German

Academic Year: 
2017-18
Address: 
East Pyne
Phone: 
609-258-4142
Website: 
Department of German
Program offerings: 
Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies
Devin Fore
Graduate Program Administrator
Lynn Ratsep

Academic department detail

Overview

Princeton's graduate program in German has long been recognized as one of the leading programs of German studies. Students are offered the chance to participate in an intense intellectual community and to work with scholars whose expertise encompasses the breadth of German literary tradition as well as contemporary interdisciplinary and theoretical approaches to the study of German culture.

Each year the department admits a small number of highly motivated students to its Ph.D. program. The Ph.D. program is normally a five-year program. The department does not offer a program of study culminating in the terminal M.A.  Instead, an M.A. degree is awarded upon request after successful completion of the general examination. During at least one of the program's two years of coursework the student is expected to live in Princeton in fulfillment of the University's residency requirement.  Beyond the successful completion of coursework, the major formal requirements for the Ph.D. are the general examination and the dissertation. Students typically complete the first part of the general examination, the so-called "erudition exam," in the fall of the third year of study, after having completed twelve courses over four semesters, both within the German department and in other departments. The second part of the general examination, the so-called "special exam," is typically completed in the spring of the third year, as is the dissertation prospectus defense.  Students who come to the program with previous graduate training in the field (e.g., an M.A.) are sometimes permitted to reduce their coursework to three semesters and complete the general examination earlier, in the spring of the second year. Following the successful completion of the general examination and the dissertation prospectus defense, students’ individual courses of study vary, although most choose to go abroad during the fourth year to conduct dissertation research and then return to write the dissertation in the fifth and––if the student has been awarded an external fellowship to support research abroad in the fourth year––sixth years. 

Courses

Permanent Courses

Courses listed below are graduate-level courses that have been approved by the program’s faculty as well as the Curriculum Subcommittee of the Faculty Committee on the Graduate School as permanent course offerings. Permanent courses may be offered by the department or program on an ongoing basis, depending on curricular needs, scheduling requirements, and student interest. Not listed below are undergraduate courses and one-time-only graduate courses, which may be found for a specific term through the Registrar’s website. Also not listed are graduate-level independent reading and research courses, which may be approved by the Graduate School for individual students.

ART 553 Seminar in Central European Art (also
GER 553
) Topics in the art and culture of the central European region from 1500 to 1800.
COM 535 Contemporary Critical Theories (also
ENG 528
/
GER 536
) Criticism as an applied art and as an autonomous discipline. Exploration of its place in intellectual history and a theoretical analysis of its basic assumptions. [Topics vary each year.]
COM 565 Studies in Forms of Poetry (also
ENG 544
/
FRE 565
/
GER 565
) This seminar explores the intricate relations of poetry to history and memory in the troubled 20th century. Individual poets are closely studied for their intrinsic interest but also for their (known and still to be discovered) connections with each other. The poets are Eugenio Montale, René Char, Paul Celan, and Anne Carson, but other writers will also be called on from time to time. Questions of war and resistance are important, and above all the course attends to what one might think of as the fate of language under pressure.
GER 506 Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy The course provides an introduction to research on second-language acquisition and to the teaching of German as a foreign language.
GER 508 Middle High German Literature (also
MED 508
) Based on one specific text, the first term provides an introduction to language, metrics, manuscript tradition, and textual criticism. The second term deals with special topics in German literature between 1150 and 1450 or interdisciplinary topics such as orality and literacy, word and image.
GER 509 Middle High German Literature II (also
MED 509
) Based on one specific text, the first term provides an introduction to language, metrics, manuscript tradition, and textual criticism. The second term deals with special topics in German literature between 1150 and 1450 or interdisciplinary topics such as orality and literacy, word and image.
GER 511 German Literature in the 17th Century German literature in the Counterreformation period, with attention to neighboring literatures. In addition to drama, lyric, and prose narratives, other, more overtly "occasional" forms are examined. Themes include courtliness and self-display, cultural styles, and the relationship of generic to moral intentions.
GER 512 German Literature in the 18th Century A study of changes in the philosophical and literary discourses of major movements from the Enlightenment to Sturm und Drang, along with special issues, problems, and works of the century.
GER 514 Topics in German Romanticism A study of representative texts in the context of general Romantic thought and culture.
GER 515 Studies in 19th-Century Literature and Culture (also
COM 511
) Representative writers and literary movements from 1830 to 1890, with special attention given to the political, social, and cultural background of a specifically German version of Realism.
GER 516 Topics in 20th-Century Literature Course examines a wide range of literary forms and problems in the modern era and in the years following its demise. Topics include the modern German novel, modernist literature and photography, Viennese modernism, politics and avant-garde in the 1960's, and contemporary literature.
GER 517 Modernism and Modernity (also
SLA 522
/
COM 519
/
MOD 516
) Explores the rise of modernism in the arts in the German-language world. Emphasis on the intellectual sources of the modernist movement in such thinkers as Nietzsche and Freud and such theorists of modernity as Weber, Simmel, Andreas-Salomé, and Benjamin.
GER 519 German Literature after 1945 The course is a study of representative works and writers, with special attention given to the intellectual, cultural, and social context.
GER 520 Topics in Literary and Cultural Theory (also
ARC 524
/
MOD 522
) Course treats a wide range of theoretical and historical issues concerning the interpretation of literary and cultural materials. Topics include psychoanalytic approaches to literature, the Frankfurt School and its legacy, feminist theory, German-Jewish Acculturation, relations between literature and the other arts, theories of literary reception, and fascism and culture.
GER 521 Topics in German Intellectual History (also
MOD 521
) The course examines in their entirety mostly short texts that advance solutions to the intellectual problems preoccupying major German religious thinkers, writers, and philosophers, viz. justification, selfhood, theodicy, play, contingency, asceticism, estrangement, malaise, authenticity.
GER 522 Dramatic Art and Theory The course treats representative works of dramatic art and theory from the 18th century to the present, with special attention given to political, social, and cultural issues.
GER 525 Studies in German Film (also
MOD 525
) Course explores movements in German cinema, with attention given to the cultural and ideological contexts as well as recent debates in contemporary film theory. Attention may focus on such pivotal topics as Weimar or the New German cinema, issues in German film theory, questions of film and Nazi culture, or avant-garde cinema, and on genres such as the "Heimatfilm," the "Street Film," and works by women and minority filmmakers.
GER 526 Topics in German Literature The Faust Theme in German Literature, Hölderlin and His Critics, and Uses of the Past in Postwar German Literature are all courses that have been previously offered.
HUM 596 Humanistic Perspectives on Literature (also
GER 596
/
FRE 596
/
COM 596
) Marking the 10th anniversary of Derrida's death, this course provides an opportunity to "unpack" Derrida's library, to remember several of his lessons - about philosophy, literature, history, politics, religion, economics, ideology, law, rights, nationalism, racism, colonialism, the media, university institutions, capitalism, rogue states, the war on terror, justice, responsibility, language, friendship, love, life, death, and mourning - all of which are more urgent and necessary than ever before.