German Literature Research Articles

The 13th Nordic-Baltic Conference of German Scholars 2024, Vilnius University, Abstracts

The abstract book contains the abstracts of the papers presented at the 13th Nordic-Baltic Conference of German Scholars (NBGT2024) from 12 to 14 June 2024 at Vilnius University. The subject-specific focus is on questions of German linguistics, literature and cultural studies as well as the didactics of German as a foreign language. Furthermore, the contributions reflect current political discussions on the status of German in the region. The 63 abstracts are presented in alphabetical order according to the authors' surnames.

Evocations of Nekrasov’s trench prose in Elena Rzhevskaya’s novellas

The article examines the unique characteristics of E. Rzhevskaya’s prose. In 1941–1945, Rzhevskaya was an army interpreter from German. In her analysis of Rzhevskaya’s biography and literary output, S. Perevalova shows the assimilation of the writer’s wartime experience in her oeuvre, which simultaneously follows the patterns of ‘lieutenant prose,’ typified by novellas of V. Nekrasov, Y. Bondarev and other contemporaries of Rzhevskaya’s, and the tradition of Russian classical writers of the 19th c. and the Silver Age. The first work of ‘lieutenant prose’ that invokes the classical tradition was V. Nekrasov’s In the Trenches of Stalingrad [V okopakh Stalingrada], a novella strongly defined by humanism and ties to classical Russian war prose. The author names Nekrasov as well as Lermontov and Blok as influences on Rzhevskaya’s creative method, her affinity with the two poets made stronger by their translations of German poetry which earned the status of classics. Thanks to her interest in Blok and Lermontov, a writer Rzhevskaya became acquainted with world culture, where German literature has long been prominently represented.

THE ROLE OF TRANSLATION STUDIES IN GERMAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE STUDIES

The aim of this research is to examine students’ attitudes and experiences regarding translation classes in German language and literature studies. This quantitative and qualitative research was conducted on the basis of a questionnaire with third-year students who, as part of the compulsory course Modern German Language 5, attended translation classes in the winter semester, with two classes a week. The results of the conducted questionnaire represent an over- view of the current status and role of translation studies in the classes of German as a foreign language in the German language and literature studies department at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Niš. The results of the research indicate to what extent translation studies affects the process of learning German as a foreign language and how translation teaching can be improved in order for students to acquire linguistic and translation competence. In addition to the practical significance of the research for translation classes, the work also has a theoretical significance, since various approaches and theories in the teaching of translation are present- ed that thematize translational categories (also areas of linguistics) such as lexicon, semantics, pragmatics, etc. and the means by which the process and product of translation are described or reflected. Many aspects of translation (understanding, intention, communication, mediation, communication, etc.) are reflected and intertwined in the attitudes of the students.

Nutritional interventions and related efforts addressing undernutrition during rehabilitation after acquired brain injury: a scoping review protocol

IntroductionPatients with an acquired brain injury (ABI) are at an increased risk of undernutrition due to the disease-related inflammation and other numerous symptoms that impact their nutrition. Unfortunately, recommendations related...

The Sociolinguistic Dynamics of Grotesque and Satire

Abstract The grotesque and satire are common methods of expressing the comic in European and African American literature. This study identifies the distinctive features of the grotesque and satire in European and African American literature. Günter Grass in The Tin Drum, The Wide Field, The Rat, The Dog Years and Under Local Narcosis uses the grotesque as a primary means of representing the political and historical state of Germany. In Sula, Toni Morrison takes the reader into the opposite space. She blatantly exposes racism and the problems of African Americans, denouncing inequality and lack of freedom. These results allow us to comprehend and critically engage with the ways that these kinds of communication confront social reality and challenge societal norms by looking at the sociolinguistic dynamics of the grotesque and satire in German and African American literature.

Martin Kagel and David Z. Saltz, eds. Open Wounds: Holocaust Theater and the Legacy of George Tabori

This collection of essays fills a gap in the critical literature in English on Hungarian-German Holocaust playwright and director George Tabori. The book will be useful for scholars in theatre, German, and comparative literature departments.

How Heroes Are Made. Erich Kästner's The handstand on the Loreley

Erich Kästner's poem Der Handstand auf der Loreley is an intertextual reference to the well-known Romantic ballad Loreley by Heinrich Heine. There are also intertextual links to other works of German literature. Kästner wrote the poem shortly before the Nazis came to power in Germany, as he had recognized the signs of the times: the latent rearmament, but above all the propagandistically prepared, ever more explicitly expressed cult of the hero. The heroization of even the most banal things or people in everyday life was a part of National Socialist propaganda. Kästner wanted to expose this process with his text, but it was already too late.

Digital writing in Low German: between elite and grassroot literacies

ABSTRACT This article analyses digital writing in Low German, a regional language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and currently undergoing a process of language shift towards German. Since medieval times, a substantial body of Low German literature has been written; however, today, the language serves mainly as a vernacular. The aim of this study is to examine whether digital writing could become a new domain for Low German speakers, thus forming a buffer in the ongoing struggle against language loss. In order to analyse digital writing in Low German, we apply Jan Blommaert’s concept of elite versus grassroot literacies (Blommaert, J. 2008. Grassroot Literacies. Writing, Identity and Voice in Central Africa. London, New York: Routledge) and examine two communities of practice: Wikipedia authors and experts working for Low German institutions using Low German online, and speakers communicating via Low German on social media. The results show two communities of practice among Low German speakers with distinctive writing practices and values: while elite writers aim to implement a standardised form of spelling, grassroot writers tend to reject prescriptivism and create ways to negotiate communication across variation.

О научной дискуссии в отношении понятия «международное двойное налогообложение»

In general the approach of the OECD model tax convention to the definition of international double taxation is widely accepted in the scientific and educational literature. At the same time it would be incorrect to say that there is, in principle, no scientific discussion regarding this concept. In the article the author brings to the reader's attention approaches to understanding international double taxation presented in German literature, including a proposal to adjustt traditional definition from OECD documents in connection with the introduction of the definition of the term “double taxation” in one of the European Union directives on taxation. The author offers a critical overview of the existing approaches, and also discusses the role of the concept of “international double taxation” in Russian tax law.

Pathological Elements Created by the Father Factor in Franz Kafka

The novels, stories, letters and aphorisms of Franz Kafka, one of the most famous writers of modern German literature, bear the traces of childhood trauma. Through his writing, Kafka revealed a system of thought that he was unable to express during his childhood. Franz Kafka grew up in a patriarchal family dominated by authority and misunderstanding. The sense of marginalisation he experienced within the family, combined with exclusion and misunderstanding, created an insensitivity, first to his immediate environment and then to the outside world, and restricted Franz's emotions from childhood. Unable to establish a positive relationship with his father, Kafka reflected in his works the feelings of alienation, hatred, inadequacy, complexes and insecurity that he had repressed in his unconscious because of his father's oppressive structure and exploitative behaviour. To date, research on Franz Kafka has focused on his works, but the unconscious behind these works has not been evaluated. The aim of this study is to examine the traumas created by the father phenomenon in the background of Franz Kafka's works, and the psychopathological elements created by these childhood traumas.

Barriers and Facilitators to the Implementation of Virtual Reality Interventions for People With Chronic Pain: Scoping Review

Background Chronic pain is a growing health problem worldwide with a significant impact on individuals and societies. In regard to treatment, there is a gap between guideline recommendations and common practice in health care, especially concerning cognitive and psychological interventions. Virtual reality (VR) may provide a way to improve this situation. A growing body of evidence indicates that VR therapy has positive effects on pain and physical function. However, there is limited knowledge about barriers and facilitators to the implementation of VR interventions for people with chronic pain in health care settings. Objective The aim of this study was to identify and analyze the barriers and facilitators involved in implementing VR interventions for people with chronic pain. Methods We conducted a scoping review of the German and English literature using the MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, PEDro, LILACS, and Web of Science (inception to November 2023) databases, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies reporting barriers and facilitators to the implementation of VR interventions for people with chronic pain, as reported by patients or health care professionals. Two reviewers systematically screened the abstracts and full texts of retrieved articles according to the inclusion criteria. All mentioned barriers and facilitators were extracted and categorized according to the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Results The database search resulted in 1864 records after removal of duplicates. From the 14 included studies, 30 barriers and 33 facilitators from the patient perspective and 2 facilitators from the health care professional perspective were extracted. Barriers reported by people with chronic pain were most frequently assigned to the TDF domains environmental context (60%) and skills (16.7%). Most facilitators were found in three domains for both the patients and health care professionals: beliefs about consequences (30.3%), emotions (18.2%), and environmental context (18.2%). Conclusions The findings of this review can inform the development of strategies for future implementations of VR interventions for people with chronic pain. Additionally, further research should address knowledge gaps about the perspective of health care professionals regarding the implementation of VR interventions for people with chronic pain.

The metamorphosis of the Megatherium: Examples of Goethe's heterodox palaeontology

In this paper I present the well-known German literary giant Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) as a heterodox thinker in palaeontology. In Britain, Goethe is best known as a poet, playwright and man of letters, despite producing substantial and detailed scientific studies to which he occasionally attached highly controversial interpretations. In his scientific studies and perhaps especially in palaeontology, Goethe was at times orthodox and at other times highly heterodox. His fundamental project was to comprehend the unifying principle within all nature and in that respect he was one of the early, great holistic thinkers. Goethe proposed a theory of a dynamic unifying ‘type’ for both plants and animals, working together with an inherent creative drive, which he believed was present in all nature. Here I show how he used this model to interpret the morphologies of extinct Plio-Pleistocene mammals such as the aurochs and giant sloth, and also demonstrate how Goethe's dynamic thinking led to some tentative pre-Darwinian transformationist (‘evolutionary’) propositions.

"Sexual Development": Timing Puberty in German Enlightenment Medicine (1778-99).

From the mid-eighteenth century onward, French vitalists started to re-theorize the bodily clock of maturation. Archaic notions of precocity as an ill omen and ancient constructions of sexual timing as ethnic markers now acquired an increasingly physiological profile. Regulatory conceptions of sexual and psychosexual "development" widely animated German literature in the closing decades of the century. Here is evidence of new interdisciplinary problematizations of pubescence (Mannbarkeit) as the coordination in time of the mental apparatus (Seele, Character) and the sex drive (Geschlechtstrieb). New developmental-physiological frames for sexual maturity and psychosexuality readily extended to the fate of Nationalcharacter, sponsoring various roundtables concerning etiological questions.

Memories of the History and Culture of Ethnic Minorities in German-Romanian Literature - Focusing on the German Literature of Siebenbürgen and Banat -

Memories of the History and Culture of Ethnic Minorities in German-Romanian Literature - Focusing on the German Literature of Siebenbürgen and Banat -

The Grammar of Displacement: Entwined Stories in Ruth Almog and Jenny Erpenbeck

Abstract Since 1945, the memory of the Holocaust and the Second World War has played a major role in Hebrew and German literature. This article suggests a comparative reading of prose works by Ruth Almog and Jenny Erpenbeck that deal with these memories, in light of the challenges identified by scholars of modern Hebrew and German literature. What literary devices do these writers use to respond to the catastrophe of the twentieth century? In what way do their stories intersect? To what extent do they reflect German-Hebrew dialogue? I argue that by combining historical details and fiction within a literary texture based on contiguity, variation, and intertextual relations, both writers call into question the binary of perpetrator versus victim and calamity versus redemption. I show how their grammar of displacement in Hebrew and in German helps account for the literary workings of memory and ethical justice.

Plants, Places, and Power: Toward Social and Ecological Justice in German Literature and Film By MariaStehle, Camden House. 2023. pp. 186. $99.00 (hardcover), $29.95 (e‐book)

Plants, Places, and Power: Toward Social and Ecological Justice in German Literature and Film By MariaStehle, Camden House. 2023. pp. 186. $99.00 (hardcover), $29.95 (e‐book)

New Odysseys or from Mare Nostrum towards Mare Monstrum? (The) Mediterranean Route(s) in Selected Examples of Contemporary German Literature

New Odysseys or from Mare Nostrum towards Mare Monstrum? (The) Mediterranean Route(s) in Selected Examples of Contemporary German Literature

‘The Way We Were’: Everyday Life in Fascist Italy and Lessons of Alltagsgeschichte

This article shows the benefits to be drawn by applying to Fascist Italy an approach that has emerged within the German literature on Nazism within the field of Alltagsgeschichte or the history of everyday life. That approach has the potential to counter a nostalgic, rose-tinted and depoliticized view of life under Fascism, which has arisen in Italian public discourse since the crisis of anti-Fascism in the 1990s. Through a series of vignettes, the authors illustrate how ‘ordinary’ Italians encountered the Fascist state within the spaces of daily life.

Filología alemana en el contexto latinoamericano

The book reviewed in this paper presents an ambitious analysis of the situation of German Language and Literature, Applied Linguistics and the Teaching of German as a Foreign Language in Latin American countries.

Kurban Said’s The Girl from the Golden Horn (1938): Play with Orientalism in Inter-War Berlin and Vienna

ABSTRACT: Das Mädchen vom Goldenen Horn ( The Girl from the Golden Horn ), a novel published in 1938 in Vienna under the pseudonym Kurban Said, was most likely written by Lev Nussimbaum, a multilingual exile from Azerbaijan, who converted from Judaism to Islam in Berlin in the early 1920s and published widely under the name Essad Bey. Although virtually unknown, this novel deserves an important place in the global history of German literature on account of its complexity and self-conscious play with literary and cultural traditions, especially the long-standing presence of Islam in German-speaking Europe, and the Orientalist tropes associated with it.