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Stefan Zweig had an extraordinary gift for mirroring the complexity of humankind and the human mind, and was undoubtedly one of the most translated authors in the 1930s, but he is still considered a “poor cousin” in the academic world. Indeed, both his life and his work have been consistently viewed through the events of history, something neither caused nor endorsed by him, with the result that his worldview and the general perception of that view often have been misunderstood. In the 1950s and 1960s, scholars focused on the author’s use of genres and language, as well as his political views during the Second World War, rather than on the analysis of his literary texts. Although recent research points to the importance of Zweig’s humanistic worldview, which insists on viewing all human action equally, the poor image of the author caused by his earlier reception still prevails. This thesis focusses on Zweig’s autobiographical work Die Welt von Gestern: Erinnerungen eines Europäers (1942) as an adaptation of both culture and history. This dissertation demonstrates, how through the subject perception of the “I,” “life writing” becomes “history writing,” dismantling a cultural and political world. Not only does this “I” hold multiple functions, but each function illuminates a different fragment of an event in search of a “truth.” Zweig’s autobiography incorporates elements from other genres, which enables us to see him in part as a postmodern author. To illustrate the game-like use of Zweig’s subjective worldview, Philippe Lejeune’s “autobiographical pact,” Mieke Bal’s concept of focalization, and Walter Benjamin’s essay “Der Erzähler” will form the framework for a linguistic, narratological, and philosophical analysis. In order to show that autobiographical writing resides in the tradition of alternative history, rather than in the simple enumeration of facts, Henry Adams’ The Education of Henry Adams (1918) has been woven into the analysis of Zweig’s text, as an example of an autobiography from a historian’s point of view, who, although motivated by different circumstances, exposes a similar philosophy of history to Zweig’s. Besides Zweig’s autobiography this dissertation will also include other works of the author, such as Triumph und Tragik des Erasmus von Rotterdam (1934), Maria Stuart (1935) und “Schachnovelle“ (1942) as part of the analysis in order to show the reflexion of history and life in the author’s biographical work as well.

Original handcoloured lithograph of four fish: Longnose Gar, American Paddlefish, South American Lungfish, Shovelnose Sturgeon From the collection of Gord Edmondson

Hand coloured engraving showing lateral views of two sturgeon, coronal view of one sturgeon, three fisherman preparing a baited line, and a boat offshore. From the collection of Gord Edmondson

This thesis explores the representation of Heimat in contemporary German novels and films by authors and directors born in the 1960s and 1970s within the context of globalisation. The following texts and films are examined: Hierankl (2003) and Winterreise (2006) by Hans Steinbichler, Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot (2006) and Beste Gegend (2008) by Marcus H. Rosenmüller, Der Geschmack von Apfelkernen (2008) by Katharina Hagena, Klausen (2002) by Andreas Maier, and Usambara (2007) by Christof Hamann. I argue that the static notion of the concept of Heimat and concomitant concepts of identity are challenged by these authors and filmmakers as they pit them against the cultural, political, and social changes brought on by globalisation with its altered notions of identity. Within German political and public discourse, globalisation is often presented as a foreign concept threatening German institutions, customs, and even national identity itself. The dynamics between dwelling and travel/movement are at the centre of the films and novels under discussion. Each of the four chapters focuses on one of the major topics of current literary discourses of Heimat and globalisation: changing images and roles of women in general and mothers in particular; the house, which has often been fundamental in representations of Heimat, as the site at which patriarchal norms and values are being renegotiated; nature and environment as sites of threatened Heimat within the context of Heimat, tourism, and Umweltschutz; and Africa as other Heimat, threatened by, yet relatively untouched by globalisation. In their exploration of notions of Heimat, all of the texts and films discussed in this thesis self-consciously refer to the texts and films of the Heimat and the anti-Heimat genre respectively. But far from focusing on the tainted notion of Heimat within the German historical and political context, as did the generation of 1968 in their films and texts, the new generation of writers and filmmakers marks notions of Heimat much more positively and appropriates them for its own purposes. Nostalgia, irony, and ambivalence are the major characteristics of the new “Heimatroman” and “Heimatfilm.”

This thesis analyses the function of the detective in Alfred Döblin’s Berlin Alexanderplatz. I argue that the modernist metropolis Berlin challenges the way in which crimes are solved by complicating the process of identifying those responsible for them. The ambivalence of life makes it impossible to get to the truth of crime. This ambivalence, partly created by the urban context, leads to the reinvention of the role of the detective. No longer located in the individual, the function of the detective is shared among author, narrator, protagonist, reader, and the city, whereby the protagonist Franz Biberkopf (on the intra-textual level) and the reader (on the extra-textual level) are the major players. However, neither Biberkopf nor the reader succeeds in this process, but are forced to accept the solution suggested by the text. The thesis adopts a narratological approach in analysing the narrative processes of veiling and unveiling facts and circumstances. It demonstrates how Biberkopf’s specific perception of urban space and his attempt to give it a particular shape in his imagination, as well as the complex relationship of story and discourse in the novel, contribute to the obfuscation of fact and fiction.

Coloured engraving showing three fish: "A. sturio" ; "A ruthenus" ; "A. Buso". Title at "top: "Accipenser" From the collection of Gord Edmondson

Je cherche à montrer ici que le rapport de l’École néo-kantienne de Bade à la philosophie de Kant passe par l’intermédiaire de Hermann Lotze. Si, en effet, la théorie néo-kantienne des valeurs accorde une large place au « sentiment », à titre de critère de reconnaissance de la valeur, et si cette reconnaissance, en l’occurrence celle de la beauté, s’impose au sujet individuel sous la forme d’un « devoir-être » (Sollen), ces deux éléments tirés du jugement esthétique kantien ont été largement repris et transformés dans les écrits de Lotze, qui fut, faut-il le rappeler, le maître de Windelband. D’ailleurs, l’approche dogmatique de la téléologie chez Lotze aura des conséquences pour l’École de Bade, notamment en regard de son intérêt pour l’histoire comme instance de prédilection pour la réalisation progressive des valeurs. I argue here that the relationship of the neo-Kantian School of Baden to Kant’s philosophy passes through the mediation of Hermann Lotze. If, for instance, the neo-Kantian theory of values sees in “feeling” the criterion of the recognition of values, and if this recognition, of beauty in the first place, imposes itself upon the individual subject as some sort of “ought” (Sollen), these two elements, typical of Kant’s aesthetic judgment, have been taken over and to a large extent transformed in the writings of Lotze, who was, as wee might recall, the teacher of Windelband. And besides, the dogmatic approach to teleology that we find in Lotze was to have far-reaching consequences for the Baden School, namely with regard to its interest for history as the ideal ground for the progressive realization of values. Pour une approche similaire de ces questions en français, on pourra consulter l'article "Hermann Lotze et la genèse de la philosophie des valeurs" : http://hdl.handle.net/1866/21514 International Kant Congress (7e : 1990 : Mayence (Allemagne))