Born in 1862, Gerhart Hauptmann witnessed the creation of the German Empire, the Great War, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and World War II before his death in 1946. Through his works as Germany's premier playwright, Hauptmann traces and exemplifies Germany's social, cultural, and political history during the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, and comments on the social and political climate of each era. Hauptmann wrote more than forty plays, twenty novels, hundreds of poems, and numerous journal articles that reveal his ideas on politics and society. His ideas are reinforced in the hundreds of unpublished volumes of his diary and his copious letters preserved in the Prussian Staatsbibliothek, Berlin. In the 1960s, Germans celebrated Hauptmann's centenary as authors who had known or admired Hauptmann published biographies that chronicled his life but revealed little of his private thoughts. This dissertation examines Hauptmann's life from his early childhood through his adult life with emphasis on social and political commentaries found in his works, diaries, and letters. Hauptmann told of the social problems alcohol and greed created and used historical events to express his concern about Germany's labor and social conditions. He also used historical events to address the political problems that plagued Germans and their government. Even his fairytale, Hannele criticized the Volk's rejection of his view of German nationalism and unity. In all his works, Hauptmann challenged the Volk to find strength within their own souls and to reject the materialism of the modern world. Hauptmann's published and unpublished works reveal a man who found comfort and strength in the Volk and völkisch Kultur. He yearned for a united German Kultur and shaped his politics and commentaries to achieve unity. This dissertation examines Hauptmann's vision of German unity which winds its way throughout his works, an idea overlooked in other biographies and critiques.

Die bürgerliche Gesellschaft des ausklingenden 19. und beginnenden 20. Jahrhunderts drängte fast einen jeden Menschen in eine Aussenseiterrolle, wenn er ihre Werte nicht akzeptierte. Der Naturalismus machte innere Schwächen der Menschen wie auch deterministische äussere Einflüsse für das Scheitern der Hauptfiguren verantwortlich. Johannes Vockerat und Gabriel Schilling fühlen sich von ihrem bürgerlichen Familienleben eingeengt und versuchen mit Hilfe einer anderen Frau, ihr Dasein zu verbessern. Vockerat versucht dem Dreiecksverhältnis auf einem höhere geistigen Niveau gerecht zu werden. Er muss sich aber am Ende eingestehen, dass solch eine platonische Verbindung auf die Dauer unmöglich ist. Sein Ideal zerbricht, und er begeht Selbstmord. Ein anderer Weg wird von Gabriel Schilling aufgezeigt: die Verbindung mit der anderen Frau in Polygamie. Auch dieser Versuch scheiter. Gabriel Schilling begeht ebenfalls Selbstmord. Sowohl die unbiegsamen gesellschaftlichen Normen als auch die innere Zerrissenheit führen zu einem tragischen Ende der Hauptfiguren ohne Aussicht auf eine andere Lösung des Dreiecksverhältnisses.

Thèse de doctorat : Littérature générale et comparée : Lyon 2 : 2001. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr.. Index.

Texte remanié de: Tesis doct.--Facultad de filología--Barcelona--Universidad de Barcelona, 1983.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 1959. / Photocopy of typescript. Ann Arbor : University Microfilms International, 1981. -- 21 cm. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-183).

Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2005

M.A.

Thèse de doctorat : Études germaniques : Paris 12 : 2003. / Version électronique uniquement consultable au sein de l'Université Paris 12 (Intranet). Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. : 790 réf.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-207). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

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