Die Schwierigkeit eines geistesgeschichtlichen Verständnisses der aufklärerischen Geschichtsauffassung besteht in der grundsätzlichen Schwierigkeit, die Kritik des aufklärerischen Denkens als Argumentationszusammenhang zu verstehen und nicht als Meinung zu banalisieren. Es fällt schwer, nicht einzelne Aussagen zu einzelnen Gebieten abzutrennen, nicht retrospektiv den ursprünglichen Zusammenhang zu disziplinieren. Auch wenn sie insgesamt als Äußerungen eines Werkes, eines Autors genommen werden, sind die ins bloße Gesagtsein zersplitterten Gedanken mißverstanden. Das zeigt sich hier gerade auch an den traditionellen Verteidigern des historischen Denkens im 18. Jahrhundert: Zuletzt wird als individuelle Einsicht gelobt (Cassirer) oder als geistige Tiefe bewundert (Dilthey), was tatsächlich Protest gegen illegitime Herrschaft, Klage auf gleiches Recht und Wille zur Vorurteilslosigkeit war. Ein Denken, das sein Bewußtsein behauptend und zugleich frei überlegend artikuliert (wie Lessing gymnastikos und dogmatikos zu sprechen beanspruchte), kann weder vordergründig als geniale Meinung noch hinterrücks als Äußerung des Zeitgeistes gewertet werden.

The author's Habilitationsschrift, Universität Konstanz. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 427-442).

The novels of Iris Murdoch, Doris Lessing and V.S. Naipaul are studied in the light of statements they have made in essays and interviews regarding the ethical implications of writing fiction. The purpose of this research is to examine the nature of the problems they have identified in the creative process of writing and the strategies each has used to address the ethical problems they perceive, and to assess the relative success of their chosen methods. It can be seen that, although for each of them the quest for truth is their highest concern, they have each developed very different ways of dealing with the problems they believe are connected with writing truthfully, and in addition, they have defined the particulars of these problems in different ways. It is concluded that the more carefully examined and individually defined these problems are, the greater the internal consistency and credibility which is achieved by the strategies they have developed to address the problems, and the more their work has developed in the course of their careers.

Issued also in part as inaugural dissertation, Zürich. / "Literatur": p. [7]-9.

This study bears upon woman and her image in Emilia Galotti by Lessing, who exerted strong influence on the German theatre of the eighteenth century. His tragedies, fables, essays and other writings have since given rise to countless analyses. Rarely, however, has that polyphony of commentary addressed the faint presence of the female characters in his plays or their often unenviable fate. Indeed, only recently has literary criticism initiated debate on the feminine condition in Lessing's dramaturgy and theatrical aesthetics. Pursing that same line of inquiry, we will attempt to uncover the logic of exclusion of the feminine Other that lies behind the reactions of the male characters in the play under consideration. We will premise our exploration on the feminist concepts of woman as image and on male fantasies of women. / Our inquiry is two-pronged: How should Emilia's death be interpreted? Where does her guilt lie? First, we will explore the "economics of separation," i.e., the universe of mental representations harboured by patriarchal man of the Enlightenment. Through analyzing the concepts of death and gender, first from the vantage of the eighteenth century and then within the context of the theatre and literature of that period, we will define those concepts and better assess their powers (death) and limitations (gender). Second, we will probe the image of woman and her sexuality by observing the characters as they interrelate. We will underline the phenomena of projection and identification as well as the structures of abjection in the play. Lastly, our study will bring to light the fiction of the masculine identity and the manner in which women are imagined as "individuals," in sum, how stereotypes are engendered.

This thesis introduces a skeletal representation of the "kind" of individual Doris Lessing promotes in her work. Organized around five semantic qualifiers, this analysis explores a number of Lessing's works belonging to several literary categories for evidence of the appearance of the daring, self-aware, public, engaged, and vocal individual. It argues that Lessing, as a humanist, is committed to individual personal actualization but that this is tempered with her personnally held views about what is valuable and enriching human experience. It concludes that as author of fictional tales, autobiographical texts as well as political essays, she designs the path of self-development she considers worthy of mention.

Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2006--Berlin. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Flinders University of South Australia, 2001. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 307-379). Also available online.

Diss. Phil.-Hist. Bern, 1963. / Auch erschienen als Bd. 12 der Reihe : "Sprache und Dichtung. N.F."

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 62 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 61-62).