Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Universität, Hannover, 2005/2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [336]-352).

Universiẗat, Diss., 1973 u.d.T.: Richter, Günther: Soziologische Aspekte der rhetorischen Kommunikation--Halle.

Thesis (doctoral)--Tübingen, 1966. / Vita. Includes index. Includes bibliographical references (p. 500-508).

This thesis focuses on the writings of Anant Kumar, an Indian author living in Germany and writing in German. It includes an introduction that examines the long history of literary interaction between Germany and the East. Particular attention is then devoted to two of Kumar's recurrent literary themes: "movement" with reference to progress and "the establishment of identity" through the use of language. Not only do Kumar's texts regularly describe being on the move and examine the intricacies of writing in a foreign language, but on a deeper level Kumar's writings also mirror the current state of Germany as it adjusts and adapts to its shifting international surroundings and inhabitants. Previous scholarly research in the field of German minority literature has been somewhat limited in that it has primarily explored the contributions of Turkish authors. In Kumar one recognizes a new wave of "foreign" writers who likewise deserve close attention and analysis.

This thesis examines the treatment of real and fictitious Eastern cultures in three works of German medieval literature: "Herzog Ernst", Wolfram von Eschenbach's "Parzival", and Otto von Diemeringen's version of "The Travel's of Sir John Mandeville". Using Edward Said's "Orientalism" as a framework for examining these narratives, this paper determines that each text's protagonists use chivalric, religious, and racial aspects of medieval culture as a lens to judge foreign cultures.

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Walter Benjamin formulated the concept of the aura in 1930 while experimenting with hashish. He describes an aura as the essence of an object that is only present in the act of perception. The aura changes from one occurrence of its perception to another. After the hashish trance, the perceiver can not remember the essence of an object - it's aura. The aura has an ambiguity, as well as various meanings in Benjamin's works: a) The aura is used in bourgeois art appreciation and criticism as a criteria to access art. Aura refers to subjective perception or ability, the paradigm of enlightenment. b) The aura is the unique perception of the essence or materiality of an object, one that cannot be represented by means of the signification of language. c) The aura exists in perception, therefore in the relationship between subject and object. d) Benjamin attributes perception of the aura as close, yet distanced in order to describe an auratic perception. e) An auratic perception exists outside of everyday life/routine and only as an autonomous artistic perception. f) An experience can be auratic in so far as an individual can understand the essence of his/her environment in relation to history. By postulating an auratic experience that grasps materiality in its totality Benjamin 4uestions the position of the subject in German Idealism, epitomised by Hegel's practical idea. At the same time Benjamin realises that materiality cannot be represented in its totality in the discourse of signification. Thereby the aura can only gain a metaphoric access to representation. Technology denies any auratic perception or experience, as such the auratic exists only in the hypothesis of a historical origin, such as a metaphysical paradisical condition. The commodity structure stands as a paradigm for modern perception and experience. Commodity fetishism denies the subject an auratic interaction and the relation between subject and object is phantasmagoria!. An auratic perception or experience is replaced by one determined by technology. Benjamin calls the latter one of actuality. Thereby the commodity denies an experience leading to the concept of totality. Benjamin's formulation of the concept of the aura has been seen as his turn to Marxism. A clear demarcation has been drawn between his metaphysical and Marxist writings. My thesis argues that such a division is inadequate and that the common demoninator between Benjamin's earlier and later work has not been analysed sufficiently. Bibliography: pages 225-236.

German dramatist Geog Büchner is considered one of the most influential writers during the revolutionary Vormärz period in the nineteenth century. Büchner is considered a leading figure in modern theater in Germany, having inspired Realism and Naturalism in Germany, but he is also considered to be a revolutionary, as he challenged society with realistic views on morality social inequalities and the paradoxes of human-nature, and rebelled against the idealistic philosophies established in the Enlightenment. Büchner was a passionate writer who fought for the poor, and with his progressive works he anticipated a restitution of human rights. One of the most perplexing aspects of Büchner's work is the seeming contrast between the tortured, often immoral and insane characters and the obvious sympathy of the author for his characters. In his fragment Woyzeck one finds the crossroads of morality and violence, of desperation and sympathy. His characters are a very real demonstration of the inner sufferings of humanity, although Büchner does little to provide a solution to them. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and understand Büchner's motives for the play. To do so one must research his historical background as well as the author's own aesthetic, political, religious and social views. Since Büchner died before his drama Woyzeck was finished, it has remained a fragment. This paper also considers two versions of this fragment; the first version in discussion is reconstructed by Werner R. Lehmann, and the second by Fritz Bergemann. In the conclusion only one version will be chosen as the best resolution to the work. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2007. / November 9, 2007. / Georg Buechner, Woyzeck, Religionsunterricht, Nature, Enlightenment, Bergemann, Lehmann Vanity, Ideals, Morality, Suffering, Rousseau, desperation, sympathey, poverty, humanity, Romanticism / Includes bibliographical references. / Winnifred Adolph, Professor Directing Thesis; Birgit Maier-Katkin, Committee Member; Christine Lehleiter, Committee Member.

Elfriede Jelinek's play Wolken.Heim. explores German identity. Through her use of the "montage" technique she arranges quotes from German thinkers—among others, Hölderlin, Hegel, Fichte, Kleist, Heidegger, and the "Rote Armee Faktion" ("RAF")—in such a way that one can see commonalities, contradictions and interesting points made by these authors about German identity as it progresses through eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century German thought. Jelinek's selection, placement and slight alterations of the quotes speak to the type of theatre that she desires—a world in which the actor's physical presence and the import of the lines that he speaks meld into a unified whole. In the case of Wolken.Heim., as both text and play, this unification is only possible through the imagination of the reader and audience member. The following paper explores her theory of unifying one's body with language, and the various ways in which the theory manifests itself in her writing of Wolken.Heim. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2006. / November 6, 2006. / Austrian Theater, Elfriede Jelinek, Wolken.Heim / Includes bibliographical references. / Winnifred Adolph, Professor Directing Thesis; Birgit Maier-Katkin, Committee Member; John Simons, Committee Member.