GM 135 Introduction to German Literature

Fall 2004

Course Information

Requirements

Syllabus

Online Class Page

Course Requirements

General

100% attendance, preparation for class, promptness and quality of homework, participation in discussion and class activities.

Oral Presentation

Over the course of the semester, each student presents a German poem by a well-known author. This presentation is the basis for the semester paper.

Schedule a meeting with me two weeks before your presentation to discuss your choice of author and poem. 

Your presentation should not take longer than 20 minutes. It should include a brief biography of the author, give mention to his/her main works and place in literary history. Discuss the genre and theme of the poem, as well as its structure, rhyme, and meter before you conclude with an interpretation of the poem's meaning. Provide fotocopies to the class and read the poem aloud at the beginning of your presentation.

Writing

The three-page paper, the "semester paper", is based on your presentation of a poem in class. It should have 320 words per page, double space, and is due one week after the presentation.

Other writing assignments include four one-page papers on texts by Brentano, Novalis, Hebbel, and Kafka.

Group Project

Students translate Kleist's story "Das Bettelweib von Locarno" into English and rewrite it in German as a play.

Internet

Student "publish" the final versions of some of their writings, such as the Kleist play and the Dinggedicht on the Online Class Page.

Exams

Five quizzes on facts and vocabulary. No Midterm and Final Exam

Grading

20 % overall performance

40 % 1-page papers and 3-page semester paper
25 % quizzes
15 % oral presentation