Search results for ""Author Peter Meilaender""

Book Synopsis«Schuchalter’s comprehensive study of the enigmatic author Charles Sealsfield is a welcome contribution to German-American studies. He convincingly explains the development of Sealsfield’s political philosophy: After having fled Europe, the former Catholic priest discovered liberalism and saw its promises fulfilled in the New World before getting disgruntled with actual developments in the USA since the late 1830s.» (Wynfrid Kriegleder, Professor of Modern German Literature, University of Vienna) This work explores the literary phenomenon of Charles Sealsfield, known throughout much of his career as «the Great Unknown» and for a brief time as «Seatsfield, the Greatest American Author.» Sealsfield, a runaway Moravian monk, living in permanent disguise, reinvented himself as an American author and the self-proclaimed founder of a new novel form. Despite publishing works both in English and in German, he has been relegated to a marginalized, if not forgotten, place in the American canon and a constricted place in the German canon. This study examines his fiction and travel books, as well as his correspondence, and strives for a reassessment of his achievement in both canons.Table of ContentsContents: Sealsfield’s Lexicon – A Political Fable – Europe Redux – A New Kind of Romance – Mexico in a New Key – «The Moneycracy» – «The Great American Novel» – «Brave New World» – Back to the Future – «The Pilgrims’ Regress» – Epilogue:　«The ghostly—Mr. Sealsfield» or Sealsfield’s Enigmatic Correspondence.

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Book Synopsis«Murderous Mothers is both an homage to and a critical reflection on the multiple Medea figures that populate late twentieth-century German literature. Claire Scott artfully demonstrates how feminist politics and women’s issues – from abstract questions about the power of women’s bodies and voices, to concrete matters like abortion and sexual violence – speak through this ancient myth, transforming it into something vital and urgent. Scott’s own voice is crystal clear throughout, which allows the layers of productive critique to shine through. With its sophisticated literary analyses, its deep engagement with feminist and postcolonial theory, and its lucid and accessible style, Murderous Mothers will interest and provoke a range of readers and critics.» (Kata Gellen, Duke University) 　 «Murderous Mothers explores the ambiguities of literary Medea adaptations in beautifully written, engaging prose. For anyone interested in the aesthetics and politics of contemporary literature, this book offers brilliant examples of how literary adaptations of classical myths can contribute to contemporary political discourses on motherhood, reproductive rights, gender, and rage.» (Maria Stehle, University of Tennessee, Knoxville) 　 This book explores German-language Medea adaptations from the late twentieth century and their relationship to feminist theory and politics. Close readings of novels and plays by Ursula Haas, Christa Wolf, Dagmar Nick, Dea Loher, and Elfriede Jelinek reveal the promise and the pitfalls of using gendered depictions of violence to process inequity and oppression. The figure of Medea has been called many things: a witch, a barbarian, a monster, a goddess, a feminist heroine, a healer, and, finally, a murderous mother. This book considers Medea in all her complexity, thereby reframing our understanding of identity as it relates to feminism and to mythological storytelling. This book project was the Joint Winner of the 2020 Peter Lang Young Scholars Competition for German Studies in America.Table of ContentsContents: Medea as Witch and Colonial Subject: Provocative Female Bodies in Freispruch für Medea – Can Medea Speak? Voice and Victimhood in Medea Stories by Dagmar Nick and Christa Wolf – Performance and Gender Performativity in Dea Loher’s Manhattan Medea – A Forcible Return to the Womb: Elfriede Jelinek’s Melodramatic Medea.

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Book SynopsisThe essays in this volume explore how the humanities can contribute to an understanding of a fundamental aspect of human life: work. This volume explores how German literature has grappled with understanding work in times of disruptive change brought about by industrialization, rapid technological advances, and globalization. It adds a cross-disciplinary perspective by including contributions from the field of film studies, on the cinematic treatment of work, and from philosophy, on the normative questions posed by changing work environments.Trade Review«At a time when the humanities face a profound crisis of relevance, this volume gathers a series of interdisciplinary essays that exemplify the pertinence of German Studies scholarship to urgent problems related to work in contemporary life. Focusing on two historical paradigm shifts, the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century and the technological revolution of the late twentieth and twenty-first, the editors and contributors present insightful literary, cinematic, and philosophical examinations that highlight fulcrum moments in the history of labor and political economy. By illuminating the past through the analyses of cultural artifacts, they probe possibilities for confronting current fluctuations in work environments and transformations of our economic way of life.» (Richard T. Gray, Lockwood Professor in the Humanities, Emeritus, University of Washington) «This innovative volume of essays brings a set of interlocking interdisciplinary approaches (economic, philosophical, sociological) to bear on the problem of modern work. It is readable and highly informative, and it succeeds in making solid connections between the nineteenth-century industrial revolution and the ‹second machine age› of the twenty-first century.» (Ernest Schonfield, University of Glasgow)

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Book SynopsisThis book explores the intersection of folklore and new media storytelling in feminist adaptations of traditional fairy tales. Focusing on the Germanic folktale, the author investigates how retelling and reinterpreting fairy tales in online fan fiction both criticizes traditional narratives and reinforces the continued importance of fairy tales, while also mirroring contemporary concerns and changes in German-speaking society. 　 Fan versions of the examined folktales are repurposed to serve new functions within the communities in which they are told. Within the community investigated in this book, the stories open an online space where women can reclaim and reconsider the role canonical fairy tales play in their lives. Introducing fandom and new media studies to the realm of oral storytelling and folklore produces a new way of understanding the importance of communal folklore even in an age of mass culture. The adaptations traced throughout this book show the fascinating longevity and flexibility of the folktale and its power to reimagine the Germanic past into the future.Table of ContentsContents: Storytelling and the Role of Fan Fiction – New Media Folklore – A Quiet Space: Misogyny, Discrimination, and Online Communities – The Event of Online Storytelling: Audience and Performance – Interpreting the Fairy-Tale Narrative – Fairy-Tale Fan Fiction and Questions of Women’s Consent – Storytelling and Its Reconstruction of Identity through Identity Play – Renewing the Past through Cultural Memory – The Role of Folklore in Framing the Present and Future.

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