<p> Representations of the reasons and actions of terrorists have appeared in German literature tracing back to the age of <i>Sturm und Drang</i> of the 18th century, most notably in Heinrich von Kleist's <i>Michael Kohlhaas</i> and Friedrich Schiller's <i>Die R&auml;uber</i>, and more recently since the radical actions of the Red Army Faction during the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as in Uli Edel's film, <i>The Baader Meinhof Complex.</i> By referring to Walter Benjamin's system of natural law and positive law, which provides definitions of differing codes of ethics with relation to state laws and personal ethics, one should be able to understand that Michael Kohlhaas, Karl Moor, and the members of the RAF are indeed represented as terrorists. However, their actions and motives are not without an internal ethics, which conflicts with that of their respective state-sanctioned authorities. This thesis reveals the similarities and differences in motives, methods, and use of violence in Schiller, Kleist, and representations of the RAF and explores how the turn to terrorism can arise from a logical realization that ideologies of state law do not align with the personal sense of justice and law of the individual.</p>

In Der Student von Wittenberg Wilhelm Raabe juxtaposes nature and society to show the harmony existing in nature and the lack of harmony in society. Society can be divided into a mental order and an order of force. Within the mental order, education is the element which separates the two orders. When united, the order of force goes astray, leading to conflict or war. The historical dimension of the story spans several centuries, making it as relevant to modern readers as to Raabe's readership. The story's relevance justifies the careful translation of each word and the quest for words that have similar meanings and connotations within their historical framework. Raabe makes us aware of the two orders in society and urges us to educate ourselves to prevent the joining of the two forces.

Despite increased interest in turn-of-the-century Austrian literature, women writers of the period have suffered the classic "Austrian fate": their works remain unrecognized. Yet a comparison of both the fiction and non-fiction by women of Vienna's Fin de siecle uncovers parallels between these works and those of eighteenth-century women. These parallels provide insight into the discrepancies between a woman's public and her private self-image in the age of male liberal humanism since the Enlightenment. Rosa Mayreder's nonfiction projects progressive ideals which are compromised in the fiction where the protagonists assume roles created for them by Western patriarchal society. Closer examination shows that women of the eighteenth century also compensated and compromised their positions in order to secure a reading public. Rosa Mayreder's utopian vision of a reformed patriarchal ideology (non-fiction) gives way to resignation in the fictional works. But where the modernists endeavor to sustain the ideals of humanistic thought even under historic conditions that prevent its realization outside the spheres of art, Rosa Mayreder does not bow to the psychology of repression or to the relentless sexism of patriarchal society. She reconciles her revolutionary feminist thought with narrative forms to which women have traditionally had access. But she attacks nineteenth century institutions associated with the patriarchal oppression of Viennese society. And her female protagonists, who neither preserve their sanity through cold and brilliant intellectualism nor balance their feminine hysteria against the dictated images of a symbolic order in which they no longer believe, are among the first who defy the exaltation of womanhood through the internalization of male humanist standards. Eighteenth century bourgeois patriarchy's predilection for liberal humanism, much like that of the late nineteenth century in Austria, lent ammunition to the growing feminist movement and to the rebirth of women's literary endeavors. It was not by chance that these endeavors were met by an onslaught of patriarchal constructions and male stereotyped images of women. By not "saving" her protagonists from resignation and despair, Mayreder forfeited her rank in the literary canon. But she should be recognized as one of the first woman writers of this century to make visible progress toward the deconstruction of stereotyped images of women.

By examining the distinctions made by Lessing between word and picture, I present the hypothesis that cinema and literature have essentially the same range of expression possibilities. However, the ways of expression are differently organized so that there are no linear correspondences between the two artistic modes. The result is that a cinematic adaptation is less a translation of a literary work than a recreation. The examination of Doblin's and Fassbinder's texts shows that there are essential differences in the presentation of the plot. While the novel captures in a mode of citation and montage the violence of collective life in the city, the movie demonstrates in its concentration on psychological types and figures the violence within sexual, interpersonal relationships. The emergence of two different contents that is based upon differences in representation underscores the essential equality in the two modes of expression, cinema and literature.

For all they contribute to an understanding of modern lyric poetry, traditional tropological interpretations betray a number of limitations. In particular, the restrictive manner in which they impinge upon the dynamics of a poem and its potential for making meaning is the principal occasion for this dissertation, which postulates an alternative understanding of poetic space in modern German lyric poetry. The "scientific-topographical" method involved, like its terminology, is derived in Chapters I and II from the areas of geography and physics and would reveal a vibrant and expansive spatial dynamics in poetry hitherto subjected--with varying degrees of success--to an exhaustive yet more statically limiting and often exclusively allegorical analysis. This project is pursued with reference to poems by Rilke, Holderlin and Bachmann. The application of the method to Rilke's "Ausgesetzt auf den Bergen des Herzens" in the third chapter constitutes an exemplary "spatial reading" of the poem, "mapping" as it does a network of dynamically charged landmarks. This example is then followed in Chapter IV with a detailed presentation of the spatial dynamics in Holderlin's "Andenken." As the poetic space unfolds here, the lyrical I is discovered in an unexpected location, one in fact that has until now been completely neglected in criticism of the poem. With the analysis of Bachmann's "Bohmen liegt am Meer" in Chapter V the "scientific-topographical" method is most fully vindicated; for it is here that the dynamic process of "spatialization" practised by the critic finds thematic representation in the creative process practised by the poet. In a concluding chapter a brief consideration of the spatial dynamics in Goethe's "Machtiges Uberraschen"--a poem unlike the earlier three insofar as it has repeatedly permitted an altogether fruitful allegorical treatment--is intended to suggest the method's potential for further and broader application.

Solarljo&part; is an Old Icelandic poem in which a deceased father advises his son from beyond the grave. The poem consists of a series of parables and proverbs, a moving description of dying, and accounts of both heaven and hell. Solarljo&part; is concerned with eschatological mystery, and this mystery is reinforced by the poet through the use of obscure imagery and enigmatic presentation. This study begins with an introduction to the general form, content and composition of Solarljo&part;. There then follows a description of the manuscripts in which Solarljo&part; has been preserved, adding several new records to the list recently begun by Njor&part;ur P. Njar&part;vik. The manuscripts are cross referenced to the editions which have been based upon them. Previous research has traditionally resulted in new readings of Solarljo&part; which have been embodied in new editions or rewritings of the poem. This has produced a confusing proliferation of different poems claiming to be Solarljo&part;. No "improved" edition is offered here. Instead, the editorial tradition is broken and previous editions are compared on their merits. The versions in Sophus Bugge's Norroen Fornkvae&part;i and Finnur Jonsson's Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning are supported as standards to be used pending a more accessible and legible version of Njor&part;ur Njar&part;vik's Solsangen . The literature is otherwise examined with the aim of clarifying bibliographical contradictions and providing a critical evaluation of the sources regularly cited in connection with Solarljo&part; . Finally, Solarljo&part; is examined within the context of gnomic poetry, particularly the Disticha Catonis, Hugsvinnsmal , and Havamal. Solarljo&part; is stylistically related to these works less in terms of direct influence than in an attempt by Solarljo&part;'s poet to appropriate the authority of the genre in order to reinforce his or her own didactic message. This message is one simply of memento mori , comprehensible on a strong emotional level even today, despite or, indeed, because of a great deal of ambiguity in the poem's symbolism and imagery. This reading of Solarljo&part; breaks away from the philological hermeneutics of previous studies to take a broader view of Solarljo&part; as literary art, seen as a living work with a voice that can still be understood.

The literary autobiography of childhood is an extension of the literary autobiography, portraying the distilled essence of the author's life. The autobiography of childhood is distinct from autobiographical fiction but includes more than the "poetical" childhood. Jean Starobinski's model of the elegiac and picaresque forms of autobiography applies to the childhood autobiography. While the structure of autobiography is preserved, there are distinct features resulting from the limited time frame. The forward movement of the autobiography is accentuated, and the teleological aspect is enhanced by the distance from the time described and the greater sense of completeness. The extremely elegiac autobiography is similar to the extremely picaresque autobiography in that both desire a break between the past and the present. The moderate forms show continuity between the past and the present. Both extreme forms are contrary to the intention of the childhood autobiography. The autobiographer may end with his childhood as a matter of convenience or to avoid embarrassment, but the early closure may reflect the author's purpose. Theodor Fontane, by means of coming to some clarification of the conflict between the principled and empathetic sides of humanity, achieves convalescence through the writing of Meine Kinderjahre. Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach illustrates the principle of repetition in Meine Kinderjahre. through the theme of "Abschied," as well as displaying contentment in her understanding of her relationship with her Heavenly Father. Hans Carossa attempts to create a new childhood in Eine Kindheit and Verwandlungen einer Jugend, in that he melds an imaginary childhood with his own, while omitting essential components of his own childhood. The result is the illusion of childhood autobiography. Jugend in Wien is Arthur Schnitzler's confession and bid for absolution for the hypocrisy and snobbery of his youth; Schnitzler's atheism, however, leaves him no alternative but pretense. As with any literary work, the reader needs to be careful to understand the author's intent, not read his own intent into the work. The autobiography of childhood is not uniform, but rather, rich and diverse.

It was no coincidence that the dawning of the Romantic movement in Germany occurred simultaneously with the emergence of the philosophical idealists. The attempt to expand upon Kant's Critical Philosophy resulted in the development of a number of ambitious philosophical systems, all of which claimed to be the completion and ultimate culmination of Kant's ideas. For the early German Romantics the most influential among Kant's successors was Johann Gottlieb Fichte. Much has been made of Fichte's speculative philosophy and its subjective foundations as being the major. factor that contributed to the unbridled subjectivity of the Romantics as well as their own penchant for speculation. While the literature of the time abounds with examples of Fichte's influence, the following study analyzes a direct confrontation with Fichteanism by a popular author of the period, Jean Paul Friedrich Richter. Although he may have shared the Romantic fascination with Fichte's philosophy, Jean Paul was anything but a devotee---nor was he inclined for that matter to number himself among the Romantics. Deeply influenced by the Gefuhlsphilosoph Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, he remained critical of Kantianism and post-Kantian idealism throughout his life. And for Jean Paul, it was Fichteanism that best exemplified the inherent danger in any philosophy that granted reason sovereignty over all other human faculties and elevated the intellectual powers of the subject to such an extent that it threatened to displace the Deity. In 1800 he published a satirical tract, the Clavis Fichtiana seu Leibegeberiana , with which he hoped to counteract Fichte's growing influence. Through the fictitious character of Leibgeber, an enthusiastic Fichtean eventually driven mad by his own philosophy, Jean Paul tried to demonstrate the absurdity that resulted from following Fichte's principles through to their logical conclusion. The ultimate effectiveness of his parody, however, is mitigated by his own selective understanding of Fichte's philosophical system. Nonetheless, Jean Paul's satire remains a powerful testament to the intensity of the philosophical debates of the time, and it is with an eye towards its historical significance that I have also provided the first complete, annotated English translation of the Clavis.

From the dawn of film history to today, film-adaption has generally been treated as the unfavored stepchild of the literary work upon which it is based. One reason for this bias is that film is seldom viewed as a free-standing work of art but rather as an off-shoot of its literary model. This perception is particularly true of German literary criticism. In this thesis I intend to study more closely the problems involved with film-adaption and to demonstrate on the basis of three examples that process of transforming a literary work into film can in fact be a fascinating construct of intermediality.

This dissertation examines the evolution and interaction of the public policy debate on reproductive issues in Germany and literary portrayals of crisis pregnancies in German literature and concentrates mainly on literature produced in the 20th century. Clusters of works thematicizing infanticide and abortion appear when public attention is focused on issues of morality and population concerns. The discussion about the rising number of infanticide cases during the late 18th century was accompanied by a cluster of works aligned with the Storm and Stress movement. These works explored injustices committed by the upper classes against the lower classes and evoked sympathy for the woman by depicting the woman's circumstances and motivations. During the Weimar Republic left-wing and left-leaning political parties called for a liberalization of the complete ban on abortions in place since 1871. The plays and novels that appeared in the 1920s and early 1930s explored the class-discriminatory effects of the law. Many depicted young, single, working women, an image that called up both positive and negative cultural connotations including a rational, efficient outlook on life as well as decadence and consumerism. The postwar works fall into three phases. The early works of the 1950s and 1960s explore the issue within the context of war atrocities and question society's view of death and killing. In the mid-1970s, abortion was legalized in the East and liberalized somewhat in the West. A cluster of works appeared in the early 1980s that explores the longer-term effects of abortion on both men and women. Two novels by women written after reunification return to a more direct political message and explore how choice affects women's lives. These last two works represent the opposite viewpoint of the works from the 1920s and 1930s, but like their historical precursors, they are opposed to the prevailing legal status of abortion.