On German Studies Today Author(s): Sander L. Gilman Reviewed work(s): Source: The German Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 1 (Winter, 1998), pp. 69-71 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Association of Teachers of German Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/407519 . Accessed: 22/07/2012 18:42 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Blackwell Publishing andAmerican Association of Teach ers of German are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The German Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org
Author(s): Sander L. GilmanReviewed work(s):Source: The German Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 1 (Winter, 1998), pp. 69-71Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Association of Teachers of GermanStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/407519 .
Accessed: 22/07/2012 18:42
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Blackwell Publishing and American Association of Teachers of German are collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to The German Quarterly.
In the face of pressuresexerted on the pro-fessionbyoutside forcesaswellas thosecreated
within the discipline by the "competing nter-
ests"in the realm of culture studies andcanon
formation-interests that are relatedto "class,
gender,politicalprogram,etc."("Letter")-thesearch for commongroundrather than the in-
sistence on differing positions would seem to
beofprime mportance. nrecognitionof"GQ's
special responsibility" to all "scholars and
teachers of German n the United States,"thenew editors have sagelyoptedfor a latitudinal,inclusive policy that provides a non-partisanforumforcolleagueswhowish to participate n
theongoing
debate.By doing
so, the editorshave established the frameworkfor possiblyachieving the elusive objectiveof a consensuson matters of common concern. In a similar
vein, the editors' aspirations to reassert the
functionof GQas "animportantlink betweenGerman literary and cultural studies on thiscontinent and worldwide" mplies a clear ac-
knowledgment of the vital international di-
mension of Germanistik/German Studies and
the avoidanceof parochialism.Withoutdoubt,several of the thorny questions raised in the
"Letter"such as the role of the canon, whichis to be revaluated rather than reaffirmed,orthat of the relationshipbetween "oppositionaldiscourses" and "mainstream culture" are
likely to preoccupyus well into the next mil-
lennium; despite the likelihood that some ofthem may defyeasy solutions, it is encouragingto have available a publication for the unre-stricteddiscussion ofproblems hat concernallmembersof AATG.In this sense, the new edi-tors' aforementioned millennial optimism is
perhapsnot entirely unfounded.
WorksCited
Fischer,Bernd,andDagmarC.G.Lorenz,"Letter rom
the New Editors of The German Quarterly."AATG
Newsletter 33.1 (1997): 3.
Conard,RobertC.Reviewof HeinrichB611: ortyYears
of Criticism (1994), by Reinhard K Zachau. German
Quarterly68.1 (1995): 110.
Hohendahl, Peter Uwe. "Germanistik in den Vereinig-ten Staaten:EineDisziplinmUmbruch." eitschrift
fiir Germanistik. N.E 6.3 (1996): 527-35.
McCarthy,John A., and Katrin Schneider,eds. The Fu-
tureofGermanistikn the USA ChangingOurPros-
pects. Nashville, TN: Department of Germanic and
Slavic Languages, VanderbiltUniversity, 1996.
Rasch, "Parasitische Theorie und die Institutional-
isierung von Culture Studies in den USA."Zeitschrift
fiurGermanistik. N.E 6.3 (1996): 575-83.
Sammons, Jeffrey L. "Die amerikanische Germanistik:
Historische Betrachtungen zur gegenwirtigen Situ-ation." Germanistikinternational:Vortrdgeund
Diskussionenauf dem internationalen ymposium"Germanistikm Ausland"vom23.-25.Mai 1977 in
Weiner,MarcA. "From the Editor."German Quarterly68.1 (1995): vi-viii.
SANDERL. GILMAN
University of Chicago
On German Studies Today
I wasquitesurprisedat the "letterfromthenew editors," which appeared in the recentAATG Newsletter.I am perturbedas this is a
publicstatement which will be used to charac-terize a profession in a necessary state of
change.GermanStudies in NorthAmerica s chang-
ing. It will either changeor it will vanish.Thisis equally true of every other aspect of Euro-
pean-languagebased study,with the clear ex-
ceptionof SpanishandEnglish. German s notaloneand, ndeed,has maderemarkable tridesover the past decade in recapturingthe intel-lectualhigh-groundof the humanities which itheld in the past.
Yetyouboth reallydon't seem to get it. You
complain about the "idiosyncraticreorienta-tions" of GermanStudies as "pos[ing]a prob-lem." The changes are not "idiosyncratic"orthe developmentsin GermanStudies are par-alleled to everyother area of the study of lan-
guage and culture in the humanities at NorthAmerican universities. These heterogeneouschangesare the only solution.There canbe no
single modelwhich answers every question.It is the so-called traditional departmentsthat are dying because they have been solely"aesthetically" oriented. The stress on the"beautiful"as the source of truth and knowl-
edge is part of a eighteenth-centuryfantasy ofthe function of literature. German Studiesshouldnot be the placefor suchafantasyexceptas the object of study. "ReadGoethe and be-comea better person!" ndeed.If this were thecase we would have no need for prisons, only
Departmentsof German! This
fantasyfueled
Germanistikin West Germanyfor decades asstudents of Germanpreparedto teach in the
high schools as moral leaders. Even in Ger-
many such a view has been generally aban-doned as students no longeraim to teach highschool. German Studies and Cultural Studiesin Germanyhave become the placeof multipleapproaches o the complexcultureswithinGer-
many.And their new model is borrowedfromour idea of German Studies! The Germande-
partmentshere which are survivingand flour-
ishing know that they are part of the greateruniversity's search for knowledge,not part ofthe moralrearmament of the West.
Weshould have two coreobligations n Ger-man Studies:* Toprovidestudents on all levelsmultipleac-
cess to multiple aspects of the languageandcultures of and in the German-speakingworld (howeverunderstood)
* To providethe tools for the critical analysisof texts fromthis worldin terms of the cul-
ture in which we and our students live andfunction.Thus your notion of a center-periphery
model in which the "good"stuff is at the coreand most of the productivescholarsare "atthe
margin" s not useful. Certainly here is alwaysa canonand we shouldalwaysask how andwhyit functions. But it is also clear that as criticswe constitute the canon. Whydo you think itis so vital for living authors that we addresstheir work? Out of vanity? No, it is because
when we write about them, they becomepartof the canon of authors whichdefines the liter-
ary culture of our day.This is not hubris, it isa simple part of what we should be doing ascritics. And as critics outside of the German-
languageareawe have an obligationto consti-tute the canonfrom our perspectiveas well asto autopsythe German,Austrian orSwiss con-
structionoftheir own heritage.Theprofessionis determinedbyOURindividualas well as col-lectivedesires to readand teach and write not
bysomeabstractnotionof what is at the "core."
Certainlynot a "core" aken from the politicalneeds of anotherculture!
Let me make some constructive proposalsfor the future of German Studies in NorthAmerica:
Undergraduate
* Makesure thatyourlanguageteaching s the
teaching of culture. Aim toward some reallife experience with the language in a pro-gramabroad,whether it is for a sophomorequarter,asummer nternshiporajunioryearabroad.
* Teaching undergraduates demands diver-
sity. Teach courses in Germanas well as in
English;give lecture courses as well as small
seminars; offer courses with senior facultyfor freshman;encourageyour faculty to getinvolved with weekend seminars for highschool students.
* Offercourseswith andfor the broadestrangeof undergraduatesand with colleaguesfromacross the disciplines.Make sure your Ger-man courses are cross-listed in other disci-
plines; make sure you co-teach with col-
leagues from other departments.* Offer courses that reflect the strengths of
your faculty. Don't have any courses "be-cause we have to offer them."
* Don't concentrateon the numberof majorsbut on the rangeof students in yourcourses.The more diversity your courses offer, the
greaterthe numberofgoodstudentsyou willhave. Stress joint majorsand certificates inGermanaswell as traditionalandinnovative
major programs.Don't put all of your eggsin one basket.
Graduate
* Articulation.Be awareof whatyourstudentswill teach and research after they leaveyou.Don't make them reinvent themselves when
they are out in the "real"world.Coverage snot the only model- focusedprogramscan
be just as effective in articulating graduatestudies with post-graduateworkexperience.
* Depth. Figure out what the people in your
graduateprogramcan teach;buildyourpro-gram around their academic and research
strengths; not around some abstractnotionof what "must"be taught.
* Numbers.Admitsmall numbers no morethan 2/3 a year. Be very selective while re-
specting diversity.Weedseriously after thefirst year.Offer adequate supportso that 5
years is sufficient to complete a program.Limityour expectationsto what canactuallybe accomplished n 5 years.
*
Internshipsrather than TAs/RAs. Teach
graduatestudents how to teach in all areas,notjust in language teaching.Createfurtherwork experiencein other arenas at the Uni-
versity-film series, music series, art muse-
ums, as well as (throughalumni)in industryand government (forsummers).
Administration
* Don't count heads in single course; look atthe total numbers of students in a programovera year.Languagecoursesmust be smalleven on the advanced level to be effective.But lectures don't have to be.
* Supportprogramsabroad.Make this a per-manent part of why your institution is at-tractive.Provideleadershipfor the interna-tionalization of the Americanacademe.Pro-vide exchangesfor students andfacultywithschools and universities abroad.
* Scholarship fuels teaching at ALL institu-tions. With no original scholarship peoplequickly revert to teaching their graduateschool notes, which palls after a few years.Supportoriginal peer reviewed research as
part of the mission for teaching. Encouragethis with promotionsand leaves.
* Respect your faculty. Don't hire part-timefaculty to replace full-time, committed fac-
ulty.Inresearchuniversities,don'tsee teach-
ing assistantships as relatively inexpensivelaborbut as internships. Maketheir assign-ments flexible and have them adequately
paid.All these pragmatic suggestions are based
on the presentdevelopmentof GermanStudiesas an intrinsicpart of the new humanities. Letus not flee into an idealizedpast, but continue
to movetogethertowardan ever more nterest-
ing, if contested future.
DAGMAR . G. LORENZ
Ohio State University
A Pluralist Journal for aPluralist Discipline
ThefollowingstatementbyDagmarLorenz
appeared earlier in the Womenin GermanNewsletter in response to the controversyin-
volving her and BerndFischer's "Letterfromthe New Editors of The German Quarterly."The text, reprinted with minor editorial
changes, is her contribution to the forumde-bate.
E-mail exchanges and the discussion ofBernd Fischer's and
my"Letter romthe New
Editors of The GermanQuarterly" n AATGNewsletter33.1 havepromptedme to make the
following statement. I first learned about the
controversyour letter had stirred when I re-ceived an e-mailmessage fromSander Gilman
respondingto a fax he had received from anunnamed colleague regardingthe "Letter."Iwrote a detailed response to Sander Gilman
informing him that neither has there been a
change in the editorialpolicies of GQ,nor arethe editors consideringto change the overallcourse of thejournal.Surely,BerndFischerandI do not wish to import any cultural/politicalagendafromoverseas,Germanyor elsewhere.
GQoperateswithin the United States contextof German studies, literature, language, cul-ture.
In our letter we wanted to convey to our
colleagues n the field that we would not let ourown professionaland scholarly biases (differ-ent ones for each one of us, to be sure) guideour editorial decisions. Our letter illustrated
this view by naming approaches o literatureand culture whichare quite different fromourown. Wedid so in order to suggest that we donot wish to categorically exclude anyone'swork. I would like to underscorethat we are
