Cornelia Neumann – författare

Seminar paper from the year 1999 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0 (A), Humboldt-University of Berlin (Institute for Anglistics/American Studies), course: Contemporary British Fiction: Footnotes to History, language: English, abstract: "e;A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters"e; by Julian Barnes is neither easy to understand nor to classify. Both problems, comprehensibility and classification, emerge from the same root: The book's complex structure. The 10 1/2 chapters seem to be autonomous episodes rather than parts of the same novel. Therefore, some critics have argued that it was rather 'a gathering of prose pieces, some fiction, others rather like essays' and no homogeneous piece of prose. On the other hand, they have also discovered elements which do connect the chapters. Therefore, one could conclude that if A History [...] does not fit into established patterns of the genre novel, it must be a post-modern novel, as the linking elements make it more than just a collection 'of prose pieces'. The other main problem, comprehensibility, is tightly connected with the issues structure and categorisation. Given that readers have discovered connecting elements and found that they add common meaning to the single chapters, they might still have unanswered questions. Does such a complicated structure imply a certain meaning that is beyond the content of the single stories and their common motifs?Many post-modern books do not provide explanations, but A History of the World in 10 Chapters does. The half chapter , called Parenthesis , is the key to the novel. It contains clear, unambiguous statements about three major issues: history, love and truth. Although it does not explain the novel, it philosophies about its main topics and thus implies the significance of the book s literary patterns. I have chosen to examine Parenthesis because it contains essential thoughts which make the book more accessible and are, above all, interesting in their own right. Consequently, I will consider the contents of the chapters as well as their linking elements only in regard to Parenthesis . This also holds true for literary aspects such as genre-transgression and the established concept of historical novel , which will be part of the argument, but are not the object of this paper. Nevertheless, it is indispensable to introduce the whole novel, that is every chapter, in order to get an impression of the diversity as well as of common underlying issues, which are then reflected in Parenthesis .

Seminar paper from the year 1998 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,0 (A), Humboldt-University of Berlin (Institute for Anglistics/ American Studies), course: Great Britain and Europe - Great Britain in Europe, language: English, abstract: The British attitude towards Germany seems to be ambiguous: there are still many World War II movies on television, there are serious newspaper articles and hostile tabloid cartoons, unfriendly governmental memos and - last but not least - advertising: The people dealing with this issue are of different political background. Therefore, they have contradictory intentions and express either friendly or hostile opinions: Nevertheless, certain stereotypes of Germans are recurrent, regardless of which attitude is represented. The two following lists of German attributes have only recently been compiled: The first one is the result of the Chequers-Conference in March 1990, when Margaret Thatcher discussed the aspects of German reunification with some confidants: The Conference s consensus on eternal German characteristics was : insensitivity to the feeling of others, [...] aggressiveness; assertiveness, bullying, egotism [...]. The memo was not designed to be published, therefore one can assume that the participants spoke frankly. Several other German features can be found in a poll in which students were asked about national characteristics: According to the majority, Germans are: "e;orderly, (disciplined, organises, efficient, obedient to rules, inflexible, punctual); hard-working, (laborious and ambitious); arrogant (particularly in intellectual matters); complex (difficult to understand, Angst-ridden)"e;. My paper will focus on the occurrence of several of these images in advertising, especially in four campaigns released between 1993 and 1997: Three of them deal with German products promoted for German consumers, one of them deals with a British product for the British market but refers to Anglo-German conflict in order to tell its story. We will see that especially the stereotypical German virtues (as mentioned above) are applied in order to emphasise the value of the goods. In contrast, one example shows how negative images are used to show British superiority.

Seminar paper from the year 1999 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics, grade: 1,7 (A-), Humboldt-University of Berlin (Institute for Anglistics/American Studies), course: Sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics: a merger, language: English, abstract: The Seminar 'Sociolinguistics and Anthropological Linguistics: A Merger' included an intensive e-mail exchange with Taiwanese students. My keypal 'Cherlene', told about the linguistic diversity of her country. Besides, I had the opportunity to read the letters which were exchanged between my classmates and their assigned Taiwanese students. People in Taiwan have to deal with a multilingual society. Although Mandarin Chinese is the official language, there are in fact several more languages one is confronted with in everyday life. Cherlene pointed out that choice of code differs not only between social classes, ethnic communities and generations, but also between other domains of life such as school, university, jurisdiction, the media and advertising. Each of our e-mail partners was multi- or at least bilingual in Mandarin plus one or two other Chinese languages. Besides, all of them knew English or/and another European language. The reality of Taiwanese society requires the ability to switch codes flexibly according to the occasion. This complex situation is the result of political changes, power-shifts, two main, contradictory waves of language promotion, and a strict language policy by the government until the late 1980s. Consequently, it is indispensable to look at historical and social developments in order to understand and evaluate the present situation. This paper is based on Cherlene s first-hand information and the general impression received from the other e-mails. The linguistic information is embedded in a historic-political context, because I was especially interested in how such a situation could develop and how language use reflects power-relations.