Volume IV

  • Preface

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    Author: Kelley, Susanne

    Abstract:
    Preface to Volume IV

    • Licht und Schatten: Die Sicht in ausgewählten Werken Anna Seghers

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      Author: Filo, Gina

      Abstract:
      Anna Seghers was a German short story writer whose writings dealt with her socialist political sympathies and the Second World War. Frequently, her various stories emphasize vision: who has the ability to see and who does not; the significance of events taking place in darkness rather than in light. This paper discusses Seghers’ uses of light and darkness in two short stories from different periods in her writing career, Aufstand der Fischer von St Barbara and Ausflug der toten Mädchen to emphasize the importance of clarity of vision to understand the world in which we live.

      • L’Italiano: il passato e il presente

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        Author: Hamilton, Matthew

        Abstract:
        Through the rise and fall of empires, Italy and its people experienced many changes. The Apennine peninsula has been under the control and influence of many different cultures and kingdoms. One of the greatest impacts is in the language. Italian, as it is known around the world, has very diverse origins. The unified Italian language known as Italian standard introduced by Dante Alighieri, promoted by literature, supported by fascism and spread by newspapers, television and radio is much different than the numerous dialects spoken two hundred years ago. This essay describes the beginnings of the Italian language, but also investigates the adaptations that were introduced in it throughout time and its most potent influences, especially the recent additions because of globalization and the influence of English.

        • Der Exilant Thomas Mann und die Frage der Deutschen

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          Author: Hammett, Joseph

          Abstract:
          With the National Socialists coming to power in Germany in 1933, ending the Weimar Republic, many artists and intellectuals were forced to leave Germany. One of the most influential of these German émigrés was Thomas Mann. While many of these émigrés lost their status and fell into oblivion in exile, Thomas Mann, because of his worldwide acclaim, came to be seen as a symbol for German culture in opposition to Nazi Germany and began a lecture series for the Library of Congress. In one of these lectures, “Germany and the Germans,” Mann discusses the extent and the origins of German collective guilt. While most of his contemporaries attempted to distance themselves from Nazi Germany and reconstruct the Weimar Republic in exile, Mann reminded the world that all Germans are and will always be connected to Germany through a common history. At the same time, Hannah Arendt, another prominent German émigré living in the United States, synchronously analyzed in “Organized Guilt” the mechanisms of German collective guilt through an in-depth analysis of the German “Spießer.” Both theories of collective guilt encompassed all Germans and could have played a significant role in Germany after 1945.

          • Jurek Beckers ,,Die Mauer”: Das Überwinden von Mauern in seinem Leben und Werk

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            Author: Howard, Tiffany

            Abstract:
            In his short story, “The Wall,” Jurek Becker uses the narrative perspective of a five year old boy to discuss life in a Jewish ghetto during WWII. Becker has no memory of his own childhood as a five year old in the Lódz Ghetto; yet, wrote as if it could have been his own story. What Becker claims to know about his past is derived from; the experiences of survivors in East-Germany, the cultural memory of the Holocaust, and his father. Becker ironically incorporated a controversial term, “The Wall,” in his title and as the focus of this story. “The Wall” was written in 1977, the year Becker overcame the Berlin Wall and left for West-Germany. The Wall in “The Wall” is possibly a symbol of walls in Becker’s own life. There are many comparable elements between the boy in “The Wall” and Becker. Becker overcame many walls; ghetto walls, concentration camp walls, the Berlin Wall, the walls in his memory, and the walls hindering his voice in literature by the censorship of East-Germany. This analysis discusses these obstacles in Becker’s life and his meaning behind “The Wall.”

            • Trümmerliteratur: Einheit in den Ruinen

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              Author: Jones, Jared

              Abstract:
              In the periodisation of German literature, the designation Trümmerliteratur has sometimes been assigned to literature produced in the years 1945–1950. This chronological practice is problematic because it overlooks the network of overlapping qualities that unite the works of Trümmerliteratur as a genre; these works are linked by their distinctively post-war plots, their shared stylistic characteristics, and their common narrative themes. Wolfgang Borchert, Günter Eich, and Heinrich Böll, among others, were products of the specific time and place of their development, and the stories they produced reveal specific experiences of life in the ruins. Their apocalyptic expressions of oblivion, loss, trauma, and temporary nihilism and the sparse Kahlschlag style characteristic of these expressions provide a more comprehensive set of definitions for Trümmerliteratur as a genre than does a simple bracketing time frame.An examination of these definitions clarifies what is meant or understood under the term “Trümmerliteratur”, and may expose blind spots, such as the authorship of women, that can be obscured by conventional framings of the period.

              • Espacios y el papel de la narrativa en La tierra de Alvargonzález

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                Author: Killian, Michael Todd

                Abstract:
                The aim of this paper is to explore the complex relationship between literary and geographic spaces featured in Antonio Machado’s poetic and prose work, La tierra de Alvargonzález.My attention will be focused on how these spaces are defined, their limits, and ultimately how their synthesis and interaction is essential for the development and execution of the narrative. An understanding of the intricacies of literary and geographic spaces and their correlation sheds light on complex questions regarding the fundamental nature of narrative and its constituent elements.

                • Effets du SIDA sur la Côte d'Ivoire et stratégies culturellement pertinentes pour en prévenir la propagation

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                  Author: Lawry, Austin

                  Abstract:
                  Côte D’Ivoire remains a vital case in the fight against AIDS proliferation due to its status as one of the most centralized and influential state in West Africa. This paper analyzes the unique case that Côte D’Ivoire presents socially, economically and politically and how an effective and comprehensive prevention program must incorporate these three dimensions. Particular attention is given to the impact of recent cultural shifts in understanding HIV/AIDS, the Migrant Labor Thesis, the costs of the disease, and the role of war. Finally, through integrating these unique dimensions with the problems reported by existing AIDS prevention programs, several solutions are proposed for further prevention and treatment efforts in the country and region.

                  • La fusione tra la scrittura e l’arte visiva: Adriano Spatola & la poesia visiva

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                    Author: Mangravite, Gina

                    Abstract:
                    What is visual poetry? Is it categorized as literature or visual art? How does one interpret such a work? In this essay, I explore these fundamental questions through a case study of Italian poet, Adriano Spatola and his visual poetry, Zeroglifici. Similar to his visual poetry, Spatola himself tends to escape explicit classifications. Although he was a member of Group 63, in this essay I pose the question of whether Spatola and his works can truly be considered part of the neoavanguardia.

                    • List of Readers for Volume IV

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                      Author: The Kennesaw, Tower

                      Abstract:
                      List of Readers for Volume IV

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