German Sample Letter - 2015 HL

                     Cork, den 22. April 2015

Liebe(r) Leo(nie),

Wie geht's dir? Hoffentlich gut. Danke für deinen letzten Brief. Ich habe mich wirklich darüber gefreut und ich hoffe, dass ich deine Fragen gut antworten kann. 

Der neue Sprachassistent klingt ganz toll! Ich wünsche mir, dass wir auch so etwas in Irland hätten. Ein Assistent könnte uns bei Grammatik und Aussprache helfen, weil sie immer schwierig sind. Man könnte eine Party mit irischen Musik und Essen geben, um ihn willkommen zu heißen. Eine junge Person aus Deutschland wäre mir lieber, denn sonst wäre die Akzent schwer zu verstehen. 

Ich fand es auch wunderbar, dass ihr gewonnen habt. Wir haben uns die Höhepunkte während der Unterrichts geschaut und kurze Profile über die Spieler geschrieben. Bei uns gibt es viele verschiendene Arten von Sommercamps aber am beliebtesten sind die Camps für gälische Sportarten, wie Hurling. Frauenfußball ist nicht so bekannt in Irland. Es ist ungerecht aber leider konzentrieren sich die Menschen immer noch mehr auf die Männer. Ich glaube, dass es Sinn ergibt, getrennte Sportarten zu haben, denn Männer sind körperlich größer als Frauen. 

Ein Klamotten-Tausch-Party ist so eine schöne Idee! Ich denke, dass solche Aktionen sehr gut sind, weil wir immer zu viel für Kleidung ausgeben. Ich würde es sehr gern probieren, wenn ich die Chance hätte, weil es mir gefallen würde, neue Klamotten kostenlos zu bekommen. Außerdem habe ich zu vielen alten Dingen in meinem Kleiderschrank, die ich nie trage. Leider macht man solche Austausche nicht so oft in Irland aber ich tausche gern Bücher und DVDs mit meinen Freunden. 

Schade, dass Lukas so weit wegziehen will! Du musst enttäuscht sein aber keine Panik! Ich bin sicher, dass du Kontakt mit ihm halten wirst. Ich würde nicht gern im Ausland für die ganze vier Jahren studieren, weil ich meine Freunde und Familie vermissen würde aber vielleicht würde ich für ein Semester gehen. Ich glaube, dass es eine gute Erfahrung wäre. Einerseits würde ich mich sicher sehr einsam und traurig fühlen, aber andererseits wäre ich glücklich, weil ich meinen Freund im Ausland besuchen könnte. 

Ich muss jetzt Schluss machen, weil ich so viele Hausaufgaben habe! Aber mach dir keine Sorge, du wirst mich nie nerven! 

Schreib bald!

Dein(e) ...

Vocab:

Ich habe mich wirklich darüber gefreut -- I was really happy about it
etwas klingt ganz toll -- something sounds really cool
Ich wünsche mir, dass wir auch so etwas in Irland hätten -- I wish that we had something like that in Ireland.
eine Party geben -- to have a party
(etwas) wäre mir lieber -- I would prefer (something) 
die Akzent -- the accent
ich fand es wunderbar, dass ... -- I thought it was wonderful, that ...
die Höhepunkte -- the highlights
das Profil -- the profile
viele verschiendene Arten von -- many different types of
am beliebtesten -- the most popular
gälische Sportarten -- Gaelic sports
sich konzentrieren auf -- to concentrate on
(etwas) ergibt Sinn -- (something) makes sense

körperlich -- physically
(etwas) ist so eine schöne Idee -- (something) is such a nice idea
ausgeben -- to spend
(etwas) probieren -- to try (something)
wenn ich die Chance hätte -- if I had the chance
(etwas) würde mir gefallen -- I would like (something)
Außerdem -- besides
der Austausch -- the exchange
Schade, dass (etwas) passiert ist -- what a shame that (something) happened
wegziehen -- to move away

enttäuscht -- disappointed
Kontakt mit jemandem halten -- to stay in touch with somebody
Ich würde (etwas) gern machen -- I would like to do (something)
vermissen -- to miss (emotionally)
Ich glaube, dass es eine gute Erfahrung wäre -- I think it would be a good experience
einerseits ... andererseits -- on the one hand ... on the other hand
mach dir keine Sorge -- don't worry
nerven -- to annoy

GE3904 - Der Vorleser

Introduction:

First published twenty years ago, Der Vorleser is remarkable not for its literary quality, but it is still one of the most successful German post-war books. The author departed from the traditions of holocaust literature in writing from the perspective of a perpetrator rather than the victims, something which had previously been a taboo. The book focuses on the question of guilt on multiple levels, e.g. legal, human and ethical, developing a perspective which forces us to deal with that question without giving an absolute answer. The question of guilt is thus relativised.

Author:

The author is Bernhard Schlink, a German law professor and judge at a constitutional court in one of Germany's federal states (each state has its own constitution and as such, its own constitutional court). Der Vorleser is based on some of Schlink's biographical details.

 The Setting: 

•  The book is set in roughly in the 60s - the trial takes place in the late 60s when the question of guilt in Germany finally begins to arise post war
• In the 50s and early 60s, there was a public silence on the subject of the holocaust 
• After the war, the Allies investigated ~2.5 million suspected Nazis, classing them as follows
• Hauptschuldige (major offenders; war criminals) and Belastete (offenders; activists, militarists, profiteers) = 1.5%
• Minderbelastete (lesser offenders)
• Mitläufer (opportunist followers) = 54%
• Unbelastete (exonerated) und anerkannte NS-Gegner (resistance = 0.6%).
• Outcome: 5025 convictions, of which 806 death sentences. 34.6% of proceedings were quashed.
• Many criminals fell through the cracks and the Nazi ideology lingered on in Germany through the people who were not prosecuted
• A great number of former high ranking Nazi functionaries and SS-officers escaped prosecution and succeeded in re-building their careers as civil servants, judges, university professors, police and Bundeswehr officers, even as politicians.
• In the late 60s, the dissatisfaction of younger generations with their elders boiled over in the form of student rebellion
• general political awakening across society 
• Beginning of an uncompromised critical analysis of Germany’s National-Socialist past. The Holocaust becomes a thematic focus in public and academic discussions, also in school curricula
• Generational conflict: radical rift between the generations is opening up; a culture of unmitigated protest defines the younger generation in their moral rebellion against the generation of their parents, accusing them of having born the evils of fascism in the past, and still bearing fascistic and authoritarian structures in the present society.

Legal Response to the Holocaust:

•  Guilt can be moral or legal
• the law is theoretically based on moral principles  
• Prosecuting war criminals was a legal problem because the crimes they committed weren't against the law at the time 
• retroactive jurisdiction - when a law is created in order to prosecute a crime which was not illegal when it was committed
•  The Frankfurter Auschwitzprozesse (1963-68) were the first attempt by Federal Germany to deal with legal guilt for the holocaust
• A Jewish judge from Hessen, Fritz Bauer (an exile during the war) was given jurisdiction for Auschwitz and made the trials happen despite facing much resistance

The Story:

• Told in three parts
•  I - the love story between the narrator, Michael, then 15 and Hanna, then in her 30s
• this relationship is morally questionable because of the age difference
• it represents an abuse of power, because her advanced age gives her a psychological advantage but there is a mutual dependency
• a crime is committed so the question of legal and moral guilt is raised from the beginning
• II - the trial of Hanna, who stands accused of the murder of several hundred Jewish women for her part as a prison guard in Auschwitz
• this raises the question of guilt within the holocaust
•  Michael's perspective (as a law student taking part in a an academic project to do with the trials) the defines the experience of the reader
• III - supplement to the plot of the first two parts 
• Hanna is imprisoned and their relationship continues in the form of the tapes in which he reads to her
• Hanna is ultimately released but commits suicide without leaving prison
• the effect which their relationship had on the rest of his life becomes evident

Characters: 

•  Michael - the narrator 
• two different perspectives from him - the child and the adult narrator
• a degree of difference exists between them, but the narrator is clearly influenced by his experiences as a child
• e.g. he can never quite shake his feelings for Hanna
• Hanna - the perpetrator and in some ways, the protagonist
• a prison guard at Auschwitz, later Michael's lover 
• conceals her illiteracy
• does she accept the harsh sentence handed down to her because she's ashamed of her illiteracy or because she's aware of her own guilt and feels she deserves it?
• does her illiteracy relativise her guilt? 
• is she guilty of abusing Michael as a boy?
• With their age difference, they represent the two sides of the generational conflict - the 68ers vs the war generation  
• Michael's perception of the guilt question is affected by his relationship with Hanna

Key Moments: 

•  p.15/16 - Michael's first glimpse of Hanna and his sexual awakening - did she leave the door open on purpose so that he would see her undressing?
• he blushes when she sees him - shame 
• "Ich wurde rot. Einen kurzen Augenblick stand ich mit brennendem Gesicht. Dann hielt ich es nicht mehr aus"
• she does seem conscious of the dynamic between them 
• her in power, him fascinated by her
• Michael becomes aware of sexuality and its interplay with power and is initially overwhelmed
• If Hanna is aware of this power dynamic then this relationship is abusive
• the look she gives him - he doesn't know whether it's "wissend" or "verwundert" 
• too ambiguous to be sure 
• however the narrator never fully passes judgement, even though he does have issues with creating lasting relationships once he discovers she was a war criminal 
• p.20-22 - the first moral reflections of the teenage Michael  
• he feels guilty about his sexual fantasies because he knows the moral figures in his life (parents, older sister, priest), whom he has always trusted, would disapprove
• "Ich wachte jeden Morgen mit schlechtem Gewissen auf"
• he makes moral arguments as to why he should go to see Hanna again 
• if he's damned anyway for having sinful thoughts, he might as well do the sinful deed as well  
• he rationalises that if he went to Hanna, nothing would actually happen, which would banish the sinful thoughts
• the adult narrator here discusses a pattern of behaviour which he has noticed in himself 
• that his conscious reasoning seems to have no decision making power and it is always this mysterious 'es' which drives him to act
• this relates to the Freudian model of the human psyche - id (es), ego (ich), superego (überich)
• the es, not the ich, is the agent
• the ego must achieve balance between the demands of the id (libido powered) and the superego (the authorities of social life, e.g. religion, parents etc) 
• the id is raw energy, which can be creative or destructive 
• it must be transformed with the help of the superego into some socially acceptable impulse 
• this is known as sublimation 
• the actions of the young boy can be explained by this Freudian analysis - the superego cannot overwhelm the force of the id 
• therefore in 15 year old Michael's case, there is no question of guilt for his relationship with Hanna
• p.26 - He undresses to have a bath at Hanna's and turns to find her looking at him 
• his reaction: "Ich wurde rot" - their relationship from the beginning is founded on guilt and shame
•  p27 - when she propositions him, he is not able to give proper consent
• Ich wußte nicht, was ich sagen sollte. Nicht ja, aber auch nicht nein"
•  p28 - the narrator hints that his experience with Hanna affected him permanently 
• Bis heute stellt sich nach einer Nacht mit einer Frau das Gefühl ein, ich sei verwöhnt worden
• p.38 - the adult Michael is sad when he reflects on his time with Hanna, even though he was very happy at the time
• however at that point, he could not see the negative effect that his relationship with Hanna would have on the rest of his life
• the sadness comes from her betrayal - she was not who he thought she was 
• he is troubled by her guilt - he was not aware of it when he fell in love with her, however he continues to have feelings for her after he discovered it 
• this leads to shame
• p.40 - the account of Hanna's past is instantly suspicious because women did not become soldiers
• she was a German speaker from Romania, i.e. ethnically German but not from Germany
• it's clear she has something to hide from this passage 
• "es war, als krame sie, was sie mir antwortete, aus einer verstaubten Truhe hervor"  
• Hanna has tried to forget about the past
• p.42-44 - Michael's happiness in their relationship is acknowledged by the narrator
• the act of reading strengthens their relationship and shifts the balance of power
• he becomes the dominant one because he can offer something she can't
• however he is unaware of this, so the imbalance remains
• p.48 - their first fight, when Michael goes to see her on the tram
• "Hatte sie vielleicht recht, nicht objektiv, aber subjektiv" 
• raises the notion of relativised guilt, the possibility that right and wrong aren't black and white
•  Michael takes the blame even though he doesn't understand why which becomes a trend
• "Wenn sie drohte, habe ich sofort bedingungslos kapituliert. Ich habe alles auf mich genommen."  
• a clear power imbalance, and perhaps explains his later shame - if he was already used to taking the blame for her, it makes sense that he would continue to do so
• p.54 - Hanna's reaction to Michael going out and leaving a note shows her insecurity
• the fact that she strikes him shows the flaws in their relationship
• p.57 - the poem Michael writes - a description of how they merge when they make love 
• wenn wir vergehen du mir in und dir in ich 
• a description of the dissolution of subjectivity via intimacy
• p.72 - Michael feels that he has betrayed Hanna by being unable to integrate her into his life 
• he is in fact not guilty - the relationship is inappropriate and he shouldn't have to feel that way however he feels it anyway 
• "Dann habe ich begonnen, sie zu verraten"
• p.87-88
• the students accuse their parents' generation of having tolerated perpetrators in their society since the war
• they sentence the previous generations to shame 
• Wir alle verurteiltenunsere Eltern zu Scham, und wenn wir sie nur anklagen konnten, die Täter nach 1945 bei sich, unter sich geduldet zu haben
• the students are ready to begin the 'Aufarbeitung' process - coming to terms with the past 
• they feel an ethical imperative to determine the guilt of those gone before and they are proud of this 
•  p. 96 - Michael begins to experience a numbness which continues for some time 
• an inability to confront his feelings 
• "war mein Gefühl wie betäubt."
• this numbness spreads to every other area of his life
•  the numbness is also experienced by the other people involved in the proceedings - the horror gradually wears them down and becomes part of the routine
• the narrator compares the experience to being in a death camp, having gotten used to the routine
• "wie der KZ-Häftling, der Monat um Monat überlebt und sich gewöhnt hat"
•  the trauma symptoms exhibited by survivors taken on by others in the court as they become witnesses to this trauma
• the perpetrators also experienced this numbness and seemed to still be affected by it
• p.99 - a reflection on how the 2nd generation after the war should deal with it
• Michael's enthusiasm at the beginning of the seminar dampened, as he realised the guilt would be attributed to some few and their generation would ultimately end up living in silence caused by revulsion, shame and guilt
• p.105 - Hanna wants justice in the courtroom 
• ironic, given her participation in previous injustices
• p112 - the story about Hanna having favourites who used to read to her 
• alarmingly reminiscent about her behaviour with Michael
• was she just repeating old patterns in their relationship? Finding someone weaker than her, a relationship where she was in power so that she could be read to without having her weakness questioned?
• p112 - in the courtroom, Hanna looks directly into Michael's eyes, in a moment very similar to the early scene where he saw her undressing
• just as she did then, she knew he'd been watching all along
• this time, a very different kind of nakedness is revealed
• Michael has seen her in her moral vulnerability 
• when she sees him, he blushes - a reaction related to shame 
• "als ich unter ihrem Blick rot wurde"
  
• he  feels ashamed on her behalf because he's a war criminal and he loved her - therefore her shame is his shame
• p.113 - Michael attempting to relativise her guilt 
• comes up with a reason for her picking favourites which paints her in a favourable light
• is this the truth or is it just what he wants to believe?
• p.123 - Hanna explains why they didn't open the church
• relativism - presents an almost sympathetic POV of the perpetrators - they were in a difficult situation and no one knew what to do 
• "So konnte man, aber man wollte sich nicht vorstellen, was Hanna beschrieb."
•  not willing to see things from Hanna's POV because there's something basic missing - the shame, the guilt - the compassion for others
• p124 - Hanna incriminates herself to avoid revealing her illiteracy
• p127 - Michael's epiphany - Hanna was motivated by shame 
• the shame lead to the action which lead to the guilt
• p.129 - Michael's feeling of guilt about their relationship goes from
• p151 - Michael can't understand Hanna while condemning her crime and vice versa 
• 2 impossible urges which he can't integrate 
• p154 - Michael speaks to the judge - tells himself he wants to prevent miscarriage of justice but he actually enables it
• p160 - the numbness Michael is experiencing becomes a physical sensation - he actually becomes sick because of it - trauma symptom
• p161 - shame over the Nazi past and its lingering presence in German society 
• "Kollektivschuld – für meine Studentengeneration war sie eine erlebte Realität"
• assigning blame alleviated some of the suffering caused by shame 
• p.162 - Michael can't point a finger at anyone else because he shares the shame of the war generation because he loved Hanna 
• he loved someone from that generation which is different from the parent-child relationship because you can't choose your parents
• he has a unique perspective, somewhere between both generations
• p.169 - Hanna's lingering influence on all his subsequent relationships
• p172 - Michael takes refuge in legal history research 
• where he is not obliged to sit in judgement of or to advocate for or prosecute any living person
• p182 -  Michael doesn't want Hanna in his life 
• he denies the responsibility for her born of shame
• p187 - Michael meets Hanna in prison
• Hanna's idea of justice - only the dead can hold her to account
• the power balance has shifted in their relationship 
• he has all the control now
• "Ich hatte Hanna eine kleine Nische zugebilligt, durchaus eine Nische, die mir wichtig war, die mir etwas gab und für die ich etwas tat, aber keinen Platz in meinem Leben."
• he decides how much of himself to give to her now 
• unlike the past when she made that decision and he desperately threw all of himself at her
• p196 - Hanna in prison
• she lived out the sentence like a penance
• when she got too comfortable she punished herself, gave up on self care so as to lose the respect of others 
• sought out literature on the holocaust and read it, informed herself
• p201 - Hanna wanted to give her time in prison meaning 
• but seeking meaning in the holocaust experience is supposed to be impossible
• is her gesture of atonement meaningless?
• p205 - Michael haunted by the same questions of guilt and responsibility for years after
• did he betray Hanna?
• was he guilty for having loved her?
• was he responsible for her death? 
• however these eventually fade and he becomes accepting of the path his life took
• p.206 - Michael displays trauma symptoms - he is neither able to remember Hanna nor forget her 
• he shares the trauma through the intimacy and shame which he shares with a witness (and perpetrator) of the holocaust
• however unlike the victims, he is able to overcome this trauma to reflect on the experience and write about it

 Schuld vs Scham: 

• Schuld is legal and moral - it applies to individuals and must be clearly defined - objectifiable
• therefore collective guilt is very hard to apply - it tars the innocent with a guilt they do not deserve and allows the guilty to share their burden
• collective guilt does not serve justice - it is not democratically ethical
• guilt must assigned to an individual agent
• Scham is purely ethical and intersubjective (i.e. shared by more than one conscious mind)
• goes beyond legal process and individual agency
• a subjective feeling
• there is no objective reason for feeling shame - it connects people as subjects without an objective link 
• we can feel ashamed of/for someone else, even if we do not share their guilt 
• shame has a moral quality because it has the power to connect people - to make us feel responsible for actions of others
• blushing is a symptom of shame, hence Michael's reaction to being seen by Hanna
• shame occurs when intimacy transcends subjectivity
• Subjectivity: 
• Something being a subject, narrowly meaning an individual who possesses conscious experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires.^[1]
• Something being a subject, broadly meaning an entity that has agency, meaning that it acts upon or wields power over some other entity (an object).
• In the early years, the war generation, when asked by their children, what have you been, what have you done, as children often ask, Hanna's generation did not respond with shame or guilt but rather secrecy
• Michael's sense of responsibility for Hanna stems from shame - he loves her, they have been intimate
• Aufarbeitung and Aufklärung - the processes by which the past of Germany is explored and guilt and shame are determined

Interpretation: 

• Hanna's guilt
• Her relationship with Michael - an abusive power structure 
• Her actions during the war and part in the holocaust - allowed the deaths of 100s of people - no matter what the excuse, that's unacceptable
• Interfered with the carriage of justice in the trial by not being fully honest
• Hanna's shame 
• her illiteracy - actually causes all her guilt 
•  ultimately overcomes the source of the shame but by then it is too late 
• Does she feel shame for her actions? Her behaviour in the prison suggests yes
• Michael's guilt 
• often feels guilty (e.g. for sexual fantasies, for 'betraying' Hanna) but actually responsible for very little
• is responsible for the miscarriage of justice in Hanna's trial by virtue of not speaking up
• is he guilty for not condemning her?
• central question of the novel 
• I would argue not - he feels shame for her which is far more nuanced
• if no objective reaction is possible to the holocaust than a subjective reaction is the only morally acceptable response
• Michael's shame
• for voyeurism - sexual in her flat as she undresses and moral in the court case 
• both moments where subjectivity is being transcended 
• in the first case Hanna's nudity and the sexual promise, in the second, Hanna's vulnerability as all her secrets are laid bare

Criticism:

• Is it morally wrong to try and get the audience to sympathise with Hanna, a perpetrator?
• Does the book downplay the culpability of the intellectual class in the holocaust?
• Does the book attribute all Hanna's guilt to her illiteracy rather than holding her accountable herself 
• Michael eventually comes to term with the events and is able to relativise and reflect on them. He is able to overcome the trauma, in some ways. Is this really a realistic representation of the holocaust? Is this denying the presence?

GE3904 - Paul Celan

Biography:

Celan was a member of Romania's German speaking Jewish population. He spent time in a Nazi labour camp during WWII and lost his parents there. He was released in 1944 when the Russians occupied Romania and he emigrated to escape Stalinism, ultimately coming to live in France. He committed suicide 1970.

Work: 

Celan was known as a poet and translator. He was one of the foremost figures of the German literary avant garde. He was widely recognised as the poet of the Holocaust. His poem Todesfuge ('death fugue') is particularly well known.

Todesfuge:

• Text of the poem

Interpretation: 

• Fugue - a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts.
•  in terms of this poem, 'fugue' means that repetitive textual elements (phrases/motifs/images) are interwoven 
• the monotonous repetition of certain phrases suggests the endless tedium of life in the concentration camp - the same horrible experiences, over and over
• etymologically derived from Latin fuga, meaning to flee or run away
• as the poem progresses, the images are extended and counterpointed 
• e.g. the expansion from Margrete's hair to Sulamith's
•  The purpose of a fugue - to reveal relations between unlikely things
• The poem is not punctuated - given that punctuation imposes logical structure and meaning on language, helping us to interpret a text, the lack here could indicate the impossibility of interpreting the experience in the camps, of finding any meaning or logic in it 
• also means that the reader cannot catch their breath and is forced to speed up as they read and pause in odd places creating a disjointed, discomforting reading experience
• allows polysemy - does "er schreibt wenn es dunkelt nach Deutschland" means he writes to Germany, when it gets dark, or he writes, when it gets dark in Germany
• "Schwarze Milch der Frühe" - the key image which opens the poem and repeats throughout the text
• 'black milk' - essentially mutually exclusive concepts
• milk is white and associated with motherhood and birth, empowering and enabling life 
• black is associated with death and nothingness
• therefore the juxtaposition of the two ideas is a clash, something that cannot exist
• aka a concentration camp - a reality so horrific it cannot be real
• der Frühe - the beginning of life 
• the monotony of life in the camp emphasised again by the constant consumption of the schwarze Milch - abends, mittags, morgens, nachts 
• no meaning is created through the metaphor  - but rather an 'anti-meaning
• "wir trinken und trinken" - drinking is a passive action - the image of force feeding, helplessness of the inmates - the impossibility of resistance
•  "wir schaufeln ein Grab in den Lüften" 
• in part referring to the awful reality of the camp where grave digging is part of the daily routine
• however, it also refers to the ashes of the dead burned in Auschwitz, hanging in the air, the only grave they will ever receive
• 'digging a grave in the air' is also a contradictory image - like the black milk, it presents an impossible reality through contradiction 
•  Two of the main metaphors introduced at the beginning of the poem deconstruct our expectations of a metaphor 
• rather than creating new meaning as a metaphor is supposed to do, they are used to marry the real and the unreal 
• like concentration camps which "hätte nie geschehen dürfen" - to quote Hanna Arendt
• this poem deals with the problem of depicting the holocaust in a language that was tainted by the Nazis' use of it - therefore they create new ways of expressing meaning (or anti meaning)
•  "Ein Mann wohnt im Haus" - the commandant writing letters to a woman 
• shows that despite the horrors he perpetrates, he is not outside of civilisation - he can love, can write - this makes his choice to be involved with the camps worse 
•  "der spielt mit den Schlangen" - the man in the house plays with snakes, a traditional symbol of evil 
• the old testament incarnation of the devil - represents the evil of the Nazis
•  "Dein goldenes Haar Margarete" - a line laden with cultural significance 
• golden hair = blond hair = Aryan stereotype
• Margarete - shares a name with Faust's Gretchen - the image of German womanhood
• also the archetype of German romanticism and artistic genius
•  "Dein aschenes Haar Sulamith" - the image of Jewish womanhood
• a name from the Old Testament (Song of Solomon) 
• the contrast between German and Jewish beauty - German is treasured, golden, Jewish is ashen, burned 
• the presentation of these two images side by side at the end of the poem creates a stark contrast and highlights the impossibility of these two contradictory realities ever being integrated into one cultural role
•  "Jüden" und "Rüden" - the assonance creates an automatic comparison between these two things 
• implies that the Jews were treated like animals
• "Der Tod ist ein Meister aus Deutschland" - Nazi dogma portrayed Germans as the 'master race' and in this case they have become masters of life and death within the camps
• "stecht tiefer ins Erdreich ihr einen ihr andern singet und spielt" - refers to the inmates who were forced to play in an orchestra for the entertainment of their German guards
• recounting the facts in an impressionistic way 
• demonstrating the sheer cynicism of the Nazis 
• "Spielt auf nun zum Tanz" - Jewish orchestras forced to play cheerful music while their people were gassed in the chambers 
• also a reference to the danse macabre - the allegory of people of all ages and statuses dancing with the dead - i.e. death comes for us all
• "Steigt ihr als Rauch in die Luft" - the ashes of the burned dead floating away in the wind
• "wir trinken sie"/"wir trinken dich" - the move from the formal to informal 'you' implies a sense of acceleration 
• makes the poem more intense, more personal as it proceeds 
• The odd structure of the poem would be a radical assault on traditional poetic form, however, as far as Celan is concerned this assault has already been carried out by history itself
• Rhythm - dactylic meter interrupted by staccato repetitions of 'trinken'

Theodor Adorno:

•  German philosopher of the Frankfurt school - known for his theories on "Ideologiekritik"
• Famously declared "Nach Auschwitz ein Gedicht zu schreiben ist barbarisch" 
• "to write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric"
• triggered a lot of discourse on the ethics of representing the Holocaust
• Meaning any attempt at cultural response to the events of the holocaust would be morally wrong, rather than just poetry in general
•  because a cultural response would involve making it part of a cultural traditional, would imply that the holocaust can be processed and interred in our collective memory 
• poetry epitomises culture and as such has a strong integrative power  
• To persist, after Auschwitz, in the production of monuments of the very culture that produced Auschwitz is to participate by denial in the perpetuation of that barbaric culture and to participate in the process that renders fundamental criticism of that culture literally unthinkable.
• Adorno believed we could no longer rely on Western cultural traditions to keep us civilised 
• however he eventually altered his stance on that 
• suggested that poetry and culture had to be reinvented strongly enough to never again fall victim to such a 'Zivilisationsbruch'
• This change of heart could be partly attributable to Celan's poetry
• Adorno later stated that perennial suffering has as much right to expression as the tortured man has to scream
• "Das perennierende Leiden hat soviel Recht auf Ausdruck wie der Gemarterte zu brüllen"
• i.e. the victims of the holocaust had the right to make it part of their cultural tradition 
• the victims cannot escape the experience (continued presence) therefore, if they are poets, they cannot escape writing about it
• As Celan's poem Todesfuge presents the holocaust as a personal experience and makes no attempt to interpret or rationalise it 
• in fact he strongly resists rationalising it and dwells heavily on the total illogicality of the events
• it is not barbaric it is the cry of the tortured 
• Celan's poem is actually the artistic realisation of the refusal to integrate the holocaust into any sort of cultural response

Michael Hamburger notes: 

• Difficulty and paradox are of the essence of Celan's work
• Death is the all encompassing reality of his poetry
• The loss of his parents and his early experience of persecution left indelible scars
•  suffered acute crises and breakdowns throughout his life
•  Wrested a kind of terrible beauty from the ugly theme of the holocaust
• certain critics objected to his 'aestheticising' of death camps
• The power and pathos of Todesfuge arises from the extreme tension between its grossly impure material and its pure form

 

 

Pragmatics: Tu vs Vous

Historical use of 'tu' and 'vous':

• The original T/V distinction was a reflection of power
• When used non-reciprocally, the person with power used 'tu' and the person without it used 'vous'
• Non reciprocal use 
• e.g. Older -> younger = tu
• e.g. Younger -> older = vous
• e.g. Noble -> Peasant = tu
• e.g. Peasant -> Noble = vous 
• Reciprocal use was for equals in power
• Noble classes used vous for each other
• Common people used tu 
• The choice of pronoun can indicate solidarity, degrees of closeness and intimacy
• These days a reciprocal relationship is reflected in reciprocal pronoun use
• Powerful people with no shared common ground will use 'vous', but with common ground they will use 'tu'

Conflict in choice:

• Sometimes there is a conflict between people's level of solidarity and the power dynamics of their relationship
• e.g. in a parent/child relationship
• this is a solidarity relationship but it is also power bound 
• in the past, they would have had a non reciprocal relationship
• these days solidarity is more important than power displays
• the more powerful individual decides on the use of tu or vous

 Social factors:

•  Politically radical individuals are more likely to use the tu form 
• rural children are more likely to use a non reciprocal vous form with adults
• Urban children are more likely to use a reciprocal tu form with adults
• Gender - familiar male adults will use reciprocal vous with teenage girls, non reciprocal tu with younger girls and non reciprocal tu with boys of all ages

Discourse: Pragmalinguistics

Pragmalinguistics:

• The link between form and function
• form - the linguistic elements/structures used to complete a speech act
• e.g. the imperative is used for command, a negated modal is used for requests

Sociopragmatics: 

•  Mapping form and function of linguistic elements to the appropriate social context
• e.g. donne moi vs donnez moi
• the choice is based on the question of politeness, formality, prestige, age, situation and the number of people

Politeness Theory and Face:

• 'Face' is the positive social value a person effectively claims
• i.e. how you present yourself and how you are perceived 
• Positive Face serves the purposes of:
• Enhancement of positive self image
• Preserving one's own face
• Intimate behaviour - showing social closeness
• Negative Face serves the purpose of: 
• Non imposition on the hearer
• Preserves the hearer's face 
• Achieving distance, in order to demonstrate respect

Face Threatening Act:

•  An act which endangers either one's own image or somebody else's
• e.g. requests - can be viewed as showing weakness, opening oneself up to rejection (Positive Face) or imposing on the hearer (negative Face)
• French and English have similar language use for requests - designed to reduce the threat to face
• the presumption of rejection so as not lose face in the event 
• FTAs are communicative acts that do not respect either the hearer's need for space (negative face) or the speaker's desire to uphold their own self image (Positive face) or both 

Choices in FTA Performance:

• Every time we are confronted with an FTA we face a choice whether or not to perform it

Discourse: Pragmatics

Pragmatics:

• The analysis of the unsaid
• Examining the deeper meaning of language 
• e.g. nous sommes Paris vs Je suis Charlie 
• The change in deitic reference (nous vs je) leads to an entirely different meaning
• from the personal to the universal
• Deitic references are often used in contrast with each other 
• The unsaid - the je/nous are excluding the tu/vous

What is the study of Pragmatics? 

• The study of the relationship between what is said and what is actually meant
• It focuses on the functions of language
• e.g. "you wouldn't pass the salt"
• literal meaning - an accusation - in the past, I asked you to pass the salt and you refused
• however because of our social experience, we know that what is actually meant is a request to pass the salt 

Studies on Pragmatics:

• Morris, 1938, coined the term pragmatics and defined it as the study of the relationship of signs to the user (speaker) and the interpreter (hearer)
• Katz, 1977, described pragmatic phenomena as those in which knowledge of setting and context of an utterance plays a role in its understanding
• Fesold, 1991, described pragmatics as the use of context to make inferences about meaning
• Bach, 2004, defined it as the theory of language use

A Working Definition of Pragmatics: 

A set of internalised rules which tell us how to use language in socio-culturally  appropriate ways, taking into account the participants in a communicative interaction and the features of the context within which the interaction takes place.

Speech Act Theory: 

• Austin and Serl
• Divides language into functions
• e.g. requests, apologies, compliments, advice, complaints, suggestions, insults, etc
• The study of utterances as functions
• They created two categories of language 
• Performatives - whereby saying and doing are conflated to perform an action 
• e.g. "I now pronounce you man and wife" 
• the words make the action happen 
• when the act of speaking changes a situation or physical circumstance
• Characterised by the first person pronoun and a valid speaker, hearer and context
• Constatives - whereby the utterance can be said to be true
• focused on truth values 
• e.g. "The cat is in the house" 

Focus of Pragmatics: 

• What's done with language and how it's accomplished
• The three major concerns of pragmatics
• the difference between literal and intended meaning
• directness vs indirectness
• conventional vs non conventional

Literal vs Intended Meaning:

•  Locutionary Act - the actual utterance
• the physical act of constructing utterance and meaning is determined by the rules of language
• Illocutionary Act - the intended meaning
• e.g. "It's really hot in here" could mean "Please open the window"
• Perlocutionary Act - the effect of the locutionary act and the illocutionary act
• e.g. Locution: "Vous ne pouvez pas m'aider."
• the literal meaning is "You can't help me" as in "you don't have the ability or the possibility of helping me"
• Illocution: a request for help 
• Perlocution: the person will help or refuse
• Therefore it is the illocutionary act which is the key to the success or failure of an exchange
• if the hearer understands the speaker's intention as voiced through the illocution, then it is a successful exchange 
• If the hearer's understanding differs from the speaker's intention then there is a mismatch between locution and illocution

Indirectness vs Directness:

•  With a Direct Act, there is no possibility of a mismatch
• With an Indirect Act, the possibility of a mismatch exists

Conventionalised vs Non-Conventionalised:

• Conventionalised - the normal, universal way of saying something
• e.g. "Vous ne pouvez pas m'aider" is universally recognised as a request for help
• no room for ambiguity
• Non-conventionalised - a personal way of expressing something, which is not universally recognised as having that meaning
• e.g. "T'as pas faim?" could mean "I am hungry and would like to eat."
• personal - depends on context for understanding
• the hearer will need to disambiguate the meaning

 The interpretation of speech acts is highly subjective and depends a lot on context.

Discourse: Text Cohesion and Coherence

Devices of discourse:

• Deixis - shows the way speakers and writers orientate themselves and others in discourse 
• through the use of deitic expressions
• What:
• Demonstratives - ce/cette, ces ... là, celui-là
• Possessives - sa, son, ses etc
• Who:
• Verbs in 1st/2nd/3rd person
• Pronouns - je, tu, il etc
• When: 
• Time adverbs - maintenant, autrefois etc
• Tense of verbs - j'ai donné, je donnerai, etc
• Where:
• Spatial adverbs - ice, là, là-bas
• Deitic expressions are used to point out or indicate something to the speaker or listener

Coherence and Cohesion:

• Coherence - in order to be considered discourse, a text must be coherent
• i.e. it can't be a random sequence of sentences 
• it must tell its audience what is going on 
• Cohesion - how sentences are linked together  
• A text can be cohesive without being coherent  
• i.e. it can be linked together by a topic without having any logical structure
• In order to create coherence, we used subordinating and coordinating clauses
• Coordinating conjunctions - mais, et, ou, ou bien
• Subordinating conjunctions - parce que, si, tandis que, dont, lequel, où, que, qui
• Coordinating clauses can exist independently, are equally important as each other in a sentence
• Subordinating clauses are dependent on the main clause to make sense and cannot exist independently 

Cohesive Ties: 

• Hold discourse together
• e.g. d'abord, ensuite, en plus, enfin, cependant, au contraire d'autre part 
• give the text a logical structure

Endophora:

• An expression which is used to refer to something which has been or which will be said or written in a text
• it can refer to something mentioned earlier or something that will mentioned later 
• e.g. demonstrative pronouns are often used to avoid noun repetition and ambiguity
• Two types of endophora - anaphora and cataphora
• Anaphora - use of pronoun or demonstrative to refer back to something previous mentioned 
• Cataphora - use of pronoun or demonstrative to refer forward in text to something which will be mentioned

Examples:

Je ne vous présente pas un programme, au sens habituel du mot. Je l'ai fait en 1981 alors que j'étais à la tête du Parti socialiste.

Analysis: 

• Deitic expressions in bold, anaphora underlined, cataphora overlined
• je ne vous présente
• je & vous = demonstratives, verb ending = time indication
• je l'ai fait en 1981
• je = demonstrative, fait, en 1981 = time indication, l' = anaphoric reference