Martin Stepanek – författare

Essay from the year 1999 in the subject German Studies - Older German Literature, Medieval Studies, grade: very good, University of Nottingham (German Department), language: English, abstract: Despite two centuries of intensive literary research on Gottfried's `Tristan', the poem has remained one of the most discussed and controversial works of medieval literature. The poem has seen many researchers struggle with interpretations and many of the questions researchers came up with in the past proved to be hardly answerable. Especially the prologue to Tristan has remained very difficult to decipher. What was Gottfried trying to convey, when he addressed his poem to the world of the `edelen herzen' only? What was Gottfried's idea of an ideal life? And finally, in what way does the conception of his poem coincide with Aristotle's idea of catharsis? A closer look at the second part of the prologue (vv 45-244) and the literary discourse about it will hopefully throw some light on these questions, or, at least, provide the reader with some useful ideas about Gottfried's famous love poem. Indeed, to split the prologue into two parts, which (unfortunately?) was to be the starting point of my essay, is a very delicate matter. Considering formal aspects of the text, it seems justifiable to split the prologue into two parts as follows: a part one which consists of the first 44 lines written in four-line rhyming stanzas, and a part two which introduces a new pattern of rhymed couplets, beginning line 45. This way of splitting up the prologue has been the preferred one in the past, though some critics now regard it as out-dated and not very helpful. Dietz1 believes that the prologue has to be seen as a whole and therefore tends to prefer Schone's2 suggestion to divide the prologue according to certain keywords, or, as he puts it `Hauptthemen', which seem to represent the central idea of each of his suggested parts. The `Hauptthemen' Schone names are `guot' (vv 1-40), `werlt' (vv 41-76), `muoze' (vv 77-96), `sene' (vv 97-130), `liebe' (vv 174-221) and `leben' and `tot' (vv 222-244). Schone chooses these key words according to their frequency of occurrence in the text. In all cases the stated keyword is the word which appears most frequently in the respective part and therefore depicts the central idea of it. Schone's analysis of the prologue based on his suggested `Hauptthemen' is an interesting approach to do justice to the complexity of the prologue. In some respect, however, his choice of the different `Hauptthemen' may be questionable.

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: very good, University of Nottingham (English Studies), language: English, abstract: It is a well-known fact that Beckett condemned all productions of his plays which ignored his precise stage direction or tried to work freely with the text and possible interpretations. His own directing was rigorous and very strict and he did not allow actors any freedom for a personal interpretation of their depicted character. About an 'interpretative' production of Endgame by The American Repertory Theatre, Beckett once noted that it `is a complete parody of the play', since it `dismisses [his] directions'.1It seems strange that Beckett was so anxious and almost paranoid to lose control over his plays and their reception, as soon as they were actually performed and directed by someone else other than himself, or, at least, without him being closely involved in a production. Beckett once said: `I produce an object. What people make of it is not my concern.'2 Obviously, and quite contrary to this statement, Beckett seemed to be very concerned with what people, especially directors, made of his objects, the written plays, and whether they presented them differently from what he originally suggested. Not that Beckett only did not trust directors, but he was also very suspicious when it came to the so-called actors: `the best possible play is one in which there are no actors, only the text.'3

Essay from the year 1999 in the subject German Studies - Linguistics, grade: very good, University of Nottingham (English Studies), language: English, abstract: 'I by mistake addressed my biology teacher with Du, and he asked me if earlier we had been fattening the pigs in the pigsty together.' 1(Informant Q) 'There is a grey zone in which a speaker may not know whether to use du or Sie, and in that case it is always safer to use Sie. A young girl, very tall for her age, would probably feel flattered to be addressed as Sie, whereas a short, undersized young woman would be embarrassed at being addressed with du.' (Hammond 1981: 190) '(...) you should not use du to a person with whom you are not familiar. A woman should not use du to a man she doesn't know well, although she may, of course, deliberately use the du form to him, if she cares to. (...) The Germans have their problems with du and Sie.' (Strutz 1986: 84)The Germans, or, to be more precise, Germanspeaking people do have problems indeed with choosing the appropriate form of address. In most cases, it is a question of politeness to use the more formal 'Sie' to people you do not know very well, especially if they are older than you. There are, however, many instances, where the 'Sie' is felt to be rather inappropriate and may even make the addressed feel very uncomfortable. Especially younger people can find it rather irritating to be addressed with 'Sie', in particular when the addresser is about the same age or an acquaintance. To switch from polite 'Sie' to more casual 'Du' is most of the time a daring enterprise for the speakers involved, whereas to switch from 'Du' to 'Sie' almost seems impossible, at least without causing major irritation.

Essay from the year 2000 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: very good, University of Nottingham (English Studies), language: English, abstract: The period from 1700 to 1790 is often referred to as the Age of Sentimentality. Steele (1672-1729), one of the most popular and controversial figures of this time, not only gained reputation as a dramatist, but also as a co-founder (with Addison) of the highly popular periodical The Spectator, in which questions of manners and social conduct were discussed, as well as moral issues and literature. His comedy The Conscious Lovers, which appeared at stage for the first time in 1722 and remained very popular throughout the following decades, was seen as a model for a new type of comedy, called 'Sentimental Comedy'. Unlike Steele, who is one of the most prominent representative of the early decades of Sentimentality, Goldsmith (1730-1774) celebrated his finest literary success at the end of the sentimental period. When his comedy She Stoops to Conquer gained immediate appraisal on stage in 1773, the Age of Sentimentality already was in decline. How far Goldsmith and his comedy can be regarded as 'sentimental' or 'anti-sentimental' will be one question I would like to deal with in my essay. The two authors, or rather their most important plays, are very interesting for they reflect, to some extent, the beginning and the end of Sentimentality and therefore provide us with an interesting insight into society, or rather the literary conception of society of that time.

Scientific Essay from the year 2000 in the subject German Studies - Modern German Literature, grade: very good, University of Nottingham (German Department), language: English, abstract: When Staller in Kroetz's play Stallerhof says `Die Red bleibt eim weg'1, having a serious word with Sepp about his ill-advised relationship with Staller's under age daughter Beppi, then this seems to be symptomatic for all the characters in the play, who, to some degree, all seem unable to express themselves and at times even appear completely speechless. Consequently, most striking in Stallerhof and, to less extent, Geisterbahn is not what people say, but what they do not say. And this is probably more you would think of in the first place. In the opening scene of the first act we are introduced to Stallerin and Beppi, the latter reading aloud a postcard from her aunt. Beppi is struggling with her reading and receives a smack in the face from her mother when she misreads dialectal `mir' instead of `wir'. Beppi's mother's rage is both, an irony in itself and totally inappropriate in this situation. First of all, it is the mother herself who only speaks dialect at home, naturally using `mir' instead of High German `wir' for this is one of the most obvious features of Bavarian dialect, and it seems only logical that her slightly handicapped daughter's language behaviour is a mere representation of her parents' for they serve as her model.