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Course Info for GRMN - 317 - 01, Spring 2026
Class number: 2857 Title: Outsiders in German Literature Department: Language and Culture Studies
Career: Undergraduate Component: Seminar Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: No Grading Basis: Regular Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 19 Current enrollment: 4 Available seats: 15
Start date: Tuesday, January 20, 2026 End date: Friday, May 8, 2026 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: TR: 1:30PM-2:45PM, LIB - 174 Instructor(s): Assaiante, Julia
Prerequisite(s): Prerequisite: C- or better in German 202 or equivalent.
Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement
Course Description:
A society can perhaps best be understood through an examination of those who are excluded from it. This course will examine figures of deviancy in German literature, by way of texts that take up the notion of the outcast, misfit and outsider. Over the course of the semester we will read about witches, heretics, criminals and fanatics, in order to trace out the social, moral and philosophical implications of the tension between an individual deemed to not fit in with mainstream society. Readings will include Goethe, Grimms, Hauptmann, Dröste-Hülshoff, Kafka, Jelinek and Schlink.