German Studies 360
Proseminar: Sex and the (German) City
Course Syllabus
Fall 2009

• Irmgard Keun: Das kunstseidende Mädchen.
• Heinrich Böll: Der Zug war pünktlich.
• Libuse Monikova : Eine Schädigung

Additional Materials:

• Films (see list below)
• Handouts or articles on Moodle
• Chapters from books on reserve in the library

Books on Reserve (at the library):

• Hake, Sabine. Popular Cinema of the Third Reich. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.
• Kaes, Anton, Martin Jay, and Edward Dimendberg, eds. The Weimar Republic Sourcebook. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
• McCormick, Richard W. Gender and Sexuality in Weimar Modernity: Film, Literature, and "New Objectivity". New York: Palgrave, 2001.
• Tatar, Maria M. Lustmord: Sexual Murder in Weimar Germany . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.
• Theweleit, Klaus. Male Fantasies. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.
• von Ankum, Katharina, ed. Women in the Metropolis: Gender and Modernity in Weimar Culture. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

Filmography:

• Deppe, Hans, dir. Grün ist die Heide. 1951.
• Harlan, Veit, dir. Die goldene Stadt. 1942.
• Liebeneiner, Wolfgang, dir. Großstadtmelodie. 1943
• Pabst, G.W., dir. Büchse der Pandora. 1929. (On reserve at Media Services)
• Ruttmann, Walther, dir. Berlin, Symphonie einer Grosstadt. 1927. (On reserve at Media Services)
• Staudte, Wolfgang. Die Mörder sind unter uns. 1946. (On reserve at Media Services)
• Wilder, Billy, dir. A Foreign Affair. 1947. (On reserve at Media Services)

Course Description:

In this course we will discuss the connections between sex and the city within German modernism:  how is the city itself represented as sexualized?  How does the city become the site of (sometimes hyper-)sexuality? How does gender play a role in this trope?  And how does this connection between sex and the city intersect with other socio-political, historical, and/or literary trends?  Does this trend change over time and how? We will begin with the obvious setting for this topic, the Weimar Republic, and then delve into some other contexts chronologically, including representative texts from the Nazi period, exile, post-war, the 50s and 60s, and ending with a novel from the early 80s.  The course will be taught in German, with most of the primary texts in German (literary works, films), but secondary texts will be primarily in English.  Students will be required to write two short reaction papers, to keep an electronic reading journal with discussion questions, and to take a final exam.

Special Thanks: Many people made helpful suggestions as I designed this course. I would like to thank Brenda Bethman, Rachael Huener, and Bethany Moore for their help. And I would most especially like to thank Alison Guenther-Pal, Rick McCormick, and Linda Schulte-Sasse for going above and beyond the normal help—for giving me extensive suggestions and for helping me track down hard-to-find materials.

Student Responsibilities:

Attendance and Participation
This course is primarily discussion-based; thus, attendance and participation are the most crucial component of the course (worth over 1/3 of your final grade!).  I will at times give brief lectures to provide some background information, but mostly I will expect you to contribute actively to the discussion.  Please come to class prepared—which means ready to discuss the works at hand and with some ideas of questions you would like to pursue.  In order to help you prepare, you will also be required to complete a short reading journal entry about most (sets of) readings or films before coming to class (see below). These journal entries will provide the basis of our group discussion.

I want to stress that the quality of our discussions—and hence of our course —depends on you. I encourage you all to take responsibility for these classroom discussions: be active and willing to share ideas and to take risks in the discussion; ask questions even if you aren't sure if the question is a "smart" one (there are no stupid questions, as the saying goes). But at the same time, be aware and respectful of who wishes to speak, of who has not yet spoken, and of what has just been said. It is important that we listen to each other and allow ourselves time to finish discussing one point before moving on to the next, so before introducing a new topic, ask if we are done with the previous topic. The quality of discussions depends upon the participation and preparation of the class as a whole, so I ask that each of you feel responsible not only to me, the instructor, but also to your class members to be actively and critically present each week.

Here are the specifics: each course period will be worth 1 point in your participation grade. These points cannot be made up. If you need to miss a class due to illness or family emergency, please contact me BEFORE class to let me know. After 3 unexcused absences, your overall grade will drop a half-grade for each additional absence.

Homework: Reading and Reading Journal
Your preparation for class will typically consist of reading all or part of a literary work (up to 40 pages), viewing a film, or reading several secondary texts. You will also write a reading journal entry (Tagebucheintrag) before most class discussions, as per the syllabus. Preparation is crucial to active participation in class, so please come to class having completed your assignment and ready to discuss the work at hand.

The reading journal is designed to help you digest the text at hand and to prepare you for our discussion in class. You should sit down and write stream-of-consciousness style (or "freewrite style") for 15-20 minutes (or as long as it takes you to write about a page) about the text for class. You could start with your reaction to the text: did you like it or not? Why? What connection do you see between this text and others we have experienced? What connections do you see to the general topic of our course? If there is more than one article or text for the day, what connections do you see emerging from them? What general themes from the text are of interest to you? Why? What would you like to discuss about the text? Do you have any questions about the text (from basic content questions to more complex questions)? If the text at hand is a secondary text, does it shift or influence the way you see the primary text? How? Ideally, you will end your entry with a question or topic for discussion in the upcoming class.

The specifics of the reading journal: your entry should be about 200-250 words of German, posted on the Moodle Discussion Forum by 10am on the date it is due. You will be graded on content—in other words, the comprehensibility of the language takes precedence over correctness, although you should make every effort to use good German in your entry. This does not need to be a polished work, but it does need to demonstrate that you have completed the reading/viewing and are thinking about our upcoming discussion. To help you with your assignment, I have made up a checklist of criteria for evaluating the journal entries, which you should read to help you better understand the assignment. Each journal entry will be worth one course point, for a total of 22 course points (or 22% of your grade) for the entire journal over the course of the semester.

Reaction Papers
You will write two short (4-5 pages) reaction papers, due on Oct 12 and Nov 23. These reaction papers may draw on any of the readings, films, and discussions that we have done so far.  You could focus on one major work or on several shorter works, but these papers should give you a chance to explore one specific theme or issue or observation about the readings and our discussions thereof.  Ideally these short papers would also provide a forum for you to think about how different texts fit together.  In any case, the papers should be specific about the texts and/or our discussions and should cite accordingly.  In order to help you with your writing, I have made up a checklist of criteria for evaluating the reaction papers. Please refer to this checklist both before you write your paper (to help you understand the assignment) and after you draft your paper (to make sure you have completed the assignment satisfactorily). You should always feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the papers and/or possible topics.

Final Exam
There will be a final exam for this course. The exam will consist of two parts:  identification and discussion of specific quotes and short essay questions.  We will talk more about the exam in class.

Instructor Responsibilities:

R=Reserved—This book is on reserve in the library.
E=Electronic Reserve—This article is downloadable via the library's electronic reserve.
F=Fotokopie—You will receive copies from me (or instructions on how to get the copies) .
Film= (duh)—We will discuss the best way for you to view the course films. Most films will be available on reserve in the Media Center or HRC as indicated.
M=Moodle—Material posted on Moodle.

Der Semesterplan: