The intent of this study is twofold: (1) To present a reading of The Tin Drum, both novel and film, with the objective of discovering whether the same basic theme and tone are present in both. (2) To evaluate how the novel and film compare in terms of modernist and popular art. / In evaluating the faithfulness of Volker Schlondorff's film adaptation of the Gunter Grass novel The Tin Drum, one must measure the extent to which film theme and tone are consistent with those of the novel. Wolfgang Iser's phenomenological approach to the act of reading offers a useful methodology. According to Iser, the reading of a text, whether filmic or literary, involves the interrelationship between text and reader and is viewed as an open-ended process by which the reader attempts to make sense of the work. Texts which leave numerous gaps in perspective for the reader to fill or which contradict reader expectations (negations) are considered modernist, whereas texts which require little active involvement from the reader are classified as popular or light literature or film. / The tone of The Tin Drum, both novel and film, centers around loss, insecurity, and the tension of being between "faith and disillusionment." The novel produces an intellectually based insecurity for the reader whereas the film operates on the basis of emotional response, mostly through audience identification with the loss and insecurity experienced by Oskar, the main character. / The novel and film have vastly different themes. The novel deals with issues such as war guilt, sanity and insanity, and rationality and irrationality, especially with reference to Germany during World War II. The film reconstructs a story of a small boy who, for the most part, remains distant from the events of the war, and what we experience concerns his search for security mostly from women, and his inability to find it. / As a straightforward chronological presentation of events and characters described in the novel, the film is less demanding and consequently less modernist than the book. The filmic sequence of events is much more accessible than those in the book: A little boy decides to remain three years old and three feet tall. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-04, Section: A, page: 1158. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

An analysis of Hermann Hesse's three novels Demian, Siddhartha, and Der Steppenwolf is presented within the framework of world mythology as outlined by Joseph Campbell in his work The Hero With a Thousand Faces. The study seeks to deduce the meaning of the works through analysis of their mythological structure with the ultimate objective of clarifying the way Hesse views the relationship between human desire and experience. This presentation of desire and experience is seen through the development of the characters and the delineation of the plots. / In Chapter I particular notice is given to the typical structure of world mythology. Additional attention is given to Hesse's knowledge of world mythology and his own interpretation of the importance of the mythological journey. Finally, this chapter reviews three scholarly works concerned with myth in the novels of Hesse. / Chapter II analyzes Hesse's novel Demian and shows how it reflects the typical pattern of world mythology on two levels. First, the study demonstrates that the external structure, the sequence of events, is similar to the mythological pattern. Second, it illustrates that the internal structure, the conscious and unconscious events that occur, also coincide with the mythological structure. / Chapter III on Siddhartha shows that the novel also conforms to the pattern of world mythology closely. The analysis is again on two levels, external and internal. / Chapter IV studies Hesse's novel Der Steppenwolf. In showing that the events of Der Steppenwolf follow the basic pattern of world mythology the study focuses on the internal structure. / From these analyses it becomes possible to deduce a pattern for Hesse's presentation of the relationship between human desire and experience. Chapter V, then, depicts this pattern as Hesse wrestles with the problems of human existence. This chapter concludes the study and establishes that Hesse has used an artistic application of the triadic structure common to world mythology to organize plot delineation and as a vehicle of communication for character development. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-12, Section: A, page: 3925. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 37-10, Section: A, page: 6491. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1976.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University OF MICHIGAN.

The literature of the German Democratic Republic is not always a serious realm where problems of German fascism, East-West relations, and Marxist class struggle are treated in the sober manner of socialist realism. Currently, the character of the fool appears in various guises adding humor and depth to the literary analysis of these problems. Hermann Kant's Der Aufenthalt examines problems through the eyes of a picaresque fool. Humor is produced by various means. In Irmtraud Morgner's Amanda, the satiric Eulenspiegel uses similar techniques to criticize and to encourage change through laughter. Volker Braun's Hinze-Kunze-Roman explores the relationship of leader and led through the humor of a fool-like modern comedy team.

Ingeborg Bachmann in Malina and Brigitte Schwaiger in Lange Abwesenheit describe the absence of a good father-daughter-relationship. In the second half of the twentieth century authors became interested in what their fathers left behind both privately and politically. Malina and Lange Abwesenheit are a glance backward by the daughters at their lives with their fathers. The daughters search for positive aspects of those relationships and strive to understand both the strengths and the weaknesses of their fathers in order to achieve self-identification. Bachmann and Schwaiger avoid the closed novel form, writing non-chronologically by breaking up their works with dreams, diaries, letters and conversation.

The views of Quintilian, Benjamin and Blumenberg on allegory and metaphor, together with a critical appraisal of Vico's and Frye's theories on myth provide the theoretical framework for the investigations undertaken in this thesis. An analysis of the depiction of city life in Rilke's early works helps establish the function of the city-allegory in the Tenth Duino Elegy. This function is further developed, in detail, in the central third chapter of the thesis, which offers a text-immanent examination of the early stages of the elegy. The mythology manifested in the second half of the poem serves to illustrate the crucial significance of the contrast between city and landscape in Rilke's poetology. Finally, the paradigm of Meister Eckhart's "unio mystica" is used in an attempt to present a new interpretation of the final eight lines of the elegy.

The first and third versions of Wieland's Die Geschichte des Agathon differ from each other in various ways. One observes differences in style, wording, chapter grouping, and other "superficial" changes. There are also major differences in content. Chief among these are the "Danae Geschichte" and the episode at Tarent, which are depicted in detail only in the third version. The respective endings of the two works are remarkably different, and one observes a development in Agathon's character more completely in the third version. Agathon's character development is central to the question whether or not Agathon is a "Bildungsroman".

The translation of Von sente Brandan is based on a text from Carl Schroder's book: Sankt Brandan. Ein lateinischer and drei deutsche Texte, published by Eduard Besold in Erlangen in 1871. Of these four texts, Von sente Brandan is a MHG version which is a transcription of a 14th century manuscript. It is loosely based on the Latin Navigatio sancti Brendani and shows influence of 12th century "Spielmannsdichtung". It is written in rhymed couplets, and consists of 1935 lines. In this version Saint Brendan burns a book when he is angered by what he thinks are fictitious accounts of miracles and wonders. As a punishment, God orders him to sail the seas for nine years until he believes what he has read. After a successful voyage he returns to Ireland, where he dies. This translation strives to provide an accurate and enjoyable translation in unrhymed verse.

Gunter Grass' novel, "The Tin Drum", truly belongs to these literary works, which receive extensive attention from literary critics all over the world. Despite this critical attention, I feel that there is some misunderstanding concerning the kashubians elements. Until now, they were not viewed at the same level as the German or Polish aspects. Moreover, they were either disregarded as unimportant or viewed as a variation of the Polish perspective. Therefore, it is my intention in this thesis to present my own interpretation of the kashubian aspects in "The Tin Drum". Through the interpretation of the kashubian elements apart from Polish or German, I will show that the presence of kashubian elements in this novel is the key to a different and deeper understanding of Grass' message to his readers. To Grass, the word "kashubian" means not only the name of a minority group in Poland, but also symbolizes universal values, such as honesty, simplicity or living according to nature, etc. The novel conveys a more universal meaning and it should not only be viewed as a book mainly concerning reconciliation with the Nazi past.