Ole Wagner

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,3, University of Heidelberg, 7 Literaturquellen entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Ceremony is not only about Native American culture, it is also about the environment and how different ethnical groups deal with it. Even though they do not intervene in the story's course, animals (except the cattle Tayo has to find), plants and last but not least the 'land' (as a term for all more or less 'dead' things in nature, like stones, e.g.) play a crucial role in this piece of fiction. This essay will take a look at the novel from an environmentalist perspective in order to show how nature is treated here by the humans and which effects are caused by this. It will also examine how this plays a role in Tayo's personal fate. In the case of Ceremony environmentalism is also humanism. Aboriginal peoples are very often connected with their land and everything in and on it in a way which is quite different from the European U.S. American way of living. Every harm done to 'their' land hurts them very much. This is also shown in Silko's novel and therefore will be taken as a theme in this essay. In a Native American culture as the Laguna Pueblo's reality, dream and belief often become mixed. Therefore it will sometimes be necessary here to go beyond the actual events and get involved in what could be called 'religion' (even though the focus will mostly be on what really 'happens'), speaking in Western terms. What is meant here are mainly the stories which are scattered throughout the book. These stories represent traditional Laguna beliefs (the stories themselves reproduced in Silko's literary modification) and offer a view on nature that is based on harmony and a peaceful living together. But first this essay will deal with the bad things commited towards the environment, because this way the contrast to the positive acti

The Stolen Land Will Eat Their Hearts - Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony from an Environmentalist Perspective

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,3, University of Heidelberg, 7 Literaturquellen entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Ceremony is not only about Native American culture, it is also about the environment and how different ethnical groups deal with it. Even though they do not intervene in the story’s course, animals (except the cattle Tayo has to find), plants and last but not least the ‘land’ (as a term for all more or less ‘dead’ things in nature, like stones, e.g.) play a crucial role in this piece of fiction. This essay will take a look at the novel from an environmentalist perspective in order to show how nature is treated here by the humans and which effects are caused by this. It will also examine how this plays a role in Tayo’s personal fate. In the case of Ceremony environmentalism is also humanism. Aboriginal peoples are very often connected with their land and everything in and on it in a way which is quite different from the European U.S. American way of living. Every harm done to ‘their’ land hurts them very much. This is also shown in Silko’s novel and therefore will be taken as a theme in this essay. In a Native American culture as the Laguna Pueblo’s reality, dream and belief often become mixed. Therefore it will sometimes be necessary here to go beyond the actual events and get involved in what could be called ‘religion’ (even though the focus will mostly be on what really ‘happens’), speaking in Western terms. What is meant here are mainly the stories which are scattered throughout the book. These stories represent traditional Laguna beliefs (the stories themselves reproduced in Silko’s literary modification) and offer a view on nature that is based on harmony and a peaceful living together. But first this essay will deal with the bad things commited towards the environment, because this way the contrast to the positive actions and interactions with nature that form the second part will be as sharp as it should be seen. As a last part will serve what can be considered the ‘environmentalist boiling-point’ of the book, the part in which the Native American ecocatastrophe is lifted on a global level.

The stolen land will eat their hearts – Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony from an environmentalist perspective

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2003 im Fachbereich Germanistik - Neuere Deutsche Literatur, Note: 2,0, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 8 Literaturquellen Quellen im Literaturverzeichnis, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Franz Kafkas (1883-1924) Erzählung „Das Urteil“ nimmt im Werk dieses herausragenden deutschsprachigen Schriftstellers des 20. Jahrhunderts eine besondere Stellung ein. Er schrieb die Geschichte Georg Bendemanns, der von seinem Vater zum Tod durch Ertrinken verurteilt wird und dieses Urteil sofort selbst vollzieht, in einer Nacht nieder. Dieses Erlebnis war für ihn fortan der Maßstab für seine literarische Produktion. „Das Urteil“ war ihm Zeit seines Lebens eines seiner liebsten Erzeugnisse, wobei anzumerken ist, dass Kafka nur wenige seiner Werke vor sich selbst als gelungen gelten ließ. Die meisten Menschen, die Kafka kennen – ob Schüler, Literaturwissenschaftler oder einfach nur -Liebhaber – dürften wissen, dass Franz Kafka einen großen Teil seines Lebens unter dem schwierigen Verhältnis, das er zu seinem Vater hatte, litt, und dass diese Thematik auch beträchtlichen Einzug in sein Werk fand. Wirft man einen ersten Blick auf die Erzählung „Das Urteil“, so fällt schnell auf, dass hier dieser Vater-Sohn-Konflikt thematisiert wird. Es erscheint daher angezeigt, einmal diese Vatergestalt genauer zu untersuchen, die Georg Bendemann mit ihrem Wort in den Selbstmord treiben kann. Dies sollte zweifellos nicht geschehen, ohne den tatsächlichen Vater des Autors zu betrachten. Daher ist es ratsam, Kafkas „Brief an den Vater“ hinzuziehen. Dieser ist sowohl Dokument, Literatur und Analyse der Psyche des Verfassers. Er erweist sich als äußerst hilfreich um die autobiographischen Aspekte im „Urteil“ herauszuarbeiten. Andere Sachverhalte und Personen in der Geschichte als der Vater sollen hier zuerst einmal, solang das möglich ist, in den Hintergrund treten und nur im Zusammenhang mit dem Vater später etwas näher betrachtet werden.

Die Gestalt des Vaters in Franz Kafkas "Das Urteil"

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Heidelberg, 11 Literaturquellen entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Emily Brontë died almost exactly one year after the publication of her novel, so she was not able to follow the course it was taking in criticism very long. Since reviewers attacked Wuthering Heights and its author, Emily’s older sister Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) felt urged to defend the value of the novel. She did that in her famous Editor’s Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights of 1850, but not without complaining about several aspects of the novel herself. Also, the preface could not “provoke any reviews which showed more complete understanding” . It is not easy for a modern reader to imagine what exactly in Wuthering Heights made the feelings of the reviewers run so high at the time of the first publication of the novel. Moral standards and expectations towards a work of art were quite different then from how they are today. This essay, therefore, will discuss how the novel violated the moral values of the Victorian time and aroused disgust in contemporary readers by taking a closer look at the two main characters. But first it will look at the artistic complaints of the reviewers and the expectations of the Victorian readership in order to give an impression of the ideas of the time.

'Wuthering Heights' and Victorian values

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Heidelberg, 6 Literaturquellen entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This essay will take a closer look on how the events of the stories change Jody’s worldly and ethical knowledge. This will be done story by story, for Steinbeck uses a very subtle technique here: the changes that take place in Jody because of the events of one story are always clearly visible in the one that follows. Although it has to be kept in mind that the Red Pony stories are short stories that can stand alone, this technique makes the cycle of stories resemble a novel with loosely connected chapters.

John Steinbeck’s "The Red Pony". The Moral Maturation of the Boy Jody

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Heidelberg, 11 Literaturquellen entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Emily Bronte died almost exactly one year after the publication of her novel, so she was not able to follow the course it was taking in criticism very long. Since reviewers attacked Wuthering Heights and its author, Emily's older sister Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) felt urged to defend the value of the novel. She did that in her famous Editor's Preface to the New Edition of Wuthering Heights of 1850, but not without complaining about several aspects of the novel herself. Also, the preface could not "provoke any reviews which showed more complete understanding" . It is not easy for a modern reader to imagine what exactly in Wuthering Heights made the feelings of the reviewers run so high at the time of the first publication of the novel. Moral standards and expectations towards a work of art were quite different then from how they are today. This essay, therefore, will discuss how the novel violated the moral values of the Victorian time and aroused disgust in contemporary readers by taking a closer look at the two main characters. But first it will look at the artistic complaints of the reviewers and the expectations of the Victorian readership in order to give an impression of the ideas of the time."

'Wuthering Heights' and Victorian Values

Robert Klanten

Sven Ehmann

Shonquis Moreno

Velo introduces a wild bunch of passionate cyclists - frame builders, urban planners, artists, photographers, and those who ride professionally - who are making an impact. The book also explores the aesthetic of today's cycling culture and presents custom-made frames and art bikes as well as a selection of contemporary illustration and design influenced by the cycling movement. Geared toward anyone who has a personal or professional interest in cycling, Velo is the fast lane into a current topic that is both entertaining and socially relevant.

Bicycle Culture and Design

Velo

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar ), course: Twentieth Century Crime Fiction, 12 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This essay will explore how social criticism is performed in two novels of Dashiell Hammett. Red Harvest is often described as “the first hard-boiled novel”, giving it the status of a literary landmark. Here the author gives us a clear impression of his characteristic world and his social vision of it. Therefore, the novel appears to be an interesting subject to look how this kind of literature employs social criticism. The other book that will be examined here is The Maltese Falcon, one of the most popular and best known hard-boiled crime novels ever, that has served as a model for many authors. As Robert Shulman argues, Hammet gives his “social vision its fullest expression” in this novel, showing “his concern with American individualism”. Thus, as this examination is limited to two works, it seems most sensible to use The Maltese Falcon along with Red Harvest for this purpose to produce a good insight into the social criticism in Hammett’s books. Before beginning with the study, it is necessary to make clear what ‘social criticism’ is here, as the term itself has a wide meaning. ‘Social’ will be discussed in the sense, as the Merriam-Webster dictionary puts it, “of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society”. This means that in a smaller sense, the term ‘social’ concerns the way the individuals, the characters of the novels, deal with each other, and, in a larger sense, how the society is organized and how its institutions treat the individual and the group, which also brings economic and political components into the scope of the study. The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest are particularly well suited for such a study, as they both use distinct, in some points different, in some points similar ways to criticize. They also provide a look at different issues, therefore the essay will be able to cover a greater area combining the research results from the two novels. First, the essay will focus on the wider relations in society, the political and economical and the legal. Then, the individual relations among the characters and the criticism of them will be observed. Later, this work will also explore how the society influences the individual – here the hero – in his actions.

Ole Wagner

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