GER 5610 is also offered in Spring 2023
GER 5610 is also offered in Fall 2022
GER 5610 is also offered in Spring 2022
Spring 2022 | GER 5610 Section 001: German Literature in Translation -- Existentialism (66322)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Discussion
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Repeat Credit Limit:
- 9 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person Term Based
- Class Attributes:
Topics Course
- Enrollment Requirements:
- Exclude fr or soph 5000 level courses
- Meets With:
PHIL 4009 Section 001
PHIL 5009 Section 001
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
UMTC, East Bank
Folwell Hall 112
- Enrollment Status:
Open (3 of 5 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Study in depth of authors or topics from various periods in German literature. Requires no knowledge of German. prereq: No knowledge of German required; cr toward major or minor requires reading in German
- Class Notes:
- http://classinfo.umn.edu/?mrothe+GER5610+Spring2022
- Class Description:
- The term existentialism came into being with French post-war-philosophy but has since been applied to all modes of inquiry that take human existence as their point of departure. "Existence precedes essence", Jean Paul Sartre famously summarized the existentialist position, thereby implying that human beings come to an understanding of what is, and obtain their norms and values, only through their way of being and acting in the world. Conversely then, it could be said that existentialism has its condition in a crisis of value - or in a spirit of nihilism - and responds to it with a vitalist assertion of the self (or its withdrawal). Experiences of meaninglessness though have historically had different sources and accordingly the responses have varied widely in form. Existentialist writers seem to have no creed or ethical stance in common; they are found both on the far (fascist) right as well as on the Marxist left (I am not implying these stances can be equated). In this class, we will investigate Western existentialism(s) (plural!) - in literary works as well as philosophical texts - from across the political spectrum and in their historical contexts and engage with its feminist and postcolonial challenges. Our discussion of authors such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Camus, Frantz Fanon, Hannah Arendt, Simon de Beauvoir, Martin Heidegger, or Ralph Ellison will help us to understand both, the limits (perhaps even dangers) and the productivity of an often very literary mode of inquiry that generates the world from human experience or consciousness.
- Who Should Take This Class?:
- Students of philosophy and literature, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, who are interested in 'big ideas' (such as the meaning of life, the origins of norms and value, the role of revolt and rebellion)
- Learning Objectives:
- understanding existentialism as a mode of inquiry; learning about literature as a form of philosophy; reflecting on the politics of existentialism
- Exam Format:
- take-home-examination, open book
- Class Format:
- in person (with a brief a-synchronic work-phase), lectures, group work, discussion posts, collective google-docs
- Workload:
- 20 to 50 pages of reading per week and reading of 2 short and one longer novels (over the course of some weeks)
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/66322/1223
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 10 November 2021
ClassInfo Links - Spring 2022 German Classes