Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,3, Technical University of Darmstadt (Institut für Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft), course: Hauptseminar "Literature and Visuality", language: English, abstract: Two stories, two authors, two epochs – to compare them will be the purpose of this paper by focussing on the two portraits which are each the important element of their story. At the same time, confusing and paradoxical relationships between art, life and death constitute the thematic centre of both stories. The portraits, as pieces of visual art, are presented in a verbal or ekphrastic form. Why and how are they represented with words? To answer this questions I will first give an overview about ekphrastic theory, second classify the narrative situations, third compare the relations of observer and observed subject and finally by the discussion of their function and importance.
Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,3, Technical University of Darmstadt (Institut für Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft), course: Postcolonial Literature, language: English, abstract: The Whale Rider novel is a positive and sensitive representation of Maori culture and several terms of postcolonial theory can be determined within the novel. That is why it appears worth analysing this text in the context of postcolonial literary studies which is the purpose of this term paper. In chapter 1 I will give a short summary about the colonial and postcolonial history of New Zealand and its postcolonial literature tradition. Chapter 2 deals with the novel´s main characters and the narrative structure while chapter 3 detects the features of postcolonial theory which are embedded in the story.