The Senior Program
The senior project in German requires students to complete an extensive thesis/research paper, written in German, that is based on study done in one of the senior seminars taught annually. The Project is supervised by one of the full-time faculty members. In addition, students may receive departmental honors through distinguished achievements in the classroom and on the project.
Recent projects include topics such as:
- The image of the Wall in German Literature
- Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountain"
- Questions of identity in Max Frisch's works
- Günter Grass' "My Century" as Autobiography
- Heinrich Böll
- Anna Segher's view of the world
- Three Austrian women writers in the nineteenth century
- Politics and Literature in Christa Wolf's works
- Ingeborg Bachmann's Lost Utopia
- Feminism, Love, and Sexuality in Elriede Jelinek and Verena Stefan
- The Figure of Mephistopheles in Goethe's Faust: First Part of the Tragedy
- Christa Wolf's "Blichwechsel" -- Discussion and Translation
- Faust: Goethe's Denial of Superstition and the Acceptance of pure Christianity
- Hesse's Search for Unity: Parallels with Siddhartha
- Grosz and Brecht in Pandemoniumland: Two Views of the Weimar Republic
- The Image of America in Current German Literature
- German Exile Literature after Hitler's Grab for Power: The Shattered World of Safety
- Freedom and the Middle-Class Daughter in 18th Century Tragedy
- Fontane's Effi Briest as Critique of Prussian Society
- Tieck's Inner Organization, Journeys and Crises: "Der blonde Eckbert" and "Der Runenberg"
- Christa Reinigs "Muessiggang ist aller Liebe Anfang:" An Attempt to Determine Identity
- Emancipation Strategies: Christa Wolf and Women's Autobiography
- Opinions of Christa Wolf before and after the Wende
- The Short Story in the Wirtschaftwunder: Rolf Schneider's 'Metamorphosis'
- Criticism of War and Society: Remarque and Borchert
- The Relationship between Naturalism and Socialism
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