UID:
almafu_9959236183202883
Format:
1 online resource (470 pages).
ISBN:
90-420-2709-6
Series Statement:
Internationale Forschungen zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft ; 127
Content:
The origins of selected instances of metamorphosis in Germanic literature are traced from their roots in Ovid’s Metamorphoses , grouped roughly on an ‘ascending evolutionary scale’ (invertebrates, birds, animals, and mermaids). Whilst a broad range of mythological, legendary, fairytale and folktale traditions have played an appreciable part, Ovid’s Metamorphoses is still an important comparative analysis and reference point for nineteenth- and twentieth-century German-language narratives of transformations. Metamorphosis is most often used as an index of crisis: an existential crisis of the subject or a crisis in a society’s moral, social or cultural values. Specifically selected texts for analysis include Jeremias Gotthelf’s Die schwarze Spinne (1842) with the terrifying metamorphoses of Christine into a black spider, the metamorphosis of Gregor Samsa in Kafka’s Die Verwandlung (1915), ambiguous metamorphoses in E. T. A. Hoffmann’s Der goldne Topf (1814), Hermann Hesse’s Piktors Verwandlungen (1925), Der Steppenwolf (1927) and Christoph Ransmayr’s Die letzte Welt (1988). Other mythical metamorphoses are examined in texts by Bachmann, Fouqué, Fontane, Goethe, Nietzsche, Nelly Sachs, Thomas Mann and Wagner, and these and many others confirm that metamorphosis is used historically, scientifically, for religious purposes; to highlight identity, sexuality, a dream state, or for metaphoric, metonymic or allegorical reasons.
Note:
Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
,
Preliminary Material -- Preface -- Abbreviations and Signs -- Introduction -- Arachnids, Invertebrates and Lepidoptera -- Avian and Serpentine -- Myriad Arboreal, Mammalian, Feline and Lupine -- Melusinas, Nymphs, Water Sprites and Undinas -- Christoph Ransmayr's Die letzte welt (1988) -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.
,
English
Additional Edition:
ISBN 90-420-2708-8
Language:
English
Keywords:
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
