Thesis (doctoral)--Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität zu Frankfurt am Main, 1982. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 246-250).

Disputats 2005.

This paper is an attempt to re-read Walter Benjamin’s essay “critique of violence” by separating what we here presume being its three-part core or axis, namely Right (rätt, as in Law), Justice (rättvisa) and Violence (våld), and then make an inquiry into the relationship between them, or, to what extent these three parts relate to each other. The method for doing so is at first a close-up reading of Benjamin’s text, where the core parts are being mentioned. Thereafter we will take a look at some of the most prominent attempts to read Benjamin to see to what extent their interpretation is compatible to ours. At last, in the concluding part of our paper, a suggestion with a shade of psychoanalysis of how to interpret the essay will be presented, together with a clarification of the three notions we did set out to investigate in the beginning. The aim of this paper is both to make Benjamin’s essay clearer, but also to make more stable ground for a new way of looking at Law and Justice and the relationship between them.

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Walter Benjamin persistently refers to Leibniz’s monad, from his doctoral dissertation (1919), to his last written work, the theses ‘On the Concept of History’ (1940). This dissertation argues that the systematic intent of Benjamin’s early work (1916–1928) can be brought out most clearly by examining Benjamin’s appropriation of Leibnizian metaphysics. The task of this dissertation is to interpret Benjamin’s Leibniz, and to follow the gestures of his text. Benjamin was not interested in presenting a scholarly interpretation of Leibniz’s philosophy. Leibniz’s monad had a unique significance for Benjamin’s own philosophical project. In his early work, this project was to determine a method for the philosophical interpretation of art. The core of my dissertation distills what could be called Benjamin’s ‘aesthetic theory.’ According to Benjamin, works of art do not express their truth-content discursively; rather, they express an idea in a configuration of material detail. I argue that Benjamin draws on a Leibnizian concept of expression. One thing expresses another if it preserves the same logical relationships as that which it represents. According to Benjamin, an idea is the most adequate expression of a work: it preserves the configuration of a work’s material content, and represents this configuration (or “constellation” in Benjamin’s terms) in the nexus of predicates in a ‘complete individual concept,’ or idea. The second aspect of this argument is more applied in its focus: Benjamin’s Habilitation thesis describes an elective affinity between Leibniz’s monadic metaphysics and the Baroque Trauerspiel. Benjamin’s analysis of the Baroque dramas and his interpretation of Leibniz are mutually illuminating. The point that legitimates this comparison is not only historical, as both are products of the seventeenth century, but can also be presented as an idea. Both Leibniz’s metaphysics and the Baroque Trauerspiel are engaged in the secularization of history. My argument proceeds in five chapters. In Chapter One, I trace the historical sources of Benjamin’s interpretation of Leibniz. In Chapters Two, Three, and Four, I discuss Benjamin’s monadic theory of ideas. Finally, in Chapter Five, I address Benjamin’s response to Schmitt’s Political Theology. The Epilogue to this dissertation is a reading of Hamlet, which was, in Benjamin’s view, the Baroque Trauerspiel, par excellence. Hamlet’s world is a self-enclosed totality, or monad.

Walter Benjamin persistently refers to Leibniz’s monad, from his doctoral dissertation (1919), to his last written work, the theses ‘On the Concept of History’ (1940). This dissertation argues that the systematic intent of Benjamin’s early work (1916–1928) can be brought out most clearly by examining Benjamin’s appropriation of Leibnizian metaphysics. The task of this dissertation is to interpret Benjamin’s Leibniz, and to follow the gestures of his text. Benjamin was not interested in presenting a scholarly interpretation of Leibniz’s philosophy. Leibniz’s monad had a unique significance for Benjamin’s own philosophical project. In his early work, this project was to determine a method for the philosophical interpretation of art. The core of my dissertation distills what could be called Benjamin’s ‘aesthetic theory.’ According to Benjamin, works of art do not express their truth-content discursively; rather, they express an idea in a configuration of material detail. I argue that Benjamin draws on a Leibnizian concept of expression. One thing expresses another if it preserves the same logical relationships as that which it represents. According to Benjamin, an idea is the most adequate expression of a work: it preserves the configuration of a work’s material content, and represents this configuration (or “constellation” in Benjamin’s terms) in the nexus of predicates in a ‘complete individual concept,’ or idea. The second aspect of this argument is more applied in its focus: Benjamin’s Habilitation thesis describes an elective affinity between Leibniz’s monadic metaphysics and the Baroque Trauerspiel. Benjamin’s analysis of the Baroque dramas and his interpretation of Leibniz are mutually illuminating. The point that legitimates this comparison is not only historical, as both are products of the seventeenth century, but can also be presented as an idea. Both Leibniz’s metaphysics and the Baroque Trauerspiel are engaged in the secularization of history. My argument proceeds in five chapters. In Chapter One, I trace the historical sources of Benjamin’s interpretation of Leibniz. In Chapters Two, Three, and Four, I discuss Benjamin’s monadic theory of ideas. Finally, in Chapter Five, I address Benjamin’s response to Schmitt’s Political Theology. The Epilogue to this dissertation is a reading of Hamlet, which was, in Benjamin’s view, the Baroque Trauerspiel, par excellence. Hamlet’s world is a self-enclosed totality, or monad.

This dissertation offers a revaluation of Walter de la Mare's poetry; it counters two common critical misconceptions; escapism and lack of development. The overall pattern of imagery in the poetry reflects de la Mare's understanding of reality. It outlines a universe of four interpenetrating "worlds": this world, the other world, the child world and the adult world. This pattern is used as a frame of reference. Key poems are closely read so the complexity beneath apparent simplicity is pointed up. The poetry divides into three chronological stages, with two peaks of maturity. In the early peak, The Listeners (1912) and Peacock Pie, (1913) a distinctive, dense symbolic mode is perfected. After a transitional period of formal experimentation, a late peak is achieved with Bells and Grass (1941) and The Burning-Glass (1945), where symbolic imagery forms the core for a quiet, reflective, conversational mode. Throughout, the children's and adult poetry are considered as a unit.

This thesis will show that Walter Moers’ novel Der Schrecksenmeister, published in 2007, challenges the convention of the academic canon discussion. Der Schrecksenmeister is a work of fantasy literature; this is not a prestigious genre in the German academic field, and as a result, fantasy literature is not considered part of the literary canon. Due to its high level of intertextuality, however, I believe that this novel makes a claim for its own canonization. One of my research questions is therefore – Which pretexts, or intertextual precursors, are inscribed into Moers’ novel? This intertextuality connects Der Schrecksenmeister with already canonical authors and novels, and is the key that serves to open the literary canon. To begin with, the phenomenon of intertextuality must be defined. Due to the fact that this phenomenon is the subject of a major debate, intertextuality is a murky concept. After a short survey of the various definitions, I will then classify the phenomenon and narrow the definition down for the purpose of this thesis. I use two major works on intertextuality: an anthology by Ulrich Broich and Manfred Pfister entitled Intertextualität. Formen, Funktionen, anglistischen Fallstudien, and Peter Stocker’s work on intertextuality, Theorie der intertextuellen Lektüre. In my opinion, these works define intertextuality very clearly, work against the inaccuracy of the concept in general and provide a consistent definition. Furthermore, in order to make the concept of intertextuality useful for the analysis of this novel, the form and function of the phenomenon are formulated. Additionally, the term “canon” is defined. This concept is also the object of a contentious discussion. For this reason, the general definition of canon is the starting point and must be subsumed under the definitions of the main canon types which are important for this thesis – the “Muster- oder Spitzenkanon” (main or high canon) and “Subkanon” (subcanon). Following this, the connection between intertextuality and canon is discussed. In the analysis, three themes in the novel are chosen to show the form and functions of the intertextuality present in Moers’ text. First, I discuss the motif of talking animals, then the motif of trees, and last but not least the theme of adaption or pastiche of Gottfried Keller’s story Spiegel das Kätzchen. The aim of my analysis is to show the variety of forms and functions of intertextuality, and therefore its importance in this novel. Moreover, the authors and works inscribed into Moers’ story must be classified in order to make a statement about their membership in the academic canon. The result of this analysis is important for the discussion of the canon in the thesis. The last part of this thesis deals with the relationship between intertextuality and canon in this novel. The results of the analysis clearly show the basis of Der Schreckensmeister’s close ties to already canonized works. All of the older works discussed inscribed into Moers’ novel and discussed in the thesis are established classics. Thus it can be argued that Der Schrecksenmeister makes a claim for its own membership in the literary canon.

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