Englische Sprachwissenschaft, Literaturwissenschaft

"A Clockwork Orange". The presentation and the impact of violence in the novel and in the film

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Cologne (Institut für Anglistik), course: Novels and their film adaptations, language: English, abstract: After the release of Stanley Kubrick's film version of "A Clockwork Orange" in 1971, Anthony Burgess's original novel of 1962 and the film were obstinately criticised to be senselessly brutal and it was (and is) said (until today) that both Burgess and Kubrick glorified violence with their works. Although in "A Clockwork Orange", a lot of different themes are dealt with - for example politics, music, art or themes of philosophical nature - the violence in the book and on screen are the most concerned about things when critics write about "A Clockwork Orange". But not only critics, also 'normal' readers (or viewers) regard the violence to be the most remarkable thing about the whole book (or movie). One simply has to look at the website of the internet-bookstore 'Amazon' (www.amazon.de) to see that the main part of the readers' reviews for the book by Anthony Burgess comment on the violence and the brutal crimes committed by the story's protagonists: Alex DeLarge and his 'droogs'. It is interesting that most of the readers that commented on the book also gave a statement about Kubrick's film adaptation. It looks like the whole discussion about violence in "A Clockwork Orange" really first came up when Stanley Kubrick's movie version hit the theatres.But why this violence? Does it stand for itself? Are rape and murder obeyed fetishes of Burgess and Kubrick? Or is there something more in the story, that makes it indispensable to present violence in the extreme way Burgess and Kubrick did? This text will explain the function and the intention of presenting violence in "A Clockwork Orange". It will show the differences between the way of presenting violence in the original novel and the film version and why author and director decided to portray the protagonists' brutality in unlike ways, including the impact they have on the reader and the viewer. This text will conclude that in the novel and the film version, violence in "A Clockwork Orange" serves to discuss other and more important themes included in the story.

"A Forest Walk" - The Concept of Nature in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Scarlet Letter"

Examination Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Marburg, language: English, abstract: Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of America's most noted and highly praised writers, and a key figure of US literature. His works have contributed to the national identity and can be found in almost any curriculum of North American Literature Studies worldwide.Being a direct descendant of Massachusetts Bay colonists, the Puritan era of 17th and 18th century New England served as a lifelong preoccupation for Hawthorne and inspired many of his best-known stories. Hence, in order to understand the author and his works, it is crucial to apprehend the historical background from which they arose. Awareness of both the Puritan legacy in Hawthorne's time and their Calvinist beliefs, which contributed to the establishment of American identity, serves as a basis for fathoming the intention behind Hawthorne's writings. His forefathers' concept of wilderness was an important part of their religious life, and in many of Hawthorne's tales, nature can be perceived as an active agent for both plot and moral message. Therefore, it is indispensable to consider the development behind the Puritan perception as well as the prevailing opinion on nature during the writer's lifetime.Seclusion, nature, and Puritanism are constantly recurring topics in both the author's life and works, wherefore particular attention is paid to these. To be familiar with Hawthorne's relation to nature, his ancestors, and religion in general is essential in order to understand the vast amount of symbols that can be found in his stories.The second part of this paper analyzes two of the author's most eminent and esteemed works according to the use of nature symbolism and the underlying moral intention. By depicting various images within "Young Goodman Brown" and The Scarlet Letter, the author examines to which extent they correspond to historical facts and Hawthorne's emphasized characteristic features. The comparison of the two works focuses on the didactic lesson Hawthorne tried to include in all of his works and will thus provide an in-depth understanding of the author's intentions and his utilization of both Puritanism and nature perception.

"A great butler": the unreliable narrator in Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day"

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Würzburg, language: English, abstract: In Kazuo Ishigurös The Remains of the Day the first person narrator Stevens, a butler on the verge of retirement, undertakes a journey to meet - for what is likely the last time in their lives - his former coworker and love interest Miss Kenton. At the same time, he tries to come to terms with his past by reexamining his memories of his life at Darlington Hall, the choices he made and the values he had. Throughout his account it becomes increasingly obvious that Stevens¿s narration cannot be trusted completely. His comments on, and interpretation of, past events in his life and his portrayal of himself and others in his tale expose him as an unreliable narrator. However, his attempts to deceive himself and others are possibly the most interesting and telltale aspect of the narrative. After all, "the use of an unreliable narrator draws attention to a character¿s psychology." Paradoxically, the narrator reveals most about himself and his life when he is trying to obscure the truth.

"Alice in Wonderland" and the Victorian Age. A Portrayal of the Female Characters in Lewis Carroll's Novel

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Education Ludwigsburg, language: English, abstract: In recent times, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" became known through the film adaptation by Tim Burton. However, the following work revolves around the original, the novel published by Lewis Carroll in 1856. This period is known as the Victorian age, during which Queen Victoria reigned and expanded Britain's sphere of power. Various influences and numerous inventions changed people's lives.A keyword in this regard is the Industrial Revolution, the foundations of which were laid several decades earlier but came to full realization in the nineteenth century. These achievements transformed British society in a way that had never happened before. People increasingly moved to the cities, and new professions developed. The situation of children also changed because until then, they were seen more as miniature adults who had no needs or desires. What Rousseau had initiated decades earlier was now being implemented in the Victorian era: children were granted a world of their own. Although one cannot compare this understanding with the view of childhood today, it nevertheless represented progress for adolescents of Victorian Britain.In this time of change, Lewis Carroll wrote his fairytale-like children's novel, in which a Victorian girl named Alice dives into a dream world and experiences all kinds of adventures. Throughout the story, she faces many characters and creatures that are still strongly reminiscent of the patriarchal system of that time. This process is significant since, during that period, the understanding of childhood evolved, and the role of girls, in particular, started to transform.This term paper deals with the expectations placed on women and girls in the Victorian era and examines how female characters behave in the novel. The question to be addressed is: How does Lewis Carroll portray the female characters, especially Alice, in his novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and to what extent are these literary figures shaped by the Victorian age?

"And it's all there" - Intertextual Structures, Themes, and Characters in Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" Series

Diploma Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, Martin Luther University (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: With the growth in popularity due to series like Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles and the motif's recurring presence in cinematic adaptations of Stoker's Dracula as well as various TV formats public interest has never ceased to the present day. As the most significant characteristic of the vampire is its being multi-faceted and changing, its potential to be also of great intertextual value can be thereupon considered. Consequently, it can be assumed that Meyer's tetralogy clearly evokes these instances of intertextuality through the adoption of patterns and themes that have already proved productive in earlier literary works. However, in Meyer's work these sources are remarkably extended and sometimes even altered as she relies to a large part on her pretexts to tell her narrative and construct a postmodern vampire figure. In order to achieve a comprehensive analysis it is necessary to incorporate all four volumes - Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn - of the Twilight series in the discussion. Meyer's just recently published work The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella will only engage a marginal part of the analysis as it largely concentrates on the subplot of Eclipse, hence not being particularly significant for the main events of the story. On the other hand, Meyer's Midnight Sun, although until the present day a yet unfinished and unpublished manuscript, is of great importance for the subsequent analysis. Meyer dwells on a number of themes, structures, and characters that have intertextual potential. One can distinguish between pretexts that are apparently marked in Meyer's work and sources that only bear non-literal intertextual references. Pretexts that are overtly marked and are thus explicitly intertextual in the Twilight series are: Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, The Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice, Bram Stoker's Dracula as well as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice,Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park. A number of other pretexts are only covertly marked as they point back to literary traditions or character types. Pretexts that are implicitly marked are: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Die Braut von Korinth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel, John Keats' Lamia, Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling, Lord Byron's Manfred as well as Roman Polanski's movie adaptation of Rosemary's Baby.

"Big Brother is Watching You": Strategien der Kontrolle und Überwachung in ausgewählten englischen Dystopien

Magisterarbeit aus dem Jahr 2008 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Literatur, Note: 2,0, Philipps-Universität Marburg (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik / FB 10), Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In dieser Arbeit werden Strategien der Kontrolle und Überwachung in drei klassischenDystopien der englischen Literatur erforscht. Am ergiebigsten wird die Überwachung in den modernen englischen Dystopien thematisiert.Der Erforschung der Kontrollstrategien in dieser Arbeit liegen Herbert George Wells' The Time Machine (1895), Aldous Leonard Huxleys Brave New World (1932) und George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) zugrunde da sie die Überwachungsthematik besonders prägnant illustrieren und sich von der utopischenTradition abgrenzen. Meine These lautet, dass die ausgewählten Dystopien als Archetypen der Dystopiebezeichnet werden können, da sie gattungshistorisch bedeutsam sind. Bezüglich der Überwachung wird die These untersucht, dass BNW eine latente Kontrollethematisiert, mittels derer der Weltstaat eine bessere Welt vortäuscht, die faktisch dieBürger versklavt, wohingegen die Partei in 1984 eine terroristische und sichtbareÜberwachung illustriert und Macht zum Selbstzweck ausübt. Bezüglich TMwird die These diskutiert, dass TM keine vorsätzliche Kontrolle wie in BNW und 1984,sondern eine auf evolutionärer Basis fußende Überwachung veranschaulicht, demzufolgeder Mensch nicht die Krone der Schöpfung bleiben muss. Bezüglich der Sexualität wirddie These untersucht, dass in BNW und 1984 Sexualität als Unterdrückungsmittelbeansprucht wird, wohingegen Sexualität in TM nicht als Kontrollinstanz, sondern dernatürlichen Selektion dient.Im zweiten Kapitel dieser Arbeit wird die Utopie als Gattung definiert und die Dystopie als auch die SF von der Utopie abgegrenzt, wobei erklärt wird, warum BNW und 1984 als Dystopien und TM dagegen sowohl als SF als auch als Dystopie gelten kann.Im 3., 4. und 5. Kapitel werden die Kontrollstrategien in TM, BNW und 1984 diskutiert, wobei eine Zusammenfassung des Werkes, eine Rezeption des Forschungsstandes sowie die Sexualitätsthematik berücksichtigt werden.In der Forschungsliteratur sind vor allem BNW und 1984, aber auch Wells' Werke,bedingt durch ihre Analogien oft Gegenstand eines Vergleichs. Im sechsten Kapitelwerden die Resultate bezüglich der Untersuchung der Kontrollstrategien und derSexualitätsthematik kontrastiert. Abschließend werden im siebenten Kapitel die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit kritisch rekapituliert, gefolgt von einer persönlichen Evaluation.

"Black Elk speaks, doesn't he?" - Facts and Fiction of an Autobiography

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, Free University of Berlin (John-F. Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien), course: Ethnic (Post) Modernism and the Invention of Ethnicity, language: English, abstract: These introductory words, printed in the appendix of the novel itself, give a very clear and critical insight into the topic of Black Elk Speaks by author John G. Neihardt. Largely considered to be an autobiographical narration, it has become one of the most famous books dealing with the story of individuals of Native American origin. Following the tradition of so-called "as-told-tö stories (Georgi-Findlay 1997, 385), it is the story of the Lakota holy man Black Elk, who told it to the author John G. Neihardt who transcribed it and wrote it down. The story, and its categorization as autobiographical, claims authenticity, and was widely regarded to be an accurate report of Native American life among the tribe of the Oglala Lakota and their culture. Even today, the book is still considered to be one of the first works of Native American literature. (As a matter of fact, the book is listed in the chapter "Indianerliteratur" (Native American Literature) in Hubert Zapf¿s "Amerikanische Literaturgeschichte".) Even though it was written down and published by a person of Euro-American background, the story itself is considered to be uniquely Native American in content. But how authentic is the story, how much of what Neihardt wrote down was fact, and what was actually his own interpretation or even literary freedom that he took to serve certain stereotypes and make the story more appealing for the audience which it was aimed at?

"Blade Runner" and the Cyberpunk Narrative. Is Cyberpunk a Dystopian Narrative or a Genre of its own?

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Wuppertal (Anglistik), course: Narrating Los Angeles, language: English, abstract: The reference "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe" marks one of the most iconic monologues in movie history. It perfectly describes the confusing life within a dystopian future from the perspective of a being whose existence is a comment on life itself. Replicants, artificial life, flying cars, dirty streets, confusing architecture and big corporations fill the narration of "Blade Runner", often claimed as the showpiece of the art form of cyberpunk. What is cyberpunk? What is cyber? What is punk?This seminar paper will examine the origins of the cyberpunk narrative by amplifying its roots, the dystopian scenario. Furthermore the dystopian roots within the utopian narrative will be specified.Using the example of Ridley Scott's 1982 movie "Blade Runner" the significance of the city of Los Angeles within the cyberpunk narrative will be examined and the importance of the classic hard-boiled detective crime fiction will be put into contrast to Scott's visionary image of 2019 Los Angeles.Is cyberpunk just another version of the dystopian narrative or is it a genre on its own? Is the narration within the cyberpunk universe still relevant or is the cyberpunk era already over?By examining possible roots of the cyberpunk narration within the hard-boiled crime fiction of the 1920s and 1930s, a connection to Scott's "Blade Runner" is tried to be reasoned.

"Blasted", "Phaedra's Love" and "Cleansed". Reading Love, Faith and Hope in Sarah Kane's Plays

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2.3, University of Bonn (Institut für Anglistik, Amerikanistik und Keltologie), course: Contemporary British Drama, language: English, abstract: In this paper, Sarah Kane's debut play "Blasted", alongside her proximate plays "Phaedra's Love" and "Cleansed", will be discussed in order to explore the nature of the plays concerning their subject matter. Among these plays, "Phaedra's Love" is the only one that is based on a model and therefore not utterly Kane's content. The story is written loosely after Seneca's version of the Phaedra myth, in which a tragedy arises because the title character falls in love with her royal stepson. Beyond the thematic discussion, the question whether the subjects Sarah Kane connects her plays with are presented in a positive or negative way will be issued in the paper. If there is love in the plays, in how far is it satisfying for the characters? And does strong faith really promise a hopeful ending? In order to answer these questions, the paper is divided into two parts, starting with a short theory chapter, that follows this introduction and provides a brief introduction to in-yer-face theatre in general. Subsequently, one finds the main part of the paper, which consists of three sub-chapters and includes the analysis of each of the named plays. A conclusion of the findings will round the paper off.

"Bloody Sunday" and its evaluation in the press

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1.3, University of Regensburg (Institut für Amerikanistik und Anglistik), course: "Sunday, Bloody Sunday...": Roots, Present State and Literary Evaluation of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, language: English, abstract: In my paper which has the topic 'Bloody Sunday and its evaluation in the press' I intend to give a chronological summary of the events preceding and following Bloody Sunday in order to frame the historical background. Furthermore is it my purpose to show how the British Press, in particular The Times and The Observer, cope with this topic immediately after it occurred. Next I will analyse how the British and the Irish press deal with the anniversaries of the occurrence. In this case I will concentrate on The Irish Examiner, The Irish Independent, The Telegraph and The Guardian. Finally I will compare their representations in the next item.

"Brave new world" von Aldous Huxley. Eine Analyse und Interpretation

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2014 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Literatur, Note: 3, Universität Wien, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Als Huxley diesen Text schrieb, befürchtete er, dass sein düsterer Roman, dessen Handlung er etwa 600 Jahre in die Zukunft gesetzt hatte, schon innerhalb eines Jahrhunderts Wirklichkeit werden könnte.Brave New World ist ein totalitäres, aber nicht im primären Sinne gewalttätiges politisches System und seine gegenüber dem Einzelnen erbrachten "Leistungen" sind für uns in jeder Hinsicht - sei es, was die genetische Kontrolle, die sexuelle Freiheit, den Kampf gegen das Altern, finanzielle und berufliche Sicherheit oder die Freizeitkultur betrifft - ein Paradies. Es scheint haargenau die Welt zu sein, die wir anstreben, wenn auch bisher noch ohne Erfolg.

"Civilness and Wilderization:" The Confusing, Entwined Terror of Wilderness and Civilization in Stewart O'Nan's "A Prayer for the Dying"

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: sehr gut (1,0), University of Leipzig (Institut für Amerikanistik), course: Wilderness and Civilization in American Fiction, language: English, abstract: The writing of this paper was initiated by a seminar on the concepts and implications of civilization and wilderness in American fiction. When Frederick Jackson Turner analyzed the significance of the Frontier in American history, he claimed that the true American character was not influenced by Europe, but built by the constant, strenuous interaction with and the heroically endured hardships of nature's wildness, which presented itself to the pioneers along the frontier line up until 1890, when the frontier was considered officially closed (Turner 1893). Accordingly, nature and wilderness play an important role in American history, character, and literature. Wilderness visualized as trees or the woods in general, symbolizes a lawless place and, thus, not only allowing for the idea of beasts but also of criminals living there. The uncanny in this picture is obvious and allows for mystifications quite a lot. Besides symbolizing a place of evil, wilderness has also been a space for the individual, most evident in the Puritan idea of expelling non-conformist people, sinners, from the community and sending them to exile into the woods. In this regard, Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter and its adulterous protagonist Hester Prynne serve as a perfect example from literature. In this instant it becomes clear, that wilderness and civilization serve as binary oppositions, that have been primarily favored as neatly separated categories in the Puritan thinking. Civilization has been praised as the ideal, refining, and humane state, which can only be realized in the community and its democratic institutions. The missionary thought of bringing civilization to the continent and, thus, taming the wilderness, evoked a new idea: that of Manifest Destiny. Pioneers turn into the chosen people, bringing light into the darkness of the wild continent. The author would like to note that the following pages were attempted to be structured according to those concepts. Trying to do so, however, the subject of the paper, Stewart O'Nan's novel A Prayer for the Dying, proved itself to be challenging for such a proceeding. The concepts of civilization and wilderness can be found throughout the novel and to a certain degree can be deconstructed nonetheless, but they present themselves not in an exclusive, absolute, and categorical but rather in a confused and intertwined manner.

"Das Unheimliche" nach Sigmund Freud in Edgar Allan Poes "The Black Cat" und weitere psychoanalytische Aspekte

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2009 im Fachbereich Amerikanistik - Literatur, Note: 1,3, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (Amerikanistik), Veranstaltung: Hauptseminar Edgar Allen Poe, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Wenn auch Freud erst viele Jahre nach Poes Tod die Theorie der Psychoanalyse veröffentlichte, scheint es als hätte Edgar Allan Poe diese bereits ein halbes Jahrhundert zuvor gekonnt in seinen Werken verarbeitet. Psychoanalyse war zwar nicht der Schwerpunkt in den Erzählungen und Gedichten Poes, jedoch spielt sie in der Interpretation seiner Kurzgesichte The Black Cat, die am 19. August 1843 in der United States Saturday Post zum ersten Mal erschienen ist, eine gewichtige Rolle (vgl. www.eapoe.org). Grundlegende Annahme der Psychoanalyse ist laut Freud die Untersuchung des psychischen Apparates. Die Psyche wiederum unterteilt Freud in zwei Bereiche. Auf der einen Seite das Gehirn beziehungsweise das Nervensystem als körperliches Organ und auf der anderen Seite die sogenannte Bewusstseinsakte, welche für den Menschen nicht greifbar ist (vgl. Freud 2004, S. 41). "Alles dazwischen ist uns unbekannt, eine direkte Beziehung zwischen beiden Endpunkten unseres Wissens ist nicht gegeben." (Freud 2004, S. 41) Dieser nicht-greifbare und unerklärliche Zwischenraum ist es, der die Menschen fasziniert und bereits viele Autoren, wie auch Poe, inspirierte. Es ist ein Erklärungsansatz dafür, dass ein Mensch, der eigentlich liebevoll und tugendhaft ist zu einem bestialischen Mörder wird, wie Poe es in seiner The Black Cat eingehend schildert. Klassisch für Poe sind im Gegensatz zur Psychoanalyse allerdings die in der Geschichte stark vertretenen gothic elements. Diesen Aspekt findet man wiederum bei Freud in seinem Aufsatz Das Unheimliche.Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es eine Brücke zwischen der freudschen Psychoanalyse und den von Poe klassisch eingesetzten gothic elements zu schlagen. Die Geschichte wird anhand der im Aufsatz "Das Unheimliche" angesprochenen Aspekte analysiert und interpretiert, wobei auf die Bedeutung der im Text vorkommenden Symbole eingegangen wird. Des Weiteren fokussiert die vorliegende Arbeit die Rolle der Sexualität des Erzählers, die auf den ersten Blick zwar nicht existent, beziehungsweise relevant erscheint, bei genauerer Betrachtung jedoch eine entscheidende Rolle bei der Interpretation des Textes aus psychoanalytischer Sicht einnimmt .

"Dick-and-Jane Primer" in Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" as an Aesthetic Device

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject American Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: The focus of this paper is the narrative mechanism of employing a paragraph of "Dick and Jane" Reader, which was popular in children schools in 1940s in the American United States. It educates children how to read and they hear it from the very beginning of their lives. Through such an educational system, the white dominant culture exerts its authority in oppressing black people. In her novel "The Bluest Eye", the African-American writer Toni Morrison cuts an expert of "Dick and Jane" narrative and uses it as a prologue. She repeats the paragraph three times which are highly different from each other, then dismembers it into pieces that appear as headings to some chapters of the novel. The study reveals the aesthetic purpose beyond such reproducing and dismembering of "Dick and Jane" narrative. Morrison sends a message of moral content to blacks as well as whites: On the one hand, blacks, particularly those who immersed in the white ideology, have to wake up and realize the value of their culture, heritage and language in protecting their black identity. On the other hand, whites should respect and admit the cultural and humane existence of the other and realize the merit of the black culture.

"Fatherland" by Robert Harris as an Alternative History Novel

Academic Paper from the year 2022 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1, The State School of Higher Education in Chelm, language: English, abstract: This paper analyzes an alternative novel "Fatherland" by Robert Harris. The author presents an alternative history in which Germany, under the leadership of the leader Adolf Hitler, do not lose the World War II, but are in a state of "cold" war with the Allies. After the extermination of Jews and Slavs and the normalization of political relations within the country, Adolf Hitler aims to make a historic agreement with the President of the United States.Harris presents a vision of what might have happened if the Allies would not defeat the Third Reich. He points the way alternative history about the outcome of World War II and explores the design of the past. The considered events and alternative aspect help to understand past events, their causes and effects.In the alternate history, the historical process compared to the branching roads reveals, in which moments of these paths diverge, in what direction and to which decisions they lead. The main vocation of alternative history is a historiosophical reflection. The simulation of the potential paths of historical development helps to understand the mechanisms of history and brings to light the causes and circumstances of the actual events and historical phenomena.

"Gentlemen, Be Seated!" The Rise and Fall of the Minstrel Show

Document from the year 2011 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: --, Saarland University (Amerikanistik), language: English, abstract: A native form of entertainment that came up in around 1843 was the minstrel show. The minstrel show was a show that consisted of melodies by slaves and jokes by white actors in blackface in order to imitate the blacks. Led by Mr. Interlocutor, the master of ceremonies, three more actors in blackface sat in a semicircle. The endmen or cornermen were known as Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo, who joked together or made fun of slaves. Thus, the minstrel show was double-edged: on the one hand, racism in the United States was reinforced; on the other hand, so many white Americans have become aware of black popular culture. No wonder therefore, the rise of the minstrel show coincided with the growth of the abolitionist movement in the 19th century. But without doubt, racial discrimination was played down in the minstrel show. The minstrel show was meant as a form of entertainment, which was not intended to be taken seriously. Although the minstrel aimed to create a native and distinctly American form of entertainment, the songs they adopted were of English, Irish or Scottish origin. Furthermore, they presented parodies of European-style entertainment or parodied works by William Shakespeare. The book gives an overview of the history of the minstrel show. Marc A. Bauch is a scholar of American Literature and has specialized in American Theater, including the American Musical.

"Germany 1990 is not Germany 1939" - The British response to German unification

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, Dresden Technical University (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Seminar "Britain in Europe - Europe in Britain", language: English, abstract: When the first bricks and pieces of the Berlin Wall fell to the ground on 9 November1989, the German soil might not have been the only thing that has been shaking onthat day: As soon as the news arrived in Number 10 Downing Street, London, thefloor in Margaret Thatcher's office might have been shaking as well.The metaphorical earthquake German reunification is considered today to have beenin those days did not only cause disorientation and confusion in both German statesbut also in Great Britain.Since the four victorious powers decided to split the German nation into four parts -that later became only two - at the Yalta conference, the British felt save from theirgreatest enemy during the Second World War. The balance of power between theSoviet Union and the West seemed to be restored after the Cold War. Germany wasnot strong enough to even try to start a new war, which caused a strong securelyfeeling among the British people and its government.Now, that this stony guarantee for peace got its first cracks it forced the peacefulatmosphere - not only the British created in the bygone decades - to crack as well.In this paper I want to describe the response of both British politicians and the Britishpeople to the events that happened in the months between November 1989 andOctober 1990, but mainly concentrate on two of the most important ones for Britishpolitics during this time, namely the Nicholas Ridley affair and the revelation of theminutes of the Chequers meeting.The British press of course has not ignored these events. Since it became one of themost important commentators on the upheaval that went on in Germany and theBritish domestic discussions and affairs, I want to underline the statements andcomments made by politicians or other spokesperson of public opinions with excerptsof British newspapers.[...]

"Gone with the Wind" - Scarlett O'Hara in the novel and the film

"Hang Loose". Surfslang und dessen Hintergründe

Examensarbeit aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Sonstiges, Note: 2,0, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Department of English and Linguistics), Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Surfslang - ein Thema, über das in Deutschland bisher noch niemand geschrieben hat. Zwar gibt es mittlerweile unzählige Werke, die sich mit der Entstehung des Wellenreitens, seiner kulturellen Seite oder der praktischen Ausführung beschäftigen, doch auch im englischsprachigen Raum ist kaum Literatur über den sprachlichen Aspekt des Surfens vorhanden. Einzig Trevor Cralle hat in seinem Surfin'ary, einem Wörterbuch, das auf über 300 Seiten etwa 4.000 Begriffe aus dem Bereich des Surfslang enthält, eine knappe Einführung in die Sprache der Surfer gegeben. Sonstige Erklärungen von Surfslang beschränken sich meist auf knappe Glossare im Internet. Aufgrund der Vielseitigkeit von Surfslang verdient diese Thematik allerdings weitaus mehr Aufmerksamkeit als ihr bisher zuteil wurde und bildet damit den Anlass der vorliegenden Arbeit.Anhand historischer und aktueller Fakten wird in Kapitel zwei zunächst ein Einblick in die Surfkultur gegeben. Darauf folgt eine Einweisung in den Aufbau von Surf Communities und Communities aus Sicht der Wissenschaft. Es wird erläutert, wie ein "Sense of Community" zustande kommt und was eine Community of Practice und eine Speech Community mit einer Surf Community verbindet. Kapitel vier befasst sich anschließend mit dem Thema Slang und stellt verschiedene Merkmale, Formen und Themen heraus. Danach erfolgt eine ausführliche Darstellung von Surfslang im Speziellen. Diese ist für das sechste Kapitel von besonderer Relevanz, denn darin wird auf der Basis dreier Spielfilme eine Analyse der Übersetzung von englischem Surfslang in die deutsche Sprache vorgenommen. Kapitel sieben fasst die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit knapp zusammen und endet mit einem Ausblick auf die Zukunftsperspektive von Surfslang in Deutschland. [...]

"Harry Potter" and the Modern Witch?

"Horror aequi". Doppel und Tripel-ing im Englischen

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2012 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Linguistik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Inhalt1. Einführung 32. Die große Komplementverschiebung 43. Gerundien und Partizipien 54. Horror aequi als universelle Regel? - Die Entwicklung der Forschung 64.1 Ross 1972 74.2 Milsark 1972 104.3 Emonds 1973 114.4 Pullum 1974 124.5 Bolinger 1979 134.6 Milsark 1988 144.7 Pullum & Zwicky 1999 154.8 Rhodenburg 2003 154.9 Vosberg 2006 165. Zwischenfazit 166. Tripl-ing 177. Doubl-ing in der neuseeländischen Presse 187.1 Getrennte -ing Doppelungen 197.2 Non-verbale -ing Formen 207.3 Doubl-ing 207.3.1 Doubl-ing im Fernsehen 218. Fazit 219. Literaturverzeichnis 23Horror aequi ist ein übereinzelsprachlicher Faktor, der die Aufteilung der Komplemente festlegt und die morpho-syntaktische Form des nachgeordneten (unterworfenen) Elements beeinflusst (Vosberg 2003: 315). Im Deutschen wird die Aufeinanderfolge zweier identischer Formen durch eine veränderte Satzgliedstellung vermieden, wie an Satz (2) gesehen werden kann (Vosberg, 2006: 51). (1) ...it was thus pointless to attempt to analyse it. (ebd.)(2) ... es war daher zwecklos zu versuchen, es zu analysieren. (ebd.)Horror aequi Effekte sind in Standard- sowie in Nichtstandard gleichermaßen anzutreffen (ebd.: 49). Tritt eine Doppelung von -ing Formen auf, so wird im Folgenden der Begriff Doubl-ing verwendet. Dieser geht auf Ross zurück, der 1972 erstmals eine Regel zur Einschränkung der -ing Doppelung auf einer rein formalen Grundlage entworfen hat. In der englischen Sprache beeinflusst horror aequi nicht nur die in dieser Arbeit untersuchte Doppelung von -ing Formen, sondern zeigt auch eine Abneigung gegenüber nicht-koordinierten to-Infinitiven (Vosberg, 2006, 41) und der Wiederholung gleichartiger Wörter aus verschiedenen Klassen. Letzteres wird intuitiv durch synonyme Ausdrücke behoben (ebd.), wie in (3) zu sehen ist.(3) You didn't have to assert it so positively /*assertively. (ebd.)

"I am British but I am still a Geordie". Local Identity in Northern England

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2, http://www.uni-jena.de/ (Anglistik/Amerikanistik), course: Sociolinguistics, language: English, abstract: "The Geordie nation - that's what we're fighting for. London's the enemy. The south-east's the enemy. You exploit us, you use us, you take everything you can from us but never recognise our existence." (Sir John Hall in The Independent 21.06.1994, cited by Watt 2002: 55)This quotation by the former chairman of Newcastle United Football Club Sir John Hall serves as the basis for the observations dealt with in this paper where it is the aim to investigate the Geordie dialect. Football is firmly established on the Tyneside and has a clear connection to both identity and language. A particular focus will lie on the dialect levelling in the Geordie area as well as on phonological features in Northern England in general. Moreover, historical facts concerning the Tyneside and a classification of Geordie will be embedded in this work. Hence, latest studies of linguistic researchers will be included and evaluated to show common ground as well as differences regarding to social class and gender. Here, an empirical study of variants of FACE and GOAT vowels helps to understand the process of contact-induced levelling.

"I'm not A Bitch, I'm THE Bitch, and it's MISS Bitch to you!" Responding to insults among Texan high school students

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject American Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,0, University of Bonn (Anglistik), course: Variational Pragmatics, language: English, abstract: So far little work has been done to investigate impoliteness, but a lot has been done on politeness. Can politeness even work without a complete overview of impoliteness in the same amount? Not only has there been rarely any research on how impoliteness works and when it occurs, but also the research of how people cope with impoliteness has been vastly neglected. Especially when it comes to insults people tend to pretend that they never insult anybody or even swear. Only would they insult somebody if they were insulted. Too many theories consider (im)politeness a single-turn-thing, but it gets even more interesting when it occurs in interaction. In insult situations there will always be the insulter who realizes the first insult and the insultee who receives the insult. The insultee sometimes will become an insulter as well.Why do insultees feel the urge to retaliate the insult being paid on them? Gouldner puts forward the idea of a reciprocity social norm, meaning that behavior, prosocial or anitsocial should be equally matched. Does this retaliation differ across gender? Are males or females more likely to counter with aggressive strategies? Who uses which strategy most and especially which taboo words are used in combination with insults? To investigate this field a discourse completion task has been conducted to elicit counterstrategies to insults. The informants were high school students aged between 15-19, both male and female, from a small town called Rosebud-Lott in the South-East of Texas. To understand responses to insults, the next chapter will introduce the general idea of impoliteness and shows how impoliteness, face and insults belong together. Furthermore previous studies to impoliteness and first attempts to come up with impoliteness-strategies are explained.The third chapter will give detailed information on the methodology. Why using a DCT was useful, who were the informants, how the data was collected and what the drawback of a DCT is. In the end the coding scheme will be listed and explained to understand the next chapters where the data is being analyzed. In chapter four the most interesting results will be presented and further down the line in chapter five we will discuss contradicting and striking results focusing on female and male differences which will be compared to previous studies. Chapter six will summarize the question posed, the findings, limitations of study and then give an outlook for further research.

"It is me" vs. "It is I". Case Study on the effects of prescriptivism

Master's Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, University of Manchester, language: English, abstract: English grammar writing started in the late 16th century and flourished during the 18th century. It was common for grammarians during this era to adopt a prescriptivist attitude towards language; that is, they would dictate norms of correct usage of the language rather than describing language use. This trend lost weight from the 19th century onwards. One of the constructions prescriptive grammarians usually criticised was it is me, with an object case pronoun, as opposed to the traditionally correct it is I, with a subject case pronoun. The aim of this paper is to look at the reasoning behind grammarians' choice of correct form, and assess the effects of prescriptivism on actual language use. This was done by looking at a self-compiled precept corpus made of 66 historical English grammars, ranging from the 16th to the 20th century, as well as a usage corpus (ARCHER and Old Bailey) with data from the same eras. The results show prescriptivist negative comments towards it is me decreasing diachronically, and while grammars definitely did not advocate for the use of the object case pronoun in this construction, people still used it in their speech, but not, however, on their writings, which clearly indicates a division between the uses of these two constructions. It is me has, nonetheless, succeeded in becoming part of the present-day Standard.This dissertation hopes to make a valuable contribution on the field of Normative Linguistics, and to be used as ground for future research.