Elements of the Englightenment in Novalis' Poetics

Paper by Gertrud Bauer Pickar, Assistant Professor of German at the University of Housto

"Too Manly is Your Spirit": Annette Von Droste-Hülshoff

Paper by Gertrud Bauer Picka

Game Playing, Re-entry and Withdrawal: Patterns on Societal Interaction in \u3cem\u3eBillard um halbzehn \u3c/em\u3eand \u3cem\u3eFürsorgliche Belagerung \u3c/em\u3e

Böll\u27s novel of the late \u2750s Billard um halbzehn and his novel of the late \u2770s Fürsorgliche Belagerung invite comparison, not only because of the similarities which unite these two novels published two decades apart, but also because of the differences which the comparison reveals. The differences are all the more striking because of the overt similarities between the two works. Both novels depict family dynasties; both encompass three generations; both present a strictly confined geographic area; and both take place in a dramatically limited fictional present, in which reminiscences provide insight into events and situations from the past, which permit the present to be more readily understood and evaluated. The external temporal framework, carefully constructed and observed in Billard, is restricted to one day, September 6, 1958, the eightieth birthday of the eldest member of the Fahmel family; in the case of Belagerung it constitutes a relatively confined, but less frequently defined period of some two days, following the election of Fritz Tolm to the presidency of an association of industrial and business leaders

The Symbolic Use of Color in Heinrich Böll\u27s \u3cem\u3eBillard um halbzehn\u3c/em\u3e

The central role of the billiard table and the game played upon it within Böll’s novel has significant ramifications, among them the initiation of a color system, which is subsequently employed consistently throughout the novel. In the course of the text, the reader’s attention is focused repeatedly upon the billiard table and upon the red and white balls rolling over its green surface. Indeed, the words “weiß über grün, rot über griin, rot-weiß über grün” serve as a refrain which becomes one of the key leitmotifs in the work. They establish as well a trio of colors which prove to be of continuing importance and which, together with additional colors, assume symbolic dimensions in the novel