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Christian W. Hallstein
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Rank: |
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Teaching Professor of German
and
Director of Undergraduate Studies |
| Ph.D. |
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Pennsylvania State University |
| Department Member Since: 1979 |
Personal
Statement
I have been working on a project on Nazi film propaganda. Many films that
were formerly only in museum collections have recently become more readily
available on video cassette. My first "target" was Emil Janning's
film Ohm Krüger, an historical film about the Boer War. Although
this film glorifies neither the Germans nor the Nazis, a la Leni Riefenstahl's
Triumph des Willens, it is decidedly anti-British, and as such was part
of the war propaganda program. The point of my research is to show how
the screen play writers adapted the historical novel by Arnold Krieger
on which it is based. Ultimately, I would like to see if there are patterns
of adaptation in other films with literary sources, patterns that correspond
to specific theories of propaganda, especially as promulgated by Joseph
Goebbels.
I have also collaborated recently with Erwin Steinberg of the Carnegie
Mellon English Department in writing a major article on James Joyce entitled
"Soll und Haben in Ulysses: a 'Portal of Discovery'." The paper
examines the question of why Joyce would include Gustav Freytag’s
famous nineteenth century novel among the books on Leopold Bloom’s
shelf. The novel is in German (not in English translation), includes anti-Semitic
stereotypes and is a paradigmatic Bildungsroman, a genre that Ulysses
seems to parody.
In my teaching and curriculum development, I have produced a website for
German language and culture study entitled "Touring Berlin: Then
and Now." It allows the user to walk along the fabled Unter den Linden
and the Karl-Liebknecht-Straße to see what these streets look like
today and how they have developed over the centuries. In addition to contemporary
and historic photos there are also video clips and explanatory texts for
advanced, intermediate and elementary German students.
"Kunst im Deutschunterricht" is the title of a workshop I offer
to German teachers who want to incorporate art into their language instruction.
The workshop helps teachers help students to do inductive analysis of
works of art and suggests ways to engage students in discussion of art
at the elementary, intermediate and advanced levels.
Recent Work
- Arnold
Krieger Website
- "Touring
Berlin - Then and Now" Website
- "Creating the Enemy: Anti-British Nazi Film Propoganda."
West Virginia University Philiogical Papers, Vol. 51., (2006), 85-90
- "Probing Silences in Joyce’s Ulysses" (with Erwin
R. Steinberg) accepted in 2001 for publication in the James Joyce
Quarterly. In press.
- "Ohm Krüger: The Genesis of a Nazi Propaganda Film."
Literature / Film Quarterly. Publication expected in 2002.
- "Ulysses: An Anti-Bildungsroman" (with Erwin R. Steinberg).
Joyce Studies Annual. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000. pp.
202-206.
Courses Taught
In addition to German language courses at all levels, I have taught the
following courses in German culture and literature:
- 82-428 German Classical Literature
- 82-429 Nineteenth Century German Literature
- 82-430 German Literature of the Twentieth Century
- 82-431 Postwar German Literature
- 82-427 The New Germany / Das neue Deutschland (in English and German)
- 82-325 Introduction to German Studies
- 82-129 World Wars and World Peace in Literature and the Visual Arts
- 82-425 Germany between the Wars (1919-1939)
- 82-426 Germany During the Second Empire (1871-1918).
For
More Information
Chris Hallstein
Department of Modern Languages
Carnegie Mellon University
Baker Hall 160
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Office: BH 237A
Phone: (412) 268-2897
Fax: (412) 268-1328
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