Tübingen, Phil. F., Diss. v. 4. Nov. 1953 (Nicht f. d. Aust.).

In the aftermath of the failed revolution of 1848, which had been sparked by demands for democracy and constitutional reform, Germany’s princes reluctantly introduced new freedoms regarding print and the right to assembly. However, reactionary forces in governments unwilling to cede power quickly repressed these freedoms, leading to tighter controls on public and private life. Consequently, dispirited citizens clutched at the old Biedermeier ways, withdrawing to an “ill-remembered social order of bygone days” (Shorter 169). It was against this backdrop that the illustrated works of Wilhelm Busch (1832–1908) appeared in the popular Bilderbogen (“picture broadsheets”) of the day, and later as stand-alone Bildergeschichten (“picture stories”), using satire and symbolic inversion to mock German society by skewering assorted political, social, and cultural sacred cows. The aim of my dissertation is as follows. I will start by examining Busch’s use of symbolic inversion as a way of implying a shift in power between figures of authority and the disgruntled “second-class” citizens of Biedermeier society: women and children. Next, I will examine how Busch’s animal characters, particularly apes with their close resemblance to mankind, mock human pretensions of biological superiority. Finally, I will show how objects meant to serve their human “masters” overpower them, even in their homes, suggesting that there was no refuge from the vagaries of a rapidly changing world. Key to my analysis will be an exploration of the mechanism of “inside out” and “upside down,” described by Mikhail Bakhtin with regards to the carnival scenes of Gargantua et Pantagruel, as a sanctioned and mocking way of questioning the power of the state and its institutions. Along the way, I will compare and contrast Busch’s picture stories with similar strips in the Fliegende Blätter, in order to prove how groundbreaking the author’s exposé of nineteenth-century German society truly was. As I explore the synergy between image and word, I will demonstrate how Busch’s use of symbolic inversion is slyly subversive, undermining established authority in the political, social, and cultural arenas, and providing a safety valve in the form of humour that transcends the boundaries of class, education, and gender. / Thesis (Ph.D, German) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-19 14:01:35.498

Inaug.-diss.--Münster. / Lebenslauf. At head of title: Germanistik. "Literaturverzeichnis": p. 101.

Though Louis Spohr’s Jessonda is primarily remembered for being an early attempt at a continuous opera, its portrayal of India presents an interesting perspective of orientalism in Biedermeier Germany. German orientalism in the early nineteenth century was not motivated by imperialism, and thus differed fundamentally from French and British orientalism. Jessonda presents a unique opportunity to study these varying motivations, due to the story’s frequent translation and adaptation to different national stages: France, Germany, England, and America. A comparison of these possible sources for the opera reveals the authors’ varying political and/or cultural motivations. Spohr’s and his librettist’s alterations to the story were motivated in part by Biedermeier values, but also by Spohr’s classicist aesthetics. Spohr believed that an opera’s story should appeal to the everyman but music should remain elevated, untainted by popular elements-- more in line with Mozart than Spontini. The women portrayed in Jessonda, however, are constructed to particularly cater to Biedermeier values: they are stripped of their agency, left with only passive loyalty to Brahma and to the male characters. Jessonda (the character) may visually represent the exotic but, in line with Spohr’s aesthetics, she acts and sings like a European. Spohr’s musical and dramatic constructions enhance the Indian-versus-European and male-versus-female binaries, and illustrate common German conceptions of both the Indian and female Other. / text

Thesis--Berlin. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 395-418).

Thesis (M.M.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 80 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-80).

Name of the author: Jiří Smetana Name of the MA thesis: Utopia in the Works of Adalbert Stifter University: Charles University in Prague Faculty: Faculty of Arts Department: Institute of the Germanic Studies Supervisor: Doc. PhDr. Milan Tvrdík, CSc. Place and date of publishing: Prague, March 2011 The subject of the present work is Adalbert Stifter's utopia. The aim is to outline its main essence and in part describe the motives that had led Stifter to his utopia. The work describes the artistic, political and social background of the Biedermeier era and approximates Stifter as its principal representative in Austrian literature. Adalbert Stifter's talent was versatile; he had affection for nature and art. Art was one of his most faithful friends. Stifter's Biedermeier literary works are original and in a certain sense possess great depth. For every opinion in these works is put down rationally. In this regard we would be hard pressed to find selfcontent in Stifter's late work. This opinion is also shared by the Austrian writer Peter Rosegger, who regards Adalbert Stifter higher than Johann Wolfgang Goethe for this very reason. As Rosegger rightly states, Stifter's style is also very original.1 This work takes note of the utopian features in some of Stifter's short stories and in his educational...

La légende de la fondation de Prague par la prophétesse Libuše et, à sa mort, de la rébellion des femmes de Bohême contre l’autorité masculine au cours d’une sanglante « guerre des filles » a subi dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle, au moment de la redécouverte des mythes fondateurs dans les pays d’Europe centrale, un processus de réécritures en langues tchèque et allemande, visant à assigner à ces personnages féminins leur place dans l’œuvre de construction nationale. La réception différenciée des légendes de la fondatrice et des amazones dans les littératures du romantisme et du Biedermeier définit ainsi la configuration des rapports entre les problématiques du genre et celles de l’émancipation nationale dans la période qui s’étend des guerres napoléoniennes au printemps des peuples de 1848. La circulation de ces motifs entre plusieurs traditions littéraires détermine différents types de féminité selon la culture nationale de l’écrivain et selon l’usage interne ou externe qui en est fait dans la construction des nations européennes : à travers le romantisme, le personnage de l’amazone devient emblématique de la Bohême à l’étranger, tandis que Libuše s’impose comme un symbole national dans la société tchèque évoluant sous le régime de Metternich d’après le Congrès de Vienne. A son tour, cette typologie de la féminité qui naît de la détermination politique de la représentation littéraire permet de saisir les enjeux particuliers de l’émancipation des femmes dans le contexte d’une redéfinition générale des formes étatiques et des appartenances linguistiques et ethniques. / The legend of the Founding of Prague by prophetess Libuše and, at her death, of the rebellion of Bohemian women against masculine authority in a bloody „Maidens‘ War“, underwent in the first half of the 19th century, when the founding myths of Central European countries were being rediscovered, a process of rewriting in the Czech and German languages, the aim of which was to grant these feminine characters their own place in the act of nation-building. The differentiated reception of the legends concerning the Foundress and the Bohemian amazons in the literatures of the Romantic and the Biedermeier periods thus defines how the issues of gender and national emancipation are being shaped in the era that stretches from the Napoleonic Wars to the 1848 Springtime of the Peoples. The circulation of these motifs in distinct literary traditions determines different types of femininity, depending on the writer’s national culture and on the use of that culture, either internal or external, that is being made in the building of European nations; with Romanticism, the character of the amazon becomes an emblem of Bohemia abroad, while Libuše establishes herself as a national symbol in the Czech society of the post-Congress of Vienna Metternichian regime. This typology of femininity, born from the political determination of literary representations, enables us in its turn to grasp the specific issues of women’s emancipation in the context of a general redefinition of state structures and linguistic, as well as ethnic, affiliations.

6 Abstract This essay's primary focus is on the phenomenon of "magic farce" within the works of Ferdinand Raimund and Johann Nepomuk Nestroy, its essence, main establishment conditions and its motifs on the background of the Viennese popular theater, the Biedermeier idyll and Vormärz. With respect to purpose of this essay, selected works of both authors are introduced and are afterwards the subject of analysis: Raimund's Der Barometermacher auf der Zauberinsel and Nestroys Der böse Geist Lumpazivagabundus oder das liederliche Kleeblatt, Freiheit in Krähwinkel and Höllenangst. The framework of the analysis is the historical and biographical context; notably the phenomenon of censorship and its impacts on artistic production of both Raimund and Nestroy. This essay also comprises important biographical aspects in relation to the transformation of the artistic approach of the authors in later years. Keywords Magic farce, farce, Besserungsstück, Viennese popular theater, Ferdinand Raimund, Johann Nepomuk Nestroy, Biedermeier and Viennese Vormärz

This thesis provides an overview of Moritz Daniel Oppenheim's portraits of the Rothschild family with attention paid to the artist's training and personal artistic pursuits, as well as participation in Gentile and Jewish discourses. Oppenheim's knowledge of art history and use of style in creating the identities of his Rothschild subjects are the focus of this study. Oppenheim's methods and use of art historical styles are discussed with deference to the public or private nature of the portraits, and the resulting works' engagement of both German and Jewish issues. Methodologies used include the history of style and identity theory.