German Literature | Open Access Articles | Digital Commons Network™

Des Adlers Horst - Annotated Transcription, Johanna Schopenhauer

Prose Fiction

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Collected Literary Works Of Helene Weichardt, Helene Weichardt

Prose Fiction

No abstract provided.

Go to article

A Voice For Sophie's Daughters, Lisa Ann Jackson Thomson

Resources

In European libraries, students and professors discover works by largely forgotten German women. Then they give the works an audience the authors never imagined. The story and background of Sophie: A Digital library of Works by German-Speaking Women.

Go to article

A Bridge To The Eifel: Clara Viebig And Her Literary Style, Nathan Bates

Student Works

Clara Viebig was a woman author in Germany at the end of the nineteenth century, transitioning into the twentieth century. Viebig was born in Trier at the southern end of a region in western Germany known as the Eifel. Her works often utilized the landscape and countryside of this area, which has given them a unique dynamic. Although Viebig's technique has been examined in light of various literary styles, including naturalism (Krauss-Theim), neo-romanticism (Fleisscher), and Heimatkunst (Ecker), it has never been examined for its own unique merit. I believe that landscape plays a particularly profound role in shaping and influencing …

Go to article

‘Die Seele Sehnte Sich Hinaus In Den Schnee’: The Meaning And Function Of Outside Space In Bettine Von Arnim’S Die Günderode, Catherine Grimm

Resources

Bettine von Arnim’s Die Günderode is the second of her autobiographically inspired works of epistolary fiction, based on correspondences and memories of key figures from von Arnim’s youth.i Published in 1840 the text is usually read as an idealized depiction of 19th century female friendship and companionship. Lorely French states, for example, that “recent studies have recognized Die Günderode as the most communicational of Arnim’s four epistolary books”, while Edith Waldstein observes that “such cooperation, mutual respect, reciprocal enrichment and love are characteristic of the relationship between these two women and distinguish it from all other friendships portrayed in Bettine …

Go to article

Doppelganger, Dreams, And Delusions: A Freudian Reading Of Marie Eugenie Delle Grazie’S Der Schatten, Jared Löhrmann

Resources

Marie Eugenie delle Grazie’s drama Der Schattenpremiered in 1902 in the Hofburgtheater, Vienna’s most prestigious stage at the time. The play deals with the poet Ernst Werner and his encounter with a character called “Der Schatten”. The Shadow is Werner’s double, meaning that it looks like the poet, but it does not have all of the abilities of a human. Although the idea of a double or “Doppelgänger” is ubiquitous in the literature and art of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna, delle Grazie approaches the topic from a different angle. Many contemporary columnists, however, criticized her drama; to them it lacked depth …

Go to article

Not Another Grim(M) Tale: The Rights Of Passage In Marie Von Olfers’ “Little Princess”, Bernadette H. Hyner

Resources

If we accept, as Edward Said suggests, that the terms authorship and authority both emphasize a writer’s capacity to establish an alternative discourse, control, and preserve it, then Marie von Olfers is best remembered as a tale spinner who redrafts conventional gender designations in her fairy tales. Specifically, her narrative “Little Princess,” published in 1862, presents alternative interpretations of female agency and sisterhood, while it also debases traditional concepts of family. Von Olfers’ unusual reading of these topics suggests that she construes family and rites of passage in response, perhaps even in opposition, to her male predecessors’ more traditional approach …

Go to article

Mission Propaganda: A Study Of Form, Colonial Attitudes, And Feminism In Maria Theresia Ledóchowska's Newspaper Publication, Jakob N. Jarvis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines Mission Propaganda, a newspaper-style publication distributed by the St. Peter Claver Sodalität, an association of nuns, lay-members, and subscribers founded by Maria Theresia Ledóchowska in 1894. The “sodality” was dedicated to supporting Catholic missionary work in Africa, and advocated for the liberation of African slaves. Ledóchowska used Mission Propaganda to encourage Europeans to support the African missions. She also used it to inform Europeans about African culture. She attempted to create a connection between the need for Catholic missionary work in Africa and the need for reform in Europe. She believed Europeans needed moral, religious, and social …

Go to article

Vilma Weber Von Webenau : Die Marienlieder, Sommerlieder Für Streichquartett Und Eine Sprechstimme, Carolyn Dehdari

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Vilma von Webenau (1875-1953) is not only worthy of study because of her connection with teacher Arnold Schoenberg. Her music is unique in the era of fin-de-siecle Vienna, but it also holds interest today because of its atmoshpheric and durational complexity, self-composed texts, and harmonic ambiguities. This critical edition seeks not only to present two of WEbenau's seventy works, but also to place Webenau in her historical and musical context. Exploring the aspects of Viennese modernism and the world that created it, I wish to give background to Webenau's life, of which so little is known. In trying to understand …

Go to article

An Introduction To The Leaders And Journals Of The Allgemeine Österreichische Frauenverein (Aöfv), Or General Austrian Women’S Organization: 1893-1910, Sarah Kemeny Broussard

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This is an Internet-based project that will serve as a guide to scholarly resources, including introductory material to texts written by key figures in the Austrian Women’s Movment a the turn of twentieth century. This project is also an overview of the Allgemeine Oesterreichische Frauenverein (AÖFV), or General Austrian Women’s Organization, and its key leaders and publications during its peak years between 1893-1910. The AÖFV was one of the most influential women’s organizations in fin-de-siècle Vienna, changing the face of politics and society for women. The three key figures, Rosa Mayreder (1858-1938), Auguste Fickert (1855-1910), and Marie Lang (1858 1934), …

Go to article

Women Of Goethe's Time: A Correspondence: Caroline Von Humboldt And Friederike Brun (English Translation), Friederike Brun, Caroline Von Humboldt

Prose Nonfiction

This work is a complete English translation of the correspondence between Friederike Brun and Caroline von Humboldt.

Go to article

Peace In Unity: 19th Century Irenic Motivations In European Unification, Robert Taft Keele

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Hauptargumenten of politicians and citizens concerning the advantages and disadvantages of the EU are almost exclusively economic or political in nature: lower tariffs; loss of monetary instruments; immigration; disenfranchisement; etc. The object of my thesis is to remind everyone, amid the flurry of speculation and uncertainty prevalent in Europe since the French rejection of the EU constitution, that a major benefit of the European integration is peace, on a continent that has been ravaged by war for centuries. I prove that the establishment of peace was a major element in European unification by confirming links between peace movements and …

Go to article

A Voice For Modernism In Elsa Bienenfeld's Music Reviews, Kelsey Draper

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis discusses Elsa Bienenfeld’s role as a modern music critic and cultural journalist and shows how she defended modernism by encouraging her Viennese readers to embrace it. The purpose is not to create a mere biographical sketch, but to demonstrate how Bienenfeld shaped and influenced the public’s perceptions of the budding modern music movement in Vienna. Chapter 1 introduces the problem of modern music and provides the historical context for Elsa Bienenfeld’s life. Chapter 2 introduces modermism as a movement in the city and reviews the development of music out of the classical and romantic periods into modernism. Chapter …

Go to article

Imperial Motherhood: The German Civilizing Mission In Bülow's Im Lande Der Verheißung, Cindy K. Renker

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores Frieda von Bülow's last and most popular colonial novel. Im Lande der Verheißung, which she wrote in 1899 after she had returned to Germany from her second journey to the German colony of East Africa. In her novel, Bülow manifests her nationalistic ideology and her support for female participation in the colonies in the character of Maleen Dietlas, who believes in and supports the German colonial ambitions. Bülow provides her female protagonist with a role and purpose in the colony. Maleen serves as an imperial mother who sees it as her duty to "civilize" the German men …

Go to article

Ann Tizia Leitich: New Voice, New Woman: Packaging America For Vienna, Brooke Marie Wright

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the contribution which the 1920s works of Viennese journalist and novelist Ann Tizia Leitich made on the Austrian consideration of the new woman during the interwar period. Following World War I, European society was both infatuated and repulsed by American culture, and especially by American women. While many European women began to look to the United States as the model of the “new woman,” others harshly criticized the changes which American influence and the image of the American woman had brought to Europe. As an Austrian living in the United States and writing newspaper articles and other …

Go to article

Gender - Art - Science: Elsa Bernstein's Critique Of Naturalist Aesthetics, Astrid Weigert

Resources

Elsa Bernstein (1866-1949) was a successful playwright at the turn of the last century whose works Wir Drei (The Three of Us, 1892), Dammerung (Twilight, 1893) and Maria Arndt (1908) are generally categorized as Naturalist dramas. Of those dramas, Dammerung was the most successful and received critical praise after its performance at the Freie Bühne Berlin, where, under the directorship of Otto Brahms German audiences were introduced to dramas by Ibsen, Hauptmann , and Holz Schlg to name a few of the best-known Naturalist dramatists. My approach to Bernstein's dramas and, for the purpose of this paper, in particular to …

Go to article

Viennese Feuilleton During The Early 1920s: Description And Analysis Of Bertha Pauli's Biographical Sketches As Contributions To A Literary Genre, Ruth Kirsten Seppi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Bertha Pauli belongs to a class of writers (women) who are often overlooked, writing in a style (feuilleton) that is under-recognized for its literary value. Her writings have never been systematically analyzed before despite their volume and prominence in the Vienna of the 1920s. The first half of this thesis deals with the form of feuilleton, establishing a context in which to study Pauli’s works. The second half describes the political content of Pauli’s biographical feuilletons and demonstrates her skill as a persuasive writer. Feuilletons were a popular form of journalistic writing from the eighteenth century up until the Second …

Go to article

The Sophie Digital Library Of Early Women's Research: A Blueprint For Mentored Undergraduate Online Research, Blaine Hill Evanson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The ongoing problem of providing undergraduate students the real experience of research to prepare them for graduate school and careers has found a possible solution in mentored research. Additionally, online dissemination of research provides opportunities for mentored research to reach a wide audience without the barriers of traditional publishing. Important in this process is assuring the relevance of student research which requires a topic the student both enjoys and excels at. Students benefit from this research with a customized curriculum, where they are able to contribute to academia and strengthen their resume. Through my work on the Sophie project, I …

Go to article

The Honor Student, Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

Prose Fiction

No abstract provided.

Go to article

The Education Of Women: Ideas And Vignettes, Heather Pitts

Resources

Looking at German girls and women in the eighteenth and even the nineteenth century, we see that most of them received very little formal education. Reading and writing and a basic, broad education were typical. In the higher social classes, girls learned conversational French, social dancing, and enough piano and voice to accompany or sing at parties. Young women were trained to become wives and mothers. For the lower-to middle-class women this meant learning household management and the raising of children, although lower-class women did it all themselves, whereas middle-class women delegated some of the work to servants and oversaw …

Go to article

Bertha Von Suttner's "Die Waffen Nieder": A Rhetorical Analysis, Kirsten W. Vuissa

Theses and Dissertations

Bertha von Suttner lived in fin-de siècle Vienna. She wrote her romantic novel Die Waffen nieder in 1889 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905 for the novel’s influence on the German peace movement. This thesis looks at the effect Suttner’s gender had on the novel and its reception. As a woman writing about peace, Suttner was aware of the societal limitations placed upon her treatment of a political subject. Suttner carefully and consciously chose the novel’s genre. Her synthesis of content and form epitomizes her pacifist and feminist cause. The protagonist’s rhetorical language and the novel’s genre compliment …

Go to article

How Are Things Going For Us?, Ilse Frapan

Prose Fiction

No abstract provided.

Go to article

Malwina As A Female Heroine, Sharon Stamps

Resources

This story, Die Brunnengäste, was actually an intriguing, entertaining read. I read in anticipation along with the characters who waited to discover the reason for Malwina and Adelbert's secret marriage. Although the resolution of the story didn't match the action-packed movie "thrillers" of today, it satisfied me and was believable. Since I enjoyed the story, there are several things that I can think to write about. As I began the story, Malwina seemed a little like Jutta in Jenseits der Mauer, in the descriptions by others. As it progressed, I found less correlation between the two. I would like to …

Go to article

Rahel Levin Varnahagen: Harnessing The Ability To Become, Mareena Smith

Resources

Rahel Levin Varnhagen: Influence of a Jewess on German Romanticism. Life is not always a box of chocolates, especially if one is part of a marginalized race, religion or gender. Since all three apply to Rahel Levin Varnhagen, one can easily imply that she did not live an easy life. She was raised as a Jewess in a time when Jews were welcome in society but not yet fully integrated into it. As a woman she was limited to a particular lifestyle as well, and yet she took advantage of her surroundings to make a place for herself in the …

Go to article