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Scholarly interest in travel literature has increased substantially in recent years. However, there has been a lack of sustained, cohesive commentary on the journey motif in German Romantic culture, particularly its origins and manifestations in literature and philosophy. My doctoral research fills this gap through a philosophically- and historically-informed reading of German Romanticism. The thesis examines 1) the paradigmatic template of the literary journey established by Goethe in Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, 2) metaphors of movement and mobility within the Idealist philosophy of Kant and Fichte and their role, 3) the manner in which these metaphors migrate into the theoretical and prose writings of Novalis, 4) Tieck’s notion of the sublime and its relevance for the Romantic journey, and 5) the late Romantic satirization of the journey motif within Eichendorff’s prose. Additionally, the thesis serves to show how philosophical discourse of the Enlightenment had reached something of an impasse in its use of the journey motif, with the subject unable to evolve and renew itself beyond the strictures of particular models of subjective cognition. The Romantics thought literary practice was to supersede philosophy and it was mobility in the form of the journey as both metaphor and process, which helped bring about this transition and created a flexible self-authoring and self- renewing model of the subject. The study also recounts a particular history of Romanticism which charts, via the history of the journey, the movement’s youthful idealism, the fear of the pitfalls of human subjectivity, and its eventual self-distanciation through parody.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Jennifer Drake Askey / When Robert Musil saw his book, Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless, published, he could not have seen the coming of fascist dictatorships. Despite this, two of Musil’s characters display characteristics that are hauntingly similar to characteristics common in the fascist Nazi movement in Germany and Austria, as well as protofascist groups such as the German Freikorps. By examining the characters of Beineberg and Reiting as well as their world in Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless through the lens of thinkers such as Theodor Adorno and Klaus Theweleit, one can find many similarities between Musil’s characters and the fascists of the coming years. Although Beineberg and Reiting cannot take Adorno’s F-scale, which measures the authoritarian personality of individuals, there are many instances in which these characters’ actions and the F-scale overlap. One also discovers striking similarities between the tendencies of Musil’s characters and the fascistic tendencies of the Freikorps and other groups described in Klaus Theweleit’s book, Male Fantasies.

This thesis examines the role(s) played by German writers as cultural ambassadors after the First World War, at a time when culture was seen as increasingly important in Germany’s international relations. It focuses on the development and activities of the German branch of the International PEN Club and the international engagement of four writers from across Weimar Germany’s cultural and political spectrum: Hans Friedrich Blunck, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Mann and Ernst Toller. By exploring the agendas pursued by writers on the international stage and their direct and indirect interactions with state and non-state institutions, the thesis illuminates a spectrum of approaches to cultural diplomacy in the Weimar years. The thesis demonstrates how attempts to use varying conceptions of culture to diverse diplomatic ends were underpinned by manifold understandings of Germany’s position in the European and international orders; illustrates the differing negotiations of the sensitive relationship between culture and politics; and traces a range of expressions of nationalism, internationalism, patriotism and cosmopolitanism. This study of writers’ contributions to German foreign affairs sheds new light on the selected case studies and on the openness and contingency of the period, bringing new perspectives to bear on the complexities of the cultural politics and ideological landscape of the Weimar Republic.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--New York University, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-10, Section: A, page: 4287. Adviser: Mikhail Iampolski.

Focusing largely on the analysis of the representations of feelings and thoughts of literary characters or even the hidden “desires” of their authors, literary criticism for the most part has neglected to discuss the portrayal of the ‘inside’ of literary characters as a construction. Similarly, the critical discussion of texts by psychological theorists such as Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung attests to an oversight regarding the fact that they had to contend with the exact same challenge their colleagues in literature faced, namely the linguistic construction of a descriptive model for something singularly elusive and essentially non-verbal. The turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century in particular – just when the schools of Analytical Psychology, Psychoanalysis and Gestalt theory were emerging – proved to be a period in which literature responded to a particularly high popular interest in gaining insight into the supposed ‘inner world’ of literary characters. In pairing literary texts of that period by Richard Beer-Hofmann, Arthur Schnitzler, and Robert Musil with theoretical texts by Jung, Freud, and Robert Musil, this project examines the deployment of symbol, allegory and metaphor as well as the use of “Gestalten” – figures or shapes – in order to simulate the ‘inside.’ The first chapter examines the writings of C.G. Jung and Richard Beer-Hofmann’s novella, Der Tod Georgs (1900), for ways in which their respective construction of the ‘inside’ relies on the trope of symbol. The second chapter does the same in regard to allegory with the writings of Freud, specifically his Bruchstück einer Hysterie-Analyse (1905), and Arthur Schnitzler’s stream-of-consciousness novella, Fräulein Else (1924). The final chapter juxtaposes literary writings with psychological texts by the same author, Robert Musil, and demonstrates that the construction of the ‘inside’ in his novella, Die Vollendung der Liebe (1911), relies heavily on metaphors informed by his great familiarity with key ideas of Gestalt theory. In conclusion, this dissertation argues that the charting of inner human landscapes is essentially a narrative endeavor, in literature as in psychology.

This dissertation is a study of how various German narratives from the nineteenth century to the present tell stories that are interrupted or framed by discourse on storytelling itself. More specifically, I examine the various means by which authors in different periods have sought to address and undermine the idea that a story must be believable. The classic frame narrative is one example of how the problem of credibility has been confronted, and yet I suggest that frames are often employed by authors for the very reason that contrary to their perceived function, they are inherently unstable. Frame narratives, interwoven stories, unbelievable occurrences, or less than credible storytellers are all ways by which the texts examined here reflect on their own production and create ambiguity about levels of reality and the connections between different story levels.

<p>Fanny Hensel wrote much of Felix Mendelssohn's music. Or so goes the popular misconception. It is true that Felix did publish six of his sister's Lieder under his own name, in his Op. 8 and Op. 9, but there is no evidence that anything else he published was actually by Fanny. The perpetuation of this idea is by no means new to our century; even during her lifetime, Fanny received letters alluding to the possibility that some of her music was masquerading as Felix's. But how could this supposition even be possible?</p><p>Complicating our reception of Hensel's works and our knowledge of her influence over him, and perpetuating our misconception (and perhaps hopes) that some of Felix's music was by Fanny was the unavailability of her music to the general public. For most of the twentieth century, she was known mostly by her eleven published opera (five of which were released posthumously). Before she was able to plan and accomplish any sort of systematic publication of her works, she died suddenly, at the age of 41, leaving behind upwards of 450 unrevised, unpublished works.</p><p>Clearly, we need to reconsider the term "Mendelssohnian," and bring Hensel to the foreground as an equal partner in forming the Mendelssohns' common style. I examine the roots of the "Mendelssohnian" style in their parallel musical educations, their shared enthusiasm for the music of Bach, and their simultaneous collision with Beethoven's music (and the diverse ways each responded to his influence). I explore in detail the relationship between Fanny, Felix, and her fiancé Wilhelm Hensel through the methodology of kinship studies, to contextualize what some have viewed as a quasi-incestuous sibling relationship within the norms for sibling communication in the nineteenth century. Finally, I discuss how deeply their separation after 1829 affected both Fanny and Felix, and how Fanny negotiated her changing life roles and ambitions as a composer and performer.</p><p>One work that Fanny never released, and, indeed, one work that has remained a mystery, is the Ostersonate (Easter Sonata). Believed lost since it was first mentioned in correspondence in 1829, the sonata resurfaced in the twentieth century, when it was recorded and attributed to Felix, and then disappeared again without a trace. In the absence of any identifiable manuscript, it had been impossible to definitively challenge this attribution. My research represents a major breakthrough: I traced the manuscript to a private owner and positively identified it as the work of Fanny Mendelssohn.</p><p>Lurking behind the popular misconception is a broader truth: Fanny Hensel can be heard in much of Felix Mendelssohn's music. In other words, what audiences have recognized as Felix Mendelssohn's music for nearly two hundred years would not have existed as such without the influence of Fanny Hensel. This idea in itself is hardly new, but by revising this line of reasoning, we see that it is equally possible that much of Fanny Hensel can be heard in Felix Mendelssohn's music. In the end, neither composer could have existed as we know them today without the other, and their shared musical style stands as a lasting testament to their shared identity as Mendelssohns.</p> / Dissertation

This thesis is a dialectical exploration of the importance of the Jewish tradition and theology in the work of Walter Benjamin, primarily through his reading of Franz Joseph Molitor's Philosophie der Geschichte oder über die Tradition, and secondarily through his close friendship with Gershom Scholem. It also argues that the influence of the Jewish tradition is a constant factor in Benjamin's work, transcending the conventional division between his 'metaphysical' Frühwerk and his 'Marxist' Spätwerk. The first chapter presents a historical-philosophical overview of the form and content of the Jewish tradition, with particular emphasis on the seminal importance of language as the medium of tradition. The second chapter offers both an exhaustive philological investigation of Benjamin's contacts with Molitor's book, on the basis of new information gathered from both Benjamin's and Scholem's diaries and correspondence, as well as a selection and discussion of some of the most salient and relevant aspects of Philosophie der Geschichte. The third and final chapter assesses the impact of the foregoing as it culminates in the work of Walter Benjamin. Firstly, it focuses on the early essays Über Sprache überhaupt und über die Sprache des Menschen and Über das Programm der kommenden Philosophie, drawing parallels between their conception of language as a medium and Jewish concepts of language and tradition as they are presented by Molitor and Scholem. Secondly, it turns to the Protokolle zu Drogenversuchen and to Benjamin's unfinished magnum opus, Das Passagen-Werk, to illustrate the continuity of his thoughts on language and tradition in the concept of profane Erleuchtung. After each chapter, a short interlude focuses on different forms of Judaism in Benjamin's work, notably the Jewish concept of commentary in the essays on Kafka, the concept of the understated apocalypse and the name of God.

This thesis deals with the cross-cultural relations between Brecht and China through an analysis of how Brecht responded to the traditional Chinese theatre and how his drama was received in turn by modern Chinese theatre. It attempts to examine the respective socio-cultural or political contexts wherein such kind of crosscultural contacts were needed, and the consequent aesthetic-theatrical as well as socio-cultural or political changes brought about by these contacts that have produced two distinctively independent yet related forms of theatre. It is argued that Brecht's search for a theatre style of his own amidst the sociocultural as well as political crises between the two world wars made him look to the East for inspirations, and his direct encounter with Mei Lanfang enabled him to interpret the latter's acting in such a way that he responded to it with his postulation of the alienation effect and modification of a gestic performance style. His repudiation of the well-made dramatic theatre brought his epic theatre closer to the traditional Chinese theatre whose aesthetic principles he shared in constructing a non- Aristotelian episodic form of drama. In his experimentations with new modes of theatrical expressions, he did not simply borrow or copy the forms and content of classical Chinese drama; he appropriated, transformed and renewed them, for example, in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, for the particular purpose of instructing audiences in a scientific age. China! s reception of Brecht has had much to do with the country's changing socio-cultural as well as political situations. Chinese theatre practitioners responded to him because he was a politically, culturally and aesthetically suitable figure. His epic drama provided an alternative style for the Chinese in their attempt to innovate their realist spoken drama imported from the West, and was also introduced into local forms of performing arts in hope that the traditional Chinese theatre could be resurrected. Furthermore, he prompted Huang Zuolin to theoretically re-examine Chinese operas, which the latter integrated with techniques of Brecht and Stanislavsky into spoken drama to establish a new theatre style called Xieyi drama.