|
|


Director of Graduate Studies: Eckart Goebel
M.A. and Ph.D. Programs
German Studies and Critical Thought
The Department of German at NYU offers a sound basis in the
literary canon and also seeks to transmit a set of critical skills
applicable beyond the confines of conventional literary analysis.
Organized around a crucial body of literary and philosophical texts,
which includes canonical and non-traditional works, our department is
both forward-looking and responsible to established scholarship. We
offer students a challenging course of studies that opens up
interdisciplinary initiatives, and stresses theoretical
sophistication. In offering students a curriculum that emphasizes the
critical study of these discourses, we prepare our graduates for
distinguished academic careers in an intellectually complex
environment at a time when borderlines between disciplines are
becoming increasingly permeable.
The departmental interest in critical thought formalizes this aspect
of the program's orientation, for which it has become known. The
activities of the department, courses, lectures, visiting professors,
reflect the fact that the heritage of German theory, linguistic,
aesthetic, philosophic and political, are the pivotal points out of
which the widest range of twentieth and twenty-first century theory
has grown, and without which they cannot be properly understood.
For students who choose to concentrate their work in the study of
German literary texts we offer rigorous training in contemporary
methods of interpretation. We also greatly welcome those whose
interests include a more theoretical bent. Thus the program
encourages taking German critical thought as a point of departure for
a wide range of investigations. Because New York University is
exceptionally strong in all areas of the humanities and because we
have forged strong ties to other departments, we are pleased to see
our students make full use of its exceptional resources. The graduate
program has been conceived to encourage and guide each student in
designing his or her individual course of study. At the same time we
stress tailoring each program of study to make the student
competitive in constantly evolving academic market.
In recent years the department has recruited highly
distinguished faculty. Our faculty is widely published and
internationally active in areas of scholarship that command the
attention of colleagues and students across the disciplines.
Internationally recognized scholars and thinkers play an active role
in our department. The Department of German, along with the
Departments of English and French, sponsors the fall semester visits
of Jacques Derrida. Past visitors include Werner Hamacher, Alexander
Duettmann, Marianne Schuller, Thomas Schestag, Hartmut Boehme,
Ruediger Campe, Rike Felka, Christoph Brecht, Eva Horn, Eva Meyer,
and others.
Resources
Our doctoral students are guaranteed generous funding for a
minimum of five years of graduate work. We generally support students
for up to two years beyond this. Students are asked to teach for
three of their first five years and have opportunities for a wide
range of teaching experience within and outside the department.
NYU is a member of the New York Consortium that enables students from
NYU, Columbia, the New School and CUNY to take courses for credit at
another institution. New York, for this and many other more obvious
reasons, is a thriving, interacting, intellectual community.
Deutsches Haus At NYU
Deutsches Haus at NYU offers a rich program of contemporary authors,
film, conferences and lectures throughout the year. Deutsches Haus is
a major asset for New York University and greatly contributes to the
intellectual prominence of the University and its Department of
German. It has been host organization for major international
conferences, for lectures and readings by distinguished writers,
authors, scholars, philosophers, and artists, as well as the site of
significant art installations and exhibitions. Its program attracts a
wide audience from the greater New York area, thus furthering NYU's
commitment to being a global university in a unique metropolitan
setting. The program committee consists of faculty members from the
Department of German whose aim is to strengthen and expand the
department's research and teaching interests by inviting
internationally known speakers. Please consult the website for
Deutsches Haus at http://www.nyu.edu/deutscheshaus/main.htm.
|