Identity Signifiers In Contemporary Russian Films: A Lacanian Analysis

Germanic Studie

Gabriele Eckart: Hitchhiking. Twelve German Tales

Wayne Kvam, trans. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. 144 p

The Ethics of Exploitation: Brecht\u27s \u3c/em\u3eDer gute Mensch von Sezuan\u3c/em\u3e

Depending on their respective persuasions, critics have been disposed to interpret Der gute Mensch von Sezuan as a statement about the impossibility of ethical behavior in a venal world or, alternatively, as an overt critique of capitalism, an illustration that virtue cannot be practised until an inhuman economic system has been superseded. However, the play can also be viewed as a very different kind of indictment: an indictment of an absolute value system and of individuals who persist in adhering to an immutable morality. In short, it is possible to argue that in Brecht\u27s Sezuan, the emphasis is on the inadequacy of the moral rather than the social system. Sezuan need not be read as a play about goodness. On the contrary, there are cogent reasons for considering it a Brechtian model illustrating the fallacy of an absolute concept of goodness. The closing scene of the play, in demonstrating an irresolvable conflict between Shen Te\u27s moral aspirations and her material survival can be read as a prima facie case: she cannot begin to solve her problems until she eliminates her double standard. She must adopt an ethical position which she can acknowledge publicly. This vantage point resolves several interpretative dilemmas which have faced critics heretofore, not the least of these being the embarrassment of a seemingly sentimental, if not sententious Brechtian drama.

A template for advanced learner tasks: Staging genre reading and cultural literacy through the précis

This chapter illustrates how to use the précis as a template for pedagogical tasks that integrate comprehension and production practice in ways that can enable learners to identify the messages, obligatory textual moves, and lan-guage features of various genres. Exemplified with reference to both fictional and nonfictional genres that are thematically related to the novel Like Water for Chocolate, précis tasks are shown to originate in terms of specific genre features, such as distinctions between formal and informal, private and public discourses, and the language situation (sender/receiver relationship). Iargue that only after identifying characteristics of the media presentation,genre conventions, and handling of stereotypes are students in a position to analyze and articulate textual information in a culturally appropriate fashion. Examples also show how students who compare key differences between various thematically-related genres can construct verifiable bases for drawing inferences about the broader cultural implications of such changes,thereby becoming competent advanced users of a second language

Günter de Bruyn: Zwischenbilanz. Eine Jugend in Berlin

Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer, 1992. 378 p