Costabile-Heming, Carol Anne, Rachel J. Halverson, Kristie A. Foell, eds. Textual Responses to Ge... more Costabile-Heming, Carol Anne, Rachel J. Halverson, Kristie A. Foell, eds. Textual Responses to German Unification: Processing Historical and Social Change in Literature and Film. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001. 278pp. $93.35 hardcover. This collaborative anthology by a group of academically mid-career Germaniste from mostly US and British institutions provides a rather valuable resource and impetus for students and scholars of post-GDR cultural interests. Its particular strength lies in the treatment of both print and visual media, structuring the topic into three parts: Authors and Their World, Multiple Voices: Generational Views, and Cinematic Responses. A decade beyond formal unification seems an appropriate hiatus to reflect on the historical and social changes, especially since many writers and filmmakers have taken stock of their GDR experiences and the Wende-processes since. As such this study presents a collection of essays dealing with various approaches to events which occurred before, during and after the opening of the Wall on November 9, 1989, and exemplifies the integral contribution literature and film have made to dismantling the internal wall separating the two Germanys. The first section "Authors and their Worlds" comprises five articles, focusing on individual writers and investigating their comparative assessments of once and now, and their biographical analyses of communist experience versus capitalist encounter. Ann Rider's reading of Helga Schuetz' 1995 novel Vom Glanz der Elbe explains the author's multiple levels of concern with Western colonialisation after reunification and her hope for a more reciprocal respect and acceptance of East and West German identity. This hope is represented by Schuetz through a protagonist's return to East Germany he left thirty years ago and his search for the sister he left behind. Stuart Tabener addresses Monika Maron's major works from a rather negative point of view. He situates her into pertinent female critical voices that mostly align Maron's surreal narrative techniques with a subversive intent towards the socialist-realist paradigm. Tabener grants Maron similar integrity as Uwe Johnson abdicating from public life, but his credits stop here. Maron's narrative dissent in his opinion roots in nonconformity "that may be motivated less by critique than by an animalistic amorality" (39). Her work ultimately lacks for him Enlightenment principles and in one of her last novels (Pawel's Briefe) he chides her for abusing the Holocaust as "a new myth of victimhood, with herself at the center" (56). James Reece turns his attention to the highly interesting subject of East German authors and their retrospective autobiographies. In the 1990s autobiography in various guises has figured prominently in the large body of writing devoted to remembering the GDR. While Christa Wolf is only briefly explored, Hermann Kant is given a bit more room to join in the general negation. Reece's actual focus is on Gunter de Bruyn's theoretical writings on autobiography and his works Zwischenbilanz. Eine Jugend in Berlin (1992) and Vierzig Jahre. Ein Lebenesbericht (1996). Rolf Jucker makes the highly commendable assertion that literature as well as its interpretative effort fails if it only satisfies aesthetic requirements and does not address the historical, political and social parameters of our world at hand. Good literature to him "can only truly function if it provides us with a contrasting, alternative world, a world that holds up a mirror in front of us" (79). Unfortunately, his application of what Volker Braun's texts have to say about today's real existing capitalism gets shortchanged by excellent but too overtaking references to others; there does not evolve a solid understanding of Volker Braun's literary philosophy. Rachel Halverson dissects as a last piece in this first section Thomas Brussig's popular novel Helden wie wir, comingto the conclusion that its comedic hilarity does not exceed the niveau of Trivialliteratur. …
The sudden fall of the Berlin Wall is one of the defining images of the late twentieth century. T... more The sudden fall of the Berlin Wall is one of the defining images of the late twentieth century. The subsequent unification of Germany and the decision to return Berlin to its status as capital has made the constant changes within the city a matter of public interest. It also offered Berlin the opportunity to create a new image for itself, one that can serve as a counterbalance to the politically charged recent history of Berlin as the capital of Nazi Germany and former East Berlin as the capital of the German Democratic Republic. Poised between capitalist Western Europe and the former communist powers in Eastern Europe, Berlin occupies a fascinating geopolitical space. This anthology presents a unique glimpse into the various constituencies that make up Berlin and that impact the city's challenges and promises.
‘Erste Gestandnisse der Stasi-Folterer: Fussohlen versengt, Schaum in die Augen’, ‘Wie man eine P... more ‘Erste Gestandnisse der Stasi-Folterer: Fussohlen versengt, Schaum in die Augen’, ‘Wie man eine Personlichkeit zerstort’, ‘So warb die Stasi ihre Informanten: Egoismus, Karrierestreben, Angst und politische Blindheit wurden skrupellos ausgenutzt/14jahrige als Spitzel bezahlt.’1 With headlines like these the media in Germany hyped the uncovering of lurid facts about the GDR’s Staatssicherheitsdienst in the years following the Wende and thereby contributed to the production of images of the organisation which fulfilled the German and world public’s expectation of it as an omniscient, sinister force overshadowing the existence of all GDR citizens. Thomas Brussig’s much-discussed picaresque novel Helden wie wir (1995) held the mirror of satire up to these images — and his timing was perfect.2 Earlier literary attempts by East Germans to capture the GDR past and the turbulent unifying present were swallowed in media blitzes such as the one we refer to above.3 Using a scurrilous, taboo-breaking wit, however, Brussig successfully manipulated the media and the German public to focus their attention on his neurotic, sexually depraved protagonist, Klaus Uhltzscht, and his experiences growing up in the GDR, including his brief but enlightening time as a Stasi trainee.
... Instruction (Trommler), Approaches and Methods (Hohendahl), Research in Historical Perspe... more ... Instruction (Trommler), Approaches and Methods (Hohendahl), Research in Historical Perspective (John A. McCarthy), Organizing the Profes-sion (Herminghouse), The Changing Profile of the Professoriat (McCarthy), and Sociopolitical Dimensions (Cora Lee Kluge). ...
... Kristie is grateful to her colleagues at Bowling Green State University and its year abroad p... more ... Kristie is grateful to her colleagues at Bowling Green State University and its year abroad program in Salzburg, which has afforded ... contemporary German literature with her over the past several years, in particular Andrea Antal, Reka Barabas, Peter Clayson, Alina Mahu, Ana ...
This article examines various issues related to the development of advanced proficiency by foreig... more This article examines various issues related to the development of advanced proficiency by foreign language teacher candidates with the goal of providing infomation and strategies for teacher educators and administrators at the university level. Recent changes in the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) requirements stipulate that foreign language teacher candidates in specific languages (e.g., French, German, Spanish) must achieve the Advanced-Low rating on the American Council on the Teaching qf Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency biterview (0PI)lWriting Proficiency Test (WPT). The article includes descriptions of language projciency requiredforforeign language teaching and assessments ; a survey of curricula and institutional resourcesfor foreign language education at the university level, which support the development of advanced projciency; and recommendations for facilitating Advanced language proficiency by foreign language teacher candidates.
Costabile-Heming, Carol Anne, Rachel J. Halverson, Kristie A. Foell, eds. Textual Responses to Ge... more Costabile-Heming, Carol Anne, Rachel J. Halverson, Kristie A. Foell, eds. Textual Responses to German Unification: Processing Historical and Social Change in Literature and Film. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001. 278pp. $93.35 hardcover. This collaborative anthology by a group of academically mid-career Germaniste from mostly US and British institutions provides a rather valuable resource and impetus for students and scholars of post-GDR cultural interests. Its particular strength lies in the treatment of both print and visual media, structuring the topic into three parts: Authors and Their World, Multiple Voices: Generational Views, and Cinematic Responses. A decade beyond formal unification seems an appropriate hiatus to reflect on the historical and social changes, especially since many writers and filmmakers have taken stock of their GDR experiences and the Wende-processes since. As such this study presents a collection of essays dealing with various approaches to events which occurred before, during and after the opening of the Wall on November 9, 1989, and exemplifies the integral contribution literature and film have made to dismantling the internal wall separating the two Germanys. The first section "Authors and their Worlds" comprises five articles, focusing on individual writers and investigating their comparative assessments of once and now, and their biographical analyses of communist experience versus capitalist encounter. Ann Rider's reading of Helga Schuetz' 1995 novel Vom Glanz der Elbe explains the author's multiple levels of concern with Western colonialisation after reunification and her hope for a more reciprocal respect and acceptance of East and West German identity. This hope is represented by Schuetz through a protagonist's return to East Germany he left thirty years ago and his search for the sister he left behind. Stuart Tabener addresses Monika Maron's major works from a rather negative point of view. He situates her into pertinent female critical voices that mostly align Maron's surreal narrative techniques with a subversive intent towards the socialist-realist paradigm. Tabener grants Maron similar integrity as Uwe Johnson abdicating from public life, but his credits stop here. Maron's narrative dissent in his opinion roots in nonconformity "that may be motivated less by critique than by an animalistic amorality" (39). Her work ultimately lacks for him Enlightenment principles and in one of her last novels (Pawel's Briefe) he chides her for abusing the Holocaust as "a new myth of victimhood, with herself at the center" (56). James Reece turns his attention to the highly interesting subject of East German authors and their retrospective autobiographies. In the 1990s autobiography in various guises has figured prominently in the large body of writing devoted to remembering the GDR. While Christa Wolf is only briefly explored, Hermann Kant is given a bit more room to join in the general negation. Reece's actual focus is on Gunter de Bruyn's theoretical writings on autobiography and his works Zwischenbilanz. Eine Jugend in Berlin (1992) and Vierzig Jahre. Ein Lebenesbericht (1996). Rolf Jucker makes the highly commendable assertion that literature as well as its interpretative effort fails if it only satisfies aesthetic requirements and does not address the historical, political and social parameters of our world at hand. Good literature to him "can only truly function if it provides us with a contrasting, alternative world, a world that holds up a mirror in front of us" (79). Unfortunately, his application of what Volker Braun's texts have to say about today's real existing capitalism gets shortchanged by excellent but too overtaking references to others; there does not evolve a solid understanding of Volker Braun's literary philosophy. Rachel Halverson dissects as a last piece in this first section Thomas Brussig's popular novel Helden wie wir, comingto the conclusion that its comedic hilarity does not exceed the niveau of Trivialliteratur. …
The sudden fall of the Berlin Wall is one of the defining images of the late twentieth century. T... more The sudden fall of the Berlin Wall is one of the defining images of the late twentieth century. The subsequent unification of Germany and the decision to return Berlin to its status as capital has made the constant changes within the city a matter of public interest. It also offered Berlin the opportunity to create a new image for itself, one that can serve as a counterbalance to the politically charged recent history of Berlin as the capital of Nazi Germany and former East Berlin as the capital of the German Democratic Republic. Poised between capitalist Western Europe and the former communist powers in Eastern Europe, Berlin occupies a fascinating geopolitical space. This anthology presents a unique glimpse into the various constituencies that make up Berlin and that impact the city's challenges and promises.
‘Erste Gestandnisse der Stasi-Folterer: Fussohlen versengt, Schaum in die Augen’, ‘Wie man eine P... more ‘Erste Gestandnisse der Stasi-Folterer: Fussohlen versengt, Schaum in die Augen’, ‘Wie man eine Personlichkeit zerstort’, ‘So warb die Stasi ihre Informanten: Egoismus, Karrierestreben, Angst und politische Blindheit wurden skrupellos ausgenutzt/14jahrige als Spitzel bezahlt.’1 With headlines like these the media in Germany hyped the uncovering of lurid facts about the GDR’s Staatssicherheitsdienst in the years following the Wende and thereby contributed to the production of images of the organisation which fulfilled the German and world public’s expectation of it as an omniscient, sinister force overshadowing the existence of all GDR citizens. Thomas Brussig’s much-discussed picaresque novel Helden wie wir (1995) held the mirror of satire up to these images — and his timing was perfect.2 Earlier literary attempts by East Germans to capture the GDR past and the turbulent unifying present were swallowed in media blitzes such as the one we refer to above.3 Using a scurrilous, taboo-breaking wit, however, Brussig successfully manipulated the media and the German public to focus their attention on his neurotic, sexually depraved protagonist, Klaus Uhltzscht, and his experiences growing up in the GDR, including his brief but enlightening time as a Stasi trainee.
... Instruction (Trommler), Approaches and Methods (Hohendahl), Research in Historical Perspe... more ... Instruction (Trommler), Approaches and Methods (Hohendahl), Research in Historical Perspective (John A. McCarthy), Organizing the Profes-sion (Herminghouse), The Changing Profile of the Professoriat (McCarthy), and Sociopolitical Dimensions (Cora Lee Kluge). ...
... Kristie is grateful to her colleagues at Bowling Green State University and its year abroad p... more ... Kristie is grateful to her colleagues at Bowling Green State University and its year abroad program in Salzburg, which has afforded ... contemporary German literature with her over the past several years, in particular Andrea Antal, Reka Barabas, Peter Clayson, Alina Mahu, Ana ...
This article examines various issues related to the development of advanced proficiency by foreig... more This article examines various issues related to the development of advanced proficiency by foreign language teacher candidates with the goal of providing infomation and strategies for teacher educators and administrators at the university level. Recent changes in the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) requirements stipulate that foreign language teacher candidates in specific languages (e.g., French, German, Spanish) must achieve the Advanced-Low rating on the American Council on the Teaching qf Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency biterview (0PI)lWriting Proficiency Test (WPT). The article includes descriptions of language projciency requiredforforeign language teaching and assessments ; a survey of curricula and institutional resourcesfor foreign language education at the university level, which support the development of advanced projciency; and recommendations for facilitating Advanced language proficiency by foreign language teacher candidates.
Reviewed Work: Structures of Disintegration: Narrative Strategies in Elias Canetti's "Die Blendun... more Reviewed Work: Structures of Disintegration: Narrative Strategies in Elias Canetti's "Die Blendung" by David Darby
Reviewed Work: The End of Modernism: Elias Canetti's "Auto-da-Fé" by Elias Canetti, William Colli... more Reviewed Work: The End of Modernism: Elias Canetti's "Auto-da-Fé" by Elias Canetti, William Collins Donahue
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