Die Verbrechergestalt im Zeitalter des Realismus von Fontane bis Mann.
Item
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Title
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Die Verbrechergestalt im Zeitalter des Realismus von Fontane bis Mann.
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Identifier
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AAI9325124
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identifier
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9325124
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Creator
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Luppa, Annelies.
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Contributor
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Adviser: E. Allen McCormick
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Date
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1993
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Language
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German
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Germanic
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Abstract
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This dissertation focuses on the depiction of the criminal during the literary period of Realism and examines the view points and attitudes toward this character in works by Fontane, Hauptmann and Mann, where the law breaker emerges from an outsider to an integrated member of society.;This study is based on the historical concepts of crime and criminality and on the representation of criminals in past literary works.;There has been an important shift of focus since the time of Friedrich Schiller, who was the first to concentrate on the criminal's psyche and environment rather than on the criminal deed (cf. Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre (1786).).;The three represented authors adhere to this concept and focus their attention on the psychological make-up of the criminal's character and the effects of their social environment within the context of the authors' historical time. Their social criticism is directed toward the newly emerged bourgeoisie which, in its material thinking and pursuit of success, identifies money as a moral value. The total reification of human values and loss of substance results in a lack of compassion and in neglect of the less fortunate members of society.;The lack of true communication and any sense of a continuity in life is evident throughout the works and contributes in all cases to the social and self-alienation of the protagonists.;Murder in Fontane's stories is portrayed either as a short cut to success or it is committed out of a lack of honor. In Hauptmann's Bahnwarter Thiel, the protagonist's lack of love and compassion drives him to murder. Only Mann's swindler realizes his potential and gains self-esteem.;Despite the sympathy and concern for the human condition shared by all three of these authors, the conviction, going back to Kant and Hegel, that crime deserves punishment still prevails. Each work ends with "poetic justice", ranging from a mysterious "Gottesurteil" by Fontane, the loss of sanity by Hauptmann to, finally, the imprisonment of the protagonist in Mann's novel.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
