Curriculum--Courses in English: Cinema and Critical Theory

In addition to courses on literature and culture taught in German, the department offers courses taught in English on a variety of topics including cinema, critical theory, and German thought. These courses are intended for interested students from other disciplines as well as for German majors. German 327 as well most of the German 394 topics courses also fulfill the theory requirement for German majors.

German 255: German Cinema Studies. A first-year course, this seminar focuses on topics such as “Film and the Fantastic,” “Nazi Cinema,” and “Media, Art, Horror.” Every fall.

German 327: Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud. This course explores the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud as reactions to the “death of God.” Spring of even-numbered years.

German 337: Dead White Men (Anti-) Philosophy Now.  This course pursues readings of European, Western Philosophical thought as the unconscious undercurrent of contemporary thought.  Every other year.

German 394: Topics. Spring 2011 we have 2 Topics Courses: A Kafkaesque Century and Value: The Bad, the Ugly, and the Cheap.  Recent topics have included “Metaphysics in Secular Thought,” “Heidegger, Gadamer, Derrida,” “Theoretical Approaches to European Cinema,” “Concepts of Freedom from Kant to Agamben.” At least once a year.