The pictorial turn in the humanities and social sciences has foregrounded the political power of images and the extent to which historical, political, social, and cultural processes and practices are shaped visually. Political iconographies are taken to interpret norms of actions, support ideological formations, and enhance moral concepts. Visual rhetorics are understood as active players in the construction and contestation of the political realm and public space. The twenty-one articles by scholars from Europe and the United States explore the political function and cultural impact of images from the perspectives of Art History, American Studies, Visual Culture Studies, History, and Political Science. The contributions in particular address the complex interplay between agent and addressee in the public space as well as issues of national identity, discourses of inclusion and exclusion, and the designation of political spaces within transnational contexts. The publication is part of the interdisciplinary research initiative "Perceiving and Understanding: Functions, Perception Processes, Forms of Visualizations, Cultural Strategies of Pictures and Texts" at the University of Regensburg.

This bibliography offers a compilation of more than 2000 critical studies that deal not only with the relatively new concept of intertextuality and its predominantly poststructuralist implications, but also with the time-honored concepts of allusion and quotation, which have seen a remarkable renaissance in the wake of intertextual enthusiasm. The first comprehensive work of its kind, this volume goes beyond earlier references, both in scope and quantity, to document scholarly achievements in intertextual research and to serve as a guide to previously unexplored topics. In following such scholars as Gerard Genette, Julia Kristeva, and Wolf Schmid, who consider allusion and quotation prominent manifestations of intertextuality to be perceived by the reader on the text's surface, Hebel maintains that research in these two concepts can be integrated into the more radical and far-reaching theory of intertextuality, and that the yet unsolved question of where to draw a distinct line between them deserves further analysis. The book is organized in three parts: the extensive introduction surveys the heterogeneous field of intertextual studies, provides a first insight into the history and development of the critical concepts under examination, and points to important theoretical sources and exemplary analyses of individual writers or specific aspects. The work is designed not only to direct newcomers through the intricacies of intertextual criticism, but to supply more advanced scholars with further inspiration. Extensive indexing provides easy access, and the book will prove to be an invaluable resource in university and research libraries, and in language and literature departments in thehumanities.

Amerika in allen Facetten. Von den Pilgrim Fathers bis zu Desperate Housewives, von kolonialen Reiseberichten bis zur 9/11-Literatur: Die Einfuhrung gibt einen umfassenden und systematischen UEberblick uber das Studium der Amerikanistik/American Studies als interdisziplinare Kulturwissenschaft. Kultur- und Literaturgeschichte, Sprachen und Religion werden ebenso vorgestellt wie das politische System der USA und die geografischen, regionalen und demografischen Gegebenheiten. Mit Abbildungen, Tabellen, Zeittafeln, Bibliografien.

This volume brings together twenty original essays by scholars from the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany. It focuses on the centrality of memory and commemoration to the formation, affirmation, and revision of American histories and identities over the course of more than two centuries. Individual studies engage theoretical issues and perspectives of American memory studies (Michael Kammen, Aleida Assmann), discuss literary texts that position themselves at the intersection of personal and cultural memories and countermemories (Klaus Benesch, Joseph C. Schopp, Francois Pitavy, Ulfried Reichardt, Nicolas Witschi, Renate von Bardeleben), interpret theatrical performances and civic festivities as enactments of individual and collective remembering (Kurt Muller, Winfried Herget, Heike Bungert, Udo J. Hebel), explore the potential of films, folk songs, and public buildings as commemorative media and memorial spaces (Winfried Fluck, James Olney, John Seelye, William Boelhower), and address the political and cultural implications of literary anthologies, national archives, and virtual libraries (Werner Sollors, Caroline Sloat, Christopher Mulvey, Hanjo Berressem). The collection offers a seminal contribution to interdisciplinary scholarship on sites of memory in American literatures und cultures.