Merle Tönnies Livres

Situated on the borderline between literary and cultural studies, this work is based on the analysis of more than 500 nineteenth-century British dramas (many of them only available as manuscripts). The main focus is on the genre of melodrama, with other dramatic forms used as a comparative background. The study draws on cultural studies models of the popular, on gender and role theory as well as reception studies to examine the representations of women constructed by the plays, thereby transcending many of the standard generalisations about femininity in melodrama and in the Victorian Age in general. The female roles in the plays are understood as offering positions for identification to the spectators, having to negotiate between social conventions and taboos on the one hand and the audience's wishes on the other. Thus, melodrama, which was patronised by wide sections of society, can allow the twenty-first-century researcher an insight into the popular imagination of a past century.

This volume of 'anglistik & englischunterricht' concentrates on the relationship between representations of space and the formation of personal and group identities. Resulting from the 2009 conference of the German Association for the Study of British Cultures at Paderborn University, the papers share a special focus on the ways in which literary texts construct and/or undermine coherent spaces and thereby shape their protagonists' search for a functioning sense of self. In addition, the portrayal and reading of spaces in other (particularly visual) media will also play an important role. Readers are thereby offered a comprehensive and comparative overview of spatially grounded identity representations in the British Isles, with a temporal focus on the period from the 19th to the 21st century. Thus, the volume constitutes a valuable contribution to a vibrant discussion which - after the 'spatial turn' - is taking place in many fields of literary and cultural studies.

The papers collected in this volume were first presented at the 2010 CDE conference at Paderborn and address the forms and functions of narrative elements in English-language drama and theatre from the 1990s onwards. The contributions focus especially on questions of authenticity in theatrical discourse, on the relationship between performed stories and their audiences and on the potential of stage narratives to construct (different versions of) subjectivity. The dramatic forms that are studied range from documentary and autobiographical works to ‘in-yer-face’ plays, monodrama, Black British drama and post-dramatic theatre. Thus, the volume as a whole offers a comprehensive overview of the ways in which playwrights and performers are increasingly using storytelling formats in times when ‘grand narratives’ have long lost their power.

While teaching is increasingly on the agenda for higher education administration and funding bodies, the overwhelming trend here is towards generic pedagogic practices with little sensitivity to discipline-specific questions. Although in literary studies a debate around this question is beginning, on the whole it remains too separate from the questions which really fuel the field. Based on a one-day conference, Teaching Contemporary British Fiction, organized by the UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies in conjunction with the University of Westminster in May 2004, this collection tackles the underdiscussed issue of literature pedagogy by focusing on the teaching of contemporary British fiction. Dealing with a broad range of literary texts as well as with crucial issues and problems involved in teaching them, the contributions address not only the salient and current debates in the discipline (e. g. the role and identity of the academic teacher or the question of canon formation) but demonstrate the didactic dimensions of contemporary British fiction by making practical suggestions on teaching it.

This book aims at giving students a comprehensive and comprehensible overview of the main theories, methods, and fields of interest of British cultural studies. Taking the city of Oxford and its manifold cultural meanings as a case study, the book covers issues of representation, identity, class, ethnicity, gender, and (new) cultural geography. Combining the functions of a primary text reader and a conventional text book, this innovative volume will help students to derive analytical tools from the theory excerpts and to test their own approaches to the various forms of cultural texts against these theories. Throughout, texts and images are introduced by short explanatory passages and accompanied by suggestions for a step-by-step analysis and further reading, which makes the collection suitable for BA as well as MA students.

Most commentators agree that the sense of newness embodied by Tony Blair and his government is due not simply to innovative policies, but just as much to his influence on the national mood. Like Margaret Thatcher, he is said to have created a new 'Zeitgeist'. Britain under Blair therefore examines developments since the 1997 landslide victory not only with regard to the key political areas that already sparked heated debates under the preceding Conservative governments, but also on the representational level. Analyses of New Labour's characteristic rhetoric and various cultural discourses of the time demonstrate the central role of discursive changes in this period. Indebted to a broad Cultural Studies approach, the volume brings together specialists from a wide range of disciplines. They come from both the UK and Germany, thus combining inside and outside perspectives on Blair's Britain.

Die politische Rede hat in England hohen Stellenwert: in den „Debating Societies“ der Universitäten, am „Speakers´Corner“ im Hyde Park, v. a. aber natürlich im britischen Unterhaus. Texte in der Originalsprache, mit Übersetzungen schwieriger Wörter am Fuß jeder Seite, Nachwort und Literaturhinweisen.

Seit 1990 zeigt das englische Drama erhebliche Veränderungen, die viele gängige Thesen in der Sekundärliteratur über Autoren und Autorinnen infrage stellen. Diese Entwicklungen betreffen nicht nur einzelne Oeuvres oder dramatische Formen, sondern auch massive Verschiebungen im gesamten Genresystem, die Entstehung neuer Schreibweisen und den Rückgang traditioneller Dramenformen. Erklärungsansätze finden sich sowohl im dramatischen System als auch in den kulturellen, sozialen und politischen Prozessen in Großbritannien. Die bisherige Sekundärliteratur bietet nur begrenzte Unterstützung. Der vorliegende Band zielt darauf ab, eine solide Grundlage für die Auseinandersetzung mit diesem dynamischen Genre zu schaffen. Er gliedert sich nach den seit 1990 vorherrschenden Strömungen im englischen Drama und setzt diese in Beziehung zu etablierten Kategorien. Jedes Kapitel umfasst einen Überblick über die jeweilige Schreibweise, ihre Entwicklung, zentrale Dramatiker und Stücke, eine Modellinterpretation eines repräsentativen Dramas im Kontext des Werkes des Autors oder der Autorin sowie eine Auswahlbibliographie mit wichtiger Primärliteratur und einem Überblick über relevante Sekundärwerke. So bietet der Band Studierenden und Lehrenden Unterstützung bei der Seminar- und Prüfungsplanung und dient Wissenschaftlern als Ausgangspunkt für vertiefende Forschungsprojekte.