830 Literaturen germanischer Sprachen; Deutsche Literatur
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The aim of the present paper is to show how, and to what extent, the standards of critical genetic editions as applied to Goethe's Faust can be attained within a TEI framework. It proposes and argues for the introduction of two separate transcripts: documentary and textual. Despite the apparent disadvantages of multiple encoding, this approach recommends itself for practical reasons (e.g., avoidance of overlapping hierarchies), and it conveniently reflects the idea that any written document must be considered a material object on the one hand and a medium of textual transmission on the other. In the course of the paper, some aspects and problems of chapter 11 of version 2.0.0 of TEI P5 (the definition and use of the elements <line> and <mod> and related issues) will be discussed.
Theodor Fontane's representation of monuments in the "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg"
(2013)
Theodor Fontane was a passionate visitor of historical monuments, and his text "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg" entail many references to sculptures, obelisks, churches, and museums. Fontane's description of monuments represents a specific view on history, which undermines a teleological perspective on the past. The article shows that Fontane's monuments embody eschatological, allegorical, and arabesque interpretations of the past, which in turn poetizes and de-historizes history.
Goethe and the Sublime
(2013)
The dissertation situates the Goethean sublime in an obscured countermovement of resistance to the aestheticization the concept underwent in the 18th century. Before the encounter with the English aesthetic concept of the sublime, the German notion of das Erhabene (the sublime) named not a category of aesthetic experience, but a social affect. In contrast to the Sublime of Edmund Burke's theory, which explicitly excludes melancholy from the sources of the Sublime, das Erhabene is an affect related to the self-overcoming of melancholic subjectivity. As the aestheticized notion of the sublime displaced das Erhabene, Goethe became one of the most radical innovators of the aesthetics of the sublime. But as is demonstrated in chapters on The Sorrows of Young Werther, Elective Affinities, Faust and Wilhelm Meister, he did so with the aim of recovering the displaced meaning of das Erhabene as social affect. Goethe's sublime aims to show at every turn that the so-called "aesthetic experience" of the sublime is really displaced social affect. His treatment of the sublime therefore constitutes a radical critique of the establishment of aesthetics as an independent sphere of inquiry. There is for Goethe no way to understand aesthetic experience independently of its social context. By reconnecting the sublime it to the original social meaning of das Erhabene, Goethe recovers the aesthetics of the sublime as a means of mediating and facilitating the movement of subjectivity from frustrated stasis to divine creativity; i.e., from exclusion to participation in the material creation of reality.
This dissertation examines the portrayal of China in German modernist literature, as well as the adaptation of said literature in post-Mao China. It analyzes how the German texts of the modernist period negotiate cultural and political identity in the age of imperialism and Orientalism, and how their Chinese interpretations approach similar issues of representation and reform in different decades of China after Mao. How do the de-nationalizing elements of the original German-language writings create resonance with the nationalist aspects found in their contemporary Chinese counterparts? Drawing upon specific examples, I situate the German-language sources and their Chinese adaptations within their literary, cultural and historicopolitical contexts, and implement a multidisciplinary approach that combines textual analysis with postcolonial theory and cultural studies on global capitalism. Demonstrating how each work addresses and challenges the dominant discourse of its day, my thesis shows the continued influence of Germany literary modernism upon culture and politics in present day China, and argues in support of the existence of dynamic cultural transference between Germany and China.
German-language works discussed include: Arthur Schnitzler’s fragment “Boxeraufstand” (1926), Bertolt Brecht’s drama Der gute Mensch von Sezuan (1953), Franz Kafka’s short story “Beim Bau der Chinesischen Mauer” (1917), and Stefan Zweig’s novella Brief einer Unbekannten (1922). Chinese works discussed include: the Sichaun opera Sichuan Haoren (1987), Can Xue’s essay “Building in Sections: The Artist’s Way of Life” (1997), and Xu Jinglei’s film Letter From an Unknown Woman (2004).
Representations of the reasons and actions of terrorists have appeared in German literature tracing back to the age of Sturm und Drang of the 18th century, most notably in Heinrich von Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas and Friedrich Schiller's Die Räuber, and more recently since the radical actions of the Red Army Faction during the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as in Uli Edel's film, The Baader Meinhof Complex. By referring to Walter Benjamin's system of natural law and positive law, which provides definitions of differing codes of ethics with relation to state laws and personal ethics, one should be able to understand that Michael Kohlhaas, Karl Moor, and the members of the RAF are indeed represented as terrorists. However, their actions and motives are not without an internal ethics, which conflicts with that of their respective state-sanctioned authorities. This thesis reveals the similarities and differences in motives, methods, and use of violence in Schiller, Kleist, and representations of the RAF and explores how the turn to terrorism can arise from a logical realization that ideologies of state law do not align with the personal sense of justice and law of the individual.
It can hardly be disputed that the theme of popularity is central to the Enlightenment. Popularity is the sociality equivalent to the individual appeal: 'Dare to know.' Parallel to this runs the following imperative: 'Dare to encourage your neighbour and your fellow man and woman to think on their own – even though they do not belong to the erudite elite.' It is also undeniable that Romantic authors and philosophers polemically attempted to tear down the popularity project of the Enlightenment, their main criticism being its tendency towards mediocrity. It is less well known that Romantic authors and philosophers themselves, around the turn of the nineteenth century, made popularity their central concern. To quote Friedrich Schlegel in the journal Athenaeum: 'The time of popularity has come.' This article explores the Romantics' alternative conception of popularity, with especial reference to Johann Gottlieb Fichte and the Grimm Brothers. To this end, it is helpful to reconstruct the background of the Romantic attempt to create an independent concept of popularity: the debate between Immanuel Kant and the German popular philosopher Christian Garve on the necessity, possibilities, and limits of popularity.
Cheating and Cheaters in Pfaffe Amis and Reinhart Fuchs An Alsatian poet named Heinrich, writing around 1180, composed a beast epic, based on French sources, about a trickster fox named Reinhart. Some sixty years later, a poet known to us only as Der Stricker composed a work of similar length and structure, about a trickster priest named Amis, and his diligent efforts to cheat various anonymous individuals out of their money. Other works by this poet bear out the Stricker's consistent emphasis on strategy over brute force, prudence and intelligence over unconsidered actions. These stories both illustrate that power, when not directed by intelligence, is useless or dangerous, even to the one who wields it. Tricksters and cheating also appear in a surprising range of works contemporary to the Stricker's Pfaffe Amis and Heinrich's Reinhart Fuchs. Romances have their own trickster characters, conducting their cheats using methods and structures that recall those of these two Schwank-type epics. Cheaters like Amis, and Tristan's Isolde generate twin situations. One of them is true/hidden, and can influence the characters, and one is false/apparent, to which the victim characters are forced to respond. This artificial, apparent reality persists even after the cheater has left the scene, occasionally taking on a truth of its own. Both Reinhart and Amis, whatever their motivations, work evil everywhere they go; and yet the audience is expected to treat them as sympathetic characters. Because the trickster universe functions to turn systems upside-down, it also rejects the concepts of good and evil, forming a universe in which all that matters is who wins and who loses. The place of the villain belongs now to the fool; any character who becomes deceived deserves to be, and is treated with indignation by the narrator, just as the traditional villain might be.
Paula Henrikson greift in ihrem Beitrag zum schwedischen Philhellenismus den Bouboulina-Stoff auf und zeichnet darüber hinaus Formen und Wege der Rezeption philhellenischer Gedanken u.a. zwischen Deutschland, Griechenland und Schweden nach.