Vormärz’, Realism, Neo-Classicism, Expressionism, Modernism. The exact 

periods covered will vary slightly depending on the tutor. 

- Provide the basics of historical development of German-speaking lands from 

1750 to 1914 

- Introduce students to library-based and bibliographical study skills in German 

literature 

- Introduce students to the basic techniques of literary analysis, with an emphasis 

on poetry (metre, rhyme, motifs etc.) 

- Focus on writing skills, particularly as they relate to the analysis of literature 


At the end of the course, students will: 

- Have gained an understanding of the outlines of German literary, cultural and 

political history from about 1750 to 1914 

- Be able to compile a bibliography of secondary literature on a literary topic 

- Be able to articulate their own critical responses to texts in class discussion and 

in written essays. 

- Be able to demonstrate independent research skills by drawing on the university 

library and other suitable resources to find information relevant to the aims of the 

course. 

- Be able to combine techniques of textual analysis and personal judgment to form


combination of critical reading, independent thought, and a capacity to construct 

an accurately referenced argument in appropriate scholarly form. 


Term 1: 

Weeks 1-4: Enlightenment: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan der Weise/Nathan the 

Wise 

Week 5: Bibliographic exercise 

Week 7: Sturm und Drang: Johann Wolfgang Goethe, poetry 

Weeks 8-11: Classicism: Friedrich Schiller, Maria Stuart/Mary Stuart 

Term 2: 

Week 1: Romanticism: Novalis, Hymnen an die Nacht/Hymns to the Night (selection) 

Weeks 2-3: Romanticism: E. T. A. Hoffmann, Councillor Krespel 

Week 4: ‘Vormärz’ and political literature: poetry 

Week 5, 7: Poetic Realism: Gottfried Keller, Kleider machen Leute/Clothes Make the Man 

Week 8: Neo-classicism: Stefan George, poetry 

Weeks 9-10: Expressionism: Georg Trakl and others, poetry 

Week 11: Conclusion and Review 


Methods: 


resources on 

Moodle: 

Teaching will take place through weekly, one-hour sessions. 



websites etc. Use of quizzes and/or discussion forum will be considered as appropriate. 


Note: poetry will generally be provided in an anthology on Moodle. 

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan der Weise. Stuttgart: Reclam. 

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise. Nick Hern Books, 2003. 

Friedrich Schiller, Maria Stuart. Stuttgart: Reclam. 

Friedrich Schiller: Don Carlos and Mary Stuart. Trans. Hilary Collier Sy-Quia. Oxford: 

Oxford University Press, 1996 (Oxford World Classics) 

E. T. A. Hoffmann, Rat Krespel. Die Fermate. Don Juan. Stuttgart: Reclam. 

[Hoffmann, E. T. A.] Tales of Hoffmann. Trans. R. J. Hollingdale. London: Penguin, 1982.

Gottfried Keller: Kleider machen Leute. Stuttgart: Reclam. 

Twelve German Novellas, ed. Harry Steinhauer. Berkeley: Univ of Calif Press, 1992. 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 




Summative 

Assessment: 

2 essays of 1500-2000 words (1 st essay: 30%, 2 nd essay: 60%). 

10% for bibliographic exercise 

Deadlines: to be confirmed on MOODLE and in handbook.

YEAR 2 



Title: GERMAN LANGUAGE II Availability: Terms 1 and 2 

Prerequisites: German Language I Recommended: 

Co-ordinator: 



Staff 

Aims: 


To build on First Year language capabilities; to improve knowledge of and skill with German 

grammar; to provide practical language skills in the comprehension and production of 

written and spoken German and the means to develop these independently; to improve 

work-place related communication skills and vocabulary. 

Learning 

Outcomes: 


• have maintained and developed a broad (passive and active) intermediate 

vocabulary in German 

• have revised the basics of German grammar and syntax and learned more complex 

language structures 

• be able to complete intermediate grammar manipulation exercises 

• have developed work-place related communication skills and vocabulary 

• be able to understand natural, idiomatic as well as formal spoken German as 

delivered by a native speaker or on radio / TV broadcasts designed for non-native 

speakers 

• be able to read and understand complex written passages of authentic German 

from of different genres, themes and register. 

• be able to identify and analyze syntactical and grammatical structures in these 

passages 

• be able to extract from them specific information, both detailed and general, and 

present this information in written and spoken German 

• discuss topical issues critically in written and spoken German


Content: 

Grammar: advanced use of tenses, verbs, adjectives, prepositions and conjunctions with 

particular emphasis on grammatical case and complex syntax. These grammar topics will 

be coupled with weekly homework exercises. Exercises will include grammatical 

manipulation and substitution exercises. 

“German for professional purposes”: dealing with business related text genres, such as the 

business letter, report etc, as well as topic related vocabulary. 

Teaching & 

Learning 

Methods 

Contact Hours: 40. Two hours (seminar) per week for 20 weeks, 10 weeks Autumn Term, 10 

weeks Spring Term. Plus 4 hours / week of independent study. 

Teaching Medium: German. 

Key 

Bibliography: 

• Durrell, Martin et al., Essential German Grammar, London, Sydney, Auckland: Arnold, 2002 

(ISBN: 0-340-74189-9). 





• Paul Stocker, Wort für Wort. A New Advanced German Vocabulary (London: Hodder & 

Stoughton, 1996) or more recent edition 

In-course 

Feedback: 

Assessment: 


contact hours, such as grammar exercises, translations, etc. oral and written feedback on 

course work. Feedback on oral presentations. 

Exam 80% 

Coursework 20% 


GM2010 Intensive German Language for Beginners II 

Unit value: 1 

This course is designed to follow on from and to build on the knowledge and skills 

established in GM1010. It will establish, through intensive practice and through the 

use of a range of learning materials, more advanced comprehension skills in written 

and spoken German. The emphasis throughout will be on everyday language and 

day-to-day situations.

Contact hours will consist of four hours of weekly language classes, for which you will 

be expected to prepare and complete written and spoken language exercises. You 

should expect to spend at least 6 hours of private study weekly in this full unit. 

Assessment: 

Coursework (40%) 

Oral examination (30%) 


The coursework comprises 10 assignments (20 %) and 2 class tests (20%). The written 

paper will test your comprehension of a German text and your ability to produce a 

text. Dictionaries will not be permitted in the examination and class tests. 

Teacher responsible: Dr Gaby Thomson-Wohlgemuth 

Course structure: 4 classes per week (2 sessions à 2 hours) 

Course books: Hermann Funk et al. Studio d. Deutsch als Fremdsprache. A2. ISBN: 

978-3464207123 AND Hermann Funk et al. Studio d. Deutsch als Fremdsprache B1, 

ISBN: 978-3464207192 

Students will need to buy a large German-English / English-German dictionary, such 

as: German Dictionary Plus Grammar, Collins, 2004. ISBN 0 00 71268 X 


GM2115: History and Politics as reflected in the German Cinema from the 1930s to 

the 1990s 


This course will examine the way in which cinema not only reflects reality, but also 

manipulates perception and helps to constitute historical and political 

consciousness. The course will explore the way in which film is a major source for the 

reconstruction of an historical mentality and also its central role in national culture. 

The course will study ten films selected for the way in which they reflect particular 

political images of German history and politics. The course will concentrate on 

feature films (excluding adaptations of literary works) and will not present 

documentary films. Basic information about the German film industry, censorship etc. 

will be provided during the course. 

Assessment: 2 essays each of approximately 2,000 words (20%); Class 

Presentation/Moodle Test 10%; Examination 50% 

Teacher responsible: Professor Peter Longerich 

The programme will include:

• One film from the Weimar period, the left-wing agitational film Kuhle Wampe. 

• Films from the Nazi period including an example of anti-Semitic drama (Jud Süss) 

and Leni Riefenstahl’s influential propaganda film Der Triumph des Willens.. 

• One film from the immediate post-war period (Die Mörder sind unter uns). 

• West German films as ‘Vergangenheitsbewältigung’, (Die Brücke / Deutschland 

bleiche Mutter). In addition we will show one more modern film from the New 

German Cinema which deals with problems of the seventies (Deutschland im 

Herbst about the confrontation of the state with terrorism in 1977). 

• One film from East Germany which reflects problems of the GDR (Spur der Steine). 

• A recent, much-discussed film dealing with National Socialism and the War (Der 

Untergang) 

Course structure: 

The course is organised in ten ‘units’: each ‘unit’ consists of one session (1 hour) to 

prepare the historical background, one evening to show the film and one session (1 

hour) to discuss the film. 

Filmography: 

Kuhle Wampe 

Jud Süss 

Der Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) 

Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are Among Us) 

Die Brücke (The Bridge) 

Deutschland bleiche Mutter (Germany Pale Mother) 

Deutschland im Herbst (Germany in Autumn) 

Spur der Steine (Trace of Stones) 

Der Untergang (Downfall) 31 

Introductory Bibliography 

• Anton Kaes, From Hitler to Heimat. The Return of History as Film (Harvard U.P. 1989) 

[791.430943 KAE] 

• Siegfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German 

Film (Princeton U.P. 1947) [791.430943 KRA] 

• Hans Günther Pflaum, Hans Helmut Prinzler, Cinema in the Federal Republic of 

Germany. The New German Film. Origins and Present Situation, A Handbook (Bonn: 

Inter Nationes 1983) [791.430943 PFL] 

• David Welch, The Third Reich. Politics and Propaganda (London/New York: 

Routledge 1995) [943.086 WEL] 


Department/School: SMLLC (German) Academic Session: 2011-12 


Death, Desire, Decline: Thomas Mann 

and Franz Kafka 

Course Value: 0.5



hours) 


GM2122 




R220 

Availability: 


terms) 

Term 2 

Status: 



Optional for 

German and CLC 

Pre-requisites: None Co-requisites: None 

Co-ordinator: 

Dr Emily Jeremiah 


Aims: 


This course will introduce students of German and CLC to two key figures in twentiethcentury 

German literature, Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka. Through an examination of 

the work of these writers, it will explore such issues as the individual v. society, the role of 

the artist, and the nature of desire. Mann’s work evinces a fascination with disorder and 

decadence even as it remains bound to bourgeois ideals of respectability and sobriety. In 

Kafka’s work, the everyday world of bureaucracy and officialdom is invaded by fantastical 

and bizarre elements. The course will focus on the unsettling and disruptive elements of 

these writers’ works, asking what they tell us about life in the twentieth century. It will: 

Introduce students to the work of two key 20 th -century writers 

Introduce and explore key terms from literary criticism and theory 

Encourage students to draw connections between literary texts and broader historical and 

cultural shifts 


After successful completion of this course, students are expected to be able to: 

Critically and analytically discuss literary themes such as the individual v. society, the role 

of the artist, and the nature of desire. 

Demonstrate an understanding of the development of Mann’s and Kafka’s work in 

response to different historical, literary and cultural contexts. 

Critically and analytically discuss primary and secondary material in class. 

Demonstrate independent research skills by drawing on the university library and other 

suitable resources to find information relevant to the aims of the course.

Combine techniques of textual analysis and personal judgment to form clearly 

expressed critical examinations of a variety of texts which exhibit a combination of 

critical reading, independent thought, and a capacity to construct an accurately 

referenced argument in appropriate scholarly form. 


Block 1: Thomas Mann 

Introduction to Mann 

Selected Short Stories 

Tristan 

Tonio Kröger 

Death in Venice 

Conclusions 

Block 2: Franz Kafka 

Introduction to Kafka 

Selection of Short Works 

Metamorphosis 

The Trial 

Conclusions 


Methods: 

The course will be taught through twice-weekly hour-long seminars. 


resources on 

Moodle: 





Thomas Mann, Erzählungen/‘Death in Venice’ and Other Stories (London: Vintage, 1998) 

T. E. Apter, Thomas Mann, The Devil’s Advocate (London: Macmillan Press, 1978) 

Herbert Lehnert & Eva Wessell (eds), A Companion to the Works of Thomas Mann 

(Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2004) 

Ritchie Robertson (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Mann (Cambridge: 

Cambridge University Press, 2002) 

Ellis Shookman, Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, A Novella and its Critics (Rochester, 

NY: Camden House, 2003) 

T. J. Reed, Thomas Mann, The Uses of Tradition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974) 

Martin Swales, A Student’s Guide to Thomas Mann (London: Heinemann, 1980) 

Franz Kafka, Erzählungen/‘Metamorphosis’ and Other Stories (London: Penguin, 2007)

------ Der Prozess/The Trial (London: Penguin, 1994) 

Angel Flores, The Kafka Debate, New Perspectives For Our Time (New York: Gordian 

Press, 1977) 

Ronald Gray, Franz Kafka (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973) 

Julian Preece (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Kafka (Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press, 2002) 

Ritchie Robertson, Kafka, Judaism, Politics and Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 

1985) 

Ronald Speirs and Beatrice Sandberg, Franz Kafka (Houndmills: Macmillan Press, 1997) 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 




Summative 

Assessment: 

Exam 50 % (2 hours) 

Coursework 40 % – 2 essays of 1500-2000 words (20% each). Deadlines to be 

confirmed on moodle. 



Department/School: SMLLC (German) Academic Session: 2012/13 



Love and Marriage in Major Novels by 

Theodor Fontane 



hours) 

0.5 


GM2123 




Availability: 


terms) 

Terms 1 and 2 

Status: 



Optional 


Co-ordinator: 

Dr Anja Peters


Aims: 


This course aims to: 

• introduce students to 3 major novels by Theodor Fontane 

• introduce students to the cultural-historical background to gender relations in 19thcentury 

Germany 

• explore the treatment of the themes of love, marriage and divorce in Fontane’s novels 

• deepen students’ knowledge and understanding of 19th-century Realism 

• develop students’ critical and close reading skills 



By the end of this course students will be expected to be able to: 

• demonstrate a detailed appreciation of the set texts and their significance within their 

historical-cultural context 

• demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of 19th-century debates around 

gender relations and marriage 

• show that they have advanced their skills in critical reading, the analysis of literary texts, 

as well as academic writing 

The course will be dedicated to the detailed analyses of 3 major novels by Theodor 

Fontane: Irrungen, Wirrungen / On Tangled Paths (1888), Effi Briest (1896) and 

Unwiederbringlich / No Way Back (1891). The literary analyses of these works will focus 

on themes around love, marriage, adultery and divorce, assessing these in their cultural, 

social and psychological contexts. Whereas in Irrungen, Wirrungen Fontane explores the 

impact of class boundaries on the relationship between two young lovers, in Effi Briest he 

focuses on the potentially disastrous outcomes of the marriage of convenience. In 

Unwiederbringlich, Fontane examines the break-up of a once happy, but eventually 

disintegrating middle-age marriage. 


Methods: 

The course will be taught through weekly seminars. 


resources on 

Moodle: 





German editions: 

Theodor Fontane: Irrungen, Wirrungen (Reclam, 2005) 

Theodor Fontane: Effi Briest (Reclam, 2008) 

Theodor Fontane: Unwiederbringlich (Reclam, 1986) 

English editions: 

Theodor Fontane: On Tangled Paths (Angel Books, 2010) 

Theodor Fontane: Effi Briest (Pengiun Classics, 2000) 

Theodor Fontane: No Way Back (Angel Classics, 2010)

Further Reading: 

Alan Bance: Theodor Fontane. The Major Novels (CUP, 2010) 

John C. Fout (ed): German Women in the Nineteenth Century : A Social History (Holmes 

& Meyer, 1984) 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 




Summative 

Assessment: 


Coursework 40 % – 2 essays of 1500 - 2000 words (20% each). Essays are due in the 

last week of term. 



Department/School: SMLLC (German) Academic Session: 2012 



Fathers and Daughters: Family Dramas 


0.5 


hours) 


GM2121 




R220 

Availability: 


terms) 

Terms 1 and 2 

Status: 



Optional for 

German 


Co-ordinator: 

Professor W. Daniel Wilson


Aims: 

Professor W. Daniel Wilson 

This course will introduce students to the genre of ‘domestic tragedy’ (bürgerliches 

Trauerspiel) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These plays are important 

documents in the development of modern middle-class values with respect especially to 

the autonomy of daughters in marriage choice and sexual relations. The new middle-class 

values are contrasted in these plays with values of the nobility and the court. The plays 

thus address important issues of gender, class, political culture and literary genre. They 

also represent an important stage in the development of tragedy, for the first time treating 

middle-class families and their issues rather than exclusively aristocratic or royal 

characters. The course will: 

Introduce students to the work of four major eighteenth and nineteenth-century writers 

Deepen students’ knowledge of the literary periods Enlightenment, ‘Sturm und Drang’ and 

Realism 

Introduce students to theory of drama 

Give students a basic understanding of social and political developments in eighteenth 

and nineteenth-century German territories 


After successful completion of this course, students are expected to be able to: 

Critically and analytically discuss issues around gender relations in the eighteenth and 

nineteenth centuries and related literary themes. 

Demonstrate an understanding of the development of domestic tragedy in Germany and 

of the work of four major authors. 

Critically and analytically discuss primary and secondary material in class. 

Demonstrate independent research skills by drawing on the university library and other 

suitable resources to find information relevant to the aims of the course. 

Combine techniques of textual analysis and personal judgment to form clearly 

expressed critical examinations of a variety of texts which exhibit a combination of 

critical reading, independent thought, and a capacity to construct an accurately 

referenced argument in appropriate scholarly form.


Term 1 

Week 1: Introduction to gender issues in 18 th century and ‘domestic tragedy’ 

Weeks 2-4, 6-7: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Emilia Galotti 

Weeks 8-11 Heinrich Leopold Wagner: Die Kindermörderin 

Term 2 

Weeks 1-5: Friedrich Schiller: Kabale und Liebe 

Weeks 7-10: Friedrich Hebbel: Maria Magdalene 

Week 11: Conclusions 


Methods: 

The course will be taught through weekly seminars. 


resources on 

Moodle: 




websites etc. Use of quizzes and/or discussion forum will be considered as appropriate. 

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Emilia Galotti. Stuttgart: Reclam. 

Heinrich Leopold Wagner: Die Kindermörderin. Stuttgart: Reclam. 

Friedrich Schiller: Kabale und Liebe. Stuttgart: Reclam. 

Friedrich Hebbel: Maria Magdalene. Stuttgart: Reclam. 

Alt, Peter-André. Aufklärung: Lehrbuch Germanistik. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1996. 

Guthke, Karl S.: Das deutsche bürgerliche Trauerspiel. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2006. 

Hart, Gail K. Tragedy in Paradise: Family and Gender Politics in German Bourgeois 

Tragedy. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1996. 

Hempel, Brita. Sara, Emilia, Luise: Drei tugendhafte Töchter: Das empfindsame 

Patriarchat im bürgerlichen Trauerspiel bei Lessing und Schiller. Heidelberg: 

Winter, 2006. 

Szondi, Peter. Die Theorie des bürgerlichen Trauerspiels. 2 vols. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 

1973. 

Walach, Dagmar. Der aufrechte Bürger, seine Welt und sein Theater: Zum bürgerlichen 

Trauerspiel im 18. Jahrhundert. München: Fink, 1980.

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 




Summative 

Assessment: 


Coursework 40 % – 2 essays (20% each); 1500-2000 words. Deadlines to be confirmed 

on moodle. 






Representations of Childhood and Youth 

in Modern German Culture 



hours) 

0.5 


GM2124 




R220 

Availability: 


terms) 

Terms 1 and 2 

Status: 



Optional for 

German and CLC 


Co-ordinator: 

Dr Jon Hughes 


Aims: 

Jon Hughes 

This course aims to: 

• allow students to study a range of literary and cinematic responses to a key theme in 

modern German-language culture: the lives of children and young people 

• explore the historical contexts of the theme, and to consider the way broader social, 

political and ethical issues emerge from the representation of young people, and of

institutions such as the school and the military 

• consolidate and extend the basic library-based and bibliographical study skills learned 

in the first year 

• continue to teach students to analyse texts critically in a variety of ways (formally, 

within a historical context, as examples of a genre, as ‘practical criticism’, etc.), at a 

more advanced level than in year 1 courses 

• encourage a critical awareness of relevant historical periods and styles, formal and 

generic qualities, and interpretive approaches 



• be able critically and analytically to discuss primary and secondary material, and the 

particular significance and resonance of the theme of childhood and youth in the 

German context 

• be able to combine techniques of textual analysis and personal judgment to form 


combination of critical reading, independent thought, and a capacity to construct an 

accurately referenced argument in appropriate scholarly form. 

• be able to articulate their own critical responses in class discussion and in written 

essays 

• be able to transfer the approaches used in the course to other courses and to future 

study, and to apply the broader thematic framework in a comparative way beyond the 

confines of this course 

• Demonstrate independent research skills by drawing on the university library and other 

suitable resources to find information relevant to the aims of the course. 


Two terms divided, thematically, in the following way: 

Term 1: Childhood, Adolescence, and School 

Term 2: Youth, Generational Conflict, and the Transition to Adulthood 

A full comparative and contextual introduction, drawing widely on relevant historical and 

other background material, will be provided at the start of each term. 

Set texts are listed below 


Methods: 

The course will be taught in weekly seminars. 


resources on 

Moodle: 


A full Moodle presence will be developed, featuring course structure and bibliography, 

preparatory work, bibliography, weekly reading and other recommendations 

Representative Primary Bibliography (Six texts from the following will be studied each 

year) 

Term1: 

Drama: Frank Wedekind, Frühlings Erwachen / Spring Awakening 

Novel: Hermann Hesse, Unterm Rad / Beneath the Wheel 

Novel: Irmgard Keun, Kind aller Länder / Child of all Nations 

Film: Das weiße Band / The White Ribbion (dir Michael Haneke, 2009) 

Term 2: 

Film: Mädchen in Uniform (dir Leontine Sagan, 1931)

Novel: Erich Maria Remarque, Im Westen nichts Neues / All Quiet on the Western Front 

Novella: Ulrich Plenzdorf, Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. / The New Sufferings of 

Young W. 

Film: Goodbye Lenin! (dir. Wolfgang Becker, 2003) 

Film: Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei / The Edukators (Hans Weingartner, 2004) 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 

Full introductory and text-specific secondary bibliography will be published on Moodle. 

Students will receive written feedback on the coursework essays which they are required 

to write. 

Summative 

Assessment: 

Coursework: 2 essays of 1500-2,000 words (20% each) 

Examination: (50%) 2 hours 

10% Moodle test. All assessment criteria to be confirmed in course material and via 

Moodle at the start of course. 

Deadlines: as advertised on Moodle, in handbooks and on noticeboards 


Department/School: Classics and Philosophy/Arts Academic Session: Autumn 



Introduction to European Philosophy 1: 

Kant to Hegel 



hours) 

0.5 


PY2001 




Availability: 


terms) 

Autumn 

Status: 



Core 


Co-ordinator: 

Professor Andrew Bowie


Aims: 

To study aspects of key texts by Kant and Hegel which form the foundation of the major 

debates in both European, and some analytical philosophy. Students will be introduced to 

the interpretation of difficult philosophical texts. Major issues concerning epistemology, 

ethics, and aesthetics will be introduced which will be central to the rest of their 

philosophical and other studies in the humanities and social sciences. 


Students will be introduced to two of the major thinkers in the tradition of modern 

European Philosophy. 

Study of short texts by these thinkers will enable the students to gain an initial critical 

understanding of some of the main issues in their philosophy. 

Students will develop an awareness of the major philosophical problems associated with 

the notion of modernity. 

The course will enhance students' capacity for critical conceptual analysis. 

The course will offer resources for reading difficult theoretical texts which will help 

elsewhere in the study of the humanities. 


Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: Prefaces, selections from Transcendental Deduction, 

Third Antinomy; selection from Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals; brief selection 

from Critique of Judgement. 

Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit: Preface and Introduction, sections on ‘Sense Certainty’, 

‘Lordship and Bondage’, and the ‘Unhappy Consciousness’; section of the Encyclopedia 

on Kant; Introduction to Aesthetics 


Methods: 

1 hour lecture, 1 hour seminar. The lectures will be recorded and posted on Moodle, as 

this has proved to render the difficult texts more tractable for students. A number of 

students will be asked each week to bring seminar questions to the seminar the following 

week. 


resources on 

Moodle: 

Most (probably all) the primary texts can be posted on Moodle, along with recordings of 

lectures. 


Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals, Critique of 

Judgement 

Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, Encyclopedia, Aesthetics. 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 

Feedback on commentary and first essay; comments on general issues of writing essays 

arising from assessments to be posted on Moodle. Presentation of seminar questions 

once each student in the term.

Summative 

Assessment: 

Exam (%) (hours) No exam, as this has proved too difficult in the past. 

Coursework (%) (type) (length) Critical textual Commentary 10%; Essay 1 30% 1,500- 

2,000 words; Essay 2 60% 2,000-2,500 words. 

Deadlines: Textual commentary to be handed in Week 5; Essay 1 to be handed in Week 

7; Essay 2 to be handed in after the Christmas break. 


Department/School: Classics and Philosophy/Arts Academic Session: 2010-2011 



Philosophy and the Arts 


0.5 


hours) 


PY2005 




V500, V520, V540 

Availability: 


terms) 

Spring term 

Status: 



Optional 


Co-ordinator: 

Neil Gascoigne 


Aims: 


Andrew Bowie, Bob Eaglestone, Neil Gascoigne, Dan Rebellato, Adam Roberts 

• To investigate the insights offered by philosophical enquiry into art and culture 

• To investigate the philosophical insights offered by art and culture 

• To subject debates about art and culture to philosophical analysis 

Having successfully completed this course students will be able to: 

1. Demonstrate familiarity with a range of debates about the nature of our responses 

to films, plays, novels and music, the status and nature of art, and the complex 

nature of artistic creation and reception; 

2. explore the ability of artworks to embody ideas and generate philosophical 

debates; 

3. exhibit their argumentation and research skills through debate about a range of 

art works; 

4. construct rigorous arguments and articulate those on paper.


The course will expose students to current philosophical debates in aesthetics, including 

questions about the nature and value of art; the roles of intention, imagination and 

interpretation; and the emotional and ethical responses they provoke. Although 

theoretically informed, each weekly presentation will be grounded in a discussion of one 

or more artistic or cultural objects, be it a play, poem, musical composition, film or one of 

the myriad other forms of creative expression. 


Methods: 

The course will be delivered as a lecture course with additional online exercises and 

facilitated discussions. Each 2-hour lecture slot will offer a structured exposition of its 

argument, but with interactive opportunities for students to develop their own ideas, 

engaging directly in debates about issues of the lecture. This interactive-creative 

component will be facilitated further through the use of tutor-moderated activities on 

Moodle. 


resources on 

Moodle: 

Readings and other suggested activities will be made available through Moodle where 

appropriate. 


Kearney, Richard, and David Rasmussen (eds.), Continental Aesthetics: Romanticism to 

Postmodernism - an Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell. 

Hanfling, Oswald, Philosophical Aesthetics: An Introduction, Oxford-Milton Keynes: 

Blackwell-Open University Press. 

Kieran, Matthew (ed.), Contemporary Debates in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art, 

Oxford: Blackwell. 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 

Students will be asked to provide a one-page plan for their essay on which the course 

coordinator will comment. The course coordinator will organise web-based group 

interactions and student-led study sessions. 

Summative 

Assessment: 

Coursework 

100%, essay, 3000-3500 words 

Deadline 

As advertised 


FINAL YEAR


Title: GERMAN LANGUAGE III Availability: Terms 1 and 2 

Prerequisites: German Language II Recommended: 

Co-ordinator: 



Staff 

Aims: 


To build on language capabilities developed in second year courses and the PRA (where 

appropriate); to improve the comprehension and production of elevated written as well as 

spoken German and the means to develop these independently. 

Furthermore, this is a course that focuses on two practical applications of the study of a 

foreign language, and is designed not only to develop analytical skills and facility in both 

English and German – and as such is suitable for both native and non-native speakers of 

German – but to have transferable value beyond the academic context. It is designed to 

teach a variety of skills involved in producing (a) English translations of German original texts 

and (b) in providing short English summaries of longer texts in German. It aims also to 

encourage students to reflect on how these skills are deployed in various different contex 

Learning 

Outcomes: 


• have continued to maintain and develop a broad (passive and active) general as 

well as topic specific vocabulary in German 

• be able to understand natural, idiomatic spoken German as delivered by a native 

speaker or on radio / TV broadcasts designed for native speakers 

• be able to discuss German current affairs using a wide range of appropriate 

vocabulary 

• be able to give formal presentations on topical subject matter in German 

• be able to research and write an essay in German on a topic of contemporary 

relevance 

• be able to read and understand complex passages of authentic, elevated German, 

including literary, academic, journalistic and other types of texts. 

• have some knowledge of translation methodology / theory and be able to apply this 

to their translation work 

• be able, via written précis, to recognize, extract and convey, in fluent, accurate and 

idiomatic English, the structure and essential content of longer, complex Germanlanguage 

texts 

• be able to produce written translations in fluent, accurate and idiomatic English in an 

appropriate register 

• be able to reflect critically on linguistic and cultural issues and problems concerning 

translation from German into English

• to be familiar with a range of modern German written styles and conventions 


Content: 

Written German: Apart from written comprehension and production exercises based on 

topical texts, students will be given guided writing exercises leading to full-length 

"Erörterungen" on topical issues in German. 

Oral German: Part of the lessons will be dedicated oral discussions that will be linked to the 

topics covered in essay-writing component of the course. Furthermore, students will be 

required to give formal presentations on these topics in German. 

Translation and Précis: Introduction to some basic concepts in translation theory, 

Introduction to the principles of précis, 4 ‘cycles’ of translation and précis exercises, with full 

discussion of each. There will be weekly homework exercises in which students will be 

expected to put into practice the skills and methods that have been discussed in class. 

Grammar: 5-10 additional grammar workshops / year will be offered in order to focus on 

specific problems of the particular learning group. 

Teaching & 

Learning 

Methods 

Contact Hours: 40. Two hours / week for 20 weeks, 10 weeks Autumn Term, 10 weeks Spring 

Term. 

Teaching Medium: German 

Key 

Bibliography: 

• Durrell, Martin et al., Essential German Grammar, London, Sydney, Auckland: Arnold, 2002 

(ISBN: 0-340-74189-9). 





In-course 

Feedback: 

Assessment: 


contact hours. Including, but not limited to: comprehension exercises, essay outlines, fulllength 

essays, translations, précis etc. Feedback on oral presentations. 

Written & Oral Exam 80% 

Coursework 20%


GM3111 Racism and Anti-Semitism 


Prerequisite: normally GM1113 

The central focus of this course is the persecution and murder of European Jewry by 

the National Socialist dictatorship. It will be made clear that the persecution of the 

Jews was the central element in Nazi racist policy; the role that racism plays in any 

understanding of the Nazi regime will also be examined. Racism and anti-Semitism 

are phenomena which are not limited to the Nazi movement, to the inter-war period 

or to the borders of Germany. In this course the roots of fascist ideology and anti- 

Semitism in the Imperial era will be traced and anti-Semitic movements in other 

countries will also be looked at. The Nazi policy of racist extermination included a 

wide group of victims (Gypsies, Poles, the handicapped, homosexuals and others). 

Here we shall be asking how the persecution of these groups compared to the 

persecution of the Jews. The policy of racist persecution applied to the entire 

European continent; the course will delineate the significant differences in various 

countries under German occupation and allied with the Third Reich. The course will 

treat the reactions of bystanders as well as victims; it will discuss the distribution of 

information about the Holocaust and will also examine the reception of this 

information among the German population and outside Germany. 

Assessment: 

2 coursework essays each of approximately 2,000 words (20% each) 

Class Presentation/Moodle Test/Other Assessment (10%) 


Teacher responsible: Professor Peter Longerich 

Course structure: 1 lecture / class / seminar per week (1 hour) 

Programme 

Term 1 

• The emergence of modern anti-Semitism and racism 

• The Jews and anti-Semitism in the Weimar Republic 

• Persecution of Jews, 1933-38 (boycotting of the Jews, the Nuremberg laws) 

• Racist persecution of other groups (Gypsies, the handicapped, homosexuals) 

• Women, family and population policy 

• The Pogrom of November 1938: expropriation of Jewish property and Jewish 

emigration 

• The search for a ‘territorial solution’ to the ‘Jewish question’ (1939/40) 

• The racist war against the Soviet Union and its population

Term 2 

• The genesis and implementation of the ‘final solution’ 

• Concentration camps and extermination camps 

• The Wannseekonferenz 

• The ‘final solution’ in Eastern, Northwest, Southern and Southeast Europe: German 

occupation, extermination, collaboration and Jewish reactions 

• Forms of Jewish resistance 

• The attitude of Germans toward racist persecution 

• Dissemination of information about the Holocaust outside Germany and 

international reactions 


• RECOMMENDED PURCHASE: Landau, Ronnie S. The Nazi Holocaust (London/New 

York 1992) [940.531503924 LAN] 

• Browning, Christopher R. The Path to Genocide. Essays on Launching the Final 

Solution (Cambridge, 1992) [940.531503924 BRO] 

• Browning, Christopher R. Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers, German Killers (Cambridge, 

2000) [940.531503924] 

• Burleigh, Michael and Wippermann, Wolfgang, The Racial State: Germany 1933- 

1945 (Cambridge University Press, 1991) [323.143 BUR] 

• Burrin, Philippe, Hitler and the Jews (London, 1992) [940.531503924 BUR] 

• Dawidowicz, Lucy S., The War against the Jews, 1933-1945 (New York, 1975) 

[940.531503924 DAW] 

• Dimensionen des Völkermords. Die Zahl der jüdischen Opfer des 

Nationalsozialismus. Hg. v. Wolfgang Benz (München, 1991) [940.531503924 DIM] 

• Encyclopaedia of the Holocaust. Ed. by Israel Gutman, 4 vols (New York, 1989) 

[940.53150392403 ENC]. German version: Enzyklopädie des Holocausts. Hg. v. 

Eberhard Jäckel, Peter Longerich u. Julius H. Schoeps (Berlin, 1993) [940.53150392403 

ENZ] 

• Die Ermordung der europäischen Juden. Eine umfassende Dokumentation des 

Holocaust, 1941-1945. Hg. v. Peter Longerich unter Mitarbeit von Dieter Pohl 

(München, Zürich, 1989) [943.004924 ERM] 

• The Final Solution. Origins and Implementation. Ed. by David Cesarani (London, 

1994) [940.531503924] 

• Gilbert, Martin, The Holocaust. The Jewish Tragedy (New York: Holf, 1987) 

[940.531503924 ERM] 

• Graml, Hermann, Anti-Semitism. The Third Reich (Oxford, 1992) [323.11924043 GRA] 

• Hilberg, Raul, The Destruction of the European Jews (New York, 1985) 

[940.531503924 HIL] 

• Hilberg, Raul, Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders. The Jewish Catastrophe 1933-1945 

(New York, 1992) [940.531503924 HIL] 

• Marrus, Michael, The Holocaust in History (Hanover, London 1987) [940.531503924 

MAR] 

• Müller-Hill, Benno, Murderous Science: Elimination by Scientific Selection of Jews, 

Gypsies, and Others, Germany 1933-1945 (Oxford, 1988) [940.5405 MUL]

• The Nazi Holocaust. Historical Articles on the Destruction of European Jews. Ed. by 

Michael Marrus, 15 vols, (London, 1989) (This important collection of articles is 

available in the Wiener Library.) 

• Proctor, Robert, Racial Hygiene. Medicine under the Nazis (Cambridge, 1988) 

[170.042 PRO] 

• Weindling, Paul, Health, Race and German Politics between National Unification 

and Nazism, 1870-1945 (Oxford, 1989) [362.10943 WEI] 

• Yahil, Leni, The Holocaust. The Fate of European Jewry, 1932-1945 (Oxford, 1990) 

[940.531503924 YAH] 


GM3119 Goethe 

Unit Value: ½ 

This course will give an understanding of Goethe’s development as a writer from the 

key period of his Italian journey of 1786-88 until his death in 1832. The focus will be on 

political and gender issues, and we will always discuss the historical context of the 

works. Topical issues such as the relation to supposedly ‘inferior’ cultures (in Iphigenie) 

and Goethe’s interest in Islam and Persian culture (in West-östlicher Divan) form a 

substantial focus. You will become familiar with examples of Goethe’s work in various 

genres, and with critical discussions of these works. The syllabus covers four major 

areas: drama (including the work that occupied Goethe throughout his life, Faust), 

narrative writing, verse epic and lyric poetry. Note: For all the poetry, I have ordered 

the following book for the book shop; please purchase this, because versions of 

Goethe’s poetry differ widely (the West-östlicher Divan is also included here): 

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang: Gedichte: Studienausgabe. Ed. Bernd Witte. Stuttgart: 

Reclam; ISBN: 978-3-15-018519-3 

Assessment: 

2 coursework essays each of approximately 2,000 words (20% each); 

Class Presentation/Moodle Test/Other Assessment (10%); 


Teacher responsible: Professor Daniel Wilson 

Programme 

Term 1 

1 Early poetry 

2-4 Iphigenie auf Tauris 

5 Classical poetry 

6-8 Hermann und Dorothea 

9-10 Faust I

Term 2 

1-2 Faust I 

3-5 Faust II (selected episodes) 

6-8 Mature poetry; West-östlicher Divan 

9-10 Novelle 


Boyle, Nicholas, Goethe. The Poet and the Age, vol. I: The Poetry of Desire (1749- 

1790); vol. II: Revolution and Renunciation (1790-1803) (Oxford: Oxford University 

Press, 1991 and 2000) [836 GOE B/BOY] 

Hinderer, Walter, Goethes Dramen. Neue Interpretationen (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1980) 

[836 GOE D/GOE]. See also Interpretationen. Goethes Dramen, ed. W. H. (Stuttgart: 

Reclam, 1992) [836 GOE D/INT] 

Lützeler, Paul Michael and James E. McLeod (eds), Goethes Erzählwerk: 

Interpretationen (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1985) [836 GOE D/GOE] 

Morgan, Peter, The Critical Idyll. Traditional Values and the French Revolution in 

Goethe’s ‘Hermann und Dorothea’ (Columbia, South Carolina: Camden House, 

1990) [836 GOE S2/MOR] 

Sharpe, Lesley (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Goethe (Cambridge; New York: 

Cambridge University Press, 2002) [836 GOE D/CAM] 

Swales, Martin and Erica, Reading Goethe. A Critical Introduction to the Literary 

Work (Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2002) [836 GOE D/SWA] 

Williams, John R., Goethe’s Faust (London: Allen & Unwin, 1987) [836 GOE P8/WIL] 

Williams, John R., The Life of Goethe. A Critical Biography (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998) 

[836 GOE B/WIL] 

Witte, Bernd, et al. (eds), Goethe Handbuch, 4 vols (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1996-98) [836 GOE 

D/GOE] 





German Romanticism: Aesthetics, 

Science and Literature 



hours) 

0.5 

Course Code: GM3123 Course JACS Code: 


R220


Availability: 


terms) 

Terms 1 + 2 

Status: 



Optional 


Co-ordinator: 



Aims: 



• introduce students to one of the most influential periods in German literature 

through the study of a varied range of material 

• familiarise students with major ideas, themes, motfis and genres of German 

Romanticism 

• introduce students to major aesthetic and scientific concepts of the time 

• explore a number of key themes in the literature of the era 

• demonstrate the interdisciplinary scope of German Romanticism 

• analyse both fictional and non-fictional texts in their historical and cultural 

context. 


By the end of this course, students should be able to: 

• demonstrate an understanding of the concept of ‘Romanticism’ 

• show a clear awareness of the interconnections between the aesthetics, science 

and literary writings of the period 

• be able to assess the importance of this period within the development of German 

thought and literature 

• be able to present, in oral and written form, their own responses to the material 

which they have studied. 


• Friedrich Schlegel: “Athenäumsfragment 116”, Gespräch über die Poesie (copies 

provided) 

• Novalis: “Blütenstaubfragment 16” (copy provided) 

• Alexander von Humboldt: Ansichten der Natur (copy of excerpts provided) 

• Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué: Undine (Reclam 491). 

• Ludwig Tieck: Der blonde Eckbert. Der Runenberg (Reclam 7732). 

• Novalis: Heinrich von Ofterdingen (Reclam 8939). 

• Joseph von Eichendorff: Das Marmorbild. (Reclam 18539). 

• E.T.A. Hoffmann: Der Sandmann (Reclam 230) . 

• E.T.A Hoffmann: Die Bergwerke zu Falun. Der Artushof (Reclam 8991). 

• Bettine von Arnim: Die Günderode (copies of excerpts provided) 

• Selection of Romantic Poetry (copies provided) 


Methods: 

The course will be taught over 20 weeks in one-hour weekly seminars. Students will be 

expected to participate in group discussions.


resources on 

Moodle: 

A Moodle site is available and presents course information, readings, bibliography and 

assignments. 


• Cunningham, Andrew and Jardine, Nicholas: Romanticism and the Sciences, 

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1990. 

• Engelhardt, Dietrich von: „Romanticism in Germany“, in: Roy Porter and Mikulas 

Teich (eds.): Romanticism in national context, Cambridge: Cambridge University 

Press 1988, pp. 109-133. 

• Heinisch, Klaus J.: Die Deutsche Romantik. Interpretationen, Paderborn: 

Schöningh 1966. 

• Hughes, Glyn Tegai: Romantic German Literature, London: Edward Arnold 1979. 

• Kremer, Detlef: Romantik, Stuttgart: Metzler 2001. 

• Lützeler, Paul Michael: Romane und Erzählungen der deutschen Romantik. Neue 

Interpretationen. Stuttgart: Reclam 1981. 

• Pikulik, Lothar: Frühromantik. Epoche – Werke – Wirkung, München: C.H. Beck 

1992. 

• Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen (ed.): The Cambridge History of German Literature, 

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1997, pp. 202-271. 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 




Summative 

Assessment: 


Coursework 40 % – 2 essays of 1500-2000 words (20% each). Essays are due in the 

last week of term. 


Deadlines: End of each term, as announced on Moodle and on the relevant departmental 

notice-boards. 

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The GDR and its Legacy: Literary 

Responses from Socialist Realism to 

‘Ostalgie’ 




hours) 

0.5 


GM3124 




R220 

Availability: 


terms) 

Terms 1 + 2 

Status: 



Optional 


Co-ordinator: 

Dr Jon Hughes 


Aims: 



Dr Jon Hughes 


• present students with a representative range of literary responses to the East German 

state, from its establishment to its dissolution, and with a selection of recent texts 

concerned with the legacy of the GDR in a reunified Germany 

• analyse primary material within the clearly defined historical and intellectual 

framework provided by the course of post-war Germany history, a period of critical 

importance in recent European history 

• encourage students to think critically on the relationship of politics and literature, both 

historically, through study of life in a communist state, and as an issue of continued 

relevance in contemporary Europe 

• develop skills in the critical analysis of and differentiation between texts, with a wide 

range of formal and theoretical positions, and which were written in widely differing 

circumstances 


• have gained an appreciation of a range of texts covering five decades of writing, both 

individually and comparatively 

• have acquired a diachronic understanding of literature and literary debate, and of the 

role of the writer, in four decades of GDR history, and of the political and cultural 

debates which followed German reunification 1990. 

• have formed, be able to articulate and justify their own critical responses to primary 

material 

be able to assess the ongoing legacy of the GDR in contemporary Germany 

The primary texts (see bibliography) will provide a chronological structure, and will be 

considered individually. They will however be situated in the context of relevant historical 

and cultural tendencies. 

The latter will include, with additional relevant primary material provided where 

appropriate: 

• Socialist Realism

• Aufbauromane 

• The ‘Bitterfelder Weg’ 

• Ankunftsromane 

• ‘Jugendromane’ after Honecker’s ‘no taboos’ speech 

• The Wolf Biermann affair and its consequences 

• Dissident and censored literature 

• Alienation and disillusionment 

• The Literaturstreit 

• Responses to and representations of the ‘Wende’ 

• GDR ‘nostalgia’ 

Other key themes and topics to be considered will include: the division of Germany and its 

consequences; Socialism and party politics; tensions between public and private spheres; 

generational conflict; gender; strategies for living with forms of oppression and 

censorship; reunification and the continued existence of ‘two Germanies’; retrospective 

criticism and the necessity for a new form of Vergangenheitsbewältigung; the function of 

satire and nostalgia. We will also discuss the extent to which these texts, as works of art, 

are able to transcend the immediate political circumstances of their composition. 


Methods: 

The course will be taught in weekly seminars with group discussion. Each new topic will 

be introduced through a short lecture; appropriate use will be made of supplementary 

textual and visual material provided in a course handbook. Discussion will be given 

direction by the tutor, who will facilitate full participation (where appropriate through group 

work), but be flexible enough to allow students to draw their own conclusions. 


resources on 

Moodle: 

A Moodle site is available and presents course information, a glossary, readings, 

bibliography and assignments. 


Primary Texts will include: 

• Brigitte Reimann, Ankunft im Alltag (1961) 

• Ulrich Plenzdorf, Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. (1972) 

• Volker Braun, Unvollendete Geschichte (1975) 

• Christoph Hein, Der fremde Freund (1982) 

• Christa Wolf, Was bleibt (1990) 

• Monika Maron, Stille Zeile Sechs (1991) 

• Jana Hensel, Zonenkinder (2002) 

Secondary Bibliography: 

• Heinz Ludwig Arnold ed., DDR-Literatur der neunziger Jahre (Munich: Text + Kritik, 

2000) 

• Elizabeth Boa and Janet Wharton eds, Women and the “Wende”: Social Effects and 

Cultural Reflections of the German Unification Process, Proceedings of a conference 

held by Women in German Studies 9-11 Sept. 1993 at the Univ. of Nottingham 

(Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994) 

• Stephen Brockmann ‘German Literary Debates after the Collapse’, German Life and 

Letters April 1994 

• Karsten Dümmel, Identitätsprobleme in der DDR-Literatur der siebziger und achtziger 

Jahre (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1997)

• Wolfgang Emmerich, Kleine Literaturgeschichte der DDR (Leipzig: Kiepenheuer, 

1996) 

• Walter Erhart and Dirk Niefanger eds, Zwei Wendezeiten: Blicke auf die deutsche 

Literatur 1945 und 1989 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1997) 

• Mary Fulbrook, Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR, 1949-1989 (Oxford: OUP, 

1997) 

• Margy Gerber and Roger Woods eds, The end of the GDR and the problems of 

integration: selected papers from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth New Hampshire 

Symposia on the German Democratic Republic (Lanham: University of America 

Press, 1993) 

• Konrad H. Jarausch and Volker Gransow eds, Uniting Germany: Documents and 

Debates 1944-1993 (Providence & Oxford: Berghahn, 1994) 

• Eva Kaufmann, ‘Women Writers in the GDR, 1945-1989’, in Postwar Women’s 

Writing in German: Feminist Critical Approaches’, ed. by Chris Weedon (Providence: 

Berghahn, 1997), pp. 169-209 

• Derek Lewis and John R.P. McKenzie eds, The New Germany: Social, Political and 

Cultural Challenges of Unification (University of Exeter Press, 1995) 

• Jürgen Thomanceck and Bill Niven, Dividing and Uniting Germany (London: 

Routledge, 2000) 

• Arthur Williams, Stuart Parkes and Roland Smith eds, Literature on the Threshold: 

The German Novel in the 1980s (Leamington Spa: Berg, 1990), pp. 221-234 

• Arthur Williams, Stuart Parkes and Roland Smith eds, German Literature at a Time of 

Change, 1989-90 (Bern: Lang, 1991) 

• Arthur Williams and Stuart K. Parkes eds, The Individual Identity and Innovation: 

Signals from Contemporary Literature and the New Germany, 3 rd Bradford 

International Colloquium on Contemporary German Literature, 1992 (Bern, Berlin, 

etc.: Lang, 1994) 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 

Students will receive written feedback on the coursework essays which they are required 

to write, and regular oral feedback on classwork and presentations. 

Summative 

Assessment: 

Coursework: 2 essays of 1500-2,000 words (20% each) 

Examination (50%) 2 hours 

10% of the mark to be awarded for Moodle tests OR assessed class presentations. All 

assessment criteria to be confirmed in course material and via Moodle at the start of 

course. 

Deadlines: End of each term, as announced on Moodle and on the relevant departmental 

notice-boards. 

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DEPARTMENT OF: SMLLC (German) Academic Session: 2011-2012 

Course Code: GM3128 Course Value: 0.5 Status: Optional 


Gender in Post-War German-Language 

Literature and Culture 

Availability: 

Term 2 

Prerequisites: None Recommended: None 

Co-ordinator: 



Staff 

Aims: 


This course deals with issues that are of central importance in contemporary German society 

and culture. It examines theories and ideas that have transformed masculine and feminine 

identities and triggered key social shifts. It will: 

- introduce students to key theories of gender, encouraging them to consider such issues 

as sex, power, and the body, and the way in which gender is intertwined with other 

factors – race, class, sexuality etc. – in the construction of identity in post-war German 

culture. 

- consider the question of feminism: its history, its numerous strands and conflicts, and 

what it means today. 

- examine the complex relationship between gender and culture, probing the issues of 

authorship, the reception and interpretation of texts, and the canon. 

- address a range of German-language, post-1945 texts, exploring the way gender is 

thematized in such works. 

Learning 

Outcomes: 

By the end of the course, students will have: 

- acquired a critical awareness of the role gender plays in shaping identities in particular 

social and historical contexts. 

- developed an understanding of the ways in which gender is bound up with other factors, 

such as class, race, sexual orientation, nationality, and so on, and of the complexity of 

identity in general. 

- developed a critical vocabulary suitable for discussing gender in literature and culture. 

- become acquainted with a range of German-language texts in which gender is a 

significant concern. 


Content: 

In the first half of the course, students will be introduced to key theories of gender, especially 

feminism. They will explore the notion of ‘women’s writing’ and examine how women writers 

have gained increasing prominence in German-language culture since 1945. Teaching will 

focus in particular on so-called ‘Frauenliteratur’, a body of texts written by women in the 1970s 

and early1980s that are thematically comparable; many such texts critically explore 

motherhood, marriage, and the control of women’s sexuality. At the same time, students will 

be encouraged to see that the term ‘women’s writing’ is fraught with difficulties. They will 

discuss how male writers also engaged critically with both femininity and masculinity in this 

period. 

In the second half of the course, the focus will be on literature and film since 1990. Students 

will explore how the category of women’s writing has arguably become less significant in 

recent years, but will also be invited to recognize that it remains relevant. The issues of race, 

nationality, and sexuality will be considered, as well as the questions of intertextuality and 

postmodernism.

Teaching & 

Learning 

Methods: 

The course will consist of weekly two-hour sessions. Each session will begin with a short 

lecture on the relevant topic or text. The lecture will be followed by group or pair work and 

discussion. Where appropriate, film clips will be shown and analysed, and short extracts from 

texts will be introduced and discussed. The emphasis during the sessions will be on student 

participation. Preparatory reading of the set texts will lay the groundwork for class discussion, 

through which students are expected to develop and formulate their own views. 

Primary Texts: 

Key 

Bibliography: 

May Ayim, selected poems (1990s) (provided via Moodle) 

Ingeborg Bachmann, Das dreiβigste Jahr (1961) 

Thomas Brussig, Helden wir wir (1995) (optional) 

Karen Duve, Regenroman (1999) 

Peter Handke, Wunschloses Unglück (1972) 

Elfriede Jelinek, die liebhaberinnen (1975) 

Christa Wolf, ‘Selbstversuch’ Geschlechtertausch (1974/1980) (provided via Moodle) 

Brigitte Schwaiger, Wie kommt das Salz ins Meer (1977) 

Films: 

Lola und Bilidikid (dir. E. Kutlug Ataman, 1999) 

Fremde Haut (dir. Angelina Maccarone, 2005) 

Extracts from: 

Margot Schroeder, Der Schlachter empfiehlt noch immer Herz (1976); Verena Stefan, 

Häutungen (1975); Karin Struck, Klassenliebe (1973) 

Selected Secondary Texts (NB: additional biographies will be issued for each writer 

considered): 

Peter Barry, Beginning Theory (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002) 

Joseph Bristow, Sexuality (London: Routledge, 1997) 

Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New 

York: Routledge, 1990) 

Jo Catling (ed.), A History of Women’s Writing in Germany, Austria and 

Switzerland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999) 

R. W. Connell, Gender (Cambridge: Polity, 2002) 

R. W. Connell, Masculinities (Cambridge: Polity, 2005) 

Mary Eagleton (ed.), Feminist Literary Criticism (New York: Longman, 1991) 

Mary Eagleton, A Concise Companion to Feminist Theory (Oxford: Blackwell, 

2003) 

Brigid Haines and Margaret Littler, Contemporary Women’s Writing in 

German: Changing the Subject (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) 

Judith Halberstam, Female Masculinity (Durham: Duke University Press,1998) 

Patricia Herminghouse and Magda Mueller (eds), Gender and Germanness: 

Cultural Productions of Nation (Oxford: Berghahn, 1998) 

Roy Jerome (ed.), Conceptions of Postwar German Masculinity (New York:

SUNY, 2001) 

Diane Richardson and Victoria Robertson (eds), Introducing Gender and 

Women’s Studies (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) 

Stuart Taberner (ed.), Contemporary German Fiction: Writing in the Berlin 

Republic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) 

Margaret Walters, Feminism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford 

University Press, 2005) 

Chris Weedon (ed.), Postwar Women’s Writing in German (Oxford: Berghahn, 

1997) 

Chris Weedon, Feminism, Theory and the Politics of Difference (Oxford: 

Blackwell, 1999) 

Nira Yuval-Davies, Gender and Nation (London: SAGE, 1997) 

Students will receive written feedback on the coursework essays they are required to write. 

Formative 

Assessment 

& Feedback: 

Summative 

Assessment: 

Exam (50%); Two Essays (20% each); Class presentation (10%) – deadlines and further 

details provided by tutor. 


GM3129 Dissertation in German 

Unit Value: ½ 

The aims of this course are to allow students with a particular interest in a specific 

aspect of German studies, or with a desire to develop an independent research 

project, to undertake a piece of longer research work. The course will introduce 

students to the practice of independent research, and encourage students, after 

appropriate negotiation and agreement, to explore in depth an aspect of German 

studies of their own choosing. 

Subjects and titles are to be agreed in consultation with the course co-ordinator and 

an appropriate supervising tutor. Topics will usuall fall within the areas of teaching 

and research interest in German in the SMLLC. 

Convenor: Dr Jon Hughes 

Course Structure: 

A formal introduction to dissertation-writing skills will be held in Term 1. No formal 

teaching component will be associated with this course. Students will attend a 

number of supervision sessions with one or two appropriate academic staff

members; the length and frequency of these sessions will be arranged with 

supervisors although the total amount of formal teaching will not exceed two hours 

over the year. 

These sessions will include methodological advice, monitoring and feedback, as well 

as topic-specific discussion. Students will be provided with concrete help on time 

management via a list of deadlines indicating when each stage of research and 

writing should have been completed. 

Assessment: 

Coursework (100%) A 4,000- to 5,000-word dissertation essay. A list of assessment 

criteria will be made available to students on moodle and via handbooks. 

Deadlines: The deadline for submission of the finished dissertation will be early in the 

Easter vacation and will published on School noticeboards at the start of the year. 


Department/School: Classics and Philosophy/Arts Academic Session: Autumn 



Modern European Philosophy 1: Husserl 

to Heidegger 



hours) 

0.5 


PY3002 




Availability: 


terms) 

Autumn 

Status: 



Optional 

Pre-requisites: PY2001 Co-requisites: None 

Co-ordinator: 

Professor Andrew Bowie 


Aims: 

To introduce students to the work of two of the defining figures in modern philosophy. To 

enable students to grasp the core ideas of Husserl and Heidegger. To outline the key 

ideas in phenomenology and to grasp the aims of Heidegger’s interrogation of the notion 

of ‘being’. To understand the consequences of these ideas for key political, social and 

other issues in the modern world.


Students will be introduced to two of the major thinkers in 20 th century European 

Philosophy. 

The students will gain a critical understanding of some of the main issues in their 

philosophy. 

Students will develop an awareness of issues concerning the relationship of science to 

the rest of modern culture. 

The course will enhance students' capacity for critical conceptual analysis. 

The course will offer resources for reading difficult theoretical texts which will help 

elsewhere in the study of the humanities. 


This is slightly complicated by the fact that some of the students in the first year of 

operation of this course will have done some study of Husserl and Heidegger. The texts 

listed will therefore be used in such a way that students do not repeat the same material. 

Studying these thinkers twice is not in itself a problem, as they are notoriously difficult. 

Husserl, Cartesian Meditations selections, depending on the issue just mentioned, The 

Crisis of the European Sciences, selections, depending on the issue just mentioned. 

Heidegger, Being and Time, Introduction, Selections from Division One/The Origin of the 

Work of Art; ‘Letter on Humanism’; ‘The Age of the World Picture’; and ‘The End of 

Philosophy and the Task of Thinking’ 


Methods: 

1 hour lecture, 1 hour seminar. The lectures will be recorded and posted on Moodle, as 

this has proved to render the difficult texts more tractable for students. A number of 

students will be asked each week to bring seminar questions to the seminar the following 

week. 


resources on 

Moodle: 


Some of the primary texts can be posted on Moodle, along with recordings of lectures. 

Husserl, Cartesian Meditations, The Crisis of the European Sciences 

Heidegger, Being and Time, The Origin of the Work of Art; ‘Letter on Humanism’; ‘The 

Age of the World Picture’; and ‘The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking’ 

Formative 

Assessment & 

Feedback: 

Feedback on commentary and first essay; comments on general issues of writing essays 

arising from assessments to be posted on Moodle. Presentation of seminar questions 

once each student in the term.

Summative 

Assessment: 

Exam (%) (hours) No exam, as this has proved too difficult in the past. 

Coursework (%) (type) (length) Critical textual Commentary 10%; Essay 1 30% 1,500- 

2,000 words; Essay 2 60% 2,000-2,500 words. 

Deadlines: Textual commentary to be handed in Week 5; Essay 1 to be handed in Week 

7; Essay 2 to be handed in after the Christmas break. 

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Course descriptions - Royal Holloway, University of London

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