GER 355 - Twentieth-Century Jewish Literature

This course offers a comparative approach to the works of Jewish writers from American, German, and Eastern European backgrounds, with a special emphasis on modernism and the postwar period. We will read literary texts as reflections on the Jewish experience in the twentieth century, including migration and assimilation; religious tradition and secular society; rising antisemitism; and the Holocaust. Throughout the course, we will be asking what exactly marks a literary text as “Jewish”-the author’s identity, intended audience, thematic concerns, or stylistic choices?-and discuss critical concepts such as “ethnic,” “diaspora,” and “minority” literature. Literary readings will be drawn from Arthur Schnitzler, Joseph Roth, Franz Kafka, Barbara Honigmann, Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Mary Antin, Israel Zangwill, Gertrude Stein, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Ruth Behar, and Art Spiegelman. Alongside the literary texts, we will read theoretical essays. Conducted in English. Students taking the course for German credit will meet in extra sessions to read and discuss texts in German.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I - Arts, Literature, & Philosophy, Distribution Group I - non-English Language
Prerequisite(s): For German credit: GER 212. For English or Literature credit: sophomore standing.
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): LIT 346, ENG 355
Not offered: 2026-27
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical or works of the visual or performing arts).
Use a language other than English to understand and convey meaning in spoken, written, or mediated contexts appropriate to the course level.
Analyze how meaning is constructed and negotiated in a language other than English by examining grammatical structures, discourse conventions, or communicative strategies in spoken and written contexts.