Lauren Shizuko Stone's research interests include literature and culture from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries and their points of intersection with the German philosophical tradition since Kant. Her work focuses on representations of marginal figures in quotidian culture, with an emphasis on short format prose (e.g., fragments, letters, short stories, and novellas) produced during the rise and solidification of the bourgeois class. Broadly speaking, her work is animated by an interest in how literature renders a range of intractable philosophical problems through poetic language—from the re-appearance of Leibniz’ monad in early 20th century representations of childhood to the construction of gender in expressions of female same-sex desire before Freud. Recently, her work has ranged in topic from flirtation as a question for ordinary language philosophy to the aesthetic production of the non-traditional “family.”
keywords
19th- and early 20th-century literature and philosophy, German Romanticism, Realism, Modernism, Literary theory, Aesthetics, Translation Theory, Feminist Theory, Queer Theory, Affect Theory, Critical Theory
FYSM 1000 - First Year Seminar
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2022
Provide first year students with an immersive experience in an interdisciplinary topic that addresses current issues including social, technical and global topics. Taught by faculty from across campus, the course provides students with an opportunity to interact in small classes, have project based learning experiences and gain valuable communication skills. Seminar style classes focused on discussion and projects.
GRMN 2504 - Gothic, Horror, and Fantasy
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Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Introduces students to gothic, horror, and fantasy with a multimedia approach. Investigates links between scary, creepy, and fantastical representations and their social and historical contexts. Explores German and Austrian films, images, fiction and poetry from a range of periods. Taught in English.
GRMN 4051 - Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School
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Spring 2024
Serves as an introduction to the "Frankfurt School" and Critical Theory with particular emphasis upon rationality, social psychology, cultural criticism, and aesthetics. Through close readings of key texts by members of the school (Horkheimer, Benjamin, Adorno, Habermas) we will work toward a critical understanding of the analytical tools they developed and consider their validity. Taught in English. Same as GRMN 5051.
GRMN 4231 - The Invention of Sexuality
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Spring 2020 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
Traces the development of various concepts of sexuality, from ideas inherited from antiquity to the modern invention of homosexuality by German and Austrian sexologists and psychoanalysts, up to and including contemporary queer critiques. Students will also gain an understanding of how cultural beliefs and biases about queer sexualities are rooted in both the history of science and changing/persisting gendered norms. Explores the intersecting philosophical, literary, and ideological underpinnings of process(es) of marginalization of both women and queer sexualit(ies). Same as GRMN 5231. Taught in English.
GRMN 5010 - Theory and Practice of German Studies
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Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
Provides a graduate-level introduction to German Studies, with emphasis on theoretical approaches and current trends in German Studies. Special attention will be given to developing the tools necessary for advanced criticism: close-reading skills, mastery of critical terminology, and training in a range of theoretical approaches. The main goals of this course are (1) to introduce students to critical approaches to literature/art/film and recent theoretical trends in German literary and cultural studies, (2) to give students the opportunity to deepen interpretive skills through close reading and discussion of representative texts, and (3) to encourage students to explore theoretical approaches to literary and cultural material.
GRMN 5030 - Foundations of Critical Theory
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2024
An introductory study of nineteenth-century German philosophy (especially Kant, Hegel, and Marx). Required course for the graduate certificate in Critical Theory.
GRMN 5051 - Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024
Serves as an introduction to the "Frankfurt School" and Critical Theory with particular emphasis upon rationality, social psychology, cultural criticism, and aesthetics. Through close readings of key texts by members of the school (Horkheimer, Benjamin, Adorno, Habermas) we will work toward a critical understanding of the analytical tools they developed and consider their validity. Taught in English. Same as GRMN 4051.
GRMN 5231 - The Invention of Sexuality
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
Traces the development of various concepts of sexuality, from ideas inherited from antiquity to the modern �invention� of �homosexuality� by German and Austrian sexologists and psychoanalysts, up to and including contemporary queer critiques. Students will also gain an understanding of how cultural beliefs and biases about queer sexualities are rooted in both the history of science and changing/persisting gendered norms. Explores the intersecting philosophical, literary, and ideological underpinnings of process(es) of marginalization of both women and queer sexualit(ies). Same as GRMN 4231. Taught in English.
GRMN 5410 - Seminar: Topics in Early 20th Century German Society
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Spring 2022 / Fall 2023
Focuses on major issues, events, movements, and figures prior to World War II. Topics may include the ontology of lyric poetry; Berlin in the 1920s; exiles, their communities, and their writings; women writers from Andreas-Salome to Anna Seghers; topics in German film; and others. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours when topic varies.
GRMN 6900 - Master's Thesis
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Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours.
