German Language and Literature Commons^™

Werwolf, Weswolfs, Wemwolf, Wenwolf: Gender, Morality, And Transformation In Annette Von Droste-Hülshoff’S “Der Loup Garou” (1860), Hasol Yu

University Honors Theses

Werewolves have long populated Western culture, forming a particularly close relationship with Germany through their impact on fairy tales, psychology, and literature, with works such as Steppenwolf (Hermann Hesse, 1927) and Der Wehrwolf (Hermann Löns, 1910) eventually becoming international bestsellers.

Less widely recognized, however, is Annette von Droste-Hülshoff's "Der Loup Garou" published in 1860 in the collection, Letzte Gaben. This nine-stanza poem depicts a tale of a savage beast with white fur and twisted eyes that is told to the mischievous children Pierrot and Caton in hopes that it keeps them pious and obedient on a cold night. At first …

Fidelity And Rhetorical Strategies: An Introduction To And Translation Of Arunika Senarath’S Diese Eine Nacht (2017) With An Interview With The Author, Malcolm A. Goldman

University Honors Theses

Arunika Senarath’s 2017 novel Diese eine Nacht [That One Night] addresses political themes ranging from right-wing extremism to racism to sexual assault, which are combined with the day-to-day life of the main character, a young woman attending university in Dresden. This combination is aimed to increase political engagement in young people by making difficult or complicated topics accessible, while also exposing them to a more diverse range of perspectives. The novel is situated in contemporary Dresden, examining the prominence of right-wing populist movements such as PEGIDA in former East Germany (GDR) and their impact on people of color. …

Jazz Banned: How Jazz Music Shaped Nazi Germany, Stella Coomes

Young Historians Conference

Jazz is widely known to be a formative element in American history, but it also played an important role during some of Europe’s most formative and memorable years: the time of World War II and Adolf Hitler’s reign in Germany and surrounding countries. With its roots in Black American culture, it is easy to believe that Hitler would not have supported the increasing popularity of jazz music in his homeland. However, that did not stop him from using it to his advantage (of course, denouncing any form of jazz that was not sponsored by the state). Also not to be …

Bertolt Brecht's Leben Des Galilei: A Mythic Dimension In Epic Theatre, Yashowanto Narayan Ghosh

Dissertations and Theses

The history of Bertolt Brecht's play Leben des Galilei extends through the writing of its three versions during 1938 to 1955 -- a period of two decades that also encompassed the entirety of the Second World War. The period also covers the atom bomb from its development to America's use of the bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the beginning of the Cold War, which included the sustained threat that nuclear weapons might be used any day. This thesis traces, and offers interpretations of, changes in Brecht's Leben des Galilei from its inception in 1938-1939 -- when the …

Expressionist Art And Drama Before, During, And After The Weimar Republic, Shane Michael Kennedy

Dissertations and Theses

Expressionism was the major literary and art form in Germany beginning in the early 20th century. It flourished before and during World War I and continued to be the dominant art for of the Early Weimar Republic. By 1924, Neue Sachlichkeit replaced Expressionism as the dominant art form in Germany. Many Expressionists claimed they were never truly apart of Expressionism. However, in the periodization and canonization many of these young artists are labeled as Expressionist.

This thesis examines the periodization and canonization of Expression in art, drama, and film and proves that Expressionism began much earlier than scholars believe and …

Stem Education In The Foreign Language Classroom With Special Attention To The L2 German Classroom, Sarah Danielle Schoettler

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis tackles the issues of foreign language education, with special attention to German as a foreign language, and STEM education in the K-12, and in some cases K-16, educational system. After exploring the societal and national need for improved STEM and foreign language education programs, this thesis suggests methods of integrating STEM education elements and principals in the foreign language classroom. These methods are provided in chapters about integrating state and national education standards in the STEM fields, core academic subject fields, and foreign language teaching, and finally in chapters about the most appropriate and effective pedagogies for successful …

Euthanasia, The Ethics Of Patient Care And The Language Of Propaganda, Elizabeth Maria Krapf

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is an examination of euthanasia, eugenics, the ethic of patient care, and linguistic propaganda in the Second World War. The examination of euthanasia discusses not only the history and involvement of the facility at Hadamar in Germany, but also discuss the current euthanasia debate. Euthanasia in World War II arose out of the Nazi desire to cleanse the Reich and was greatly influenced by the American eugenics movement of the early 20th century. Eugenics was built up to include anyone considered undesirable and unworthy of life and killed many thousands of people before the invasion of allied troops …

Is Anne Frank At Last Taken Seriously As A Writer?, Laureen Nussbaum

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 1998, the emergence of five unknown pages written by Anne Frank once again focused attention on her diary. Despite the fact that the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation had unravelled the history of Anne's diary in "The Critical Edition" (Dutch 1986, 2001; English 1989, 2003) and had printed all available texts in parallel, readers were confused. This was partly due to Mirjam Pressler’s so-called ‘Definitive Edition’ of 1995 in which the strands, that had been so carefully separated in the Critical Edition, were once again tangled. A brief review of the different versions of Anne Frank's journal may be …

Anne Frank: From Shared Experiences To A Posthumous Literary Bond, Laureen Nussbaum

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Anne Frank is the best known victim of the Nazis, the representative of all the Jewish children murdered by them. She has become an icon, the heroine of a romanticized play and a subsequent film that made her name a household word all over the world and, at least in this country, the object of heated debates about her putative Jewishness or the lack thereof. While she has risen to fame as a symbol, her talent and her aspirations as a writer have generally not been taken seriously. However, the editor of a recent anthology, Women Writing in Dutch, published …

Rudolf Steiner’S Theory Of Foreign Language Learning, Michaela Wolf Hashitani

Dissertations and Theses

Rudolf Steiner is best known as the founder of the philosophical movement Anthroposophie and as the ideological father of Waldorf schools. The Waldorf school program follows Steiner's education principles in that it teaches children to explore their world with all senses. The goal of Waldorf education is to help children develop their soul and spirit in order to become a conscious, mature adult. Waldorf schools introduce two foreign languages at grade one in order to raise world-awareness in children and young adults.

This study reviews Steiner's biographic background until the opening of the first Waldorf school. It highlights Steiner's spiritual …

Teaching Culture In German: Standards, Perspectives, Resources, Alexander Lukanich

Dissertations and Theses

Americans face a serious challenge today: the need to become more competent in the languages and cultures of the rest of the world. Technology has brought nations closer together. International trade has grown to the creation of a global economy. Americans have greater contact with the cultures of other nations and encounter growing diversity within their own borders. In spite of these demands, Americans remain largely unable to speak other languages, or understand other cultures. Cultural instruction must play an increasingly important role in education. Foreign language teachers must teach culture as a regular and prominent part of their foreign …

Ibsen's Peer Gynt: Explication And Reception, Caralee Kristine Angell

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the content and reception of Ibsen's Peer Gynt. Chapter I begins with a summary of Ibsen's life and influences, placing Ibsen and his plays into a historical context. Chapter II is a detailed explication of .Peer Gynt, which illustrates the correlation between Ibsen's biography and Peer's life, the extensive use of Nordic folklore and the philosophy of Kierkegaard, Goethe, and Hegel. These issues and ideas are examined in order to create a theory of Ibsen's intended message to the public. In chapter III the immediate reception of Peer Gynt in Scandinavia is discussed, as well as the …

Dramatic Conflict And Historical Reality In Carl Zuckmayer's Hauptmann Von Kopenick, Craig O. Smith

Dissertations and Theses

Carl Zuckmayer drafted his drama, Der Hauptmann von Köpenick, as an intended contribution to the Heidelberger Festspiele in late 1930. He chose Wilhelm Voigt's 1906 seizure of the Rathaus in Köpenick as the theme best suited for the realization of his twofold intention - the combination of an Eulenspiegel figure and criticism of contemporary events. The following thesis analyzes the relationship between theatrical and historic event through an examination of the composition of the Hauptmann von Köpenick's generic elements. Through an evaluation of Zuckmayer's drama in terms of form, technical composition, and socio-political environment, this study intends to arrive …

Ottilie: Expression Of The Ideal Of Romantic Childlikeness In Goethe's Wahlverwandtschaften, Melodie Joy Steele

Dissertations and Theses

The interpretation of Ottilie in Goethe's Wahlverwandtschaften stems from an understanding of romantic motifs, which find their most systematic expression in her childlike character. Ottilie embodies the romantic idealization of childhood as a means of withdrawal from the enlightened world, echoing the Romantics' rejection of the disenchanted Age of Enlightenment. Through her portrayal of innocent childlikeness, her adolescent conflict with the rational world, and her final rejection of enlightenment, Ottilie maintains her childlike purity, expressing the romantic ideal of childhood. Ottilie's childlike emotional disposition puts her in conflict with the enlightened world of adults and academia. In an attempt to …

Bertolt Brechts Exilleben Und Parallelen Zur Entstehung Des Werkes Leben Des Galilei, John Timothy Mangan

Dissertations and Theses

When Bertolt Brecht flees Nazi Germany in 1933 he spends fourteen years in exile where he writes some of his most significant works, among them, Leben des Galilei. In his Leben des Galilei, Brecht explores the relationship between the individual and society. Using the historical Galileo Galilei as context, Brecht elucidates the responsibility that scientists must accept for how their discoveries are put to use. With his Galilei figur, Brecht expresses his belief that scientific advancement should be employed for the societal advancement of the common person. Brecht wrote three versions of his Galilei work, each showing significant …

Jacob And Wilhelm Grimm's Fairy Tales And Children, Cornelia Marianne Seigneur

Dissertations and Theses

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm prided themselves on the notion that their collection of fairy tales, the Kinder-und Hausmarchen, was poetry from the Volk. Through their collection they sought to preserve the culture of a Germany disrupted by Napoleon. Although the Grimm brothers did not originally set out to write children's literature, it became a natural progression for their fairy tales to be used for children. The Grimms were certain that their fairy tales should be read to children. They saw the naturalness in their tales, thereby claiming that the Kinder-und Hausmarchen would be a good "Erziehungsbuch." As people began to …

Der 35. Mai -- Ein Sozialkritisches Erwachsenenbuch FüR Kinder, Thomas Bosch

Dissertations and Theses

Der 35. Mai, Erich Kästner's least popular young people's book, has received only little attention by critical reviewers, and is seldom included in comparative studies that deal with the body of his early young people's literature. Due to the existence of only a few critical secondary sources and convincing studies showing the works unpopularity, this thesis wants to add new critical insights and give reasons for the failure of this particular book. Secondly, this examination will question the rather uncritically and quickly affixed label young people's literature that haunts Der 35. Mai until today.

This study reviews Kästner's …

The Feminine As Salvific In Hildegard Von Bingen's Letters, Marie Theresa Maurer

Dissertations and Theses

Hildegard alleged a spiritual connection with the physical world in her claim that she, a woman, was chosen by God to incarnate His Word on earth as Christ had done in the flesh years before. Woman, the embodiment of the feminine, was connected to the physical world in the medieval era. It was with this idea in mind that Hildegard attached an important significance to nature and the Virgin, seeing each as the ultimate expressions of the feminine divine on earth. However, included in the incarnation, according to Hildegard, was the Church itself along with the clergy, both men and …

Hermann Hesses Unterm Rad: IdentitäTssuche Eines Jugendlichen, Martina Mangan

Dissertations and Theses

Hermann Hesse's reflection on youth is one of his most popular themes. In his novel Unterm Rad (1906), Hesse explores youth and their search for identity. The author not only accuses the German educational system of at the turn of the century, but also the teachers and parents, of standing in the children's way in developing an individualized personality. According to Hesse, this development, however painful, is the primary responsibility of the adolescent. Hermann Hesse feels strongly about becoming a personality, namely the privilege to feel, act, and think independently of the masses. Every individual has an obligation to follow …

Homoeroticism And Thomas Mann's Death In Venice, Thomas Winston Morgan

Dissertations and Theses

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, previously unpublished portions of Thomas Mann's diaries were released for publication. These excerpts contained passages that removed all previous doubt as to Mann's sexual proclivities, affirming his homosexual inclinations. It had been suspected that Mann was homosexual before this time, but there was no conclusive proof until the release of the now-famous (or infamous) diary entries. Now that there is written proof of Mann's sexual orientation, literary scholars can more persuasively argue the often overlooked or circumvented homosexual aspects of his writings. This thesis is an investigation of the homoerotic elements in Thomas …

The Political Reception Of Erich Maria Remarque's Im Westen Nichts Neues In The Late Weimar Republic, Richard Jay Cogburn

Dissertations and Theses

The novel Im Westen Nichts Neues first appeared in Germany in January 1929 and became an overnight success. Its author, Erich Maria Remarque, was a shy, quiet man who had not anticipated such success. His novel was written to be a fictitious account of the lives of a few students-turned -soldier and their comrades in the front -line trenches of World War I. This was a unique perspective on the war. The earlier books about the war had been mostly the published, factual memoirs of former officers and as such were written from an elitist and nationalist point of view. …

Mit Lachen Die Wahrheit Zu Sagen Entwicklungsgeschichte Und Autorintention Des Barockromans Simplicissimus, Ralf Genske

Dissertations and Theses

The bloody epoch of the Thirty Years' War and the wide spread decline of German culture and social life is the major topic in Simplicissimus, the first High German novel written by Hans Jacob Christoph von Grimmelshausen in 1668. The purpose of this thesis is to summarize the development of this novel and to find Grimmelshausen's intention in writing his book which was immensely popular upon its publication, but disappeared into obscurity during the German classical period. Since its rediscovery in the middle of the 19th century, scholars have puzzled over the satirical meaning of Simplicissimus as well as the …

Psychology, Culture And Female Texts: Brigitte Schwaiger's Wie Kommt Das Salz Ins Meer, Julienne Eden Busic

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, there has been extensive debate in the area of literary criticism, much of it focused on real or imagined differences between male and female texts. French feminist theorists, Helene Cixous and Luce Irigaray, to name a few, argue that biological differences necessitate textual differences, while others reject this essentialist position, considering it just another means for perpetuating the notion of female inferiority. Many linguists assert that women use language differently than men, and that texts reflect these differences. But in order to analyze the origin of any textual differences, it is necessary to look beyond biology and …

Translation As Interpretation : Siegfried Lenz' "Motivsuche", John F. Disterheft

Dissertations and Theses

It is the purpose of this thesis to show that literary interpretation and translation are closely interrelated, that the translator cannot pursue his goal, the transfer of a work of literature from one language into another, without interpreting that work as literature.

Walter Kempowski's Familienchronik : History And The Role Of Erziehung, Carla Ann Damiano

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis attempts to prove that Walter Kempowski writes historical fiction. For this reason he should be considered an important 20th century German author. This contention is based on the presence of historical references regarding the topic of Erziehung in the Kempowski Familienchronik.

The German Exile Journal Das Wort And The Soviet Union, James W. Seward

Dissertations and Theses

Das Wort was a literary journal published by German Communist writers and fellow-travelers exiled in Moscow from 1936 to 1939. It was to be a mouthpiece for German literature in exile and to promote the Popular Front policy, which sought to unite disparate elements in non-Fascist Europe in opposition to the Nazis. Das Wort, under the editorship of German Communist writers whose close association with the Soviet Union had been well established in the previous decade, tried to provide a forum for exiled writers of various political persuasions, but was unwavering in its positive portrayal of Stalin's Soviet Union and …

Literaturproduktion In Der Ddr : "Vom Entstehen Und Sterben" Erich Loests Es Geht Seinen Gang Und Vom Entstehen Und Gedeihen Christa Wolfs Nachdenken ÜBer Christa T., Gudrun Hommel-Ingram

Dissertations and Theses

Christa Wolf is perhaps the best known East German author outside the Gennan Democratic Republic. Her works have been translated into many languages, and on her recent sixtieth birthday she was able to look back on an illustrious literary career. Erich Loest's life as an East German writer has been more troublesome, from his years as a young adult on the eastern side of the wall to his life in the Federal Republic since 1981. Both writers have worked under a political system which imposes strict guidelines on its artists, as regards conception and production of their works. Both authors …

"Gewalt Gegen Gerechtigkeit" : Reality And Morality In Heinrich BöLl's Die Verlorene Ehre Der Katharina Blum, Michelle Elizabeth Manicke

Dissertations and Theses

Heinrich Boll is West Germany's most controversial author of the post-war period, and Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum is probably his most widely contested work. Readers and literary critics alike have generally misunderstood or only partially understood Boll's purpose in writing this Erzahlung . Many have discounted it as the author's personal revenge against press and police for their mutual attacks on his honor. Others have panned it for its "poor German" and its lack of realism. Such reviews tend to examine only selected formal and thematic aspects of Katharina Blum. In order to fully comprehend any of Boll's …

Die Rolle Der Hexe In Den MäRchen Der BrüDer Grimm Und Ludwig Bechsteins, Karin Ulrike Herrmann

Dissertations and Theses

Fairy Tales have been an important part of peoples' cultural heritage since time immemorial. From a very early age on, children hear stories about witches, giants, dwarf's, and magicians which make up their first entry into the literary world. Only recently have scholars begun to research just how much influence these stories have on children and how they might have a different impact on girls than on boys. This thesis will investigate the world of fairy tales in relation to their historical context and their differing relevance for male and female readers. I will examine the fairy tales of the …

Landscape And Change In Three Novels By Theodor Fontane, Jane Ellen Speerstra

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis traces and explicates the changes in Theodor Fontane's landscape depiction in the years 1887- 1892. I examine his novels Cecile (1887), Irrungen, Wirrungen (1888), and unwiederbringlich (1892). I show that Fontane, as though discarding a relic of the Romantic past, used increasingly less landscape in his narratives. He focused on the actions and conversation of his characters, and on their immediate surroundings. When these surroundings were urban, they tended to disappear. The progressive minimalization of landscape, and of cityscape in particular, foreshadowed the appearance in German literature of twentieth-century man: man alienated from nature in cities, and less …