Fabienne Siegmund

Eleanor Bardilac

Dani Aquitaine

Sandra Bollenbacher

Nele Sickel

Carola Wolff

Jo Brode

Rebecca Darean

David Frogier de Ponlevoy

Doreen Doose

Nina Ullmann

Annika Franke

Ulrik van Doorn

Zwischen Chaos-Cappuccino und Magischer Melange

Die Kaffeefee

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, University of Heidelberg, course: Geteilte Geschichte(n) - Irland und Deutschland, language: English, abstract: During the last decades, old Celtic religion and traditions became increasingly popular again. Unlike other minor religious orientations, however, the Celtic does not separate itself from Christianity; it does not emphasise their differences but their similarities. On this basis, the symbiosis of Celtic Christianity is formed. This ability of adaption and assimilation is demonstrated throughout the Celtic history, particularly during the Roman Empire and Christianisation. The first part of this paper gives an overview of the old, pagan religion of the Celts with emphasis on the druids and similarities with Christianity. In the second part, the adaption to Roman and Christian religion is displayed along with a short presentation of the Irish Christianisation. The last part combines the previous ones by dealing with the survival and revival of Celtic religion and gives an insight of today’s Druidism.

Celtic Paganism, Christianisation and Celtic Christianity

The Religion of the Irish Celts

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, University of Heidelberg, language: English, abstract: "Who are you, Miss Snowe?" (V 287) Ginevra Fanshawe asks Lucy Snowe and draws attention to one, if not the central question of humankind: Who am I? How do we define who we are: by our job, by our social roles, or by the view others have of us? Moreover, living in a society and having to interact with other human beings, we also need to know who they are: friend or foe, villain or potential lover? However, it is impossible to reduce a human being to just one trait ('She is a mother', 'He is open-minded', 'She is a writer', 'He is a man.'). The same applies to most rounded literary characters. This paper will discuss the presentation and identification of the main characters in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre and Villette. At first I will have a closer look at what is expected of the characters on the narrative level, for example, being the hero of a novel. The second part of the paper will deal with the self-perception and search for identity of the protagonists Jane Eyre, Lucy Snowe and Catherine Earnshaw/Linton/Heathcliff. In the last part, I will discuss how these characters are identified through others, focusing on doppelgänger. However, when doing a characterisation of the protagonists of Jane Eyre, Villette and Wuthering Heights, one has to consider that the narrators in all three novels are homodiegetic. This means – in these particular cases – that they are biased and, most likely, unreliable. The description of the characters and their behaviour is filtered through the eyes and words of the narrators. Therefore, one should always keep in mind that the information given to the reader is already interpreted or at least coloured by the narrator. Even though the main focus of this paper will be on the Mid-Victorian Gothic novels Jane Eyre (1847), Villette (1853) and Wuthering Heights (1847), I will also draw comparisons to other works of female writers of the 19th century. There are, for example, interesting parallels to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) and to the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" (1892) written by the American author Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The latter provides a "terribly good" (Howells 7; qtd. in Shumaker 1) example of a woman's loss of identity and therefore perfectly matches the discussed novels of Charlotte and Emily Brontë.

Identity, Identification and Finding One's Self in Mid-Victorian Female Gothic: "Jane Eyre", "Villette" and "Wuthering Heights"

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, University of Heidelberg, language: English, abstract: "The Magus" is John Fowles’s first written – though not first published – novel which he began to write in the 1950s. But only in 1977 after 12 years of revising did he publish the version he was finally satisfied with, which “is the one [he wanted] to see reprinted.” Its complexity and its richness of stories, symbolism and metaphors gained The Magus not only a lot of criticism but just as much success. The organised chaos of the masque distracts as well as interests and fascinates the reader. Even though there is no ‘real meaning of’ or ‘right reaction to’ the novel as such, there are possibilities of interpretation. The first part of this paper will be an interpretation of the most important features of the story, concentrating principally on Nicholas’s hunt for freedom, the symbolism of the women in the masque as well as the masque itself and the end. After that, the narrative techniques will be looked at more closely, leading to the question: In which aspects is The Magus postmodern?

Interpretation and Analysis of John Fowles's Postmodern Novel "The Magus"

Zwischen Vertrauen und Verrat, Liebe und Freundschaft, Magie und Tod. Alex ist tot und es ist Bens Schuld. In einer Welt, in der Magie verboten ist und magische Wesen in den Untergrund geflüchtet sind, macht sich Ben auf die Suche nach den geheimnisvollen Magi, um mit ihrer Hilfe seine große Liebe zurückzuholen. Dafür muss er nicht nur ungewöhnliche Zauberzutaten stehlen und gegen Dämonen kämpfen, sondern sich auch noch vor den Magiejägern der Regierung verstecken, denn er befindet sich ausgerechnet in Iantos: In der von einer riesigen, unüberwindbaren Mauer umgebenen Hauptstadt wimmelt es nur so von Kontrolleuren der Regierung, deren Aufgabe es ist, mit ihren eisblauen Augen und ihrem eisernen Griff jede Maga und jeden Magus ausfindig zu machen, um sie ein für alle Mal zu vernichten. Vor die schwierigste Aufgabe stellt er sich allerdings selbst: seine eigenen Ängste zu überwinden und sich einem anderen Menschen anzuvertrauen. Doch wem kann er wirklich vertrauen? Dem grünhaarigen Rick mit dem stetigen Schmunzeln auf den Lippen oder dem verschüchterten Nyrcolas, der alleine mit seinem kleinen Drachen in der Kanalisation lebt? Und wie kann er verhindern, dass seine neugewonnenen Freunde sein eigenes, dunkles Geheimnis entdecken?

Seelenfetzen - Traumtürchen

Sandra Bollenbacher

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