Volker Braun in Perspective

Volker Braun in Perspective PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004334467
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
On the occasion of Volker Braun's 65th and GDR/German Monitor's 25th birthday an attempt is made to re-evaluate Braun's contribution to 20th and 21st century German literature. The seventeen essays of the collection, written by a truly international set of scholars, demonstrate the unique quality and breadth of Braun's writing, spanning all literary genres. But not only that, they also reveal the diversity of interpretative perspectives which Braun's oeuvre productively stimulates. They showcase an author who refuses to indulge complacently in past achievements and an opus that defies all attempts at labelling. Braun's texts, so the verdict of the contributors, are driven by an insatiable thirst for the whole story, the depth beneath the superficial, the complex truth of our human predicament; for the precise expression which is not caught up in the limitations of the dominant ideology, whatever it might be.

Volker Braun in Perspective

Volker Braun in Perspective PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004334467
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
On the occasion of Volker Braun's 65th and GDR/German Monitor's 25th birthday an attempt is made to re-evaluate Braun's contribution to 20th and 21st century German literature. The seventeen essays of the collection, written by a truly international set of scholars, demonstrate the unique quality and breadth of Braun's writing, spanning all literary genres. But not only that, they also reveal the diversity of interpretative perspectives which Braun's oeuvre productively stimulates. They showcase an author who refuses to indulge complacently in past achievements and an opus that defies all attempts at labelling. Braun's texts, so the verdict of the contributors, are driven by an insatiable thirst for the whole story, the depth beneath the superficial, the complex truth of our human predicament; for the precise expression which is not caught up in the limitations of the dominant ideology, whatever it might be.

Humor, Satire, and Identity

Humor, Satire, and Identity PDF Author: Jill Twark
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110958147
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 485

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Book Description
This is the first book in English to survey the Eastern German literary trend of employing humor and satire to come to terms with experiences in the German Democratic Republic and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. As sophisticated attempts to make sense of socialism’s failure and a difficult unification process, these contemporary texts help define Germany today from a specific, Eastern German perspective. Grounded in politics and history, ten humorous and satirical novels are analyzed for their literary aesthetics and language, cultural critiques, and socio-political insights. The texts include popular novels such as Thomas Brussig’s Helden wie wir, Ingo Schulze’s Simple Storys, and Jens Sparschuh’s Der Zimmerspringbrunnen, as well as lesser-known but equally relevant works like Schlehweins Giraffe by Bernd Schirmer and Katerfrühstück by Erich Loest. A broad spectrum of humor and satire theories is applied to probe texts from various angles and suggest multi-layered answers to the question of how these literary modes function in postwall Germany to construct a specifically Eastern German identity. Interviews the author conducted with five of the satirists are appended as primary sources and contribute to the interpretation of the texts.

Humor, Satire, and Identity

Humor, Satire, and Identity PDF Author: Jill E. Twark
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 9783110195996
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
Explores the Eastern German literary trend of the 1990s employing humor and satire to come to terms with socialism's failure and a difficult unification process. This title surveys ten novels including, works by Brussig, Schulze, and Hensel. These contemporary texts help define Germany today from a specific, East German perspective.

Shifting Viewpoints

Shifting Viewpoints PDF Author: Meg H. Brown
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443864358
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
This study shows that Cervantes’s works actively influenced the literature of a number of twentieth- and early twenty-first-century writers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This time period was marked by numerous significant events, including World War I, the first attempts at democracy, the rise of the Nazis, World War II, the division of Germany, and the eventual reunification of Germany. Representations of characters created by Cervantes reflect the shifting viewpoints of monarchism, imperialism, communism, fascism, socialism, and capitalism. A number of German-speaking authors of this time creatively modify Don Quixote, vacillating between regarding Don Quixote as a fool or a hero. The emphasis here is on the question of how an author uses Cervantes’s Don Quixote and The Conversation of the Dogs to come to terms with his or her own preoccupations in a given socio-political context. This book explores literary works by German-speaking authors that engage in an intertextual play with a text written by Cervantes.

Local - Global Narratives

Local - Global Narratives PDF Author: Renate Rechtien
Publisher: Rodopi
ISBN: 9042022612
Category : German literature
Languages : en
Pages : 563

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Book Description
Over the past decade and a half, Germany has experienced a period of political and cultural turbulence which many have attributed to the combined challenges of unification and globalisation. In response to growing exposure to global markets, politics and migration debates about identity have increasingly been renationalised. At the same time, there has been a notable reappraisal in Germany (and in German Studies) of the regional and global as spaces for the construction of identity. This volume sets out to explore these complex and at times contradictory trends, focusing in particular on developments in Germany since the 1970s, although chapters treating earlier periods are also included. The volume brings together British, Irish, German, Canadian and American scholars working in the field, and resulted from a conference organised by Women in German Studies at the University of Bath. The first section is primarily concerned with the specifically German concept of locality known as Heimat and its changing relationship with the global. Included are explorations of the writings of Kafka, Bachmann, Johnson, Sell, Wolf, Brinkmann and Jelinek amongst others as well as films by Schlöndorff and Steyerl. The second section focuses on the impact of the global on institutions and rituals such as commemoration, memorialisation, and architecture, which have traditionally been influential in shaping national self-images. Overall, this volume concludes that the nature of the relationship to the local has fundamentally changed under the impact of globalisation.

Schaltstelle

Schaltstelle PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9042032146
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 551

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Book Description
Erstmals liegt mit Schaltstelle eine umfassende Studie zur zeitgenössischen deutschsprachigen Lyrik auf der Schwelle zum 21. Jahrhundert vor. In einem breiten Spektrum an Beiträgen international renommierter Experten aus Deutschland, Großbritannien, den USA, Kanada, Italien und den Niederlanden präsentiert diese Untersuchung ausführliche Analysen zu bekannten Größen (wie Volker Braun, Ulrike Draesner, Durs Grünbein, Ernst Jandl, Barbara Köhler, Friederike Mayröcker, Brigitte Oleschinski und Raoul Schrott), eingehende Betrachtungen zur Lyrik des Körpers, zur Verwendung von Klischee-Bildern, zum Topos der Kindheit oder zur ‘neuen Schlichtheit’, sowie Beiträge zur jüngsten Generation von Dichterinnen und Dichtern, die im neuen Jahrhundert ihren Einstand gegeben haben. Untersuchungen zu individuellen Gedichtsammlungen ergänzen sich mit Abhandlungen, die Dialoge über die Jahrhundertgrenzen hinweg aufzeigen oder den Einfluß von Schlüsselfiguren wie Paul Celan und Gottfried Benn nachweisen. Zudem enthält der Band ein Interview mit Heinz Czechowski und neue Gedichte von acht führenden deutschsprachigen Lyrikerinnen und Lyrikern. Zu oft wird in Diskussionen zur Literatur in der Berliner Republik die Lyrik marginalisiert: dieser Band zeigt, daß sie im Gegenteil eine unerläßliche Rolle zu spielen hat. Für Wissenschaftler und Studierende der Germanistik, wie überhaupt für alle, die an den Entwicklungen auf dem Gebiet der modernen Lyrik interessiert sind, sollte diese Veröffentlichung zur Pflichtlektüre erhoben werden. Schaltstelle presents a pioneering examination of contemporary German poetry at the turn of the twenty-first century. Internationally recognised experts from Germany, UK, USA, Canada, Italy and the Netherlands offer a first assessment of the paths that German poetry has taken into the new millennium. Alongside in-depth analyses of established names are broader surveys of poetry of the body, the use of cliché, theories of metaphor, the topos of childhood, the ‘new simplicity’, and contributions dedicated to the youngest generation of poets making their debut in the new century. The volume also contains an interview with Heinz Czechowski, a substantial Bibliography and new poems by eight leading poets. Poetry is too often marginalised in discussions about literature in the Berlin Republic: this volume demonstrates that it has a vital role to play at their heart.

German Reunification and the Legacy of GDR Literature and Culture

German Reunification and the Legacy of GDR Literature and Culture PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004359788
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
This collection of academic articles and personal reflections explores German reunification and the legacy of GDR literature and culture. It examines a broad range of genres and combines perspectives on both lesser-known and more established writers.

Celluloid Revolt

Celluloid Revolt PDF Author: Christina Gerhardt
Publisher: Screen Cultures: German Film a
ISBN: 1571139958
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Provides new insights into German-language cinema around 1968 and its relationship to the period's epoch-making cultural and political happenings.

Commitment and Compassion

Commitment and Compassion PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9401208077
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
The writer, scientist, philosopher, and radical democrat Georg Büchner (1813-1837) occupies a unique place in the cultural legacy of the German-speaking countries. Born into an epoch of inevitable, yet arrested historical transition, Büchner produced a small but exceptionally rich body of work. This collection of essays in English and in German considers the full spectrum of his writings, the political pamphlet Der Hessische Landbote, the dramas Danton’s Tod, Leonce und Lena, Woyzeck, and the fragmentary narrative Lenz, as well as the letters, the philosophical lectures on Descartes and Spinoza, and the scientific texts. The essays examine connections between these works, study texts in detail, debate ways of editing them, and trace their reception in contemporary literature and film. The novel readings presented here not only celebrate Büchner on the eve of his bicentenary birthday but also insert this untimely figure into discussions of the revolution-restoration dynamic and realism in poetics and politics.

New Critical Perspectives on Martin Walser

New Critical Perspectives on Martin Walser PDF Author: Frank Pilipp
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 9781879751675
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
Critical essays on contemporary German novelist. Martin Walser (born 1927) is one of the most prolific contemporary German novelists, and one with a place in world literature. His work provides an astute critical commentary in novelistic form on postwar Germany. The present volume comprises essays by eleven Walser experts on various aspects of his writings, with concentration on the novels of the last 15 years, books such as Runaway Horse (1978), The Inner Man (1979), The Swan Villa(1980), Letter to Lord Liszt (1982), and In Defense of Childhood (1991). Parallels and influences discussed in these studies include Schiller, Richardson, Hofmannsthal, Kafka, Thomas Mann, Marcel Proust, Updike, Brecht, and Walter Kempowski.