Global Arc

The course aims to solidify previously acquired German, while expanding the range of usable vocabulary and syntax. Emphasis in class on task-based approaches to grammar, writing, listening comprehension and cultural understanding, using texts and film. Prerequisite: demonstrated competence via placement test or successful completion of GER 102. To be followed by GER 107 to satisfy the A.B. language requirement. Four hours per week.

A special offering of third-semester German taught during the summer in Munich, Germany. Students take part in a four-week intensive language course at the Goethe-Institute, as well as a precept with a Princeton faculty member that covers the literary component of 105. Students are chosen by application from 102 in the spring. Five three-hour classes, two preceptorials.

Further acquisition of proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing using online media, film, and texts as a basis for interaction and analysis. The fall course provides extensive review of basic structures and vocabulary for incoming students with high school German instruction; the spring course dovetails with GER 105 in terms of cultural and grammatical topics. Prerequisite: demonstrated competence via placement test or successful completion of GER 105. Satisfies the A.B. language requirement. Three hours per week.

A special offering of fourth-semester German taught during the summer in Munich, Germany. Students take part in a four-week intensive language course at the Goethe-Institute, as well as a precept with a Princeton faculty member that covers the literary component of 107. Intended primarily for students finishing 1025 in the spring who are automatically eligible for the program. Five three-hour classes, two preceptorials.

Discussions of exemplary texts from modern German society and culture, including essays, speeches, autobiographies, works of literature, art, and film. The course offers an introduction to important issues in modern Germany: the Kaiserreich to the end of monarchy, Berlin as a modern metropolis, World War I, the democratic experiment of the Weimar Republic, and the rise and structures of National Socialism. Intensive practice in spoken and written German with emphasis on vocabulary acquisition and complex syntactical forms. Two 80-minute seminars. Prerequisite: GER 107 or instructor's permission. Taught in German.

Continuation of GER 207 (which is not, however, a prerequisite). Discussions of social, political, and cultural aspects of contemporary Germany. Basis of discussions are essays, literary texts, and films. Individual assignments to develop oral and written expression. Particularly recommended to students contemplating study or work in Germany. Two 80-minute seminars. Prerequisite: GER 107 or instructor's permission. Taught in German.

The main periods of German literature from Lessing to the present studied through texts chosen to help the student acquire fluency in reading German and in the principles of literary interpretation. This course has four goals: 1) to introduce students to key authors, genres, and movements in German literary history between 1770 and the present; 2) to provide an opportunity to deepen interpretive skills through reading and discussion of representative texts; 3) to encourage students to explore theoretical approaches to cultural material; and 4) to provide intensive practice in spoken and written German. Two 80-minute classes. Taught in German.

Covers German intellectual history from the Enlightenment to the present by focusing on the theoretical texts of its major authors (Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, Heidegger, Arendt, Habermas). In addition to addressing the core discipline of philosophy, this course focuses on aesthetics, social, and political thought as well. All readings in English. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Taught in English.

Traces the development of critical reflection on media through careful readings of a wide range of media theoretical texts from the late 19th to the early 21st century. Topics range from the birth of single-point perspective to photography, from gramophones to radio, from pre-cinematic optical devices to film and television, and from telephony and typewriters to cyberspace. Covers the relationship between representation and technology, the historicity of perception, the interplay of aesthetics, techniques, and politics, and transformations of reigning notions of imagination, literacy, communication, reality, and truth. Taught in English.

An introduction to the thought of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud. Organized thematically rather than chronologically, the course will bring these thinkers into dialogue on six themes: interpretation, history, subjectivity, politics, religion, and art. By concentrating on such pivotal issues, we will seek not only to delineate the origins of much modern thought, but also to develop resources for reflecting on our contemporary moment.