German 625/ Comp. Lit. 605 Professor Martha Helfer Fall 2010 [email protected] 172 College Ave, #103 Office hours: M 2:30-3:30 and by appointment
What’s So Great About Goethe?
Course description: Close reading of Goethe’s works against the aesthetic, cultural, historical, and political background of his time. Emphasis will be placed on developing critical reading and writing skills. Course instruction in English; readings in English translation or in the original German.
Course requirements: Careful preparation of assigned readings, active class participation (10%), one oral presentation (10%), one response to oral presentation (5%), and either three short (5-8 pp.) essays or one long (15-25 pp.) essay (75%). Deadlines for short essays: 10/18, 11/22, 12/20. Deadline for long essay: 12/20.
Important note on readings: Students are responsible for ordering or otherwise obtaining the texts for this course! (No need to order the poems; I’ll make these texts available.)
If you’re reading in German , you can order from IBIS ( http://www.ibiservice.com/ ); check with Book Culture in New York, which carries some German books and will ship to you ( http://www.bookculture.com/ -- you may have to call to check availability; I don’t think all stock is listed on the Website); download from the Web; or borrow copies from the library. If you order the books, the Reclam editions are fine to use! For Faust (Erster Teil) , I recommend the bilingual Bantam edition translated by Peter Salm, available on Amazon for $5.95. It has German and English on facing pages.
If you’re reading in English , you can order from Amazon; check with Book Culture in New York, which carries some German books in translation and will ship to you (http://www.bookculture.com/ -- you may have to call to check availability; I don’t think all stock is listed on the Website); or borrow copies from the library. I recommend the following editions, all available in paperback. Hint: if you order from Amazon, search “Goethe Collected Works,” and you’ll find the Princeton UP editions listed below):
Faust, Part One : bilingual Bantam edition translated by Peter Salm, available on Amazon for $5.95. It has German and English on facing pages.
The Sorrows of Young Werther, Elective Affinities, Novella (Goethe, The Collected Works, Vol. 11, ed. Victor Lange and Judith Ryan, Princeton University Press)
Verse Plays and Epics (Goethe, The Collected Works, Vol. 8, ed. Cyrus Hamlin and Frank Ryder, Princeton University Press) (contains Iphigenia , Tasso , The Natural Daughter)
Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship (Goethe, The Collected Works, Vol. 9, ed. Eric Blackall, Princeton UP)
Syllabus:
9/8 “Zueignung” / “Dedication” reschedule
9/13 Die Leiden des jungen Werthers / The Sorrows of Young Werther
9/ 20 Iphigenie auf Tauris / Iphigenia in Tauris
9/27 Torquato Tasso
10/4 Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre / Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship
10/11 Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre / Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship
10/18 Das Märchen / The Fairy Tale
10/25 Die natürliche Tochter / The Natural Daughter
11/1 “Prometheus,” “Grenzen der Menschheit,” “Das Göttliche” Faust I
11/8 Faust I
11/15 Faust I
11/29 Die Wahlverwandtschaften / Elective Affinities
12/6 Die Wahlverwandtschaften / Elective Affinities
12/13 Novelle
12/20 Essays due, 2 p.m., 172 College Ave.
Policy on attendance: Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory, and students are expected to arrive punctually.
photocopy fees: Five cents per photocopy.
Plagiarism policy: Plagiarism is the representation of the words or ideas of another as one’s own. Students found guilty of plagiarism will be disciplined to the fullest extent of the university code on academic integrity.
ADA policy: The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that reasonable accommodations be provided for students with physical, sensory, cognitive, systemic, learning, and psychiatric difficulties. Please contact the instructor of this course at the beginning of the semester to discuss any such accommodations for this course.