Essays on the synthesis of the musical and literary arts in German Romanticism. The interrelationship between music and literature reached its zenith during the Romantic era, and nowhere was this relationship more pronounced than in Germany. Many representatives of literary and philosophical German Romanticism held music to be the highest and most expressive, quintessentially Romantic art form, able to convey what cannot be expressed in words: the ineffable and metaphysical. The influence was reciprocal, with literature providing a rich source of inspiration for German composers of both instrumental and vocal music, giving rise to a wealth of new forms and styles. The essays in this volume are selected from papers presented at an international, interdisciplinary conference held at University College Dublin in December 2000, and include contributions from Germanists, musicologists, comparatists, and performance artists. This interdisciplinarity makes for informed and complementary approaches and arguments. The essays cover not only the "Romantic" nineteenth century (commencing with the early Romanticism of the Jena circle), but also look ahead to the legacy, reception, and continuation of German Romanticism in the modern and postmodern ages. Alongside new readings of familiar and established writers and composers such as Goethe, Hoffmann, Wagner, and Schubert, a case is made for other figures such as Wackenroder, Novalis, Schlegel, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, and Berlioz, as well as less-known figures such as Ritter, Schneider, and Termen, and for a reconsideration of questions of categorization. The essays will appeal to readers with a wide variety of academic, musical, and literary interests. Siobhan Donovan is a Lecturer in the Department of German at University College Dublin. Robin Elliott is Jean A. Chalmers Chair in Canadian Music at the University of Toronto.

The charge of "Ressentiment" can in today's world -- less from traditionally conservative quarters than from the neo-positivist discourses of particular forms of liberalism -- be used to undermine the argumentative credibility of political opponents, dissidents, and those who call for greater "justice." The essays in this volume draw on the broad spectrum of cultural discourse on "Ressentiment," both in historical and contemporary contexts. Starting with its conceptual genesis, the essays also show contemporary nuances of "Ressentiment" as well as its influence on aesthetic and literary discourse in the 20th century.

In German Romanticism, the imagination is the site of the encounter between the subject and its environment; this book examines that encounter. Dealing with both literary and philosophical texts, it argues that the Romantic imagination performs a critique of rationalism. In reflecting on the fragmentary, the Romantics require the reader to both imagine and to question this as a hermeneutic process. As such, they understand writing to be an experiment in memory, both individual and cultural. This book is a study of the writings of E.T.A. Hoffmann, Novalis, Tieck and also of the utopian project of Romanticism itself. Methodologically, it is informed by what Foucault termed the archaeological approach to discourse as well as by psychoanalysis and literary theory. Examining points of contact as well of divergence between Kantian epistemology and Romantic nature philosophy, it also highlights the correspondences between literature, philosophy and science. Above all, it treats Romanticism as an experiment in the portrayal of ambivalent modern identity.

Contents: Hans-Jurgen Heringer: How to Improve Your Understanding - Gerhard Neuner: The 'Key Qualifications' of Intercultural Understanding and the Rudiments of Intercultural Foreign Language Didactics and Methodology - Arnd Witte: How to be an Alien - Learning a Foreign Language and Understanding Culture - Adelheid Hu: Intercultural Learning and its Difficult Aspects - An Analysis of the Criticism in Relation to a Controversial Concept - Theo Harden: The Limits of Understanding - HansJurgen Krumm: The Languages of our Neighbours - How Realistic is a Concept of Multilingualism in a Multilingual and Multicultural Europe? - Lothar Bredella: The Significance of Intercultural Understanding in the Foreign Language Classroom - Hannes Kniffka: Alien Reading - Newspaper Ads in Intercultural Understanding - Anne Fuchs: How to be a Pilgrim and a Cartographer at the Same Time - Some Deliberations on Intercultural Understanding - Sabine Strumper-Krobb: Understanding Culture and Cultural Differences through Literary Translation Studies - Emer O'Sullivan/Dietmar Rosler: 'We're not like that ' - Using Stereotypes of the Learners' Culture in Target Language Texts to Increase Intercultural Awareness - Elke Hentschel: Cold at Heart - Some Personal Observations on Intercultural Misunderstandings - Vridhagiri Ganeshan: Intercultural Mis(s)-understanding between Indians and Germans - Some Observations from an Indian Perspective - Marlene Rall: Last Glances of the 'Imperial Eyes' - Cooperative Principle and Intellectual Styles in the Mexican Foreign Language Classroom.