Special Topics in German Literature and Culture (246-0-2)
Topic
Yiddish, Our Setting Sun: Yiddish Literature and C
Instructors
Hanna Tzuker Seltzer
847/467-5684
Crowe 5-159
Office Hours: Mondays/Wednesdays 11:00am - 12:00pm, or by appt.
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-319: Mon, Wed 9:30AM - 10:50AM
Overview of class
Yiddish, which was developed in the Middle Ages as a Judeo-German language, became the language which most Jews had spoken in East and West Europe until the Second World War. We will begin the class with learning about the origins of Yiddish and its development into becoming the most widespread Jewish language in Europe. We will then fast forward to the 18th and 19th centuries and the era of secularization among Jewish communities, where Western European Jews saw Yiddish as degraded language while among Eastern European Jews Yiddish became a language of bursting literary expression and flourishing literature. Persecution, poverty, the dissolution of becoming part of intellectual Europe, and Zionist ideology were all reasons for many young Jewish people to immigrate to the US and Palestine in the first decades of 20th century. While Jewish immigrants in the United States sought connections to Yiddish and clanged to it as a remnant of their old world, Yiddish was rejected in Palestine (and later in Israel) as representing the "old and weak Jew" and threatening the status of Hebrew. We will examine the texts of main Yiddish writers from the beginning of the 20th century in the literary centers of Yiddish at the time; Eastern Europe, United States, and Palestine. An important part in our class will be the geographical move of Yiddish from its "natural" habitat of Eastern Europe to the US and Palestine, and the element of loss and grief which was strongly present in the writing of Yiddish poets and authors, during the upheavals in Europe in the two World Wars, and especially after the Holocaust. Class materials will be comprised of articles and book chapters to provide the historical, cultural, and political context of the eras we will discuss, and of essays, short stories, and poems translated from Yiddish to English. No previous knowledge of Yiddish or of Yiddish culture or history is required. All course materials will be in English, as well as the lectures and class discussions.
This course is taught in English
Learning Objectives
- Gain knowledge about the history of Yiddish from its inception until current days.
- Understand the tensions between Yiddish and its reception in the US VS. Yiddish and its rejection in Palestine (and later on Israel)
- Be familiar with poems, short stories, and essays of central Yiddish writers in the 19th and 20th century.
- Analyze, and learn literary techniques of analysis of, the literary texts we will read.
- Be exposed to and learn to identify literary, rhetorical, and poetic means in various texts (poems, essays, short stories). - - Develop a sense of empathy towards the characters, narrators, and speakers in the texts we will read, as well as towards Jewish individuals and groups in their suffering throughout European history, about which students will read in articles.
- Develop critical reading and thinking - Develop writing, collaboration, and interpersonal communication skills.
Teaching Method
Class Participation
Discussion
Field Trips
Film/Videos
Group Work
Guest Speakers
Lecture
Presentations
Readings
Writing Assignments
Evaluation Method
Attendance
Class Participation
Homework
Mid-term paper
Final Paper
Presentations
Readings
Writing Assignments
Attendance & Class Participation: 25%
Readings/Writing Assignments/Homework: 25%
Participation in Field Trips: 5%
Presentations in Class: 10%
Mid-term paper: 10%
Final Paper: 25%
Class Materials (Required)
Materials will be provided by the instructor.
Class Attributes
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area