<p>This thesis deals with the literature of the Russian Mennonites, who left the Soviet Union for Canada following the upheavals of the Revolution and Civil War. The loss of their homeland - the "Russian Mennonite Experience" - and the building of a new homeland became the central issue of their literature.</p> <p>The use of Heimat as an approach allows the description of both the concrete loss of the land and its mental implications, thus combining the Mennonite vision with the historical aspect. In defining the Mennonite identity literature plays an instrumental role.</p> <p>A development can be traced through two generations of writers. In Verloren in der Steppe Arnold Dyck understands Heimat in a rather concrete sense as the Ukrainian steppe and the existence of his people as a "people apart" according to the traditional rules of social interaction. Signs of alienation can be seen in the relationship to the surrounding Russians as well as in the development of the boy Hans as an artist.</p> <p>Rudy Wiebe's Peace Shall Destroy Many holds a transitional position. In Deacon Block the traditional concept of Heimat fails in the needs of the historical situation as well as of the individual human being. Thom Wiens, however, indicates a positive orientation toward Christ's living and teaching.</p> <p>In The Blue Mountains of China loss of Heimat is shown in its deepest aspect, the breakdown of the inner spiritual being. At the same time the utopian impulse is the most developed in this novel. Characters like Samuel Reimer or David Epp may fail in what they attempt, their intentions, however, are carried on by others. Caught up in limited perspectives they demonstrate the limitations of human perception. Hence the novel ends "On the way", indicating that true Heimat cannot be reached in this life but is an ideal that transforms the present.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The following thesis pertains to five short stories written by the German author, Martin Walser. I have translated these works into English. The first four short stories, "Ein Flugzeug über dem Haus", "Ich suchte eine Frau", "Der Umzug", and "Die letzte Matinee", are part of a collection originally entitled Ein Flugzeug libel' dem Haus which was published in 1955. Although I had previously translated "Del' Umzug" for a graduate course, I have made considerable changes and improvements in this newly revised translation and therefore have decided to include it too with these other stories. The last story, "Bolzer, ein Familienleben", was part of a second collection put into print nine years later under the title Lügemzeschichten.</p> <p>Finally, I have critically analysed these five short stories in an essay, by explaining Walser's main concern of the depersonalized social collective and by examining Walser's style and how he emphatically expresses through language the grotesqueness of the anitsocial attitude of the collective.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>In his writing and his theoretical essays on literature Alfred Doblin tries to find a way to understand the inner reality of the human being. As we see in his early prose works from 1896-1903, he tries to show the individual's hopeless battle against his natural dependence on his basic drives. Doblin concludes that the human being is neither free to make rational decisions nor to able to love because of his dependency on the determining drives. In the following years Doblin in his essays tries to answer the question as to how, through literature, he might come closer to understanding and describing the real dependence of the human being has on unconscious forces, but we find his first attempts at this discussion linked to basic questions about the condition of human life, in his very first works of fiction.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis will consider the serious side of Lessing's play Minna von Barnhelm by focusing on the figure of Major von Tellheim. It is important to note that we will assess the work as a serious rather than as a tragic comedy. It is not the tragic but rather the potentially tragic nature of Tellheim's dilemma which we will consider. In order that this study present as complete a picture as a master's thesis will allow, both popular and controversial views of this character will be examined. In this way we hope not only to show how critics have dealt with the major in the past, but also to indicate the direction in which modern research seems to be moving as scholars continue to scrutinize this most compelling figure.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Felix Mitterer is a well-known Austrian playwright who has yet to receive extensive recognition in North America. He writes in the tradition of the <em>Volksstück</em>, a genre which is usually associated with clichés, crude comedy, sentimentality and entertainment for the masses. But increasingly, authors have manipulated the traditional aspects of this genre to create <em>Volksstücke</em> with a socially critical message. Mitterer has been associated with a movement begun in the late sixties known as the "new socially critical <em>Volksstück</em>." Most writers of this movement address provocative themes, but have alienated the intended audience of the <em>Volksstück</em>, the ordinary people, by creating works which are cynical, surreal or violent. Mitterer has modified the socially critical <em>Volksstück</em> so that it appeals to a wide audience.</p> <p>I will analyze how Mitterer has accomplished this by examining his two most popular and widely performed plays, Besuchszeit and Sibirien. I will explore his presentation of provocative themes - alienation resulting from a lack of communication, the problematic nature of traditional gender roles, difficulties arising from unrestrained progress, and the dehumanizing nature of institutions - and his manipulation of traditional <em>Volksstück</em> elements in order to demonstrate his unique combination of the mundane and the artistic. Then I will examine the critical response to performances of these two works in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, focusing on newspaper reviews, the major source of information on his works, in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of his method of presentation. I will conclude by showing how he has modified both the traditional and the new socially critical <em>Volksstück</em> to create a more human version of this which appeals to a wide audience while achieving critical and scholarly recognition.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Master of Arts (MA)

<p>Marie Luise Kaschnitz continues to be almost unknown in North America despite her status in Germany as an important poet and writer. Writing through and after the worst years of modern German history, the political depravity of the thirties and forties and the physical devastation of t he war years and their aftermath, Kaschnitz told stories involving characters in various states of denial, isolation and alienation. Her characters are awakened by some cathartic event and then react to that awakening in different ways. In "The Sleepwalker" a woman made aware of the ugliness around herself throws herself before a truck. In "Life After Death" a near-death experience transforms two girls in opposite ways . A listening audience, in "The Violinist, " is unable, or refuses to hear the healing message in a musician's performance . The husband and wife, in "Polar Bears, " attempt to communicate across a gulf symbolized by his death. The essays "On the Nature of the ' l' " and "On Journeying Through the Depths" examine the effect of the Nazi regime on the German psyche and the best route to healing . Through these stories and essays we can see Kaschnitz's fascination with "das Unheimliche," myth, and her tendency to draw her stories from her own life experiences.</p> <p>Translating Kaschnitz presents many challenges arising from her lyrical style of writing. Kaschnitz's writing does not only speak to the conscious mind but also seeks to reach the reader at an emotional and intuitive level. l have attempted to make consistent choices and have explained those choices in the two introductory essays referring. l have also illustrated the effects of such choices by discussing two translators of Kaschnitz who have differing approaches, Donald MacRae and Lisel Mueller. To add a critical perspective to the translations , l have prefaced each story or essay with a discussion of the themes present and the context in which it was written. The select i on of stories and essays have been arranged in chronological order to show the development of her writing style and thematic concerns.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

[missing pages 78 and 95] / Conceived as an attempt to view Fontane's masterpiece Irrungen Wirrungen as a Zeitroman, the first chapter of this thesis will present the current controversy surrounding the genre, while subsequent chapters will furnish proof of the novel as belonging to the outlined definition of the Zeitroman. The structure of time in the novel will be considered in the light of Bergson's concepts in the third chapter of the thesis, which will lead us to look at the need to fill time perceived as "empty", (Leere Zeit) by certain characters, hence the study of Zeitvertreib in the final chapter. / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>As an instructor of beginners' German, the author of this thesis was introduced to the computer as a medium to teach foreign/second languages and wished to discover how effective the computer is as an aid to language learning.</p> <p>In order to look at the effectiveness of computer assisted language learning, the author of this thesis looked into the history and development of computer assisted language instruction and summarized the research in Part 1 of this thesis.</p> <p>To give the author first-hand experience with computer assisted language instruction, some computer exercises were prepared by her to be used in a pilot study conducted during the academic year 1989-90. A discussion of effective topics taught by computers as well as the set-up and results of this pilot study are given in Part 2 of this thesis.</p> <p>Finally, Part 3 of this thesis contains some general conclusions about computers as a medium in the language classroom. The most interesting conclusion, the computer's affect on student motivation, is drawn directly from the comments of the students involved in the pilot study as well as the author's own experience with language students using the computer as a learning tool.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)