Anne Decker – författare

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, Dresden Technical University (Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Writing and Rewriting American Autobiography, language: English, abstract: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, published in 1933, was the first book of Gertrude Stein to receive wide public attention and become a commercial success. Though the title declares Alice B. Toklas the alleged subject of the autobiography, it is in fact the story of Gertrude Stein's life. Until the composition of The Autobiography, Stein's work had only been supported by a small circle and had been rejected by the Anglo-American press and publishers. The unprecedented success of her autobiography has mainly been attributed to its reader-friendly language which stood in sharp contrast to the experimental nature of her earlier writing which seized the understanding of many. But there is a second reason for the sudden triumph of her writing. Around the turn of the century, the interest in the author-figure increased significantly and with it the number of writer's autobiographies. According to Louis Kaplan's bibliography of American autobiographies, between 1880 and 1920 only 113 autobiographies were written by journalists or authors. In the following twenty years, "e;authors produced ten times as many."e; By dedicating a piece of writing to the genre of the autobiography, which is strongly linked to celebrating someone's personality, Gertrude Stein could be confident to receive attention. Her name had already been circulating frequently in the popular press. The American expatriate author, who spent most of her life in Paris, "e;was considered a rite of passage into the modernist movement"e; and was known for her collection of modern art and her weekly salons. It was the curiosity in her personality and in that of the well-known guests at the Saturday salon at the Rue de Fleurus which boosted The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas. With its name-dropping, characterisations, and the gossip about the people who came and went at the Saturday salons, it nourished the appetite of the American audience for the lives of famous people, such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Cezanne and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Stieglitz, Carl van Vechten, and Ernest Hemingway. As The Autobiography can be considered a response to the overall interest of the readers in personalities, it is worth studying how the text depicts identities. This focus of inquiry centres on the author-figure Gertrude Stein as well as all the other representatives of the Parisian avant-garde scene.

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Munster, course: Shakespeare - The Roman Plays, language: English, abstract: Upon reading Shakespeare's "e;The Tragedy of Julius Caesar"e; one would agree that Marcus Brutus is the character which, at first glance, appears to be most likeable. Honour as value is something that turns up frequently throughout the play, especially with regard to Brutus. Being the one that murders a friend in order to free the people from tyranny, he acts according to his personal conception of honour. It is not without facing an inner conflict that he decides to put aside his personal feelings of friendship in order to serve the common good. This is what one could say about Brutus if matters were as clear as that. On closer inspection, however, one quickly takes notice of discrepancies as to Brutus' character and actions. Carrie Pestritto states that Brutus s honour [ ] gives him an almost Christ-like aura whereas others see him as ambiguous and his character as not to be defined unequivocally. The idea of honour can be interpreted in many different ways and the characters understanding of honour differ immensely. Caesar was ambitious [ ] and Brutus is an honourable man (3.2.79-88). Are things really as simple as that? Kullmann, referring to Pestritto here, poses a question that will be discussed in this paper. The focus is to be on Brutus and his view of the events, evaluating his actions and the reasoning they are based on. It will be possible to see that his only way of coming to a decision and carrying out the assassination is by means of self-delusion. To open himself up to and reconcile with the idea of committing a murder, he has to construct his own fiction, ending up living in a fool s paradise. For him the way things appear to be weighs down what they are in reality. Important in the above mentioned context is Brutus part in the conspiracy, which is going to be worked out in detail. Since the question of honour is such an essential factor, it is necessary to clarify the fact that there are various ways of defining honour and accordingly each character has their own sense of honour. Gradually, Brutus is dragged into the conspiracy, a process on the basis of which we are able to learn a lot about his character and his moral concepts.

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Munster, course: New York in the 20th Century, language: English, abstract: This paper will inform about the demographic situation in New York City and the U.S. as a whole as it was during the time SatC aired, namely around the turn of the millennium. What follows will be an analysis of how the characters are presented in the series in a twofold way. First, emphasis will be on the four heroines of the series and their representational status. Then the focus will be on the supporting cast of SatC and it will be shown in how far they, too, are misrepresentative of New York City's population.