Einen lebenden Künstler zum Inhalt einer Aussage zu machen, ist eine zweifelhafte Aufgabe. Während wir bei einem Werk stehen bleiben, setzt sich bei ihm der schöpferische Prozess fort. Während wir ihn und seine Bestrebungen in seinen bisher erschienenen Werken zu finden versuchen, geht er schon wieder andere Wege. "Da er (der Künstler) also," meint auch Doderer, "im getanen Werk schon nicht mehr vorhanden ist, so trifft man hinter ihm vorbei, wenn man gerade dieses zum Zielpunkt der Erörterungen, ... nimmt. Sondern die Flugrichtung gält es zu erkennen und voraus zu zielen, so wie eintrefflicher Scütze den Voeel erreicht." (1)

Among German Romanticists Ludwig Tieck was undoubtedly the poet who was the most familiar with Spanish literature. Though some aspects of Tieck's relationship with Spanish literature have been studied in the past, there has hitherto been no objective survey of all its facets. By evaluating Tieck's knowledge of Spanish literature and assessing the Spanish influences which can be detected in his works, this thesis will attempt to correct some of the previous misconceptions about Tieck's lifelong association with Spanish letters.

Aus dem Wandel des Bildes, das die Kritik in den letzten 120 Jahren von Gotthelf entworfen hat, haben wir heute zumindest so viel gelernt, dass Gotthelf nicht leicht einzuschätzen ist. Zwar muss sich jede Epoche ihren eigenen Zugang zu einem Dichter erschliessen; bei Gotthelf liegt der eher seltene Fall vor, dass ein Schriftsteller erst hundert Jahre nach seinem ersten Auftreten als erstrangiger Dichter anerkannt wird. [...]

The depiction of the orient in the German literature during the Enlightenment and the Romantic period is unsurpassed in terms of its diversity. Intercultural communication and the representation of multicultural societies are not only phenomena occurring in the 20th century, but fictional images of the orient shaped modernity and still contributes to mutual acceptance among ethnical groups. This cultural sphere was a true inspiration for German literature comprising various discourses. They manifest in the dramatical poem Nathan der Weise, which was written by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in 1779, and Novalisʼ romantic novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen (1802). Both serve as samples for the German oriental discourse which is distinct from the latter of other European countries. In Lessingʼs Nathan der Weise, the orient is a region of religious tolerance. In contrast to many other pieces of literature of that period, it is not the Christians serving as role model for human and ethical behavior, but Jewish Nathan, who is the embodiment of wisdom and benevolence. Moreover, the text breaks with gender stereotypes, since women are depicted as strong-willed and independent who influence male protagonists. The orient in the novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen is depicted as the source of poetry and religion. The acquaintance with this region serves as foundation for the fusion of orient and occident. The romantic idea of unity and universality are represented by this cultural sphere. Religion and poetry merge in the novel to create a universal religion. The protagonist is being confronted with oriental figures who have a striking impact on his career to become a poet.

Das Dichtertum, wie es von Rainer Maria Rilke vorgelebt wurde, hat in der deutschen Literatur eine gewisse Entwicklung durchgemacht. Seit der Erscheinung Klopstocks, der sich als erster bewusst zum Dichter und nur zum Dichter berufen ftlhlte, ist das Bedürfnis nach einem unbedingten, gewissermassen absoluten Erlebnis des Kllnstlertums immer stârker zum Ausdruck gekommen. Holderlins leidvolles Verfallensein an die Kunst stellte bereits eine bewusste Erweiterung und Zuspitzung dieses Bedürfnisses dar.

Schillers Stellungnahme zu Goethes Egmont hat zwei literarische Niederschlage gefunden. Am 20. September 1788 veroffentlichte die Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, Jena, Leipzig und Wien, in ihren Nummern 227a und 227b, Spalte 769 - 778, Schillers Rezension des Egmont unter dem Titel: Uber "Egmont', Trauerspiel von Goethe. Der Druck der Rezension wurde wiederholt in "Kleinere prosaische Schriften von Schiller", 1802, 4. Theil, 5. 243 - 267. Schliesslich fand die Rezension Anfnahme in den "samtlichen Werken", 17. Band, Carlsruhe 1819.

During his lifetime he was not widely recognized as a writer. His work never appealed to the public at large, and in his later years the cultural policy of the Third Reich reduced the circulation of his writings even further. Only years after his death his qualities as a writer were discovered. A brief examination of his life may shed sane light on his present position in the literary world. Musil grew up in a wealthy home and was educated according to a traditional pattern by which difficult children were sent to military academies. Musil, deciding against a military career, studied engineering and later philosophy and psychology, specializing in logic and experimental psychology.

Das XIX. Jahrhundert ist eine Blütezeit des Gesellschaftsromans. In England analysieren die Romane der früh-viktorianischen Epoche hauptsachlich das dortige Bürgertum. In Frankreich sind die Helden der Romane Balzacs fast ausnahmslos Geschopfe der kraftstrotzenden, geldgierigen Epoche, in der die Bürger zur politischen Führung gelangten. Flaubert schildert mit viel Verachtung die Menschen seiner Zeit, Hugo mit mehr Verstandnis und Gefühl für die Entrechteten. Zola malt mit der Geschichte der Rougon-Macquart die Geschicke seiner Zeit und ihrer Menschen. Sein pessimistischer Realismus ist lunchsetzt von Mitleid mit den Armen - und von Hoffnung.

At the beginning of the 21st century, new adaptations of classical plays appear to serve as a means of cultural criticism for minority writers in Germany as well as in the US. In contrast to other scholars who have defined adaptation as a mere change from one genre or medium to another, this interdisciplinary and comparative study shows that the new dramatic palimpsests engage in transtextual conversations in order to recontextualize canonical works within contemporary discourses on ethnicity, race, and gender. First, in his âÃberschreibungâ (Overwriting) of Othello, the Turkish-German author Feridun Zaimoglu overwrites standard translation German with a multilingual German hybrid to underscore the discursive power of racist ascriptions. With its cast of three black actresses, Korean-born Young Jean Leeâs Lear represents another overwriting of a Shakespeare classic with the âtragedy of the black body.â Gendered representations are central to the feminist âUmschrift / Umschreibungâ (Rescription / Circumscription) of classical myths. This second category compares the motif of female writing in Eurydice by American playwright Sarah Ruhl and Schatten (Eurydike sagt) (Shadow [Eurydice says]) by Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek. Thirdly, âÃberschreitungenâ (Transgressions) mark the transtextual method to constitute a new play that includes parts of another play. Verrücktes Blut (Crazy Blood) by Nurkan Erpulat uses large passages of Friedrich Schillerâs dramas Die Räuber (The Robbers) and Kabale und Liebe (Love and Intrigue) to represent transcultural identities on stage and to comment critically on minority discourses in Germany. In a similar vein, African-American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins establishes in An Octoroon a meta-melodrama that features almost the complete text of The Octoroon, Dion Boucicaultâs 19th century play, to raise critical questions of the portrayal of race in American theater and society. By situating the selected adaptations in an expanded theoretical context, the dramatic palimpsests reveal a mutual new aesthetics of theater adaptation informed by German and American theater traditions and cultural discourses.

Since its inception in the South Bronx in the 1970s, rap music has been characterized by a high degree of reflection on the media of its reproduction, and this media reflection has consequences for the poetics of rap lyrics. Austrian rap music is marked by such reflection to an exceptionally high degree. My dissertation reads Austrian rap songs as examples of poetry in the age of its sonic reproducibility, emphasizing the unique character of Austrian rap, which derives in part from Austriaâs political neutrality. Because early Austrian hip-hop practitioners could make no claims to authentic connections to a non-mediated hip-hop scene, their work offers an especially clear example of the construction of new and meaningful art from the detritus of the culture industry, an example with relevance to the aesthetic situation of hip-hop in other countries, and indeed, to the situation of much of human culture in the 21st century. Hip-hop, like other movements of the 1960s and 1970s, foregrounds the dialectical relationship between artistic and technological advances, and Austrian rap offers a prime example for demonstrating how rap aesthetics anticipate the distributed ways of knowing characteristic of the internet age.