Featured Courses
Literature in the Digital Age
(Taught in German)
The digital age has altered the way we read, write, think, spend time and money, experience the world, and relate to others. But how is literature affected by the profound changes that the digital era has ushered in? Asking this question, the course dedicates itself to the various effects of the digital age on literature and the literary field. The emphasis will be on themes, poetics, and media of digital writing; as well as on shifting notions of the literary itself. Topics include forms of microblogging such as Twitter and Instagram; aesthetic experimentation and/on social media; notions of digital authorship. In juxtaposing texts disseminated in various media and formats, the course also focuses on changing practices of reading and viewing. Finally, attention will be given to how digital communication affects non-digital literature. Most readings, assignments, and course discussions in German.
Interpretation of Poetry
(Taught in English)
In-depth readings of German-language poetry from the 18th to the 21st centuries. For their individual projects, participants will choose any text or constellation of texts corresponding with their intellectual interests. Our joint readings and reflections will involve both poetry per se and poetological statements mostly from writers themselves. Friedrich Hölderlin, Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Friedrich Nietzsche, Rainer Maria Rilke, Georg Trakl, Gottfried Benn, Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul Celan, Herta Müller, and Uljana Wolf, among others, will animate our considerations.—Texts in German, lectures & discussions in English.
News & Announcements
Congratulations to Adam Nunes, Kumars Salehi, and Jonas Teupert, recipients of the Graduate Division’s 2020 Outstanding GSI Award
UC Berkeley’s 28th Annual German Department Graduate Conference, “Schul(d)en: Guilt, Debt, Education,” was organized by graduate students Andrew Blough, Vera Feinberg, Sarah Harris, and Adam Nunes
Professor Claire Kramsch received MLA’s Kenneth W. Mildenberger Prize for her new book “The Multilingual Instructor: What Foreign Language Teacher’s Say About Their Experience and Why it Matters”
Professor Niklaus Largier convened international workshop, “Media, Legends, Mysticism” with participants from UC Berkeley, Zurich, Princeton, & Stanford
Professor Deniz Göktürk published a book on German film history: The German Cinema Book, co-edited with Tim Bergfelder, Erica Carter, & Claudia Sandberg
Graduate Student, Jon Cho-Polizzi, presented his work at “Migration in a Global World” the DAAD International South School at CEDA in Porto Alegre, Brazil
Upcoming Events
No events at the moment. Please try later.
Kafka
Goethe
Tawada
Kafka
Goethe
Kafka
Kafka
Heine
Dann bin ich um den Schlaf gebracht,
Ich kann nicht die Augen schließen,
Und meine heissen Tränen fließen.
Goethe
Kafka
NIetzsche
Musil
Kafka
Kafka
Freud
Heidegger
Kafka
Kafka
Brecht
Bachmann
Hegel
Hegel
―
Herrndorf
Goethe
Und grün des Lebens goldner Baum
Adorno
Goethe
Juristerei und Medizin
Und leider auch Theologie
Durchaus studiert mit heißem Bemühn.
Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor!
Und bin so klug als wie zuvor.
Van Hoddis
In allen Lüften hallt es wie Geschrei.
Dachdecker stürzen ab und gehn entzwei
Und an den Küsten —liest man — steigt die Flut.