Bahnwärter Thiel" (1888), by far the best story ever written by Gerhart Hauptmann, follows the principles of the Naturalist movement in its detailed study of the life and milieu of a humble and apparently unexceptional Prussian railwayman. Yet in its exploitation of symbolism, of techniques sometimes close to Impressionism, and in its subtle use of a changing narrative perspective, this novella goes beyond the essentially 'scientific' Naturalist approach: Hauptmann thus succeeds in exploring the complex interaction of suppressed social, psychological, physiological, and religious impulses far better than in any other work of this era.

A radical critique of the concepts of 'reading' and 'the' reader as they are commonly used in literary criticism. The book sketches in broad terms the historical provenance of 'the' reader, in an argument that includes discussions of Dante Boccaccio, Cervantes, Marlowe and German idealist philosophy.

"As a cultural history of post-Enlightenment Europe, this is an important book. As a teacher of culture courses, I know there is little available that is even close in terms of excitement, breadth, and innovation."--Russell A. Berman, Stanford University "As a cultural history of post-Enlightenment Europe, this is an important book. As a teacher of culture courses, I know there is little available that is even close in terms of excitement, breadth, and innovation."--Russell A. Berman, Stanford University

Using Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer's seminal work on the dialectical nature of the Enlightenment as a framework, Youngman makes the original claim that realist authors are a particularly rich source in which to study the intersection of technology and mythology.

What was German Naturalism? What were its achievements? How does it compare with its counterparts in other European countries? These are some of the difficult questions addressed by John Osborne in Gerhart Hauptmann and the Naturalist Drama, a revised and updated version of his The Naturalist Drama in Germany, now widely acknowledged as the standard introduction to the subject. The debates to which he contributed, and in some cases initiated, on Naturalism in the German theatre, Naturalist theory in Germany, and the development of the Naturalist movement to the contemporary Social Democrat movement, have remained central issues. This revised edition preserves the structure and approach of the original, including its emphasis on the early dramas of Hauptmann, while taking full account of subsequent scholarship which provides the context in which this Naturalist playwright's work can be placed.

This Festschrift for Ronald Speirs, Professor of German at the University of Birmingham, contains twenty-four original essays by scholars from Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and Norway. Between them they encompass the entire modern period from the later eighteenth century onwards, and focus on a wide range of German-speaking environments. Several essays throw new light on authors to whom Professor Speirs himself has devoted particular attention (such as Brecht, Thomas Mann, Nietzsche, and Fontane), whilst others discuss writers such as Lenz, Büchner, Böhlau, C. F. Meyer, Keyserling, Jahnn, and Huch. Above all, however, the contributions address the complexities of writing in ideologically diverse contexts, including the Third Reich and the former German Democratic Republic. This interplay between text and context is the cornerstone which links all the essays, as it has consistently informed Ronald Speirs's own work - which combines a scrupulous attention to textual detail with an acute awareness of the socio-political milieux and philosophical influences that shape creative literature.

An examination of some of the canonical works of modern literature in English and German with regard to masculinity, relations between men, national identity and patriarchy. These were major preoccupations of male writers as they came to terms with or reacted against the decline of patriarchal authority. The book identifies five leitmotifs which serve to characterize the period between 1880 and 1930: the "double", the "other" (narcissus and Salome), the nationalization of Narcissus, Kampf or male bondage, and after patriarchy. Again and again one sees how men attempted to define themselves against what they imagined as "femininity", not merely outside but also within their selves, and further how men sought to overcome or find a socially acceptable expression for their narcissistic, homosexual and even sadomasochist libido.