ClassInfo

This course provides a general introduction to German, Scandinavian, Nordic & Dutch literary and cultural history from the 1700s to the present. Quite the feat! Literature will be broadly defined to analyze the variety of ways texts and visual media can be analyzed. Course materials include: autobiography, persuasive writing, film, letter writing, poetry, short story, theater, and a novel. Whose history and literature counts will be tested and provoked as we examine Central and Northern Europe in its entirety and not just in its whiteness. From unification to the present, we will reflect on identity formation in Europe and challenge the idea that Europe was/is constructed as a white space. In this course, we will question various notions of "exceptionalism" as part of their identity myths. As we think through this and more will allow us to discuss the perception of who is imagined to belong to a German/Nordic/Dutch community and who is not.

Course Historical Points

· Colonialism

Enlightenment

· Emerging bourgeoisie

· Fin de siècle Vienna

· WWII and the Holocaust

· Divided Germany

· Travel Writing

· Balkan War

"Writing-Intensive" is a course designation assigned by the College of Liberal Arts.

The skills of expression, revision (editing and proofreading), and storytelling (author voice) are key skills that will support you in your future career (and life). There are multiple low-stakes writing assignments. These shorter pieces will allow us to reflect on the material covered in class. The formal essay will give students an opportunity to think through key terms of the course, reflect on themselves, and critically (re)define terms. The creative essay will test your comprehension of a text we read in class and your ability to transmit the ideas into a new and exciting form.