Ruth Whittle

This book informs and encourages aspiring lecturers and teaching staff in Modern Languages who prepare students for using their language skills in and out of the classroom. Drawing on pedagogical, psychological and language-specific concepts of learning, the book illustrates how such concepts can enhance students’ experience of transitioning from school to university to residence abroad, and beyond. A key feature of the study is an investigation of students’ fragility as they transition from school to university and, only two years later, from their home institution to their placements abroad. Interventions intended to «teach» transition are shown to be unsuccessful, as the learning through such interventions tends to remain superficial. First-year students are shown to benefit from trust-building between students and teachers and early networking among their peers to build self-confidence. In contrast, prior to studying abroad students benefit more from intercultural awareness training, including linguistic, cultural, social, academic and/or emotional aspects. The book serves as a useful basis for discussion in Modern Languages departments about curriculum change and university policy with regard to resourcing the Humanities.

It has been shown that the total number of women who published in German in the 18th and 19th centuries was approximately 3,500, but even by 1918 only a few of them were known. The reason for this lies in the selection processes to which the authors have been subjected, and it is this selection process that is the focus of the research here presented. The selection criteria have not simply been gender-based but have had much to do with the urgent quest for establishing a German Nation State in 1848 and beyond. Prutz, Gottschall, Kreyßig and others found it necessary to use literary historiography, which had been established by 1835, in order to construct an ideal of ‘Germanness’ at a time when a political unity remained absent, and they wove women writers into this plot. After unification in 1872, this kind of weaving seemed to have become less pressing, and other discourses came to the fore, especially those revolving round femininity vs. masculinity, and races. The study of the processes at work here will enhance current debates about the literary canon by tracing its evolution and identifying the factors which came to determine the visibility or obscurity of particular authors and texts. The focus will be on a number of case studies, but, instead of isolating questions of gender, Gender, Canon and Literary History will discuss the broader cultural context.

Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Third Edition is an innovative reference guide to German, combining traditional and function-based grammar in a single volume. The Grammar is divided into two parts. Part A covers grammatical categories such as word order, nouns, verbs and adjectives. Part B is organised according to language functions and notions such as: making introductions asking for something to be done delivering a speech possibility satisfaction. The book addresses learners’ practical needs and presents grammar in both a traditional and a communicative setting. New to this edition, and building on feedback from the previous edition: The rules of the latest (and so far final) spelling reform have been implemented throughout. Examples of usage have been updated and consideration given to Swiss and Austrian variants. The chapter on register has been expanded and now includes youth language and frequently used Anglicisms in German. The Index now has even more key words; it has also been redesigned to differentiate between German words, grammar terms, and functions, thus making it more user-friendly. The Grammar assumes no previous grammatical training and is intended for all those who have a basic knowledge of German, from intermediate learners in schools and adult education to undergraduates taking German as a major or minor part of their studies. The Grammar is accompanied by a third edition of Modern German Grammar Workbook (ISBN 978-0-415-56725-1) which features exercises and activities directly linked to the Grammar. Ruth Whittle is Lecturer, John Klapper is Professor of Foreign Language Pedagogy, Katharina Glöckel is the Austrian Lektorin and Bill Dodd is Professor of Modern German Studies – all at the University of Birmingham. Christine Eckhard-Black is Tutor and Advisor in German at the Oxford University Language Centre.

Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Third Edition is an innovative reference guide to German, combining traditional and function-based grammar in a single volume. The Grammar is divided into two parts. Part A covers grammatical categories such as word order, nouns, verbs and adjectives. Part B is organised according to language functions and notions such as: making introductions asking for something to be done delivering a speech possibility satisfaction. The book addresses learners’ practical needs and presents grammar in both a traditional and a communicative setting. New to this edition, and building on feedback from the previous edition: The rules of the latest (and so far final) spelling reform have been implemented throughout. Examples of usage have been updated and consideration given to Swiss and Austrian variants. The chapter on register has been expanded and now includes youth language and frequently used Anglicisms in German. The Index now has even more key words; it has also been redesigned to differentiate between German words, grammar terms, and functions, thus making it more user-friendly. The Grammar assumes no previous grammatical training and is intended for all those who have a basic knowledge of German, from intermediate learners in schools and adult education to undergraduates taking German as a major or minor part of their studies. The Grammar is accompanied by a third edition of Modern German Grammar Workbook (ISBN 978-0-415-56725-1) which features exercises and activities directly linked to the Grammar. Ruth Whittle is Lecturer, John Klapper is Professor of Foreign Language Pedagogy, Katharina Glöckel is the Austrian Lektorin and Bill Dodd is Professor of Modern German Studies – all at the University of Birmingham. Christine Eckhard-Black is Tutor and Advisor in German at the Oxford University Language Centre.

The German Revolution of 1848-49 offered a significant literary opportunity for all those interested in politics in general and the progress of women in society in particular. This book explores the work of a number of women who took up the challenge of breaking into the decidedly male preserve of political writing in this period. The focus is on women with very different concerns: Malwida von Meysenbug, the aristocrat who supported the democratic cause, the assimilated Jew Fanny Lewald; the housewife, musician, composer and teacher Johanna Kinkel; and the radical feminist Louise Aston. The work examines the strategies these women employed to negotiate potentially explosive issues such as the politics of the day, class, religion and gender, as well as the way traditional images like the father-child relationship are exploited to express new thoughts. Using a combination of close textual reading and thematically based analysis the book illuminates the authors' individual works and explores underlying issues that are common to all.

Die Autorin betrachtet den Dekonstruktivismus der "Yale Critics" als eine zeitgenossische Form der Literaturkritik, daruber hinaus jedoch als ein Denkmodell, das die geisteswissenschaftliche Diskussion der Vereinigten Staaten insgesamt pragt und traditionsfremde Ansatze wie etwa feministisches Lesen anregt. Die Bewegung wird sowohl als eine Reaktion auf die amerikanische Kulturtradition analysiert ("New Criticism)" als auch in ihren Bezugen zu Frankreich (Lacan, Derrida). Im Mittelpunkt steht die Untersuchung wesentlicher denkerischer Strategien, vor allem das Rollenspiel. Anhand kritischer Texte von H. Bloom, P. de Man, Hillis Miller, G. Hartman u.a. erfolgt eine Auswertung solcher Rollen, wobei sich die Diskussion auf den Kabbalisten, den Propheten, den Psychoanalytiker und den Naturwissenschaftler konzentriert."