This paper discusses the themes and styles Marlene Streeruwitz uses to support a feminist perspective. The themes discussed are silence, motherhood, oppression, and the body. Streeruwitz's text brings the historical and contemporary silence of women to light and exposes personal and social oppression. By including aspects of women's lives, such as the role of mother, Streeruwitz provides a new literary perspective of women. This is further enhanced by the text's insight into the physical aspects of womanhood. Finally, Streeruwitz's writing style, which is characterized by minimalistic sentence structures and phrases, as well as unusual punctuation, endorses a form of writing that is more representative of women's experiences in opposition to the vast history of literature formed from the male's perspective in a patriarchal society.

In an attempt to widen interpretations, this study first explores the myths associated with Friedrich von Hardenberg, commonly known as Novalis, which have resulted in the neglect of material interpretations of his works. After an introduction to Hardenberg's theory of the Self and Karl Marx's theory of alienation, an analysis of Hardenberg's most widely read work, Heinrich von Afterdingen, demonstrates how Hardenberg was as concerned with the material and the social relations among human beings and their labor as he was with their spiritual endeavors. The self-development of Heinrich, the main character in Afterdingen, is chronicled in this study with special attention given to his material existence as well as the material existence of the people he encounters. This study demonstrates that Afterdingen can be read as a handbook for the development of the Self according to the theories of Hardenberg and Marx, in which the Self cannot favor the spiritual realm, or inner existence, at the expense of its material and social relations. Rather, these two spheres are both important for full self-development.

The literary works of Heinrich von Kleist (17771811) have long been an important influence on thinkers and writers interested and engaged in the German cultural tradition, particularly due to the enigmatic and highly problematic nature of his narrative approach. In recent years, however, there has been a notable surge of interest in Kleists works, which has led to the production of several articles, papers, and even entire conference panels dedicated to the investigation of his oeuvre from various angles. Why does Kleist still fascinate his readers so much, and what is it about his texts that allow for such a large and varied body of interpretation? In this thesis, I will argue that it is crucial to examine closely the interface of text and reader when analyzing Kleists novellas, specifically "Die Marquise von O" and "Das Erdbeben in Chili." I will then attempt to establish a link between Kleists unique reaction to the philosophical debates concerning epistemology and aesthetics that were taking place during his short lifetime and the experience of the reader when confronting Kleists texts. I will examine these questions first with the aid of narratology and reader-response theory, particularly by examining the issues of closure and focalization in the two narratives. Furthermore, I will illustrate how a narratological/reader-response approach to Kleists work can also inform a feminist critical approach and, likewise, how a feminist analysis can complement the former. In the final chapter, I will conduct a feminist analysis, focusing on both form and content in the two novellas to show how Kleists work both structurally and thematically challenges male Enlightenment values such as order and logic. These analyses ultimately illustrate how Kleist displaced the philosophical questions with which he was grappling into the realm of the text-reader interface, thus emulating and illuminating with this relationship the selfs quest for knowledge and meaning in the world.

The German-Turkish director Fatih Akin and the Armenian-Russian Anna Melikian represent a new wave of successful young European filmmakers. Their works capture intermediate results of the quest for national identity that began in Germany and Russia after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 respectively. This thesis offers a comparative analysis of Akins In July (2000) and Head-On (2004) and Melikians Mars (2004) and Mermaid (2007) and explores how issues of identity and its key categories including gender, sexuality and ethnicity are treated in each of these works. The goal of the thesis is to look into how the historical cataclysms toward the end of the 20th century affected perceptions of national and personal identity, and how these changes were then reflected in the German and Russian outsider cinema of the 2000s.

La violencia en Colombia es un problema que lleva más de sesenta años. Siempre se ha hablado de la Época de la violencia como los años de la guerra entre conservadores y liberales que se inició con el asesinato del líder liberal Jorge Eliecer Gaitán en abril de 1948. Sin embargo, esa época no tuvo un final, ella fue simplemente la introducción a una forma de vida a la cual los colombianos se han acostumbrado, la violencia. Esta violencia sin tregua ha sido tema importante en la narrativa contemporánea. Desde los años noventas hemos visto la incursión en ese campo de una escritora colombiana que además de haber sido periodista por muchos años y de haber participado en los procesos de paz que se llevaron a cabo en los años ochentas en Colombia, ha tenido como uno de los temas fundamentales en sus novelas la violencia en Colombia y la actitud del colombiano ante la misma. Laura Restrepo, colombiana nacida en Bogotá en 1950, se ha convertido en una de las escritoras más leídas en Colombia en la actualidad. En sus novelas se aprecia siempre una conexión muy grande con su país y una posición muy crítica en relación con los problemas y la sociedad colombiana. El propósito de la tesis es, usando las novelas El leopardo al sol (1993), La multitud errante (2001) y Delirio (2004) de Laura Restrepo, analizar como la escritora percibe y presenta el problema de la sociedad colombiana a partir de los años cincuentas. Con tres historias muy diferentes y sólidos personajes Restrepo recorre la historia de Colombia en los últimos 60 años y retrata, por una parte, una sociedad golpeada por la violencia en donde impera la corrupción y el desorden y por otra, el papel del colombiano que tiene que sobrevivir en esta sociedad. Para el análisis se utilizará como marco teórico la teoría marxista de Georg Lukács ya que dicha teoría se enfoca en el hecho de que la novela debe llevar al lector hacia una inmersión en la realidad. Esta realidad no debe ser una simple descripción de la misma, el escritor debe mostrarla a partir de una proyección que incluya todos los elementos de la sociedad ya que estos están relacionados. La existencia humana se debe percibir como parte de un ambiente histórico dinámico. La selección de estas tres novelas de Laura Restrepo se hizo basada en la idea de que cada una de ellas contribuye a reflejar una parte de la historia de la violencia en Colombia y que al ser unidas conforman una buena representación de la experiencia colombiana con dicho fenómeno. La multitud errante, a través de la vida del protagonista Siete por Tres, enseña el fenómeno de los desplazamientos por la violencia entre conservadores y liberales de los años cincuentas y los de los desplazamientos por la inseguridad en el campo en los años setentas. El leopardo al sol narra la historia de dos familias emparentadas entre sí que entablan una lucha fratricida en donde prosperan los negocios ilegales y el dinero fácil. Finalmente, Delirio cuenta la historia de una familia de la clase alta y las complejas relaciones con el narcotráfico y la corrupción. La tesis estará compuesta de una introducción histórica y teórica. Seguidamente vendrán tres capítulos destinados cada uno de ellos a los libros mencionados en el siguiente orden: Capítulo uno Un desarraigo que va de arriba para abajo usando el libro La multitud errante. Capítulo dos El rugido de la muerte basado en el libro el leopardo al sol y capítulo tres: Locombia apoyado en Delirio. Finalmente se presentaran las conclusiones de este estudio y la bibliografía.

Excursus: A brief overview of the opinion of exegetes on the cultural back-ground, reference and rhetorical function of ta; stivgmata tou` jIhsou` in Galatians 6:17 In their explanation of ta; stivgmata tou` jIhsou` in Galatians 6:17, exegetes usually discuss one or more of the following three aspects (without necessarily distinguishing between them): its possible cultural background, the na-ture of the bodily "marks" Paul has in mind, and his rhetorical purpose in mentioning these. For the purposes of this overview, these aspects will be discussed separately. CULTURAL BACKGROUND With regard to the cultural background of ta; stivgmata, most scholars refer to the practice of religious tattooing in antiquity as the most likely background. The following scholars (among others) could be mentioned as examples in this re-gard: Lietzmann, Lightfoot, Schlier, H. D. Betz, and Vouga. However, this view is not unanimous. For example, Burton rejects this view and prefers to link Paul's use to another custom, namely that of branding slaves to indi-cate ownership. Some exegetes merely name both possibilities without choosing be-tween them. See, for example, Longenecker and L�hrmann. The custom of religious tattooing seems to be the most obvious parallel to Paul's use of stivgmata in Galatians 6:17, and it is therefore understandable that exegetes tend to prefer it as potential background. However, perhaps one should not restrict the potential back-ground for Paul's reference to stivgmata to an either-or between the two possibili-ties mentioned thus far, since branded marks were a well-known phenomenon in an-tiquity, functioning in various social contexts. In his comprehensive overview of stivgmata, O. Betz provides numerous examples in this regard: the branding of animals; deserters; prisoners of war; robbers of temples; wrong-doers; slaves (for running away, stealing, or sometimes merely for the sake of indicating ownership [on the forehead]); recruits of the Roman army (on the hand); members of certain tribes; devotees of Dionysios (with an ivy leaf), the Great Mother, Mithras or other cults/gods. From Betz's overview it is evident that branded marks were a well-known phenomenon in Paul's time. Furthermore, one could also say that such marks were re-garded either positively or negatively. For example, in the case of runaway slaves or prisoners of war they functioned in a negative way. However, in those cases where people received such marks voluntarily, for example to indicate devotion to a particu-lar cult/god or membership of the Roman army, they were regarded as something positive (at least by the people who wore them!). Generally speaking, Paul's reference to his stivgmata could be classified as an example where the "marks" he received are viewed in a positive sense. REFERENCE To the question "Which bodily stivgmata does Paul have in mind in Ga-latians 6:17?" nearly all exegetes respond by referring to the marks left on his body as a result of his suffering as an apostle. However, this is not a unanimous view. Some exegetes propose other � often interesting! � interpretations: � D�lger rejects the idea that Paul is referring to marks left on his body as a result of his sufferings as an apostle, and, claims that he had tattooed the name of Jesus on his body. He also states that if this was not the case, Paul's reference to his stivgmata should not be understood as any physical marks at all, but as referring to the fact that he considered himself a slave of Christ, i.e. as indicating "seine innigste Zugeh�rigkeit zum Herrn". � Fenner interprets the stivgmata as Paul's auto-suggestive reactions to the sufferings which Jesus experienced on the cross. In other words, Fenner suggests that Paul experienced his mystical unity with Christ to such an ex-tent that he in fact developed bleeding wounds on his hands and feet. � Hirsch is of the opinion that the events that occurred during Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus � in particular, the appearance of Christ ("die ihn blitzartige �berfallende Erscheinung") � could have caused him some lasting medical problems. He considers the possibility that these could have been eye problems due to the blinding light that Paul saw. However, Hirsch also points out that, according to Acts 26:13-14, the other people who travelled with Paul, also saw this blinding light, and this poses a prob-lem for identifying Paul's medical problems as eye problems. He therefore prefers to interpret the stivgmata as unspecified medical problems ("ein k�rperlicher Zusammenbruch und eine dauernde von uns nicht n�her bes-timmbare k�rperliche Sch�digung") resulting from Paul's conversion. � Dinkler agrees with D�lger that Paul has bodily marks in mind. However, he links these to symbolic markings at baptism, in particular, to the possibility that the bodies of the Christians were marked symbolically with the letter X (the first letter of "Christ" in Greek) during baptism. � Bligh agrees with scholars who are of the opinion that Paul is probably thinking of the scars left on his body as a result of the persecution, but also believes that stivgmata is Paul's "metaphorical description of the 'circum-cision of heart' or 'new creation' which he and the other Christians receive through faith and baptism". Although these exegetes offer interesting and sometimes ingenious sugges-tions for interpreting stivgmata in Galatians 6:17, none of them is convincing. The view of the majority is thus to be regarded as the best interpretation

Katherine of Alexandria, one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages, was acclaimed for her great learning. This investigation focuses on the fraught relationship between knowledge, the feminine and the idea of the body in the predominantly Catholic society of late medieval England as it is revealed in John Capgraveâs fifteenth century Life of Saint Katherine of Alexandria. In chapter one the interrelations between Katherine, the Virgin Mary and Eve â particularly with regard to each womanâs relation to knowledge â is considered. Capgrave attempts to associate Katherine with the positive example of the Virgin Mary and her relation to knowledge through Christ, the Word, in order to increase admiration for Katherine as a saint. However, as the conversion scene is set in an enclosed garden it recalls the Garden of Eden and the Fall thus also creating parallels between Katherine and Eve. In this way an underlying uneasiness with Katherineâs exceptional level of education as potentially disruptive and negative is achieved. The centrality of marriage to Capgraveâs text is explored in chapter two. The representation of Katherine and the Church as the brides of Christ and the ways in which this essentially feminine image lends itself to associations with the body, as well as the Churchâs simultaneous portrayal as the body of Christ, is considered. It is proposed that Katherine may be perceived as a symbolic representative of the Church and although, both the bride and body images have implications of subservience for those placed in the feminine role they also serve to express the intimacy of the relationship striven for with God. Chapter three examines Katherineâs use of the body of rhetoric. It is demonstrated that the changes in her use of rhetoric after her conversion and mystical marriage indicate that, as a woman making effective use of the body of rhetoric to argue for female rule, she may be perceived as transgressing gender boundaries in medieval patriarchal society. The âdiscipliningâ of Katherineâs âtransgressiveâ behaviour may be seen in her mystical marriage to Christ as this is the decisive event which brings her under patriarchal control. Therefore any threat she might have been seen to pose to the status quo is subtly neutralised. In chapter four the analogies relating to the body are further considered, particularly with regard to the spiritual implications. Parallels between St Katherineâs passion and Christâs Passion are noted to indicate how the imitatio Christi and sponsalia Christi themes converge in Capgraveâs text to elide Katherine (as the âbodyâ and bride of Christ) with the divine (perceived as male). The incident narrated in Capgraveâs prologue, where an English priest has to consume a book in a dream before he can discover St Katherineâs legend, may be seen to reveal her elision with the divine through the interrelations of Katherine, the book containing her legend, the eucharist, the Passion, the Resurrection, relics, the body and the translation of her legend as an âun-cagingâ of meaning. Thus Capgrave does not shy away from the issues of gender power-relations that were pertinent to his society. Although he appears to be unique among his peers in allowing for quite a balanced debate of these issues in his text, he includes aspects which subtly undercut Katherineâs strident independence as a woman. In this way he is able to honour the saint while simultaneously confirming the âproperâ position of women in medieval patriarchal society by equating it to the position of humanity in the Church vis-à-vis Christ. Consequently, Capgrave is able to openly consider challenges to, and yet subtly affirm, the status quo of his society in this multivalent saintâs legend.

Not only did the Romans work very hard during the night, but they also enjoyed eating, drinking and partying. Although there were only limited sources of light, they used their evenings and nights optimally. During the first and second centuries A.D., there was a definite renaissance in commercial life, in cities as well as in the country. Basic concepts were standardised, such as the calendar (by Caesar), time reckoning by means of sun dials and water clocks. There were also improvements in the ways of recreation, entertainment and different kinds of artificial light. In this study primary sources of information were used. The chapter on the sources is an endeavour to combine the biographical information of the specific writers and the influence of their milieu on their writing and way of life, with the extracts from their work. Martial and Juvenal give an exaggerated reconstruction, which however contains many apt descriptions of the social milieu. Pliny in his encyclopaedia (Naturalis Historia) gives useful facts on e.g. the making of candles and how time was reckoned in experimental ways,. The question when time should be regarded as âdayâ or ânightâ already existed in ancient Rome. When the cockâs crow to announce the morning was no longer regarded as sufficiently correct, night guards were used to announce a new day. That was before scientific inventions such as the sun dial and later the water clock were used to determine time. Lighting was an important factor as it became dark quite early and after sunset, the Romans were dependent on artificial light. Not only did torches, candles and later even lamps enrich the quality of life, but crime was also limited by lighting. Prices and availability of fuel played a big role in the distinction between the social classes. Apart from the personnel of the fire brigade who could be called out at night, bakers, prostitutes, light house sentinels, doctors and bar- and restaurant owners also worked during the night. The army, responsible for the safety of the inhabitants of the country, sometimes had to act during the night, thus it is logical that they had to be on call day and night. Many authors such as Quintilian, Seneca and Pliny the Elder also worked during nighttime. The Roman day ended at around the eighth hour with the cena as the main ac tivity of the late afternoon and evening. It was during this time that citizens were busy eating and drinking in the triclinium to forget the dayâs worries. Two relevant issues in modern times are gender inequality and social stratification. From the study it is clear that discrimination is not a modern tendency but already played a role in ancient times. Women and poor people were scoffed, humiliated and deemed inferior. The research field of this dissertation thus lay on the socio-cultural level, with specific reference to the experiences of different social classes and males and females with regard to nocturnal activities in ancient Rome. This study presents a more nuanced picture of the social life in ancient Rome. The central theme of this work, however, stands in contrast with previous studies since nocturnal activities are not mentioned in passing only but are discussed in detail, in order to point out the wide range of these activities.

This dissertation explores queer identity construction using theories of gender fluidity and performance. The research suggests that binary structures such as masculine/feminine, male/female, and heterosexual/homosexual, restrict the expansion of queer gender identities. A deconstructive theoretical framework based predominantly on the philosophy of Judith Butler is applied to a selection of contemporary lesbian novels. The textual analysis of lesbian, transgender and transsexual characters focuses on the ways in which binary structures are challenged by the multiplicity of gender expressions depicted within a variety of sociopolitical contexts. The reality of gender-based violence is investigated as a significant consequence of hegemonic power structures. The charge against butch/femme identity as imitative of heterosexual norms is challenged by demonstrating how such a category functions as a parodic subversion of heteronormative ideals. Female masculinity is also presented as a powerful identity category that inverts expectations of dominant masculinity, while allowing for an interrogation of the connection between sex and gender. From the arguments presented in this dissertation, what emerges very clearly is that queer gender identities empower the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex) community when identity is freed from the constraints of heteronormative discourse.

This study discusses Melvin Seeman's 1959 theory of alienation within a postmodern, post-structuralist and systems theory context. Seeman's five aspects of alienation, namely powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, social isolation, and self-estrangement are re-evaluated while taking into account Von Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory and interpretations thereof, Even-Zohar's Polysystem Theory, post-modernism, and structuralist and post-structuralist perspectives. More recent contributions to alienation research are discussed, particularly where sociological and theoretical changes have forced a re-evaluation of his original conception. Felix Geyer (1996), Arthur G. Neal and Sara F. Collas (2000), and Devorah Kalekin-Fishman (1998) provide the crux of the discussion on the reevaluation of Seeman's theory. It is argued, in following these researchers, that a post-modernist and systems theory approach favours a reduction of Seeman's five aspects to four by omitting self-estrangement, since the self is argued to be relationally constituted (by e.g. Vorster (2003), Von Bertalanffy (1969), and Wilden (1981)) and therefore self-estrangement is already contained within the other four aspects. The re-evaluated remaining four aspects of Seeman's theory of alienation are thus applied to the chosen four novels belonging to contemporary British Fiction: Ian McEwan's The Child in Time, Martin Amis's London Fields, Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting and Pat Barker's Regeneration. It is argued that Seeman's theory of alienation is applicable to contemporary British fiction, and thus how his theory manifests in the chosen texts is analysed. Each of the chosen novels is contextualised, bearing in mind the oeuvre of each author, the socio-historical system, and the contemporary British literary system. A short discussion of contemporary Britain is provided to situate the texts within the cultural and political milieu of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This is done in order to provide the reader with essential background information where it aids the interpretation of the texts, since all four texts engage with the socio-historical milieu in which they were created. Barker's Regeneration is however a historical novel set in the First World War, so wherever necessary, the context of the novel in the early twentieth century is sketched. The proven hypothesis of this thesis is that Seeman's sociological theory of alienation can be applied to literary texts, since the chosen novels do manifest the same characteristics that he identified within the field of sociology. It is shown how each author and each text foregrounds some aspects and backgrounds others, and how particularly powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, and social-isolation manifests in each text. McEwan's The Child in Time highlights social isolation, in particular with the dissolution of the heterosexual dyad after the couple's child is abducted, and shows how meaningless manifests when different genders attach different meanings to actions. Amis's London Fields highlights normlessness through the character of Keith Talent in particular, and obliterates meaning by making the characters' world a television-controlled simulacra, and adding the motif of darts to indicate how superficial culture has become. Welsh's Trainspotting emphasises social isolation and normlessness in depicting the marginal subculture of drug-users in Leith, Edinburgh, whose relationships are as superficial and void of morality as in London Fields. Barker's Regeneration illustrates powerlessness in particular, as it depicts soldiers returning from the trenches of the First World War who suffer from war neurosis as they are stripped of their decision-making rights. Rivers's theory of war neurosis argues that it is powerlessness that leads to war neurosis, and he links psychological symptoms to what is seen amongst the female population during peacetime, suggesting that it is powerlessness which leads to psychological breakdowns in males and females. Alienation, in one way or another, thus is a central aspect to the main actions and imagery employed in the chosen novels. Discussing these texts from this theoretical frame of reference contributes to the understanding of some of the seminal works of contemporary British fiction.