Describes the life & work of the Austrian poet & novelist who heralded the German Expressionist movement in 1911, wrote some of Europe's most widely read novels in the 1930s, & enjoyed popular success in the 1940s with the film adaptations of his best-selling novels.

In recent years Culture Studies, Anthropology, German Studies, History, Political Psychology, and other fields have used the concept of 'exile' in close connection with terms like migration, border crossing, identity, and transnationality. Views of a homogeneous culture and of centricity collide with ideas like multiculturalism, pluralism, creolization, and the globalization of differences. A transit-culture, inhabited by the flaneur and the nomad, is supposed to have replaced citizenship in a nation. At the same time, there can be no doubt that the experience of those writers, artists and intellectuals who were driven out of Germany and Europe by the Nazis was in many ways unique. This book investigates the exile experience in a theoretical and comparative way by exploring the possibilities and limitations of concepts like diaspora, de-localization, and transit-culture for understanding the lives and works of German and Austrian refugees from Nazi persecution. It revisits the interaction of the exiles with the culture of their host countries in light of recent debates about migration and identity studies and it analyzes texts, paintings and other methods of artistic expression which connect the experience of the refugees of 1933 with postmodern notions of de-localization, hybridity, and marginalization.

In The Heavens Declare, author and astrologer Alice O. Howell proclaims, “We are not confronting the end of the world, but the end of the Age of Pisces!” Integrating two major disciplines of astrology and Jungian depth psychology, Howell’s latest title reveals the fascinating connection between astrology and the evolution of the Collective Unconscious, C.G. Jung’s theory that the unconscious mind is shared by all humans and contains archetypes and universal mental predispositions not grounded in physical experience. Written in the form of thought-provoking letters to her analyst friend, Howell’s natural wit and charm compliment the text. Exploring the synchronicity between myth, history, religion, and the evolution of humankind over the past five astrological ages—spanning some 12,000 years—she presents the current tasks and the potential traps humanity now faces. Howell also provides her audience with a deeper understanding and method of healing the individual psyche. She illustrates that an astrologer serves as a type of psychologist who analyzes the position of the stars and planets within an individual’s astrological chart for the purpose of understanding his or her psychological makeup, the personal challenges he or she may face, and the possible solutions to overcoming those obstacles.

Franz Werfel was born in Prague in 1890 and died in Beverly Hills in 1945, a popular and artistic success in Europe and America. Despite his Jewish birth and upbringing, he was attracted to Christianity at any early age, and although he never formally converted, he celebrated his own vision of it in his entire life's work. The origina sof that peculiar faith and the response it engendered in Werfel's work as he lived thorough the horrific end of Jewish life in Europe are treated here. Werfel was not a systematic thinker, and, while his writing contains much that is philosophical and theological, his eclecticism and idiosyncracy render any attempt to trace the specific origins of his thought or its relation to the work of contemporary philosophers and theologians highly problematic. Thus, this work is neither biography nor intellectual history in the strict sense—it goes beyond, melding the concerns of both genres into a thoughtful, comprehensive portrait of faith at work. Of interest to historians of the twentieth century as well as to students of that intriguing zone that lies between faith and art but is neither—or both.

Czech-born playwright, novelist and poet Franz Werfel (1890-1945) became internationally famous(and a special target of the Nazis) after he wrote The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, the first novel about the Armenian Genocide. He later published the Catholic classic The Song of Bernadette, written after a deeply religious experience in Lourdes, a stop on his escape route to the United States through occupied France. Born into a wealthy family of Prague Jews, Werfel was torn between his Jewish identity and his attraction to Catholicism, between high art and popular success. He was friends with Franz Kafka and Max Brod in his youth and later and part of a larger Central European intellectual circle that included Sigmund Freud and Martin Buber. He married Alma Schindler-Mahler-Gropius (widow of composer Gustav Mahler and ex-wife of Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius). The couple fled Nazi-occupied Vienna in 1938 and became part of the German exile community of California. They lived in Beverly Hills where Werfel died, a successful Hollywood screenwriter. “This lovely book is more than a biography — a meditation on art, history and human life.” — John Simon, New York Times Book Review “An exemplary biography.” Edward Timms, The Times Literary Supplement “Jungk’s description of how he researched his subject is highly suspenseful and reads like a detective story.” — Der Spiegel “This exemplary biography recalls Werfel’s career and its vanished settings as part of the cultural history of the West. Mr. Jungk also provides a searing picture of Werfel’s wife, the famous Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel...” — The New Yorker “This biography, ostensibly the story of a life, is really a broad panorama of culture and history... It is Jungk’s genius to seduce us into following him into Werfel’s world, and to keep us there, completely enthralled.” — Die Welt

Retells the experiences of Bernadette Soubirous, a young French woman who was visited by an image of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.

The parables that Jesus Christ used to convey his lessons are rich in their implications. They serve as ongoing standards against which to set our thoughts, actions, and decisions. Together they ask us to acknowledge Jesus and His teachings as the only “door” (John 10: 1) to the fold, the ultimate judge of our beliefs, thoughts, and actions. Meditations on the Parables of Christ seeks to interpret the parables according to their theological significance while also applying them to individual lives and practices. Mercy and forgiveness constitute the constant themes of the parables. The parables emphasize the unfathomable mercy to our God, which reaches out to the penitent. They invite us to respond positively to God, embrace what He offers us, and be mindful of His will and of our eternal destinies in all our decisions, thoughts, actions, and words. This study examines the parables of Jesus Christ, exploring and interpreting their meaning and considering their application in our daily lives.

Designed to provide English readers of German literature the opportunity to familiarize themselves with both the established canon and newly emerging literatures that reflect the concerns of women and ethnic minorities, the Encyclopedia of German Literature includes more than 500 entries on writers, individual work, and topics essential to an understanding of this rich literary tradition. Drawing on the expertise of an international group of experts, the essays in the encyclopedia reflect developments of the latest scholarship in German literature, culture, and history and society. In addition to the essays, author entries include biographies and works lists; and works entries provide information about first editions, selected critical editions, and English-language translations. All entries conclude with a list of further readings.