Kurt Beals

This undergraduate course offers an introduction to the theory and practice of translation, consisting of three main components. First, students will have the opportunity to translate a wide range of fictional and non-fictional texts from a variety of genres (short stories, journalism, academic prose). The focus will be on translation from German to English, but we will also translate from English to German. Second, we will read selections from key works on the theory of translation, from Martin Luther's sixteenth-century treatise on his Bible translation to twentieth-century essays by philosophers like Walter Benjamin, and we will consider important translation practices such as the film dubbing and subtitling. Third, we will analyze excerpts from some of the most celebrated literary translations of the past 200 years, including German translations of authors ranging from Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling as well as English translations of authors such as Goethe and Kafka. The course aims to give students a sense of the challenges and rewards of translation as well as a deeper understanding of the relationship between language, thought, and culture. Prerequisite: German 302D and German 340C/340D OR German 341/341D OR German 342/342D

This graduate seminar covers innovative engagements with new media over roughly the past century, incorporating both theoretical frameworks and aesthetic responses. On the one hand, the course will cover major works of media theory from this period, particularly as they apply to literature, with an emphasis on German authors. Theorists are likely to include Benjamin, Heidegger, Adorno, McLuhan, Kittler, Siegert, and Krämer. On the other hand, we will consider how new media have shaped aesthetic practices, particularly in literary movements identified as experimental or avant-garde. The focus in this respect will be on German-language contributions to movements such as Dada and Concrete poetry, including the works of Raoul Hausmann, Max Bense, and Ferdinand Kriwet. In addition, we will consider works by authors such as Yoko Tawada that foreground the role of written media, and by contemporary writers and artists such as Julius Popp and Amaranth Borsuk who work at the intersection of textual and digital media. Readings can be done in German or English; discussion will be in English.