Dr. Rasma Lazda Fall 2017 GN 403 Undergraduate Seminar Love, Death, and Heroes Liebe, Tod und Helden T R 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm, 246 BB Comer Last update: 8/29/2017

DESCRIPTION
This course presents major German literary works from the earliest period up to today. Specifically, all works deal in one or other form with love, death, and what it means to be heroic.

Erich From, The Art of Loving: "Not that people think that love is not important. They are starved for it, they watch endless films about happy and unhappy love stories; they they listen to hundreds of trashy songs about love - yet hardly anyone thinks that there is anything that needs to be learned about love."

The German literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki once said that literature knows only two topics, love and death. It is indeed no surprise that love and death, often in combination with some sort of heroic deed, dominate so many great stories of world literature. One the one hand we as human beings yearn for love and affection, while we fear loss and inevitable death on the other hand.

In this seminar we will take a closer look at seminal works of German literature by asking: What can we learn about love from these works? What are definitions / concepts of love, death, and heroism? How have concepts of love, death, and heroism changed throughout time?

GENERAL LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
-Recognize and identify key concepts of German literary history
-Demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills
-Collaborate and perform effectively in team activities

SPECIFIC LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
-Identify significant works of German literature from the earliest periods through today.
-Discuss theoretical writings on love, death, and heroism, and how attitudes  / concepts have changed throughout time.
-Access, interpret, evaluate and synthesize information using multiple resources, including current information technology.
-Analyze, understand, and evaluate diverse ideas, beliefs, and behaviors.
-Prepare a bibliography and compose a convincing essay based on own analysis (MLA style).
-Demonstrate advanced German language skills by reading higher level German literary texts from various periods.

ASSESSMENT
A variety of tools will help me to assess your progress in this course: from short pop quizzes, response papers, a book review, bibliography, a Power Point Presentation, and a research paper with a literary analysis, to a final exam, with a short answer section and an essay question, all in German, will provide feedback on your performance in this class.

PARTICIPATION / PREPARATION / ATTENDANCE POLICY / MISSED CLASSES
Participation and preparation count as 10 % of your grade. When you come to class, have your assignments prepared, readings, presentations, writing assignments. Occasionally I will check your reading comprehension with small quizzes.
You will have an initial 28 points in your participation/preparation account. For every session you come prepared you receive participation/ preparation credit for that class session. For every session you miss I will deduct one point. You cannot earn preparation/participation credit if you have not prepared your homework or if you are absent. I will begin taking attendance the first Tuesday of classes.
Regular attendance is essential. THERE ARE NO MAKE-UPS for missed quizzes and other assignments. On rare occasions when absence is unavoidable due to serious illness or family emergency, I may require proof of your reason of absence before we discuss the possibility of make-up work.
If you miss more than 20 % of class time, you will receive an automatic "F", regardless of the quality of your work.

GRADING

Participation/Preparation (incl. quizzes)	10%
Response Papers	20%
Book Review	10%
Bibliography - MLA style	10%
Oral presentation (Power Point Referat)	20%
Essay (Schriftliche Hausarbeit)	30%

 

The Grading Scale is the standard +/- scale used by the university.

A+ 97-100	A 93-96	A- 90-92	B+ 87-89	B 83-86	B- 80-82
C+ 77-79	C 73-76	C- 70-72	D+ 67-69	D 63-66	D- 60-62
F 59 below

 

ASSIGNMENTS
Prepare to read a lot for this course. You will also have to present a PowerPoint, prepare a bibliography, write a book review and an essay. All assignments listed on the syllabus are to be prepared for the day they are listed. You will probably spend about four to six hours work outside of class for each class session. This includes preparing reading and writing assignments.

→Response Papers
You will prepare a number of one- to two-page-response papers on the readings. Please submit your response papers to the course wiki, so that all class members have access to them.
Hints for a response paper:
-A response paper is not an academic paper.
-A response paper is not a summary of what happened.
-A response paper is a reflection of your engagement with the text.
-What points of view representative of the time can you detect in the text - what attitudes, values, concepts, and possibly belief systems do you recognize, specifically regarding love, death, and heroes?
-What is your personal point of view on these aspects?
-How has this text possibly altered your own personal point of view regarding your initial reading of the text and your world view at large?
You will submit your response papers to the course wiki.

→Book Review
You will write a review of one additional work that we do not read as a group.
Your choice of work has to be approved by me.
Your Power Point presentation, bibliography, and essay may be on the same work.
You should count on a minimum of two to three pages for this assignment (double-spaced, MLA style).
Please familiarize yourself how to write a review.
PREPARE YOUR BOOK REVIEW FOR THE DAY YOUR POWER POINT PRESENTATION AS A HANDOUT IF it is on the same work.
You will submit your book review to the course wiki.

→Bibliography
You will prepare a bibliography on recent scholarly research on one work / topic from German literature dealing with the main seminar theme. You will prepare the bibliography on the same work as your PPT Referat and your essay. Your bibliography has to list at least 10 -15 articles and/or books. You will submit your bibliography on the course wiki page AND also as a paper hard copy.

→Oral Presentation
You will prepare a Power Point presentation of about 20 minutes in length including a handout for. For this Power Point Referat, you will present on a work that you are reading for this seminar. You will also prepare your bibliography on that same work, as well as your research essay (schriftliche Hausarbeit).
You will be evaluated on handout, preparation, content, grammatical accuracy, delivery, and the presentation overall.
Hints for your presentation:
-Be ready to talk for at least 20 minutes, run a test presentation in order to prepare for your actual Referat.
-You may not just read from the slides.
-Slides should be a backdrop for your presentation.
-Make use of photos, illustrations, maps etc. in your slides, but do not overdo it. Refrain from sound effects or other distracting features.
-Make sure that your presentation does not contain any spelling or grammatical errors.
-You will upload a pdf file of your presentation on the course wiki page.

→Essay
Your schriftliche Hausarbeit (essay) will be a research paper on a topic relating to at least one work dealing with some aspects of love, heroes and/or death. You may also compare and contrast more than one work with each other. Please discuss your essay topic with me.

Your essay should be between 8-12 pages long (MLA Style follow this link to view a sample heading and a works cited page). You have to consult at least three secondary sources (scholarly research articles). You may use internet pages as an additional source, but articles from newspapers or wikipedia are not scholarly research articles. Scholarly articles accessed by means of the library web page are valid secondary sources (research articles). If you are not sure, please check with me. If you need help how to type German characters on your computer, please consult this link.
You will submit your final essay through Turnitin on Blackboard.

The University of Alabama reserves the right to use electronic means to detect and help prevent plagiarism. Students agree that by taking this course all course documents are subject to submission to Turnitin.com. All materials submitted to Turnitin.com will become source documents in Turnitin.com's restricted access database solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism in such documents.

→Final exam
There will be NO final exam, rather regard your final essay as a cumulative learning experience for this course.

DISABILITY SERVICES
It is university policy to provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to students who have disabilities that may affect their ability to participate in course activities or to meet course requirements. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me in the beginning of the semester to discuss their individual needs for accommodations. It is standard university procedure that instructors require from students with learning disabilities a letter requesting accommodations in compliance with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). If you have a disability, register with ODS. Instructors are not obligated to provide academic adjustments until they have received an RFA letter ("Request for Accommodations" letter). To request disability accommodations, please contact the Office of Disability Services at 348-4285. After initial arrangements are made with that office, contact your professor. This information refers to all courses at the university.

UA NONDISCRIMINATION NOTICE
The University of Alabama complies with applicable laws prohibiting discrimination, including Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Executive Order 11246, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veterans Adjustment Assistance Act, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status in admission or access to, or treatment of employment in, its programs and services.

DISABILITY SERVICES
It is university policy to provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to students who have disabilities that may affect their ability to participate in course activities or to meet course requirements. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me in the beginning of the semester to discuss their individual needs for accommodations. It is standard university procedure that instructors require from students with learning disabilities a letter requesting accommodations in compliance with the Office of Disability Services (ODS). If you have a disability, register with ODS. Instructors are not obligated to provide academic adjustments until they have received an RFA letter ("Request for Accommodations" letter). To request disability accommodations, please contact the Office of Disability Services at 348-4285. After initial arrangements are made with that office, contact your professor. This information refers to all courses at the university.

STORMS AND OTHER EMERGENCIES
The primary university communication tool for sending out information is the UA web site. Students should consult this site as soon as they can in an emergency. Information on the course will be given through the E-learning shell in case of an emergency.

Semesterplan

 

AUTOR / WERK / Bibliographie	TEXT / QUELLE (wird noch erweitert)	WEITERE INFORMATION
anonym	Hildebrandslied
anonym	Nibelungenlied
Fritz Lang	Die Nibelungen (1924) 1. Teil 142 min 2. Teil 151 min	Die Nibelungen (Wikipedia)
Uli Edel	Die Nibelungen (2004) 177 min	Die Nibelungen (Wikipedia)
verschiedene Autoren	Minnesang
Gottfried von Straßburg	Tristan
Wolfram von Eschembach	Titurel
Oswald von Wolkenstein	Lieder
Johannes von Tepl	Der Ackermann aus Böhmen
anonym	Lübecker Totentanz (1463)
anonym	"Oberdeutscher Totentanz", Heidelberger Blockbuch (~1460-1465)
Friedrich Schiller	Kabale und Liebe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe	Die Leiden des jungen Werther
Georg Büchner	Woyzeck
Heinrich Heine	Sie saßen und tranken am Teetisch (1822/23)
Gottfried Keller	Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe
Grimm	Märchen: Dornröschen, Hänsel und Gretel
Theodor Fontane	Effie Briest (1895)
Rainer Maria Fassbender	Effie Briest (1974) 135 min	Fontane - Effi Briest oder: Viele, die eine Ahnung haben ...;
Rainer Maria Rilke	Gedichte
Frank Wedekind	Frühlings Erwachen (1891)
Oskar Kokoschka	Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen (1916)	Oskar Kokoschka, Biographie;
Arthur Schnitzler	Traumnovelle
Thomas Mann	Tristan
Thomas Mann	Tod in Venedig
Luchino Visconti	Tod in Venedig (1971) 130 min	Morte a Venezia;
Thomas Mann	Der Zauberberg (1924)
Hans W. Geißendörfer	Der Zauberberg (1982) 153 min (Fernsehfassung 329 min)	Der Zauberberg (IMDb);
Else Lasker-Schüer	Gedichte
Gottfried Benn	Gedichte
Bertolt Brecht	Gedichte
Hermann Hesse	Der Steppenwolf (1927)
Erich Kästner	Sachliche Romanze (1929)
Josef von Sternberg	Der Blaue Engel (1930)	Der Blaue Engel (Wikipedia);
Friedrich Dürrenmatt	Der Besuch der Alten Dame (1956)
Max Frisch	Homo faber (1957)	zu Homo faber;
Volker Schlöndorff	Homo faber (1991) 117 min	Homo faber (Wikipedia);
Christa Wolf	Der geteilte Himmel (1963)
Ulrich Plenzdorf	Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. (1972)	Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. (Materialien) Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. (Materialien)
Heinrich Böll	Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (1974)
Volker Schlöndorff / Margarethe von Trotta	Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (1975) 100 min	Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (Wikipedia);
Bernhard Schlink	Der Vorleser (1995)
Benjamin Lebert	Crazy (1999)

Sekundärliteratur (wird noch erweitert)

Aries, Philippe. The Hour of Our Death. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. Aries, Philippe. Western Attitudes Toward Death: From the Middle Ages to Present. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. Bloch, R. Howard. Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Romantic Love. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Bronfen, Elisabeth. Over Her Dead Body: Death, Femininity, and the Aesthetic. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992. Cammille, Michael. The Medieval Art of Love: Objects and Subjects of Desire. New York: Harry M. Abrams, 1998. Fromm, Erich. The Art of Loving. NY: Harper, 1956. Gediman, Helen K. Fantasies of Love and Death in Life and Art: a Psychoanalytic Study of the Normal and the Pathological. NY: New York UP, 1995. Hatfield, Elaine. Love and Sex: Cross-cultural Perspectives. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. Heinen, Huber. "Minnesang." Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia. Ed. John M. Jeep. Routledge, 2001. 525-532. Jaeger, Stephen C. Ennobling Love: in Search of a Lost Sensibility. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. Karras, Ruth Mazo. Sexuality in Medieval Europe: Doing unto Others. New York: Routledge, 2005. Kristeva, Julia. Tales of Love. Translated by Leon S, Roudiez. NY: Columbia University Press, 1987. Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth. On Death and Dying. New York : Macmillan, 1969. Luhmann, Niklas. Love as Passion: the Codification of Intimacy. Transl. Liebe als Passion by Jeremy Gaines and Doris L. Jones. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. Miller, Dean A. The Epic Hero. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. Murstein, Bernard I. Love, Sex, and Marriage through the Ages. Foreword by William M. Kephart. NY: Springer Pub. Co., 1974. Person, Ethel Spector. Dreams of Love and Fateful Encounters: the Power of Romantic Passion. NY: Norton, 1988. Schultz, James A. Courtly Love, the Love of Courtliness, and the History of Sexuality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Stewart, Robert M. Philosophical Perspectives on Sex and Love, NY: Oxford U.P., 1994. Tweedie, Jill. In the Name of Love. NY: Pantheon Books, 1979. Wagoner, Robert. The Meanings of Love: an Introduction to Philosophy of Love. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.

SPRACHE UND WÖRTERBÜCHER
LEO Deutsch-Englisch-Deutsch
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, ausführlichstes Wörterbuch zur deutschen Sprache
Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch ausgezeichnetes Wörterbuch, besonders für Fachsprachen


Die deutsche Literatur des Mittelalters erster Überblick
Mittelalter: Althochdeutsche und mittelhochdeutsche Epoche (750-1500) ein kurzer Überblick
Epochenübersicht Daten der deutschen Literatur, ausgezeichneter ausführlicherer Überblick
Rund ums Mittelalter Abteilung für Mittelalterliche Geschichte der Universität Tübingen
Anthology of Medieval German Literature Albert K. Wimmer (Table of Contents)

Minnesang kurzer Überblick mit Musikbeispielen
Minnesang James McMahon, Emory U

LITERATURGESCHICHTEN / BIOGRAPHIEN
Literaturepochen (Literaturwelt) ausführlicher guter Überblick
Literaturepochen (Vocke) kürzer
Literarische Epochen von 1600 bis 1933 (Xlibris) ausgezeichnet und ausführlich, leider erst ab 1600
Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie informiert über bedeutende Personen, die vor dem Jahr 1900 verstorben sind

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