Zugl.: Mainz, Univ., Diss.

Zugl.: Kairo, Univ., Diss., 2001

Univ., Diss.--Kairo, 2001.

Die Arbeit untersucht verschiedene Formen von Figurenrede in narrativen Texten. Als Untersuchungskorpus dienen deutsche und englische Romane und Kurzgeschichten und ihre jeweiligen Übersetzungen. An Hand verschiedener Merkmalsbereiche wird untersucht, wie die Rede von Figuren in narrativen Texten dargestellt wird, welche Unterschiede es zwischen den verschiedenen Darstellungsformen gibt und welchen Wirkung die verschiedenen Formen erzielen. So wird zuerst ein Blick auf die Verbindung zwischen der Figurenrede und dem Erzähltext geworfen. Hier spielen redeeinleitende Verben wie auch syntaktische Kriterien eine Rolle. Danach werden in einem weiteren Teil die Äußerungen der Figuren an sich genauer untersucht. Die Verwendung von Modus- und Tempusformen und Personalpronomina kommt hier ebenso zur Sprache wie die verschiedenartige Verwendung von Lokal- und Temporaldeiktika und der Gebrauch von Elementen der gesprochenen Sprache. Ein letzter Teil betrachtet kurz, wie die Verbindung zwischen einzelnen Äußerungen hergestellt wird. Der Vergleich der beiden Sprachen Deutsch und Englisch zeigt sowohl einzelsprachliche Besonderheiten, aber auch Gemeinsamkeiten auf. / The dissertation examines different forms of character speech in narrative literature. The analysis is based on a text korpus that consists of German and English novels and short stories and their respective translations. By means of different areas of characteristics, these narrative texts are examined in regards to how they present the speech and thought of characters, which different forms of character speech exist and how these different forms of character speech differ in their impact on the text. Thus the first aspect analyzed is the connection between the narration and the character speech. Here, speech initiating verbs as well as syntactic criteria play into the analysis. As a second step, the utterance in itself is examined. The use of mode, tense and personal pronouns is important here as well as the differing use of local and temporal deictic terms and the use of elements of spoken language. In a last part, some aspects of the connection between characters’ utterances are analyzed. The comparison between the two languages German and English leads to the detection of distinctive features of the single languages as well as to similarities.

Zugl.: Paderborn, Univ., Diss., 2009

Saad Yahya, born in Zanzibar in 1939, studied architecture and town planning in Great Britain and in Canada; since 1968 he has lectured at the University of Nairobi. He portrays everyday life of typical inhabitants of Zanzibar and Nairobi, displaying a penetrating understanding of their problems and of their state of mind, linked with a remarkable stylistic ability. He is an acute observer who presents his characters with humour and irony, but also with a profound insight. Furthermore, in his stories, under the surface of everyday activities there is always some hidden antagonism or passion, never spelled out, but only alluded to. Several years ago Yahya sent me the manuscript of two other stories which I hoped to translate and publish in Italy, but ultimately it was not possible. I have included one of them, called Nyoko-nyoko and consisting in five typewritten pages, in the syllabus of my literary courses in Naples and in Paris. It is a rare - if not unique - Swahili story in which the main character is a Mzungu, a white man: the British governor of an imaginary East-Aftican country called Nyalia, who has to abandon his post suddenly for unspecified reasons. He regrets to must leave the country he has learned to know and to like; however, behind the mask of liberality and tolerance is hidden a self-conceited racist. The story describes his last day in Africa after a long stay.

Saad Yahya, born in Zanzibar in 1939, studied architecture and town planning in Great Britain and in Canada; since 1968 he has lectured at the University of Nairobi. He portrays everyday life of typical inhabitants of Zanzibar and Nairobi, displaying a penetrating understanding of their problems and of their state of mind, linked with a remarkable stylistic ability. He is an acute observer who presents his characters with humour and irony, but also with a profound insight. Furthermore, in his stories, under the surface of everyday activities there is always some hidden antagonism or passion, never spelled out, but only alluded to. Several years ago Yahya sent me the manuscript of two other stories which I hoped to translate and publish in Italy, but ultimately it was not possible. I have included one of them, called Nyoko-nyoko and consisting in five typewritten pages, in the syllabus of my literary courses in Naples and in Paris. It is a rare - if not unique - Swahili story in which the main character is a Mzungu, a white man: the British governor of an imaginary East-Aftican country called Nyalia, who has to abandon his post suddenly for unspecified reasons. He regrets to must leave the country he has learned to know and to like; however, behind the mask of liberality and tolerance is hidden a self-conceited racist. The story describes his last day in Africa after a long stay.

We shall investigate the use of Swahili slang in Freddy Macha`s tiny collection of short stories Twen `zetu Ulaya (DSM 1984), and especially in his short story Check-bob This is arguably the only epistolary short story in modern Swahili literature; in fact, epistolary novels are uncommon in anglophone Afiica as a whole. In this narrative two former lovers show abuses on each other and their four letters - two by each character - unfold the story of a selfish young woman who shamelessly exploited her boyfiiend and the manner in which he paid her back with her own coin. It is interesting to note how the same events are presented from two different perspectives and hence evaluated differently.

En el año 1992 se publicó un importante libro, editado por Paul Geyer y Roland Hagenbüchle con el título Das Paradox. Eine Herausforderung des abendländischen Denkens, donde el fenómeno de la paradoja se describe como parte integral de la postmodernidad y de la obra de Borges. Estas constataciones me llamaron la atención en esta formulación tan general ya que la paradoja se encuentra en los presocráticos - como los participantes del volumen muy bien saben -, y las descripciones y razones que los autores dan para su lugar privilegiado en la postmodernidad como en la obra de Borges me parecieron dignas de algunas breves reflexiones.

En el año 1992 se publicó un importante libro, editado por Paul Geyer y Roland Hagenbüchle con el título Das Paradox. Eine Herausforderung des abendländischen Denkens, donde el fenómeno de la paradoja se describe como parte integral de la postmodernidad y de la obra de Borges. Estas constataciones me llamaron la atención en esta formulación tan general ya que la paradoja se encuentra en los presocráticos - como los participantes del volumen muy bien saben -, y las descripciones y razones que los autores dan para su lugar privilegiado en la postmodernidad como en la obra de Borges me parecieron dignas de algunas breves reflexiones.:Aproximamientos. - Borges y la disolución de la paradoja. - Conclusión