German Literature Research Articles

This article examines a pivotal aesthetic debate in late eighteenth-century German literature between Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) and Gottfried August Bürger (1747–1794) concerning the nature of “popular” art (Volkskunst). The analysis focuses on the core texts of this polemic: Schiller’s critical review, “On Bürger’s Poems,” and Bürger’s retaliatory piece, “Preliminary Anti-Critique.” The study aims to delineate the contrasting literary-aesthetic paradigms of Schiller, who advocated an idealizing, classicist art, and Bürger, who championed a democratic, realist art. The investigation establishes that Bürger argued for a realist principle of “popularity” (Volkstümlichkeit), grounded in the study of folklore and the truthful representation of reality, positing that the poet must be immersed “among the people.” In contrast, Schiller defended an idealist approach, which required the poet to create a sublime ideal and to “descend” to the people in order to ennoble them. It is demonstrated that Bürger’s concept affirmed the work’s fidelity to life, whereas Schiller’s position led to elitism and schematicism. The author concludes that this controversy was inevitable, as it reflected a fundamental divergence between the classicist and preRomantic paradigms. The study further argues that Schiller’s rebuttal of Bürger’s stance served to embed the tenets of a new classicism into artistic theory. The novelty of this research lies in its detailed comparative analysis of the arguments put forth by both sides, which reveals the ontological foundations of their aesthetic disagreement.

Agency and Author: German Literature Beyond the Bestseller List ed. by Rachel J. Halverson and Benjamin D. Schaper (review)

This study examines the literary worlds, personalities, worldviews, the ways in which the works deal with the subjects and their places in German literature of Heinrich Mann (1871-1950) and Thomas Mann (1875-1955), who are representatives of two different movements in contemporary German literature. Heinrich Mann is one of the representatives of Expressionism and Dadaism in contemporary German literature. Thomas Mann has emerged as someone who has produced works mature enough to represent the German novel in world literature within the New Objectivism movement. Heinrich Mann heavily criticized the Wilhelm II period in his works. Thomas Mann is known for his treatment of classical European novel art in his works. Despite being born and raised in the same environment, both writers were very different from each other in terms of temperament, perspective and worldview. The political atmosphere of the First World War greatly affected the mentality of both brothers. Both writers were supported and encouraged by their families in their advancement in the field of literature. Music had an important place in the family atmosphere of the Mann family, and Wagner deeply influenced the family's taste in music. For this reason, both writers grew up under the influence of a musical atmosphere. From a literary perspective, Thomas Mann has been like a shadow in front of his older brother Heinrich Mann. His prominence and recognition in the literary field with his style has, in a way, caused the fame of his older brother Heinrich Mann to be blocked and his fame to be overshadowed. This situation was unfortunate for Heinrich Mann. Although these two brothers, whose temperaments and mentalities were opposite to each other, represented two different aspects of German literature, they also formed an interesting whole. In fact, as a common feature of both brothers, they wrote their literary works based on autobiographical elements and foundations.

Abstract In contrast to their printed counterparts, digital scholarly editions of modern German literature do not attach central importance to the microprocesses of text creation. A corresponding view is the big exception in existing online edition projects in modern German studies. Usually, the texts are presented as diplomatic transcriptions and often do not allow a complete understanding of the microgenetic processes in the manuscripts. The new complete digital edition of Jeremias Gotthelf’s works and letters, however, exploits the philological potential of digital editing, making the genetic apparatus entirely visible directly at the corresponding passages in the edited text.

ABSTRACT While research on Baltic German literature has mainly examined the relationships between Germans and Estonians or Latvians, that is, in simple terms between the upper and lower classes, this article is the first to explore the relationships between the nobility and the bourgeoisie as they appear in fictional literature. It proposes that the educated bourgeoisie and the nobility regarded one another with mutual esteem, despite maintaining a strong separation between themselves, and both devalued the economic bourgeoisie. The year 1905 represents a turning point as the revolution united aristocratic and educated bourgeois literary figures.

ABSTRACT The topic of forest–water interactions has a lengthy and fascinating history. Yet historical work in many languages remains unknown to most researchers. Using the primary literature in French, German, Czech, Japanese, Russian, and Turkish, this paper examines the pretext and describes notable examples of forest–water interactions research in each of the above six languages through historical vignettes that are of relevance today. For example, the French vignette focuses on the search for the hydrological role of forests, while the Russian vignette conveys an interesting example of phytoremediation and the role of evapotranspiration in decreasing malaria risk. In conjunction with a timeline for historical context, along with the identification of some seminal papers, these vignettes convey the important hydrological work of these earlier researchers, bringing some largely unrecognized work to light, thereby illuminating the historical scientific development of forest–water interactions and giving rightful credit to those pioneers who conducted the work.

IntroductionThe specific preferences that shape the daily lives of people with dementia serve as the basis for the concept of person-centred care. However, information on the complex experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse people with dementia (CALDPwD), which determine their multifaceted preferences, is lacking. Therefore, the objective of this scoping review is to identify the range, extent and nature of evidence available in peer-reviewed and grey literature examining how the multilayered experiences of CALDPwD influence everyday living preferences.MethodsWe aim to conduct a scoping review to explore the multilayered experiences of CALDPwD and the intersectional determinants of their everyday living preferences. Using PubMed, MEDLINE (via Ovid for precision and controlled searching), CINAHL (via EBSCO), Scopus and the Cochrane Library, as well as grey literature, we will systematically search for literature in English, German and Turkish without any publication date restrictions. The titles/abstracts and full texts of the identified records will be independently screened by two reviewers. Data extraction will be performed by one researcher and verified by another. All the authors will discuss the conflicts. We will analyse the identified intersectional determinants of preferences using inductive content analysis.Ethics and disseminationThere are no ethical concerns related to conducting this study. We will share our findings with nursing care practitioners. The results will be presented at conferences and disseminated through peer-reviewed articles and practical publications.DiscussionThe findings of the study will address the important gaps in knowledge on the complex intersecting factors that influence the preferences of CALDPwD. A key strength of this study is its comprehensive search strategy, which includes multiple databases and citation tracking to capture diverse, intersectional perspectives of CALDPwD. However, excluding the studies focused on caregiver’s burden may limit insights into how care systems shape the needs and expectations of this population.

This expanded inquiry reconsiders Günter Grass’s Danzig Trilogy The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, and Dog Years to assert that Grass’s deployment of unreliable narration transcends mere postmodern pastiche, functioning instead as a morally inflected aesthetic paradigm. Unreliability, in this corpus, is not an incidental stylistic tic but a deliberate epistemological rupture a literary mechanism through which the ineffability of German collective guilt and postwar trauma is not resolved but recursively re-enacted. Drawing from narratology, trauma theory, and memory studies, this article elucidates how Grass’s narrators Oskar, Pilenz, and the triadic ensemble of Dog Years instigate a radical destabilisation of historical continuity and ethical clarity. Their narrative distortions are not ornamental aberrations but allegories of psychic repression, ideological denial, and the mnemonic fissures that define a nation’s fractured conscience. Grass thus reconceptualises unreliability not as aesthetic failure, but as ethical incitement a narrative architecture that forecloses moral closure and instead demands the ceaseless labour of remembrance within the palimpsest of postwar German identity.

Ambient temperature changes are hypothesized to affect migraine attacks, but few published primary articles assess such hypotheses. The authors examine the current germane literature and suggest further research. A literature search was conducted on September 23, 2023, in PubMed, Embase, and Scopus using the search terms temperature [ti] AND (headach*[ti] OR migrain*[ti]). Rayyan was utilized for duplicate detection and removal and for abstract screening. Conflicting assessments of records were resolved by consensus, and full text analysis was performed. Data was extracted by hand and tabulated. Four studies met the inclusion criteria, with an additional eight found through citation analysis that analyzed tens of thousands of patients with migraine disease overall. Six studies demonstrated an association between temperature or temperature changes and migraine disease. One study identified individuals whose migraine attacks were temperature sensitive, but the association was lost when examining the whole population. The remaining five did not find any significant relationship. Every study examining patients on an individual level found a relationship between temperature and migraine disease. Studies in colder geographic areas had a greater propensity to identify cold as a trigger. Current data are conflicting. Temperature may be a migraine disease trigger in a subgroup of people with migraine. Lower temperatures may trigger more migraine attacks in colder climates within a subset of people with migraine. Uncontrollable factors such as air pollution, barometric pressure, and humidity are confounding variables that impede such research. Additional studies could include indoor temperature or thermostat settings during the day and night to further stratify the effects of temperature.

Franz Kafka is recognized as one of the leading writers of contemporary German literature. His life and work continue to attract the attention of researchers, literature and the art world. This study aims to reveal Kafka's character structure and the spiritual atmosphere in his works with a collective approach using hermeneutic and psychoanalytic methodologies through his novels The Castle, The Trial and The Metamorphosis, which are among his well-known works. Without evaluating the novels one by one, the images that are considered within the framework of the general atmosphere of the novels are interpreted with a collective and holistic perspective. Kafka includes basic existential feelings such as anxiety and alienation that are unique to humans in his works, and he fictionalizes characters who try to hold on to life and give it meaning. He brings together real and fantastic elements in his works. He skillfully depicts how the social problems of the modern world turn into a hopeless and merciless scene for people. The messages he gives in his works transform him into a writer who transcends his time and makes it permanent and up to date. Although his friends reported that he was an extremely cheerful and relaxed person, Kafka's personality and character structure are not reflected in his works, and even conflict with the subjects and atmosphere he deals with in his works.

ABSTRACTThis article examines how tertiary language learners of German engaged with the novel Blutbuch (2022) by Swiss author Kim de l'Horizon. Celebrated as the first nonbinary novel in German literature, excerpts of this autofictional text were taught in a 3‐week unit, which was part of a semester‐long German course targeted at university students at the C1 proficiency level. Blutbuch formed the basis of the final teaching unit in a course on language, the self, and identity. In its first inception in 2023, the unit was taught through a student‐led translanguaging framework, which highlighted the interconnections between cultural and gender identity. However, this approach left students with a certain degree of insecurity regarding the use of gender‐just language, both in the German‐speaking world and in the novel. The adapted reiteration of the unit made gender‐just language more central, which led to students’ deeper engagement with spoken gender‐just language. On both occasions, students were able to formulate confident and differentiated positions in their use of gender‐just language in their discussion of Blutbuch. The article thus contributes to our understanding of the ways in which language users engage with nonbinary literature and gender‐just language in the tertiary German classroom.

Language learning, particularly foreign languages, is not always appealing or effective for the general public, especially when the available time is limited and expectations include both engagement and practical competency tailored to specific needs. This study aims to produce a viable instructional module to introduce foreign languages, specifically German and Mandarin, to the general public in the form of a short course. This research falls into the research and development category, with effectiveness determined not only through expert validation but also by measuring its impact via a pre-test and post-test experimental design. A total of 10 beginner learners participated in the short course. Data were analyzed using content analysis, examining qualitative data gathered from learner feedback, comments, and suggestions on the short course to identify themes and patterns that could inform the development of the short course model. The results indicate that the developed short course model of the themes ‘sich vorstellen’ (perkenalan), ‘Familie’ (Keluarga), ‘Alltagsleben’ (kehidupan sehari-hari), ‘Essen und Trinken’ (makanan dan minuman), and ‘Das Hobby’ (hobi) can significantly enhance learner competency. The most effective components in boosting learner competency were practical training, group discussions, and feedback. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that the developed short course model increases learners' motivation and self-confidence.

ABSTRACT This article examines the place of the St. Trudpert Song of Songs, a twelfth-century German Song of Songs commentary, in the histories of mysticism and women’s literature. Written by a cleric for an audience of nuns, the text includes Latin phrases with minimal context, inviting its female audience to grapple with the concealed mystical sense of these words. The text’s author thus assigns its female audience the opportunity to make meaning out of the Latin intertexts. This is a novel development in early Middle High German literature that anticipates the construction of women’s spiritual authority in later mystical texts such as the Flowing Light of the Godhead.

Prostate cancer (PCa) represents a significant public health challenge in Germany, with increasing incidence and economic impact. This study assessed the cost-effectiveness of 10 screening strategies: prostate-specific antigen-based risk-adaptive screening (PSA-RAS), with or without magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in men starting at age 45 or 50 and stopping at 60 or 70, digital rectal examination (DRE) for ages 45-75 years, and no screening. Using a well calibrated microsimulation model (Swedish Prostata) from a statutory health insurance perspective, lifetime outcomes were evaluated, including cancer incidence, mortality, overdiagnosis, biopsies, life-years, and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) discounted annually at 3%. Cost and utility inputs were derived from the German diagnostic-related group schedule, fee-for-service catalogues, literature, and expert opinion. DRE-only was the least cost-effective, yielding high biopsy and overdiagnosis rates with minimal QALY gains. PSA-RAS reduced overdiagnosis and biopsy rates, with PSA-RAS (50-60 years) without MRI emerging as the most cost-efficient strategy, saving approximately €1.2 million per 100,000 men compared with no screening. Extending the PSA-RAS to 70 years improved its effectiveness in terms of QALYs. PSA-RAS (50-70) with MRI could become cost-effective at an increasing willingness to pay threshold or decreasing MRI cost. This study suggests the potential of PSA-RAS to improve PCa screening in Germany. Incorporating MRI, reducing MRI cost within the screening setting, and extending screening to 70 to align with EU recommendations could improve the cost-effectiveness of PSA-RAS with MRI. Future research should explore the integration of MRI with ancillary tests, such as 4K-score or risk calculators, to reduce MRI use and associated costs.

This article takes as its starting point the recent reemergence of the fantastic in contemporary German literature and, in two case studies, explores it as a mechanism for critical reflection on the present, a vehicle for transgressing and expanding conventional narrative boundaries and tropes, and a challenge to purely naturalistic strains of realism. Proceeding from Ilija Trojanow’s understanding of a critical contemporary literature as the site of a “vastness of imagination,” this essay seeks to reevaluate the historically strained relationship between fantastic narrative strategies and German literary praxis. Examining the use of fantastic modes of narration in works as disparate as Reinhard Jirgl’s Nichts von euch auf Erden (2012) and Sharon Dodua Otoo’s Adas Raum (2021) will help address a series of questions about the role of the fantastic in the contemporary literary imagination: What functions might the fantastic serve in contemporary German-language literature? To what extent does the redeployment of a mode long associated with unserious escapism and vicarious desire nevertheless serve as a productive means of reshaping, transgressing, or establishing novel narrative conventions? How can we understand the fantastic as a tool for critique?

The subject of the research is the theoretical fertility of the concept of "legal consciousness." The object of the research is domestic and foreign (English and German) scientific studies dedicated to the topic of legal consciousness. Attention is drawn to the disproportion between theoretical and empirical studies of legal consciousness. The meaning of the term "legal consciousness" in domestic and foreign scientific texts is clarified. Its accuracy, unambiguity, operationalizability, and theoretical fertility are examined. Foreign criticism of the concept of "legal consciousness," primarily in German literature, is investigated. Special attention is given to the scientific views of T. Geiger, N. Luhmann, N. Dimmel, and D. Myers. Sociological and psychological literature concerning the correlation between attitudes and behavior is explored. Obstacles to the empirical study of legal consciousness are analyzed. The cognitive, evaluative, regulatory, and prognostic functions of legal consciousness are critically examined. Problems related to the practical application of the concept of legal consciousness are discussed. The research employs analytical, logical, hermeneutic, comparative, functional, and historical methods. Based on the research findings, the author of the article reached the following conclusions. First, legal consciousness represents too broad an object and subject for both theoretical and empirical study. Second, legal consciousness is difficult to empirically study due to methodological reasons. Third, scientific judgments about legal consciousness are almost inevitably evaluative and subjective in nature. Fourth, the regulatory function of legal consciousness cannot be proven based on data from contemporary sociological-psychological studies. The main reason lies in the insufficient study of the correlation between individual attitudes and behavior. Fifth, as a consequence, legal consciousness does not carry a prognostic function. Sixth, the concept of legal consciousness contains neither theoretical nor practical value. Seventh, the term "legal consciousness" is widely used for political and ideological purposes. These critical conclusions contain scientific novelty, as they contradict the predominantly positive assessment of the theoretical significance of the concept of "legal consciousness" in domestic scientific publications.

Since the early twentieth century, intellectuals, artists, writers, and philosophers across the board have realized that humanity is increasingly losing its grip on its own existence in many different terms. Neither rationality nor reality seems to make all that much sense any longer. Catastrophic experiences in various wars, in the Holodomor, Holocaust, and a long series of other genocidal campaigns across the world, and now the virtually certain prospect that we humans are causing global warming and hence threaten to destroy the foundation of our existence here on earth increasingly indicate that the traditional rational framework is fraying at its seams and threatens to undermine the core of our existence. Since the early twentieth century, we have observed the growth of absurdity as a new mode of expression. Whereas scholarship has so far focused mostly on such famous writers as Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, or Jean-Paul Sartre, this article introduces a different approach to absurdity through the lens of satire and the grotesque, intriguingly represented by the German author of short stories, Kurt Kusenberg. As much as he made his audience smile, if not even laugh about the absurd conditions in ordinary human situations, basically their own, he deftly, though subtly, indicated that for him as well absurdity had become the norm of human life. Yet there is no way to combat it, as the author suggests; instead, mocking absurdity offers healthy, productive alternatives beyond traditional efforts to operate with a rational epistemology and to laugh about absurdity itself.

In every society there are people who have the legal or biological status of a disabled person. There are 1.3 billion people worldwide who require assistance and support at every stage of their medical treatment and rehabilitation. Their social needs are underestimated, which reduces their quality of life. The aim of the review is to identify the types of medical and social problems encountered by the disabled, the importance of their extent and level of interdependence, defined by the tasks of comprehensive rehabilitation in order to maximise the independence of people with disabilities. A review was conducted of scientific literature in English, German and Polish covering the years 1980-2024 on the rehabilitation process with regard to medical and social needs. The following key words were used in the research in PubMed, PubMed Central and Google Scholar databases: disabled people, interdependence of medical and social needs, rehabilitation process. Disabled persons, especially the most severely disadvantaged, are among the most excluded groups in many countries. They are marginalised in both social and working life. Fundamental support for people with disabilities involves the full implementation of comprehensive rehabilitation that takes into account both medical and social needs. The majority of scientific works deal with the medical side of disability. Rehabilitation is not always accessible to disabled persons, especially those living in small towns and villages. People with disabilities require much more support in terms of social and vocational rehabilitation. Their level of participation and improved quality of life is ensured by well-organised comprehensive rehabilitation.

This article is devoted to considering the views of the famous Polish classic Adam Mickiewicz on oriental romanticism. It is known that the Polish poet is considered the founder of Polish romanticism. At the same time, the beginning of this trend in Mickiewicz's poetry was laid by sonnets on eastern themes, which later found continuation in other forms of creativity. The creation of the West-Eastern synthesis was not accidental for his work. The fact is that even before the appearance of the cycle of poems on eastern motives, Mickiewicz wrote two unique articles ("Goethe and Byron", "On Romantic Poetry"), in which he tries to compare not only the poetic principles of two brilliant representatives of German and English literature, who influenced his work, but also to trace the origin and development of romanticism in world literature. These two articles are the object of this study. The analysis aims to determine the basic principles of the Polish poet's approach to the works of Goethe and Byron, to identify his views on the history of the origin and development of the romantic movement in world literature, and thereby establish his principles of Orientalism. The study concludes that the aforementioned theoretical works defined the eastern aspect of Mickiewicz’s romanticism and influenced his further work.

Abstract The article deals with Karl Stackmann’s essay “Mittelalterliche Texte als Aufgabe” (1964), which played a decisive role in turning away from the reconstructive edition and implementing the base manuscript principle for Middle High German literature. The supposed proof that ‘Lachmann’s method’ is not applicable here, however, fails to comprehend Lachmann’s own editorial practice and is subject to a serious misunderstanding of the genealogical method in general. Hermann Paul provided a thorough description of it as early as 1891. One of its central points is that the stemmatic analysis must operate with assumptions about the probability of coincidental matches between unrelated manuscripts.