Kerstin Muller – författare

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0 (A), University of Bayreuth (Language and Literature Sciences), course: PS: American Drama Classics, language: English, abstract: A Streetcar named Desire was written in 1947 and was probably one of Tennessee Williams' most successful plays. In all of his plays, he makes explicit use of symbols as a dramatic technique. He once said that symbolism is, "e;say(ing) a thing more directly and simply and beautifully than it could be said in words...sometimes it would take page after tedious page of exposition to put across and idea that can be said with an object or a gesture on the lighted page"e; (Jackson 26). In this paper, some of the symbols used by Tennessee Williams shall be discussed. Since he makes excessive use of symbolism only the major ones shall be dealt with, but it shall be added that the distinction between major or minor importance lies in the perception of the author of this paper. The order of the symbols in this paper is not identical with the order of appearance in the play.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2003 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,7 (A-), University of Bayreuth (Faculty for Language and Literature Sciences), language: English, abstract: Tennessee Williams has often been called the American national poet of the perverse and a dirty writer because a recurrent theme in his work is sexual deviation, such as nymphomania, promiscuity, rape, impotence, homosexuality, profligacy, frigidity, cannibalism, and castration (Bauer-Briski 11). This statement clearly suggests the controversy with which Tennessee Williams dramas were perceived by the public and the critics. It is well known that conflicts on these issues can be found in many of his plays. This raises the question as to what extent these conflicts are related to specific gender roles and their subordinate themes. Williams once said that he has never written about anything he has not experienced first hand, thus most of the conflict issues can be considered to be autobiographical to a certain extent. As Williams childhood was restricted to a rather reclusive life due to diphtheria, which forced him to spend almost his entire childhood at home with his family, the experiences with his mother, father and sister shaped not only his character, but also the themes in his plays. His upbringing was characterised by Puritanism which was of vital importance in his family. His mother later became the model for his antiquated Southern Belles and overprotective mothers in the plays. His boisterous father was perceived as a frightening and alien male presence by him, his sister and his mother. He later became the model for the same type of harsh, brutal characters in his plays, such as Big Daddy and Stanley Kowalski (Falk 155 f). Yet, not only his Puritan upbringing shaped his life, but also the fact that he grew up in the South of the United States, in the Mississippi Delta, and the region s heat, its storms, floods, the division into social classes, the colourful imagery and rhythms of the language were to shape his setting and dialogue (Tischler 2).The uniqueness of the South along with its cultural and social characteristics is embodied in many of his plays, and the social roles appointed to the people living there offers an extensive basis of analysis for not only gender roles, but also the related conflicts. In addition to this, Williams was known as being homosexual and leading a very promiscuous life, especially with men much younger than him (Bauer-Briski 11).

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 2,0 (B), University of Bayreuth (Faculty for Literature Science and Linguistics), course: HS Dress Codes - Reading Fashion Cultures, language: English, abstract: In 1997, the Hartford Courant published the research results of the American Economic Information Service concerning those economic branches which have shown the highest rates of expansion in 1996. Among expected high-tech branches such as the Internet, for example, one branch, which had up to that point not even been regarded as an economic branch, appeared among first six ranks: the tattoo- ind ustry (Stirn 285). This example clearly shows that tattooing has intensely increased in popularity towards the end of the 20 th century. Tattooing is no longer a rarity, but is present in everyday life. Tattoos can be detected on various kinds of parts on the human body, and the motives appear in uncountable varieties of shape and design, with colours ranging from plain black to gaudy. Tattoos are especially popular among younger people between the age of 15 and 25. In general, the numbers range from seven to twenty million tattooed individuals for the United States, and state about two million for Germany (Stirn 285). These numbers are generally only rough estimations, because there is no reliable method of counting, and the results mainly rely upon accounts of recently developing tattoo associations. The focus of this paper shall lie on the function of the tattoo, namely whether or not the tattoo is just an ephemeral fashion trend or a lasting constituent of the human culture. It shall be analysed in what way tattooing can be regarded as fashion and to what degree it can be considered to be a social symbol in human interaction. First, a general history of tattooing shall be given, because the development is important for the comparison. In order to avoid obscurities concerning the term tattoo or tattooing a short definition shall be given here. According to Finke, several authors differ in their definition of tattoos. Some sources use tattooing as a general topic including all kinds of body modification, such as branding, scarification and body painting (Finke 15-17). In the course of this paper, the term tattoo shall only be used to describe the pemanent embedding of pigments into the skin, excluding scarification, body painting and branding. a The given definition excludes all other forms of body alteration but raises the need to differentiate further. There are tattoos which have not been obtained voluntarily, so-called compulsive tattoos which have been put on prisoners or soldiers throughout history. [...]

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Bayreuth (Fakultat fur Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft), course: American History through Literature, language: English, abstract: The subject of this anonymous poem, published in theBoston Daily Evening Transcriptin 1850, is the daguerreotype, and early form of photography from the middle of the nineteenth century. The very fact that a technology received this form of attention, being the subject of a poem, clearly states that it was of some importance and lingered in people's minds. The invention itself and its enormous popularity took place around the same decades that Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote and published many of his major works, includingThe House of the Seven Gables."e;Etching his text with strokes of ambiguity and dubiety, Hawthorne draws widely on figural terms from the popular discourse of the daguerreotype circulating in the print culture of the 1840s and early 1850s"e; (Trachtenberg 33). In the course of this paper the development of the daguerreotype, its influence on the American culture and its obvious manifestation inThe House of the Seven Gablesshall be analysed. Hawthorne used the character of Holgrave, the daguerreotypist, not only to solve the old mystery surrounding the Pyncheon family, but also to point at the art's relevance for his contemporary culture. "e;Sharing features of both 'Novel' and 'Romance', of science and magic, of modernity and tradition, the daguerreotype plays a strategic role in the narrative as an emblem of the ambiguity that the tale will affirm as the superior mark of 'Romance'"e; (Trachtenberg 31). In the sixteenth century, thecamera obscurawas the first invention to project images onto surfaces, yet not fixing it. The only way of creating a lasting image was the art of drawing and painting. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century the invention of Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre (1787-1851) revolutionized the existing world if iconography. The so-called daguerreotype marked out the possibilities and represented an entirely new perspective of portraiture. The new technique appeared first in 1839 and it was "e;to extend the field of representation and to wrest an important iconographical role from drawing, in particular in the area if documentation and illustration"e; (Lemagny 20). Up till then, fixation and reproduction were the two large challenges. As traditional paintings were very time-consuming and costly, there were numerous attempts to use the technique of thecamera obscurain order to produce images in some sort of fixed form. [...]

Keine Angst vor der Geburt: dieser Ratgeber begleitet werdende Eltern durch die Schwangerschaft und bereitet sie optimal auf die Geburt vor.

Keine Angst vor der Geburt: dieser Ratgeber begleitet werdende Eltern durch die Schwangerschaft und bereitet sie optimal auf die Geburt vor.

Jule und Marius sondern sich während der Besichtigung eines großen alten Schlosses heimlich von der Klasse ab um auf eigene Entdeckungstour zu gehen. Dabei erleben sie das bisher ungewöhnlichste Abenteuer ihres Lebens.

Mit eigenen Erinnerungen und Anekdoten über die damaligen Verhältnisse begleitet man gern den Erzähler auf die Zeitreise zurück in die 70er Jahre. Geprägt war diese Zeit von der kommunistischen Ideologie und deren Umsetzung im sozialistischen Alltag. Die Autorin schreibt humorvoll und immer mit einem Augenzwinkern.Die Reise beginnt in einem alten maroden und herunter gekommenen Mietshaus. Nach Beschreibungen der einzelnen Mietparteien taucht man anschaulich in das damalige DDR-Leben ein um am Ende, nach vielen kleinen Alltagsgeschichten auch die politischen und marktwirtschaftlichen Probleme zu benennen.Die Autorin wählte absichtlich eine eher humorvolle Erzähl-weise um diesen Grau in Grau Ton, den viele Beschreibungen über das Leben der damaligen DDR vermitteln, eine wenig die Trostlosigkeit zu nehmen. Sie erinnert viel lieber an die schönen Erlebnisse dieser Zeit zurück denn jeder der dort aufgewachsen ist erkennt sich wieder. Aber auch Menschen die keinerlei Kenntnis über den sogenannten Arbeiter und Bauernstaat haben, können gut in die Geschichte mitgenommen werden und sich vielleicht sogar ein wenig amüsieren.