Oliver von Knebel Doeberitz Livres

Nearly three hundred years after the publication of 'Robinson Crusoe' (1719), Daniel Defoe remains an outstanding figure in the twenty-first-century narrative of English literary history. Despite the unbroken academic interest in Defoe's works, many facets of his fictional texts still remain uncharted. Perhaps most surprisingly, a detailed investigation into aspects of violence and its intertwining with power, class, gender, and race has not been undertaken so far. Defoe's fictional works, as the study shows, display violence as an essential pillar of social interaction, not only on the colonial margins or in the wars on the European continent, although these aspects are the most prominent, but also in the very heart of the emerging nation state itself. Offering an analysis of episodes of violence in 'Robinson Crusoe', 'Captain Singleton' (1720), 'Memoirs of a Cavalier' (1720), 'Colonel Jack' (1722), 'Moll Flanders' (1722) and 'Roxana' (1724), the study aims at contributing to the rich field of scholarly research on one of the most influential English writers in the hitherto neglected area of representations of violence and thereby hopes to offer fresh perspectives.

IT giant, nuclear superpower, the world’s largest democracy and home of Bollywood: India seems to be well on its way to become a nation of superlatives. In the media, in popular culture as well as in economics and politics, India has gained increasing attention over the last few years. However, in the EFL classroom the vibrant cultures of India are almost absent. „Teaching India“ aims at providing teachers with ideas, guidelines and materials which develop language skills and expand the learner's intercultural competence. It offers fresh perspectives on India and on the Indian diaspora in Great Britain and the United States, thereby inviting teachers and students to cross cultural boundaries. „Teaching India“ brings together Literary and Cultural Studies, Didactics and Film Studies to capture a broad range of approaches and methodologies.

Millionenstadte, pastorale Idylle, iechnisierte Umwelt oder Ruckkehr urtumlicher Naturzustande - die Autoren der spatviktorianischen Science-Ficiton-Literatur entwarfen eine Vielzahl moglieher Zukunftsszenarien. Im krisenhaften Diskurs der anbrechenden Moderne reflektiert dieses Genre sowohl den Optimismus fortschreitender Technisierung als auch eine wachsende Besorgnis angesichts zunehmender Naturzerstorung und der Isolation des anonymen Grobstadtdaseins. Die vorliegende Studie widmet sich der Fragestellung, welche raumlichen Alternativmodelle in der Science Ficiton des spaten 19. Jahrhunderts konstruiert werden. Anhand von ausgtwahlten Werken wie Richard Jeffries' After London: or, Wild England (1885), Matthew P. Shiels The Purple Cloud (1901) oder William Morris' einflussreicher Utopie News from Nowhere (1890) wird aufgezeigt, dass die Entwicklung urbander Strukturen und vor allem die Zukunftsfahigkeit der britischen Metropole London kritisch hinterfragt und das Verhaltnis von Mensch und Natur neu bestimmtwird. Interdisziplinar angelegt, leistet diese Arbeit einen umfassenden Beitrag zur bisher nur sporadisch erfolgten Erforschung der spatviktorianischen Science Fiction und beschaftigt sich daruber hinaus mit kultur- und mentalitatsgeschichtlichen Aspekten der britischen Gesellschaft an der Schwelle zum 20. Jahrhundert.