Ian Frank Roe

Franz Grillparzer (1791-1872) was the leading Austrian dramatist of the nineteenth century; his plays were and are frequently performed at the famous Burgtheater in Vienna. However, his works have always eluded easy definition; he himself acknowledged that his plays were shaped by many different literary influences. Critics agree only that he is a fascinating synthesis of contrasting elements, and recently the modern aspects of his work have been stressed, such as his questioning of moral absolutes and his refusal to offer easy solutions. The psychological realism of his character portrayal and the subtleties of his language also reveal Grillparzer as a writer whose stylistic characteristics foreshadow those of modern literature.In this first comprehensive survey of the critical literature devoted to Grillparzer, Dr Roe highlights the main critical debates and provides a chronological account of the developments, through misunderstanding or neglect, to his political appropriation by the Nazis, and the recent domination of sociological and psychoanalytical schools of thought.

A Century of Criticism

Franz Grillparzer

Graham Jackman

Finding a Voice explores aspects of the use and function of language in East Germany which resulted from Party control of public discourse during the period of the German Democratic Republic. A distinctive feature of the volume, which brings together essays by British and German scholars, is the wide variety of areas which are incorporated in this survey - from political and public discourse, through aspects of sociolinguistics and the teaching of German, to a spectrum of artistic forms ranging from rock music and film to poetry and the novel. In particular, the relationship between public discourse and the events of the 'Wende' is explored in a number of contributions. Most of the works and issues considered are discussed in English here for the first time, and the volume as a whole should be of interest to scholars concerned with the GDR and with contemporary German culture, to undergraduate and postgraduate students, and also to others interested in the history and culture of Germany since 1945. Nine of the essays are in English and four in German.

Ian Frank Roe

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