Judith Hermann

Unraveling the Enigma: A Deep Dive into the Life and Work of Judith Hermann

Introduction:

Are you intrigued by the subtle complexities of human relationships, the quiet anxieties of modern life, and the nuanced beauty found in everyday observations? Then you've likely encountered the name Judith Hermann, a celebrated German author whose short stories and novels have captivated readers worldwide. This comprehensive guide delves into the life and work of Judith Hermann, exploring her stylistic choices, recurring themes, and lasting impact on contemporary literature. We will examine her most acclaimed works, analyze her writing techniques, and uncover the elements that make her stories so profoundly resonant. Prepare to embark on a journey into the captivating world of Judith Hermann.

1. The Life and Times of Judith Hermann: A Biographical Overview

Judith Hermann, born in 1970 in East Berlin, experienced the unique cultural and political shifts of a divided Germany. Her upbringing, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent reunification, profoundly shaped her perspective and informed the backdrop of many of her stories. While biographical details about her personal life remain relatively private, her experiences are undeniably woven into the fabric of her writing. This section will explore her early life, her path to becoming a writer, and the influences that shaped her unique literary voice. We will examine the impact of growing up in a transitional society on her worldview and how this informs the themes and settings of her works. We'll also look at the critical reception of her work and how it has evolved over the years.


2. Key Themes in Judith Hermann's Works: Exploring Recurring Motifs

Hermann's stories often explore the intricacies of human relationships, particularly those characterized by intimacy and unspoken tensions. Recurring themes include the complexities of family dynamics, the uncertainties of love and loss, the search for identity in a rapidly changing world, and the subtle ways in which the past continues to shape the present. We'll analyze these recurring themes across her various works, highlighting specific examples to illustrate their significance. Topics such as disillusionment, self-discovery, and the fragility of human connection will be explored in detail, showcasing how Hermann masterfully weaves these elements into compelling narratives.


3. Style and Technique: Deconstructing Judith Hermann's Literary Craft

Hermann's writing style is characterized by its understated elegance and precise language. She masterfully employs subtle imagery, evocative descriptions, and a keen observation of human behavior to create immersive and emotionally resonant narratives. This section will analyze her unique writing techniques, including her use of dialogue, narrative voice, and pacing. We'll dissect her ability to craft believable characters and explore the subtle nuances of her prose, examining how her choices contribute to the overall impact of her stories. The analysis will also delve into her use of symbolism and metaphor, revealing the deeper layers of meaning embedded within her seemingly simple narratives.


4. Analyzing Key Works: A Closer Look at Hermann's Most Acclaimed Stories and Novels

This section provides detailed analyses of some of Judith Hermann’s most significant works. We will delve into the plot, characters, and thematic elements of each, examining how they contribute to her overall literary contribution. Specific titles will be examined, with close readings showcasing Hermann's stylistic strengths and the complexities of her narratives. This analysis will allow readers to gain a deeper understanding of the author’s development and the evolution of her themes.


5. Judith Hermann's Legacy and Influence: A Lasting Impact on Contemporary Literature

Judith Hermann's work has garnered considerable critical acclaim and has had a significant influence on contemporary German literature. This final section examines her lasting impact on the literary landscape, exploring how her unique style and themes have resonated with readers and writers alike. We'll discuss her contributions to the genre of short fiction and her influence on subsequent generations of authors. The section will also explore her continued relevance in a world grappling with similar themes of identity, connection, and the complexities of modern life.



Book Outline: "Understanding Judith Hermann: A Critical Analysis"

Introduction: Overview of Judith Hermann's life and work, outlining the scope of the book.
Chapter 1: Biographical Context: Childhood, upbringing in East Berlin, the fall of the Wall, and influences on her writing.
Chapter 2: Thematic Explorations: Detailed analysis of recurring themes: relationships, family, identity, loss, and the past's influence.
Chapter 3: Stylistic Analysis: Examination of her writing style, use of language, imagery, dialogue, and narrative structure.
Chapter 4: In-depth Analysis of Key Works: Close readings of selected short stories and novels.
Chapter 5: Hermann's Legacy and Influence: Impact on German literature and contemporary readers.
Conclusion: Summary of key findings and reflection on the lasting importance of Judith Hermann's work.


(Detailed explanation of each chapter will follow in the next section.)


(Detailed explanation of each chapter of the Book Outline):

Chapter 1: Biographical Context: This chapter will delve into the details of Judith Hermann's life, focusing on its formative years in East Berlin before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It will explore how her experiences shaped her perspectives and influenced the settings and characters in her works. The chapter will also touch upon her education and early writing experiences, tracing her journey to becoming a published author. This section will utilize biographical information available, drawing connections between her life and the recurring themes found in her writing.


Chapter 2: Thematic Explorations: This chapter will systematically analyze the recurring thematic concerns in Hermann's writing. We will explore the complexities of familial relationships, often depicted as strained or marked by unspoken tensions. The chapter will then dissect the portrayal of love and loss, examining how Hermann portrays the subtle nuances of these experiences. Identity, both personal and societal, will be another key focus, examining how her characters navigate a changing world and grapple with their place within it. The impact of the past on the present will also be addressed, analyzing how historical events and personal memories continue to shape the lives of her characters.


Chapter 3: Stylistic Analysis: This chapter will dissect Hermann's unique writing style. The understated elegance and precise language will be examined, with close attention to her use of imagery and evocative description. The chapter will explore her skill in crafting believable dialogue, analyzing how she utilizes conversation to reveal character and advance the plot. We will also consider her narrative voice, its tone and perspective, and how it shapes the reader's experience. The analysis will further explore her use of pacing and structure, showcasing how she builds suspense and tension within her narratives.


Chapter 4: In-depth Analysis of Key Works: This chapter will provide in-depth analyses of several key works by Judith Hermann. This will involve close readings of selected short stories and/or novels, focusing on plot, character development, and thematic concerns. Each analysis will explore the narrative techniques employed, the symbolism used, and the overall impact of the story on the reader. This section will provide concrete examples of the themes and stylistic choices discussed in previous chapters.


Chapter 5: Hermann's Legacy and Influence: This concluding chapter will explore the impact of Judith Hermann's work on German literature and its lasting influence on readers and writers alike. It will discuss the critical reception of her work, highlighting key reviews and assessments. We will also examine how her unique voice and themes have resonated with contemporary readers and writers, influencing subsequent works. The chapter will consider her place within German literary history and assess her contribution to the genre of short fiction.


Conclusion: The concluding section will summarize the key findings of the book, reiterating the significance of Judith Hermann's contributions to literature. It will underscore the enduring relevance of her work, highlighting the continued resonance of her themes and the enduring appeal of her distinctive writing style.


FAQs:

1. What is Judith Hermann's most famous work? While she doesn't have one single "most famous" work, Sommerhaus, später (Summer House, Later) is often cited as a breakthrough novel.

2. What are the main themes in Judith Hermann's writing? Family relationships, love and loss, identity, the past's influence on the present, and subtle observations of everyday life are central themes.

3. What is Judith Hermann's writing style? Her style is characterized by understated elegance, precise language, evocative imagery, and a focus on subtle emotional nuances.

4. Is Judith Hermann still writing? Yes, she continues to publish works, though at a less frequent pace than in the past.

5. What language does Judith Hermann write in? She writes in German.

6. Has Judith Hermann's work been translated into English? Yes, many of her works are available in English translation.

7. Where can I find her books? Her books are available through major online retailers like Amazon and bookstores.

8. What awards has Judith Hermann won? While a comprehensive list isn't easily accessible, her work has received significant critical acclaim and numerous literary accolades.

9. Is Judith Hermann considered a major figure in German literature? Yes, she is widely recognized as a significant and influential contemporary German author.


Related Articles:

1. Summer House, Later: A Deep Dive into Judith Hermann's Novel: Analyzes the plot, characters, and themes of her most famous novel.

2. The Power of Understatement: Exploring Judith Hermann's Literary Style: Focuses specifically on her unique stylistic choices and their effect.

3. Judith Hermann and the Legacy of East German Literature: Examines her work in the context of post-reunification German literature.

4. The Recurring Themes of Family and Identity in Judith Hermann's Short Stories: Concentrates on a thematic analysis of her shorter works.

5. Comparing Judith Hermann's Prose to Other Contemporary German Authors: A comparative analysis placing her within the broader literary context.

6. Judith Hermann's Use of Symbolism and Metaphor: A close reading examining her use of symbolic language.

7. The Impact of History on Judith Hermann's Fiction: An analysis of how historical events shape her narrative choices.

8. An Interview with Judith Hermann (if available): If an interview exists, this would provide unique insights into her thoughts and perspectives.

9. Critical Reception of Judith Hermann's Work: A Review of Reviews: A compilation and analysis of the critical response to her books.


  judith hermann: Trauma and Recovery Judith Lewis Herman, 2015-07-07 In this groundbreaking book, a leading clinical psychiatrist redefines how we think about and treat victims of trauma. A stunning achievement that remains a classic for our generation. (Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., author of The Body Keeps the Score). Trauma and Recovery is revered as the seminal text on understanding trauma survivors. By placing individual experience in a broader political frame, Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman argues that psychological trauma is inseparable from its social and political context. Drawing on her own research on incest, as well as a vast literature on combat veterans and victims of political terror, she shows surprising parallels between private horrors like child abuse and public horrors like war. Hailed by the New York Times as one of the most important psychiatry works to be published since Freud, Trauma and Recovery is essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand how we heal and are healed.
  judith hermann: Alice Judith Hermann, 2011-08-04 When someone very close to you dies your whole life changes. Everything is different. Alice is the central figure in these five inter-connected narratives, which tell of her life at times of loss. Suddenly it is no longer possible to say what the person looked like, how he spoke, cursed, smiled, how he lived his life. Objects are left behind, books, letters, pictures and every now and again you think you can see them in a crowd. Judith Hermann tells of days of transition, of waiting, of holding on and letting go-and of how clear and dazzling such days can sometimes be. Alice is a book of extraordinary power and great literary beauty from one of Europe's finest writers Alice is translated by Margot Bettauer Dembo.
  judith hermann: Summerhouse, Later Judith Hermann, 2003-04-01 In nine luminous stories of love and loss, loneliness and hope, Judith Hermann's stunning debut collection paints a vivid and poignant picture of a generation ready and anxious to turn their back on the past, to risk uncertainty in search of a fresh, if fragile, equilibrium. An international bestseller and translated into twelve languages, Summerhouse, Later heralds the arrival of one of Germanys most arresting new literary talents. A restless man hopes to find permanence in the purchase of a summerhouse outside Berlin. A young girl, trapped in a paralyzing web of family stories and secrets, finally manages to break free. A granddaughter struggles to lay her grandmother's ghosts to rest. A successful and simplistic artist becomes inexplicably obsessed with an elusive and strangely sinister young girl. Against the backdrop of contemporary Berlin, possibly Europe's most vibrant and exhilarating city, Hermann's characters are as kaleidoscopic and extraordinary as their metropolis, united mostly in a furious and dogged pursuit of the elusive specter of living in the moment. They're people who, in one way or another, constantly challenge the madness of the modern world and whose dreams of transcending the ordinary for that narrow strip of sky over the rooftops are deeply felt and perfectly rendered.
  judith hermann: Father-Daughter Incest Judith Lewis Herman, 2012-11 Through an intensive clinical study of forty incest victims and numerous interviews with professionals in mental health, child protection, and law enforcement, Judith Herman develops a composite picture of the incestuous family. In a new afterword, Herman offers a lucid and thorough overview of the knowledge that has developed about incest and other forms of sexual abuse since this book was first published. Reviewing the extensive research literature that demonstrates the validity of incest survivors' sometimes repressed and recovered memories, she convincingly challenges the rhetoric and methods of the backlash movement against incest survivors, and the concerted attempt to deny the events they find the courage to describe.
  judith hermann: Letti Park Judith Hermann, 2018-02-15 Judith Hermann's masterly new stories reveal the inconceivable drama of existence: what happens when we meet someone?In the stories of Letti Park, strangers wander into ordinary lives and change them in profound yet unknowable ways. Like us, Judith Hermann's characters have no defence against these intense and unpredictable encounters. They occur at random, without cause or provocation, and unfold beneath the threshold of comprehension. In Letti Park, Judith Hermann explores this all-important moment, our loneliness and rage and longing.
  judith hermann: Nothing But Ghosts Judith Hermann, 2005 This is the second collection of stories from Germany's Judith Hermann's, author of 'The Summer House'.
  judith hermann: The Artistic Foundations of Nations and Citizens Ann Ward, 2021-09-28 This book examines politics through the lens of art and literature. Through discussion on great works of visual art, literature, and cultural representations of political thought in the medieval, early modern, and American eras, it explores the relevance of the nation-state to human freedom and flourishing, as well as the concept of citizenship and statesmanship that it implies, in contrast to that of the ‘global community’. The essays in this volume focus on shifting notions of various core political concepts like citizenship, republicanism, and nationalism from antiquity to the present-day to provide a systematic understanding of their evolving histories through Western Art and literature. It highlights works such as the Bayeux Tapestry, Shakespeare’s Henry V, Henry VI, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twain’s Joan of Arc and Hermann’s Nichts als Gespenster, among several other canonical works of political interest. Further, it questions if we should now look beyond the nation-state to some form of tans-national, global community to pursue the human freedom desired by progressives, or look at smaller forms of community resembling the polis to pursue the friendship and nobility valued by the ancients. The volume will be invaluable to students and teachers of political science, especially political theory and philosophy, visual arts, and world literature.
  judith hermann: Where Love Begins Judith Hermann, 2016-03-03 Stella is married, she has a child and a fulfilling job. She lives with her young family in a house in the suburbs.Her life is happy and unremarkable, but she is a little lonely-her husband travels a lot for work and so she is often alone in the house with only her daughter for company. One day a stranger appears at her door, a man Stella's never seen before. He says he just wants to talk to her, nothing more. She refuses. The next day he comes again. And then the day after that. He will not leave her in peace. When Stella works out that he lives up the road, and tries to confront him, it makes no difference. This is the beginning of a nightmare that slowly and remorselessly escalates.Where Love Begins is a delicately wrought, deeply sinister novel about how easily the comfortable lives we construct for ourselves can be shattered.
  judith hermann: The Trauma Recovery Group Judith Lewis Herman, Emily Schatzow, Melissa Coco, Diya Kallivayalil, Jocelyn Levitan, 2011-02-16 Rich with expert, practical guidance for therapists, this book presents an evidence-based group treatment approach for survivors of interpersonal trauma. This time-limited treatment is designed for clients who have achieved basic safety and stability in present-day life and who are ready to work on the more enduring ways that trauma has harmed their self-perception and relationships. Vivid case examples and transcripts illustrate the process of screening, selecting, and orienting group members and helping them craft and work toward individualized goals, while optimizing the healing power of group interactions. In a convenient large-size format, the book includes reproducible handouts, worksheets, and flyers--Provided by publisher.
  judith hermann: Group Trauma Treatment in Early Recovery Judith Lewis Herman, Diya Kallivayalil, and Members of the Victims of Violence Program, 2018-09-28 Infused with clinical wisdom, this book describes a supportive group treatment approach for survivors just beginning to come to terms with the impact of interpersonal trauma. Focusing on establishing safety, stability, and self-care, the Trauma Information Group (TIG) is a Stage 1 approach within Judith Herman's influential stage model of treatment. Vivid sample transcripts illustrate ways to help group participants deepen their understanding of trauma, build new coping skills, and develop increased compassion for themselves and for one another. In a large-size format for easy photocopying, the volume provides everything needed to implement the TIG, including session-by-session guidelines and extensive reproducible handouts and worksheets. Purchasers get access to a companion website where they can download and print the reproducible materials from the book, as well as an online-only set of handouts and worksheets in Spanish. See also The Trauma Recovery Group, by Michaela Mendelsohn, Judith Lewis Herman, et al., which presents a Stage 2 treatment approach for clients who are ready to work on processing and integrating traumatic memories.
  judith hermann: German Women's Writing in the Twenty-first Century Hester Baer, Alexandra Merley Hill, 2015 Essays in this volume rethink conventional ways of conceptualizing female authorship and re-examine the formal, aesthetic, and thematic terms in which German women's literature has been conceived.
  judith hermann: The Rogue Idea Renee Ashley, Anthony Berris, Madeleine Beckman, Wendy Burk, Michael Copperman, Michela Costello, Ruth Curry, Caleb Curtiss, Margot Dembo, Gary Fincke, Jesse Goolsby, Cassie Hay, Steven Heighton, Judith Hermann, Joyce Hinnefeld, Suzanna Hopcroft, Krzysztof Jaworski, Yoram Kaniuk, John Kinsella, Tedi Mills, Sean McConnell, Anne McPeak, Michael Murphy, Geoffrey Nutter, Benjamin Paloff, Drew Riley, Ryan Romine, Peter Shippy, Christopher Sorrentino, Alex Stein, Daniel Wolff, Marion Wyce, William Zander, 2011
  judith hermann: Domestic Disputes Necia Chronister, 2021-02-08 Domestic Disputes is the first monograph in German studies to offer a critical examination of the home ownership crisis in the former East Germany that resulted from unification policy, taking as its focus news media, made-for-television movies, cinematic releases, and prose fiction that depict property disputes between former East and West Germans. In the cultural productions discussed in this book, anxieties about social disenfranchisement through unification policy are dramatized in narratives in which Westerners acquire, or attempt to acquire, property in the former East Germany. Each chapter addresses a different type of narrative that has emerged to frame those anxieties, including those of neocolonial Western takeover, the engagement with difficult family histories, masculinity crises in the West, and the corporatization of home. Domestic Disputes is the first book-length study to outline the way in which homes were awarded to individuals and families as the former East Germany privatized and to offer in-depth examinations of the narratives that emerged from that social phenomenon.
  judith hermann: The Correspondents Judith Mackrell, 2021-11-02 The riveting, untold history of a group of heroic women reporters who revolutionized the narrative of World War II—from Martha Gellhorn, who out-scooped her husband, Ernest Hemingway, to Lee Miller, a Vogue cover model turned war correspondent. Thrilling from the first page to the last. —Mary Gabriel, author of Ninth Street Women Just as women are so often written out of war, so it seems are the female correspondents. Mackrell corrects this omission admirably with stories of six of the best…Mackrell has done us all a great service by assembling their own fascinating stories. —New York Times Book Review On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle. Barred from combat zones and faced with entrenched prejudice and bureaucratic restrictions, these women were forced to fight for the right to work on equal terms with men. The Correspondents follows six remarkable women as their lives and careers intertwined: Martha Gellhorn, who got the scoop on Ernest Hemingway on D-Day by traveling to Normandy as a stowaway on a Red Cross ship; Lee Miller, who went from being a Vogue cover model to the magazine’s official war correspondent; Sigrid Schultz, who hid her Jewish identity and risked her life by reporting on the Nazi regime; Virginia Cowles, a “society girl columnist” turned combat reporter; Clare Hollingworth, the first English journalist to break the news of World War II; and Helen Kirkpatrick, the first woman to report from an Allied war zone with equal privileges to men. From chasing down sources and narrowly dodging gunfire to conducting tumultuous love affairs and socializing with luminaries like Eleanor Roosevelt, Picasso, and Man Ray, these six women are captured in all their complexity. With her gripping, intimate, and nuanced portrait, Judith Mackrell celebrates these courageous reporters who risked their lives for the scoop.
  judith hermann: A Companion to the Works of Hermann Broch Graham Bartram, Sarah McGaughey, Galin Tihanov, 2019 Hermann Broch (1886-1951) is best known for his two major modernist works, The Sleepwalkers (3 vols., 1930-1932) and The Death of Virgil (1945), which frame a lifetime of ethical, cultural, political, and social thought. A textile manufacturer by trade, Broch entered the literary scene late in life with an experimental view of the novel that strove towards totality and vividly depicted Europe's cultural disintegration. As fascism took over and Broch, a Viennese Jew, was forced into exile, his view of literature as transformative was challenged, but his commitment to presenting an ethical view of the crises of his time was unwavering. An important mentor and interlocutor for contemporaries such as Arendt and Canetti as well as a continued inspiration for contemporary authors, Broch wrote to better understand and shape the political and cultural conditions for a postfascist world. This volume covers the major literary works and constitutes the first comprehensive introduction in English to Broch's political, cultural, aesthetic, and philosophical writings. Contributors: Graham Bartram, Brechtje Beuker, Gisela Brude-Firnau, Gwyneth Cliver, Jennifer Jenkins, Kathleen L. Komar, Paul Michael Lützeler, Gunther Martens, Sarah McGaughey, Judith Ryan, Judith Sidler, Galin Tihanov, Sebastian Wogenstein. Graham Bartram retired as Senior Lecturer in German Studies at the University of Lancaster, UK. Sarah McGaughey is Associate Professor of German at Dickinson College, USA. Galin Tihanov is the George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London, UK.
  judith hermann: The Vanishing Subject Judith Ryan, 1991-10-08 Is thinking personal? Or should we not rather say, it thinks, just as we say, it rains? In the late nineteenth century a number of psychologies emerged that began to divorce consciousness from the notion of a personal self. They asked whether subject and object are truly distinct, whether consciousness is unified or composed of disparate elements, what grounds exist for regarding today's self as continuous with yesterday's. If the American pragmatist William James declared himself, on balance, in favor of a real and verifiable personal identity which we feel, his Austrian counterpart, the empiricist Ernst Mach, propounded the view that the self is unsalvageable. The Vanishing Subject is the first comprehensive study of the impact of these pre-Freudian debates on modernist literature. In lucid and engaging prose, Ryan traces a complex set of filiations between writers and thinkers over a sixty-year period and restores a lost element in the genesis and development of modernism. From writers who see the self as nothing more or less than a bundle of sensory impressions, Ryan moves to others who hesitate between empiricist and Freudian views of subjectivity and consciousness, and to those who wish to salvage the self from its apparent disintegration. Finally, she looks at a group of writers who abandon not only the dualisms of subject and object, but dualistic thinking altogether. Literary impressionism, stream-of-consciousness and point-of-view narration, and the question of epiphany in literature acquire a new aspect when seen in the context of the psychologies without the self. Rilke's development of a position akin to phenomenology, Henry and Alice James's relation to their psychologist brother, Kafka's place in the modernist movements, Joyce's rewriting of Pater, Proust's engagement with contemporary thought, Woolf's presentation of consciousness, and Musil's projection of a utopian counter-reality are problems familiar to readers and critics: The Vanishing Subject radically revises the way we see them.
  judith hermann: Fraktur Mon Amour Judith Schalansky, 2008-10-03 Accompanying CD-ROM contains ... 150 of these [blackletter] fonts for free private and restricted commercial use.--Page 4 of cover.
  judith hermann: Género, lenguaje y traducción José Santaemilia, 2003
  judith hermann: The Short Story in German in the Twenty-first Century Lyn Marven, Andrew Plowman, Kate Roy, 2020 Since the 1990s, the short story has re-emerged in the German-speaking world as a vibrant literary genre, serving as a medium for both literary experimentation and popular forms. Authors like Judith Hermann and Peter Stamm have had a significant impact on German-language literary culture and, in translation, on literary culture in the UK and USA. This volume analyzes German-language short-story writing in the twenty-first century, aiming to establish a framework for further research into individual authors as well as key themes and formal concerns. An introduction discusses theories of the short-story form and literary-aesthetic questions. A combination of thematic and author-focused chapters then discuss key developments in the contemporary German-language context, examining performance and performativity, Berlin and crime stories, and the openendness, fragmentation, liminality, and formal experimentations that characterize short stories in the twenty-first century. Together the chapters present the rich field of short-story writing in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, offering a variety of theoretical approaches to individual stories and collections, as well as exploring connections with storytelling, modernist short prose, and the novella. The volume concludes with a survey of broad trends, and three original translations exemplifying the breadth of contemporary German-language short-story writing.
  judith hermann: Deletion phenomena in comparative constructions Julia Bacskai-Atkari , 2018 This book provides a new analysis for the syntax of comparatives, focusing on various deletion phenomena affecting the subclause. In particular, the proposed account shows that Comparative Deletion is merely a surface phenomenon that can be drawn back to the overtness of the comparative operator and the availability of lower copies of a movement chain, and it is thus subject to both language-internal and cross-linguistic variation. The main focus of the book is on English, yet other languages are also discussed for comparative purposes, with the aim of showing what the idiosyncratic properties of English comparatives are.
  judith hermann: Writing the North of the North / L’Écriture du Nord du Nord / Den Norden des Nordens (be-)schreiben Annie Bourguignon, Konrad Harrer, 2019-11-29 The expression “North of the North” refers both to an objective, geographical reality – the territories situated at the highest latitudes on our planet – and to a subjective, mental construction which came into being many centuries ago and has been developed, modified and differentiated ever since. The chapters in the present volume examine various aspects of that concept, analysing texts and works of art from a range of regions and periods. La notion de « Nord du Nord » renvoie tout autant à la réalité géographique objective que sont les territoires des latitudes les plus élevées de notre planète qu’à une construction mentale subjective qui s’est constituée, développée et modifiée au cours du temps. Les contributions du présent volume se proposent d’en explorer les multiples facettes en recourant à des textes et œuvres d’art d’époques et de provenances diverses. Der Begriff „Norden des Nordens“ verweist sowohl auf eine objektive geographische Wirklichkeit, nämlich die in den höchsten Breitengraden unseres Planeten gelegenen Territorien, als auch auf eine subjektive mentale Konstruktion, die im Laufe der Zeiten entstanden ist, sich fortentwickelt und ausdifferenziert hat. Die im vorliegenden Band enthaltenen Beiträge erforschen die vielfältigen Facetten dieses Begriffs anhand von Texten und Kunstwerken aus verschiedenen Regionen und Epochen.
  judith hermann: Heinrich von Kleist Jeffrey L High, Sophia Clark, 2013-12-01 In an authorial class with dramatists and authors of literary prose such as Goethe, Schiller, Thomas Mann, Brecht, and Kafka, Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) remains prominent in international evaluations of artistic genius when measured by enduring popular and artistic reception; legal, philosophical, and scientific criticism; and resonance of political rage. Scholars have long been fascinated by Kleist’s biography and works, in no small part due to his influence on authors, philosophers, political thinkers, and filmmakers, who regard Kleist as among the most accessible of “classic” artists — one whose relevance requires neither theoretical introduction nor literary-historical justification. The present volume addresses two centuries of engagement with Kleist and his works from an angle that has proven most important to their popular canonical status — his artistic and political legacies. What mattered to Kleist has mattered to centuries of readers, and thus all the more to artists and thinkers with similarly urgent messages to convey.
  judith hermann: The Sword of Judith Kevin R. Brine, Elena Ciletti, Henrike Lähnemann, 2010 The Book of Judith tells the story of a fictitious Jewish woman beheading the general of the most powerful imaginable army to free her people. The parabolic story was set as an example of how God will help the righteous. Judith's heroic action not only became a validating charter myth of Judaism itself but has also been appropriated by many Christian and secular groupings, and has been an inspiration for numerous literary texts and works of art. It continues to exercise its power over artists, authors and academics and is becoming a major field of research in its own right. The Sword of Judith is the first multidisciplinary collection of essays to discuss representations of Judith throughout the centuries. It transforms our understanding across a wide range of disciplines. The collection includes new archival source studies, the translation of unpublished manuscripts, the translation of texts unavailable in English, and Judith images and music.
  judith hermann: Scent and Subversion Barbara Herman, 2013-11-05 An intriguing look at vintage perfume's powerful past, including reviews of more than 300 scents, with stunning period advertisements throughout.
  judith hermann: German Women Writers and the Spatial Turn: New Perspectives Carola Daffner, Beth A. Muellner, 2015-07-01 In the last few decades, the phrase “spatial turn” has received increased attention in German Studies, inspired by developments within the discipline of geography. The volume German Women Writers and the Spatial Turn: New Perspectives engages the analytical category of space and the spatial turn in the context of German women’s writing. The collection of essays divides its discussion of spatiality in German literature into sections that reflect privileged sites within the current scholarly debates around space. Essays look to such issues as environmentalism, globalization, migration and immigration, concerns of belonging, points of encounter, spaces and places of (im-)mobility, topographies of departure and arrival, movement, motion, or shifting identities. German Women Writers and the Spatial Turn: New Perspectives continues the challenge to understand the representation of space and place in German language texts by focusing on how spatial theory figures into the realm of feminist thinking and writing.
  judith hermann: The Cleaner Elisabeth Herrmann, 2018-05-15 An unforgettable heroine hiding an unforgiveable past. An unforgettable thriller from multi-award winning international bestseller Elisabeth Herrmann. Dare you enter the world of . . . The Cleaner? An unforgettable heroine. An unforgiveable past. For fans of Child 44, The Lives of Others, and Stasi Child, The Cleaner is a gripping thriller that will chill and intrigue as the sins of the past catch up with the secrets of the present. Pools of blood, scenes of carnage, signs of agonising death - who deals with the aftermath of violence once the bodies have been taken away? Judith Kepler has seen it all. She is a crime scene specialist. She turns crime scenes back into habitable spaces. She is a cleaner. It is at the home of a woman who has been brutally murdered that she is suddenly confronted with her own past. The murder victim knew Judith's secret: as a child Judith was sent to an orphanage under mysterious circumstances - parentage unknown. And the East German secret police were always there, in the background. . . . When Judith begins to ask questions, she becomes the target of some powerful enemies. And nothing will ever be the same again.
  judith hermann: Germans Going Global Anke S. Biendarra, 2012-10-30 Germans Going Global is the first monograph in English to address in depth the interrelatedness between contemporary German literature and globalization. In an interdisciplinary framework and through detailed readings of a wide variety of texts, the study shows how the challenges globalization has posed for Germany over the last two decades have been manifested and reimagined in aesthetic production. Analyses of the literary marketplace and public debates illuminate the more material sides of this development. The study also analyzes the ways in which German-language writers born between 1955 and 1975, such as Chr. Kracht, Th. Meinecke, J. Hermann, S. Berg, F. Illies, K. Röggla, J. v. Düffel, and G. Hens, respond to the pressures of globalizing factors, and how these have influenced notions of authorship and literary aesthetics. It shows how narratives dealing with the neoliberal work world, global travel, and the aftermath of 09/11 implicitly comment on contemporary debates on globalization, its socio-economic nature, and the impact for local culture. By presenting a literary history of the present, Germans Going Global deepens the reader’s understanding of contemporary Germany and its cultural production.
  judith hermann: Literaturstraße Chinesisch-deutsches Jahrbuch für Sprache, Literatur und Kultur Bd. 7(2006) € 49,50 / Sfr 86,60 ,
  judith hermann: 1000 Coils of Fear Olivia Wenzel, 2023-08-24 'I have more privilege than any person in my family. And I'm still screwed.' From award-winning author Olivia Wenzel comes a captivating and unsettling literary debut about race, politics, feminism, motherhood, nationality and enduring love. A young woman attends a play about the Berlin Wall coming down and is the only Black person in the audience. She is sitting with her boyfriend by a bathing lake and four neo-Nazis show up. In New York, she witnesses Trump's election victory in a strange hotel room and later awakes to panicked messages from friends. Engaging in a witty question and answer with herself, the narrator looks at our rapidly changing times and tells the story of her family: her mother, who was a punk in East Germany and never had the freedom she dreamed of and her absent Angolan father. But in the background of everything is the memory of her twin brother, who died when they were nineteen. Emotional and funny, Olivia Wenzel writes about loneliness and finding joy in life within the roles that society assigns you. 1000 Coils of Fear is a highly original novel both powerfully poetic and full of surprises. 'So exuberant, inventive, brainy, sensitive and hilarious that it's like a pyrotechnic flare illuminating the whole woman, past and present, radiant, unique, a voice and a novel to take with us into the future.' FRANCISCO GOLDMAN, author of Monkey Boy 'Bold and exceptional . . . Her impressive writing, born of a brilliant mind, surprises - stylistically, and by its frankness and associations . . . I rode in the passenger seat, beside the beauty and strangeness of 1000 Coils of Fear.' LYNNE TILLMAN, author of Men and Apparitions and Mothercare 'An audacious and disturbing novel.' MICHELLE DE KRETSER, author of Scary Monsters 'An exciting, confident debut.' Publishers Weekly 'Impressive, relentless, tender.' Faz
  judith hermann: Transnationalism and German-Language Literature in the Twenty-First Century Stuart Taberner, 2017-03-01 This book examines how German-language authors have intervened in contemporary debates on the obligation to extend hospitality to asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants; the terrorist threat post-9/11; globalisation and neo-liberalism; the opportunities and anxieties of intensified mobility across borders; and whether transnationalism necessarily implies the end of the nation state and the dawn of a new cosmopolitanism. The book proceeds through a series of close readings of key texts of the last twenty years, with an emphasis on the most recent works. Authors include Terézia Mora, Richard Wagner, Olga Grjasnowa, Marlene Streeruwitz, Vladimir Vertlib, Navid Kermani, Felicitas Hoppe, Daniel Kehlmann, Ilija Trojanow, Christian Kracht, and Christa Wolf, representing the diversity of contemporary German-language writing. Through a careful process of juxtaposition and differentiation, the individual chapters demonstrate that writers of both minority and nonminority backgrounds address transnationalism in ways that certainly vary but which also often overlap in surprising ways.
  judith hermann: Monika Maron in Perspective , 2016-08-29 In diesem Band werden zum ersten Mal die Ansichten von 12 Forschern zum Œuvre der Berliner Autorin Monika Maron (1941) zusammengebracht. Die Beiträge entstanden im Rahmen eines internationalen Symposiums anlässlich des 60. Geburtstages der Autorin, das Ende März 2001 an der Universität Gent stattgefunden hat. Junge wie etablierte Wissenschaftler haben Einzelanalysen und Übersichtsartikel verfasst, die zusammen das gesamte Œuvre von Flugasche bis Pawels Briefe umspannen und zugleich einen Ausblick auf die Zukunft ermöglichen. Die gemeinsame ‘dialogische’ Ausrichtung der präsentierten Einblicke äußert sich darin, dass jeweils mit eigener Akzentsetzung die Grenzen des Textes nach außen hin überschritten werden. Dabei werden nicht nur die vielfältigen Wechselwirkungen zwischen Text und Zeit, sondern auch die bisher viel weniger thematisierte Bedeutung anderer Texte sowie die diversen Arten der Rezeption untersucht. Methodologisch reichen die Ansätze von der traditionellen Hermeneutik über historische Fragestellungen, Diskursanalyse und Rezeptionstheorie bis hin zu Überlegungen zur Ethik der Ästhetik. Eine umfangreiche Bibliographie, in der eine möglichst umfassende Übersicht über Verbreitung und Rezeption von Marons Werken geboten wird, schließt den Band ab. Monika Maron in Perspective dokumentiert so, in den Beiträgen wie in der Bibliographie, den heutigen Stand der Forschung und liefert zudem zahlreiche Impulse zu einer weiteren Auseinandersetzung mit dem Werk.
  judith hermann: Zwischen Inszenierung und Botschaft Ilse Nagelschmidt, Lea Müller-Dannhausen, 2006-01-01 Dieser Band versammelt Einzelbeiträge, welche in ihrer Gesamtheit einen Überblick über die Literatur der jüngeren deutschsprachigen Autorinnen ab Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts vermitteln. Im Kontext des 1999 ausgerufenen „literarischen Fräuleinwunders“ und bis weit darüber hinaus werden so verschiedene Autorinnen wie Judith Hermann, Alexa Hennig von Lange, Tanja Dückers, Jana Hensel, Terézia Mora und Kathrin Röggla behandelt – und neben dem Schwerpunkt Prosa auch die oft vernachlässigte Dramatik. Zwischen Inszenierung und Botschaft versteht sich in der Nachfolge der Bände Zwischen Distanz und Nähe. Eine Autorinnengeneration in den 80er Jahren (1998) und Zwischen Trivialität und Postmoderne. Literatur von Frauen in den 90er Jahren (2002).
  judith hermann: To Be a Man Nicole Krauss, 2020-11-03 In a dazzling collection of stories, the New York Times–bestselling author of The History of Love, National Book Award finalist Nicole Krauss, explores what it means to be in that most perplexing of partnerships: a couple. In one of her strongest books of fiction, Nicole Krauss plunges fearlessly into the confusion of what it is to be a man and what it is to be a woman that has existed from the very beginning in all Western myths that inform our culture. Set in contemporary times in Switzerland New York, Tel Aviv, Los Angeles and South America, these stories open a window onto young women’s coming of age and their newfound, somewhat mysterious sexual power, as well as the opportunities and dangers it presents (“Switzerland”). In a Los Angeles of terrible wildfires, a high school student, distressed by her divorcing parents and determined to assert her agency in the intoxicating freedom of a dangerous environment, forges an original and surprising sexual path (“End Days”). Men play a key role in all these stories as fathers, lovers, friends, children, seducers—even as a husband who is not a husband (“The Husband”). The stories mirror one another and resonate beautifully with a balance so finely tuned that the book almost feels like a novel: aging parents and newborn babies; generation gaps and unexpected deliveries of strange new leases on life; mystery and wonder at a life lived or one still to come. The two stories that bookend the collection, “Switzerland” and “To Be a Man,” perfectly introduce and play out the author’s major themes: sex and violence, men and women, coming of age and growing older.
  judith hermann: Social Science and the Self Susan Krieger, 1991 .
  judith hermann: The Syntax of Comparative Constructions Julia Bacskai-Atkari, 2014 Adopting a minimalist framework, the dissertation provides an analysis for the syntactic structure of comparatives, with special attention paid to the derivation of the subclause. The proposed account explains how the comparative subclause is connected to the matrix clause, how the subclause is formed in the syntax and what additional processes contribute to its final structure. In addition, it casts light upon these problems in cross-linguistic terms and provides a model that allows for synchronic and diachronic differences. This also enables one to give a more adequate explanation for the phenomena found in English comparatives since the properties of English structures can then be linked to general settings of the language and hence need no longer be considered as idiosyncratic features of the grammar of English. First, the dissertation provides a unified analysis of degree expressions, relating the structure of comparatives to that of other degrees. It is shown that gradable adjectives are located within a degree phrase (DegP), which in turn projects a quantifier phrase (QP) and that these two functional layers are always present, irrespectively of whether there is a phonologically visible element in these layers. Second, the dissertation presents a novel analysis of Comparative Deletion by reducing it to an overtness constraint holding on operators: in this way, it is reduced to morphological differences and cross-linguistic variation is not conditioned by way of postulating an arbitrary parameter. Cross-linguistic differences are ultimately dependent on whether a language has overt operators equipped with the relevant – [+compr] and [+rel] – features. Third, the dissertation provides an adequate explanation for the phenomenon of Attributive Comparative Deletion, as attested in English, by way of relating it to the regular mechanism of Comparative Deletion. I assume that Attributive Comparative Deletion is not a universal phenomenon, and its presence in English can be conditioned by independent, more general rules, while the absence of such restrictions leads to its absence in other languages. Fourth, the dissertation accounts for certain phenomena related to diachronic changes, examining how the changes in the status of comparative operators led to changes in whether Comparative Deletion is attested in a given language: I argue that only operators without a lexical XP can be grammaticalised. The underlying mechanisms underlying are essentially general economy principles and hence the processes are not language-specific or exceptional. Fifth, the dissertation accounts for optional ellipsis processes that play a crucial role in the derivation of typical comparative subclauses. These processes are not directly related to the structure of degree expressions and hence the elimination of the quantified expression from the subclause; nevertheless, they are shown to be in interaction with the mechanisms underlying Comparative Deletion or the absence thereof.
  judith hermann: The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump Bandy X. Lee, 2019-03-19 As this bestseller predicted, Trump has only grown more erratic and dangerous as the pressures on him mount. This new edition includes new essays bringing the book up to date—because this is still not normal. Originally released in fall 2017, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump was a runaway bestseller. Alarmed Americans and international onlookers wanted to know: What is wrong with him? That question still plagues us. The Trump administration has proven as chaotic and destructive as its opponents feared, and the man at the center of it all remains a cipher. Constrained by the APA’s “Goldwater rule,” which inhibits mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined, many of those qualified to weigh in on the issue have shied away from discussing it at all. The public has thus been left to wonder whether he is mad, bad, or both. The prestigious mental health experts who have contributed to the revised and updated version of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump argue that their moral and civic duty to warn supersedes professional neutrality. Whatever affects him, affects the nation: From the trauma people have experienced under the Trump administration to the cult-like characteristics of his followers, he has created unprecedented mental health consequences across our nation and beyond. With eight new essays (about one hundred pages of new material), this edition will cover the dangerous ramifications of Trump's unnatural state. It’s not all in our heads. It’s in his.
  judith hermann: German Literature in the Age of Globalisation Stuart Taberner, 2004-11-01 Literary fiction in Germany has long been a medium for contemplation of the 'nation' and questions of national identity. From the mid-1990s, in the wake of heated debates on the future direction of culture, politics and society in a more 'normal', united country, German literature has become increasingly diverse and seemingly disparate - at the one extreme, it represents the attempt to 'reinvent' German traditions, at the other, the unmistakable influence of Anglo-American forms and pop literature. A shared concern of almost all of recent German fiction, however, is the contemporary debate on globalisation, its nature, impact and consequences for 'local culture'. In its engagement with globalisation the literature of the Berlin Republic continues the long-established practice of reflection on what it is to be 'German'. This book investigates literary responses to the phenomenon of globalisation. The subject is approached from a wide range of thematic and theoretical perspectives in twelve chapters which, taken together, also provide an overview of German fiction from the mid-1990s to the present. The book serves both as an introduction to contemporary German literature for university students of German and as a resource for scholars interested in culture and society in the Berlin Republic.
  judith hermann: Berlin Tales Helen Constantine, 2009-06-25 Berlin Tales is a collection of seventeen translated stories associated with Berlin. The book provides a unique insight into the mind of this fascinating city through the eyes of its story-tellers.Nearly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the stories collected here reflect on the city's fascinating recent history, setting out with the early twentieth-century Berlin of Siegfried Kracauer and Alfred Döblin and culminating in an excellent selection of stories from the best of the new voices in the current boom in German fiction. They are chosen for their conscious exploration of the city's image, meaning, and attraction to immigrants and tourists as well as Berliners fromboth sides of the Wall. These stories also depict Berlin's distinct districts, not just the differences between East and West but also iconic sites such as Alexanderplatz, individual neighbourhoods (Jewish Mitte, Turkish Kreuzberg) and individual streets.There is an introduction and notes to accompany the stories and a selection of Further Reading. Each story is illustrated with a striking photograph and there is a map of Berlin and its transport system (a frequent motif). There is an introduction and notes to accompany the stories and a selection of Further Reading. The book will appeal to people who love travelling or are armchair travellers, as much as to those who love Berlin.
  judith hermann: Authors and the World Rebecca Braun, 2022-07-14 Authors and the World traces how four core 'modes of authorship' have developed and inflect one another in modern Germany through a series of twenty different case studies, including the work of Thomas Mann, Günter Grass, Anna Seghers, Walter Höllerer, Felicitas Hoppe and Katja Petrowskaja, and original interview material with contemporary writers Ulrike Draesner, Olga Martynova and Ulrike Almut Sandig. 'Modes of authorship' are attitudes taken towards being an author that can be seen both in what an individual author does and in how a particular literary tradition or trend is perceived and mediated by others both within and beyond Pierre Bourdieu's literary field. Consequently, they deliberately straddle questions of literary production and reception. Rebecca Braun sets out how the commemorative, celebratory, utopian and satirical modes interact with one another to produce a number of models of authorship that carry either foundational or otherwise normative force for society. In varying combinations and with deep roots in 19th- and early 20th-century practices, the four modes of authorship create a remarkably (and at times troublingly) stable German literature network that to a large degree still determines the way contemporary German-speaking authors enact their cultural significance in their writing, engage with their local circumstances, and are more broadly received around the world. Authors and the World provides not just a radically new approach to German literary history but a thoroughly new paradigm for thinking about literary authorship.
  judith hermann: Radical Equalities and Global Feminist Filmmaking - An Anthology Bernadette Wegenstein, Lauren Benjamin Mushro, Radical Equalities and Global Feminist Filmmaking - An Anthology’s main objective is to exhibit and unveil the fruit of the growing movement of feminist filmmakers around the world through interviews with current filmmakers themselves and through critical analysis of the works of these filmmakers. Every filmmaker we examine tells their own story about radical equality from a place that they have lived, are drawing from, or have imagined. The common theme in all of the films of our selected filmmakers is the obligation they feel towards the oppressed and the resulting ethics of interdependence their films exhibit. Some films give voice to those who are suffering in the shadows, or have been silenced and murdered because of their political orientation and work; some films showcase vulnerable identities (especially gender identities) because the characters are inter-sex, transgender, of a marginalised class and skin color, are being forced into a split identity because of a colonial history, or because they are living in a part of the world from which they cannot escape. Other films highlight the feminist experience of lesbian love and its constraints or revolutions, the experience of motherhood, and the question of origin in all of its complexities. The authors have, to date, conducted 16 interviews with filmmakers from around the world who, in very different ways - at times with comic relief , at times by pointing the cameras back at themselves, at times by inviting the viewer to grieve with them - question radical equality and vulnerability. We have selected these films on the basis of their unique stories and story-telling style, and their diverse points of view referencing different socio-political historical realities around the world. Each of them has one, if not several, female, intersex or non binary characters as their leads; each of them engage us with the question of feminism in a political way that highlights our obligation toward the character and her lived experience. Each of them focuses on “interdependence” as an aesthetic and cinematic principle. But what is most important is the fact that each filmmaker will be able to describe how they found their access and inspiration for their story, and how the film reflects on their own lived experience that is socio-economically and historically determined.