GERST 4100 - The Seminar

(LA-AS, ALC-AS) Satisfies Option 1.

Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Prerequisite: standard German proficiency as required for this level, any German course at the 3200-3499-level or equivalent. Taught in German. The Seminar is a requirement of the German Studies major, but is open to all students who have met the prerequisites. The course has a research component, including poster presentations of all final projects, and is taught each fall by a faculty member in the Department of German Studies on a topic of their expertise.

L. Adelson.

Fall 2021 Topic: Hope in German Literature and Thought: Hope is an appeal to better futures. What creative strategies and critical thought does German literature make available for engaging hope in hard times in meaningful ways? From 17^th-century mysticism to “concrete utopia” to Black German activism in contemporary Berlin, this course will examine a range of styles, aspirations, and concepts with which German literature from different historical periods configures hope in transformational relation to crises including war, disease, poverty, discrimination, dictatorship, exile, and more. Literary readings will involve work by authors reaching from Goethe, Lessing, Hebel, the Grimm Brothers, and Bettina von Arnim to Aichinger, Bachmann, Braun, Wolf, Klüger, Ayim, Otoo, Erpenbeck, Tawada, and Wenzel; some film and philosophy will also be discussed. Student research will further investigate diverse and complex relationships between German literature and hope in hard times.