Fall 2021  |  GER 3631 Section 001: Jewish and German Writing at the Margins: Multilingualism, Race, Memory (34498)

Instructor(s)
Class Component:
Discussion
Credits:
3 Credits
Grading Basis:
Student Option
Instructor Consent:
No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:
Completely Online
Class Attributes:
Delivery Mode
Meets With:
JWST 3631 Section 001
CSCL 3123 Section 001
Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
 
09/07/2021 - 12/15/2021
Mon, Wed 01:00PM - 02:15PM
Off Campus
UMN REMOTE
Enrollment Status:
Open (15 of 20 seats filled)
Also Offered:
Course Catalog Description:
How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture's language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text "Jewish"? How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of "whiteness." Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer Åženocak. prereq: No knowledge of German required; some work in German must be done in order to count this course toward a German minor or a German, Scandinavian, Dutch major.
Class Notes:
http://classinfo.umn.edu/?morri074+GER3631+Fall2021
Class Description:

How are minority stories, novels, and poems constructed at the margins of a majority culture's language? This course addresses this question by exploring the complexity of Jewish culture in modernity, with a focus on 20th and 21st century German and American literature. We will first tackle the open-ended and endlessly productive question of what is meant by Jewish culture. What is a Jewish writer and is there such a thing as Jewish writing? What makes a text "Jewish?" How do Jewish authors challenge the assumptions of majority culture in their work? What role do multilingualism and translation play in the formation of Jewish cultures at the margins? We will trace the lines of affinity between the U.S. and Europe to explore the entangled histories of Germans and Jews, and between German Jews and Turkish Germans, as we look at works that challenge and expand the definition of Jewishness in the 20th century. Additional topics to be considered include how the legacies of American slavery and European colonialism shape our understandings of the Nazi genocide of the Jews, and whether Jewish writing should be understood under the rubric of "whiteness." Moving beyond the approach to German Jewish literary studies anchored in Weimar Germany, we will explore the circulation of Jewish memory between Europe and the U.S. in the aftermath of the Holocaust. We will read works by, among others, Franz Kafka, James Baldwin, Paul Celan, Gershon Scholem, Hannah Arendt, Benjamin Stein, Walter Benjamin, Barbara Honigmann, Hélène Cixous, Raymond Federman, W.G. Sebald, Allen Ginsberg, Adeena Karasick, Alfred Kazin, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Avram Sutzkever, Zafer Şenocak.

Who Should Take This Class?:
Class is taught in English. Students who want to receive credit towards the German major will have the opportunity to read selected works in the original and write one paper in German.
Grading:

Final grade will be based on the grades of your written work (75%) and your contribution to class discussion, including an in-class presentation (25%). There will be a midterm essay exam, a short paper and a final paper (10-12 pages) due at the end of the semester.

Exam Format:
Mid-term essay exam
Class Format:
Lecture 20%; Discussion 80%. Class will be run as a seminar
Workload:
50-100 pages of reading each week
Textbooks:
https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/34498/1219
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
9 April 2021

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