The thesis investigates the role of the vegetal world in Adalbert Stifter's novel Der Nachsommer (1857). An historical introduction uncovers the implicit philosophy of botany in the work of its most eminent representative (Linne) and the logic of vegetal metaphors in the philosophy of history (Herder). How and why the cultivation of roses is transformed into a true cult and how gardening becomes a general metaphor extending its branches into the fields of psychology and pedagogy is shown by a detailed analysis of the novel. The strong rejection of any idea of grafting by the author, the controversy surrounding the use of flower imagery in literature, the peculiar beauty of crippled alder tress and the problem of "roots" in the general sense are also discussed. The question of the ethical value of purely ornamental objects is raised.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.60107 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Côté, André. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of German.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001224781, proquestno: AAIMM67863, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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