Browsing by Subject "German literature"
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Item Albert Leo Schlageter, Knight of the Fatherland ; and, The historical, political and social functions of Hanns Johst's drama, Schlageter(1995) Hodges, Jay Norman; Berman, Nina (Nina Auguste); Moeller, Hans-BernhardItem Border excursions : Ludwig Tieck's romantic revolution in Der gestiefelte Kater(1999) Busby, James Lee, Jr.; Arens, Katherine, 1953-Item Contextualizing a motif : late nineteenth century portrayals of the German poacher-hero(2011-05) Plummer, Jessica Ellen; Belgum, Kirsten, 1959-; Arens, KatherineThis thesis focuses on the anachronistic poacher-hero figure in late nineteenth-century German literature. Historian Hobsbawm has suggested that the symbolic endurance of "noble robber" figures (of which we can view poacher-heroes as a subset) takes place in an ideal imaginary "stripped" of the "local and social framework" (2000, 143). My thesis shows, in multiple examples across multiple genres, that in fact the poacher-hero is uniquely available for re-contextualization and renewal of social relevance, even under changed social and economic circumstances. The poacher-hero is not only a device for making statements about the past, but also for expressing claims on the future. It is perhaps this dynamism that makes the poacher-hero excellent carrier for different kinds of social critique as well. In my first chapter, I give a brief historical overview of the period and the motif. In the second chapter, I show how the poacher and his rural context are brought into contact with urban, imperial themes. In the chapter I read two novels, Der verlorene Sohn (The prodigal son, 1884-1886) and Quitt (Even, 1890), and the play Waldleute (Forest people, 1896) thematically to show how upward social mobility is associated with and adapted to the poacher figure. In the third chapter of the thesis, I examine narrative strategies and their employment in the construction of a socially critical viewpoint in Der verlorene Sohn and Quitt. I show how both high and low literary works, intended and written for different audiences, achieve similar results in their positioning of the poacher-protagonist through different narrative structures. This convergence shows the malleability of the societal frame for the poacher-hero. Finally, in the fourth chapter, I show regional adaptations of the motif, by examining different versions of a folk ballad "Das Jennerweinlied" ("The Jennerwein song"). This thesis furthermore shows how study of a motif can be used to bring together a diverse group of roughly contemporary texts. Viewing these texts in relationship with one another brings into question the scholarly focus on certain texts at the expense of others.Item An enlightened woman's vengeance on the absolutist court : Countess Orsina in Lessing's Emilia Galotti(1999) Van Hyning, Jennifer Lyn, 1970-; Arens, Katherine, 1953-Item The German Märchen : East and West ; and, Reality transformation in Kafka from fairy tale to bad dream(1980) McRee, Jeanne Christine; Swaffar, Janet K.; Willson, A. Leslie (Amos Leslie), 1923-2007Item Gothic elements in German romanticism(1977) Cox, Judith Hannings, 1950-; Mollenauer, Robert, 1932-Item Grimmelshausen's Das wunderbarliche Vogelnest : critical introduction and translation(1975) Grimmelshausen, Hans Jakob Christoph von, 1625-1676; Eubank, Lynn; Read, Ralph R., IIIItem An introduction to the works of Christoph Meckel, writer and graphic artist(1970) Woodruff, Margaret Frances Starcke, 1942-; Middleton, Christopher, 1926-Item Lessing's Laocoön : an early analysis of the aesthetic experience(1997) Martin, Lucinda, 1965-; Arens, Katherine, 1953-Lessing's classic Laocoön, in which he compares painting and poetry, has always been by critics and theorists either as a treatise setting out rules for the genres, or as a comparison of two semiotic systems. In this thesis, I argue that these two approaches represent only two-thirds of the picture. In the introduction to Laocoön, Lessing outlines three ways of dealing with art, all of which play a role in each aesthetic experience. I examine each of these three crucial elements of the art encounter, using Lessing's own examples to support my position that Lessing was not talking about the limits of the genres, but about the limits of human cognition. I correlate Lessing's vocabulary and ideas with the terminology and theories of modern, twentieth-century cognitive science, since it is my belief that Lessing was actually anticipating current ideas in these fields. Finally, I urge that Lessing's work be reevaluated: First, his importance on the development of Enlightenment thought has been underestimated because critics have not seen his emphasis on the cognition of art, and second, because the insights he had about the art experience are very relevant to current work in the fields of art, psychology, and cognitive science.Item The politics of reception in selected works by Anna Seghers and Paul Zech(1998) Shehata, Cynthia Fay; Arens, Katherine, 1953-Item Predatory portraiture : Goethe's Faust and the literary vampire in Gogol's [P]opmpem and Wilde's The picture of Dorian Gray(2010-12) Anderson, Matthew Neil, 1983-; Garza, Thomas J.; Richmond-Garza, Elizabeth M.Despite the fact that there seems to be no direct link between the works of Nikolai Gogol and those of Oscar Wilde, Gogol’s novella, Портрет (The Portrait) and Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, share many elements in common, most notably the device of the predatory portrait. This report explores the parallels that exist between these two texts and argues that they mutually derive from elements found in Goethe’s Faust and the trope of the literary vampire.Item Social comment in three plays by Ulrich Becher : Niemand, Samba, and Feuerwasser ; and, Hermann Sudermann and naturalism(1978) Bowen, Wayne Maurice; Moeller, Hans-Bernhard; Read, Ralph R., IIIItem Society and selfhood in Götz von Berlichingen and Michael Kohlhaas ; and, E.T.A. Hoffmann's modern Märchen : the poetic use of the dream experience in Der goldne Topf(1981) Howard, Susan Wells, 1948-; Schulze, Leonard; Scott, Larry E. (Larry Emil), 1947-Item Spouses, lovers, and other strangers : men, women, and relationships in the works of Rafik Schami(2016-05) Brining, Holly Renee; Belgum, Kirsten, 1959-; Hess, Peter; Harlow, Barbara; Fulk, Kirkland A; Straubhaar, SandraSyrian-German author Rafik Schami has a literary career spanning approximately thirty years. Although his native Syria often forms the backdrop for his stories, Schami’s intended audience is clearly German-speaking because he composes his works in German. As most of the discourse on minority literature in Germany focuses on Turkish-German literature, an examination of Schami’s texts would offer another perspective on this phenomenon. This dissertation project focuses on several novels from Rafik Schami, including Reise zwischen Nacht und Morgen, Die dunkle Seite der Liebe, Die Sehnsucht der Schwalbe, and Das Geheimnis des Kalligraphen, all of which thematize various types of interpersonal relationships, including familial and romantic. With few exceptions, men and women inhabit different worlds, and this complicates their ability to maintain a connection to one another. The world of women is frequently depicted as exotic or secretive, whereas the world of men is one of brutality. This separation of men and women is imposed by political and cultural means. In his characterization of the relationships between men and women, the author draws attention to their respective situations and criticizes the forces that draw them apart. Most of the scholarship on Rafik Schami’s texts has focused upon intercultural communication, migration, and exoticism. Very little attention has been paid to issues of gender, although relationships and differences between men and women inhabit a significant portion of his novels. This project employs a close reading of thematic as well as structural elements in order to examine the respective worlds of men and women and the author’s critique of the factors which led to this division. The project will also examine the reception of the author’s works in order to characterize their position within contemporary German literature.Item The symbolism of the sea in Thomas Mann(1973) Gross, James Francis; Bulhof, Francis, 1930-Item The theory of signs in the philosophies of Fichte and Husserl ; and, Realist narrative practice and Storm's Schimmelreiter(1991) Smith, Von Robbin, Jr.; Arens, Katherine, 1953-; Belgum, Kirsten, 1959-Item Three political essays and two other essays by Helga Königsdorf : translations(1993) Königsdorf, Helga, 1938-2014; Keeton, Brian Gray; Swaffar, Janet K.; Arens, Katherine, 1953-Item Wedekind in Paris : motion and elasticity in circus motifs as sources of erotic themes(1978) Morris, Katherine Sue, 1950-; Read, Ralph R., III