Critical Modern German (In-Person)
68 Jay Street, #425
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Did Hegel write The Phenomenology of Spirit or The Phenomenology of Mind? How can anyone parse a word like Nahrungsmittelunverträglichkeit without getting a knot in their stomach? What sort of “cockroach” did Gregor Samsa really metamorphose into anyway? The German language is a recurring touchstone for thinking about philosophy, aesthetics, psychology, economics, and poetics. In Critical Modern German, students will acquire a thorough reading knowledge of modern German—with the aim of enriching our understanding of the style, terminology, uses, and abuses of a linguistic tradition that remains central to how we’ve come to think about the world and our experience of it.
We’ll begin with the alphabet and basic morphology before proceeding to more complex grammar, syntax, rhetoric, and poetics. Throughout, we will attend to issues of reception and translation, syntactic analysis and comprehension strategies, and approaches to reading and interpretation. Along the way, BISR faculty and guest lecturers in philosophy, literature, and psychoanalysis will lead seminar sessions exploring critically the contexts in which literary and philosophical German emerged and its utilization across discourses. And by program’s end, students will be equipped to undertake close readings and critical translations of classic literary, philosophical, and psychoanalytic texts.
Critical Modern German is organized across three, 12-week trimesters: Fall (September 3rd-November 19th), Winter (February 4th-April 22nd), and Summer (May 13th-July 29th). Classes will meet on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30pm ET. Students may enroll in the program in its entirety or on a trimester-by-trimester basis. In addition to weekly 2-hour class meetings, students may elect to attend an additional “homework hour,” a time set aside for further practice and horizontal learning. Our textbook will be Jannach’s German for Reading Knowledge, 7th edition, edited by Richard Korb, to be supplemented throughout by readings from German philosophical and literary writers. The course is capped at 15 students. Payment plans are available; email info@thebrooklyninstitute.com for more information.
Course Schedule
Wednesday, 6:30-8:30pm ETSeptember 03, 2025 — July 29, 2026
12 weekly sessions per trimester (36 sessions)
Price range: $1,323.00 through $3,725.00