GERM 5703/4703:

German-Jewish Writers Before and After the Holocaust

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Spring Semester 2008

SCIE 418, 7-9:50pm

Dr. Jennifer M. Hoyer email: jhoyer@uark.edu

Office: KIMP 501

Office hours: Tu: 1-2; Th: 11:30-12:30

DATE	IN CLASS	HOMEWORK
Thurs. January 17	Introduction to the Course: Critical Hebrew and Yiddish; What IS German? What IS Jewish? What is the Holocaust?	Ruth Klüger: Still Alive; Reaction Journal [due Friday 18 Jan by midnight] Start reading “Eli”, too.
Thurs. Jan 24	Ruth Klüger: Still Alive	Sachs: „Eli“; Celan: Death Fugue Adorno: “Minima Moralia” excerpts: Strewwelpeter, Savages are not more noble, Melange, & Philemon and Baucis. Reaction Journal [due Fri. 25 Jan]
Thurs. Jan 31	Nelly Sachs „Eli: A mystery play on the suffering of Israel“ Paul Celan „Death Fugue“ [Poetic Tradition after the war; Adorno]	Gertrud Kolmar Reaction Journal [due Fri. 1 Feb]
Thurs. Feb 7	Walter Benjamin Poems by Gertrud Kolmar	Amos Elon: “Ancient Renown” (13-31) Judith Baskin: „Jewish Women in the Middle Ages“ Medieval texts about Jews: “Papal Protection of the Jews” (Pope Gregory X), and “The Cremation of the Strasbourg Jewry” (Jacob von Königshofen) Reaction Journal [due Fri 8 Feb]
Thurs. Feb 14	Jews in German-speaking areas from the Roman Empire to the High Middle Ages	Fulbrook: “The Development of the German Reformation”; Meyer & Brenner: “The Dawn of Early Modern Times” Martin Luther: „Introduction“ and „Magnificat“ Begin reading „the Memoirs of Glickl von Hameln Reaction Journal [Fri Feb 15]
Thurs. Feb 21	Glickl von Hameln, Yiddish, The Jews and the Reformation, the 30-Years War	Shmuel Niger: “Yiddish Literature and the Female Reader”; Glickl von Hameln Reaction Journal [Fri Feb 22]
Thurs. Feb 28	Glickl von Hameln, Europe after the 30 Years War; Yiddish literature	Study for midterm! Reaction Journal [Fri 29 Feb]
Thurs. Mar 6	Midterm	G.E. Lessing: „Nathan the Wise“
Thurs. Mar 13	Purimshpile „Nathan the Wise“ Moses Mendelssohn and G.E. Lessing	Elon: “The Age of Mendelssohn” (33-64) Mendelssohn: „on the main principles of the fine arts and sciences” Selections from Moses Mendelssohn (ca. 10 pgs) Reaction Journal [Fri 14 March]
Spring Break	Spring Break	Spring Break Purim!
Thurs. Mar 27	Moses Mendelssohn and the Enlightenment, the Reformation, Lavater...and his own children	Elon: “Miniature Utopias” (65-100) Arendt: „Rahel Varnhagen“ Hertz: “Emancipation through intermarriage in Old Berlin” Letters from and to Rahel [Levin] Varnhagen Reaction Journal [Fri. 28 March]
Thurs. April 3	Berlin, the Enlightenment, the Haskalah, and the Salonieres	Elon: „Heine & Boerne“ (101-148) Heinrich Heine: Hebrew Melodies Reaction Journal [Fri. 4 April]
Thurs. April 10	Schlegels, Heine, the birth of the modern nation and the rise of the „Judenfrage“	Elon: „Assimilation and its Discontents“ (259-295) Reaction Journal [Fri. April 11]
Thurs. April 17 This week: short paper proposal; short bibliography	The Hyphenated Personality, Assimilation, the „Ost-Juden“, Yiddish film industry; the Golden Age of Yiddish literature	Honigmann: „Zohara’s Journey“ Reaction Journal [Fri. 18 April] Start working on the paper!
Thurs. April 24	Contemporary German-language writing: Honigmann, Dischereit...	Work on that paper! Reaction Journal [Fri 25 April]
Thurs. May 1	The loose ends! Honors presentations. Papers due	Reaction Journal [Fri. 2 May]
May 8	Final Exam

Expectations (general):

• Participation and Preparation [15%] It is expected that you come to class having read the material, and will be prepared not only to take part in discussion, but also to demonstrate that you have read the material through in-class activities that will be graded.
• Reaction Journals [15%]
• A Midterm exam, consisting of short answer and critical essays [15%]
• A final research paper is expected of everyone, though the length and expectations will vary according to level. You will provide me with a brief proposal for your paper and a short bibliography three weeks before the last day of class. The paper will be due the last day of class. [25%]
• Final exam [ID, synthesis] [20%]
• The remaining 10% of your grade is dependent on discipline-specific assignments.

Klueger, Ruth. Still Alive. New York: The Feminist Press at CUNY, 2003.
 
Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim. Nathan the Wise. Boston: Beford/St. Martins, 2004.
 
Elon, Amos. The Pity of it All. New York: Picador, 2002.
 
Glueckl von Hameln. The Memoirs of Glueckel von Hameln. New York: Schocken, 1977.
 
Optional book for purchase:
Morris and Remmler: Contemporary Jewish Writing in Germany