Mapping Jewish Modernism
(RomSt 381S/711S, German 381S/711S, Italian 381S/711S, JewishSt 381/711S, English 382S, Lit 386S)
Kata Gellen & Saskia Ziolkowski
This course explores the multiple ways that Jewish literature maps onto different locations around the world—from traveling characters in novels to migrating authors, international publication and translation practices, and holdings in archives and libraries around the world. We will explore the transnational, cross-cultural, and multilingual dimensions of modern Jewish literature, with a special focus on items held in Duke’s Rubenstein library. Students will conduct individual and collective research on topics and figures of interest to them, and will develop a project for a website and exhibit at Perkins Library. We will read Kafka, Schnitzler, Svevo, Morante, Carrington, Woolf, and Toomer, among others. This course is open to graduate students and undergraduates, with assignments that correspond to the level at which students are enrolled. Taught in English. Codes: CCI, ALP, R.
Germany Confronts Nazism and the Holocaust
(German 387, JewishSt 369, History 261, Lit 369, Rights 387)
Kata Gellen
A course about how Germany has sought to come to terms with its Nazi past, the Third Reich, and the Holocaust. There will be background readings on history and politics, and a primary focus on public debates, literature, film, drama, memorials, museums, and commemorative events. We will also consider more private forms such as memoirs, essays, and poetry. Throughout the course we will examine the historical context and contemporary significance of these efforts to “work through the past.” Taught in English. Codes: CCI, EI, ALP, CZ.
America from Abroad: Literature & Cinema
(English 237 / Italian 337 / Lit 337 / AMI 237 / JewishSt 337 / RomSt 337)
Saskia Ziolkowski
This course explores the portrayals of America, especially the United States, from authors and directors who are not American and who often have never even seen America. We will read short stories, novels, and graphic novels and watch films. What do these works from other parts of the world have to say about dreams, race, love, immigration, and space in America? We will discuss imaginary Americas in order to understand these important works within their contexts, to examine how foreign representations of America have contributed to our idea of America, and to consider what imagined Americas suggest about us here in North Carolina. Taught in English. Codes: CCI, EI, W, ALP.
