Abstract
This paper discusses the notion of the outsider in Joyce's "Dubliners" in relation to the individual's plight in society. Through the historical context of late 19th century Dublin, the paper goes on to discuss the paradoxical concept of the outsider being trapped firmly within their psychological and social boundaries.

From the Paper
"Brunsdale unites Joyce's identities as writer and as foreigner thus: 'like many of his literary compatriots, Joyce wrote in English but felt in Irish, though it took a long time for him to admit it' . Joyce's own sense of alienation, in combination with an Ireland striving to maintain an individual identity against Imperial Britain, motivated his sequence of short stories, Dubliners . Through this work, Joyce interlaces states of external and internal being, both in society and in the individual's consciousness."

Tags:class, epiphany, ireland, irony, metafiction

Abstract
This paper explain that, in deciding how to interpret Franz Kafka's "Texte Zum Jager Gracchus Thema", the most obvious clue appears in the title in word 'Gracchus', which has the same meaning as the Czech word 'Kavka', 'jackdaw'. The author suggests that at least some elements in the Jager Gracchus character are autobiographical. The paper points out that, in the cited quotation in German, that Kafka appears to be expressing his awareness of both the attraction and the dangers of searching his wound, or in other words, scrutinizing himself. The author stresses that, in "Texte Zum Jager Gracchus Thema", Kafka explores the existential concerns of the Jewish people who have lost their link with faith and thus also God. The paper includes many quotations in German.

From the Paper
"The dilemma here is clearly that of Kafka; while he has a job, he is the Burgermeister, responsible for the angst of the Jager Gracchus who is neither living nor dead as a result of the lack of commitment on Burgermeister's part. The Jager Gracchus knows that the Burgermeister cannot remain in Riva, ''Es gibt hier nur zwei ... Du bist auf" He would be taking the wrong turn himself if he pretended that he could remain in this hedonistic, sensual (woman breast feeding baby, people doing normal stuff) paradise of Riva. He can't."

Tags:burgermeister, butterfly, spirituality, mythical, jewish

Abstract
The paper explains how Gunter Grass' narrator, Pilenz, has a retrospective viewpoint that effectively enables the reader to see into the consciousness and subconsciousness of his contemporaries and allows the reader a suggestion of what is to come in the future. The paper shows how by exploring the narrator's role, the reader gains insight into the grave situation that Grass felt society to be in in 1961, the era of National Socialism. The paper explains how by continually bringing up the Cat and Mouse imagery through Pilenz, Grass effectively equates this game to the real life situation of Germany before and after the war.

From the Paper
"In beginning to examine the role of Pilenz, Gunter Grass's narrator in Katz und Maus, the most obvious starting point would appear to be the clarification of the difference between author and narrator, each of
whom may have his own motivation and aims. In Understanding Gunter Grass Pilenz's role is defined as that of the 'the character [...] who draws our attention [...] to connections between Mahlke's life, [...] religious symbols and political, historical events.' Certainly, Pilenz's role as a character is something that comes out in Katz und Maus at the very beginning of the story. Pilenz appears from the beginning to realise that both he and Mahlke are fictional characters in his reference to 'der uns erfand' . We see also that Pilenz feels that ''Ich [...]mu nun schreiben. Selbst waren wir beide erfunden, ich muste dennoch' (p. 6). This indicates almost immediately that the named and specific characters in the story have little or no importance in conveying its essential meaning. After all, Pilenz tell us the story would still need telling even if these particular characters were fictional. Furthermore, as the story is one that needs telling despite the fact that these particular characters are of little importance, the message must have at least some relevance outside the story of Mahlke and Pilenz. It could, in fact be said, that this emphasis on the unimportance of the individual is actually part of Grass's message, the individuals not being important because they are not individuals in the true sense but are representative of a generic group."

Tags:cat, mouse, National, Socialism, Germany, World, War, II, society, Mahlke, guilt

Abstract
This paper explains that, while it is tempting to read James Joyce's "Dubliners" as a simple narrative description of 'a chapter of the moral history' of Ireland, with Dublin serving as 'the centre of paralysis', Joyce was actually concerned with suggesting a means of moving out of this paralysis. More specifically, the paper stresses that 'The Dead', the fifteenth and final story of "Dubliners", should be seen not as a mere description of paralysis but as a means of suggesting a way forward or out of this condition. The author relates that the word 'escape' appears in no less than four of the stories in this collection; therefore, this word itself can be seen to hold the key to how Joyce's "Dubliners" is to be read. The paper presents a chapter by chapter description and analysis of each short story.

From the Paper
"At this early stage in Dubliners, however, these concepts are merely signified. The reader is, in other words, merely offered what Saussure would term 'signs' or words. In fact, that the significance of these key words is announced typographically, in italics, very quickly draws attention to the fact that it is words that we are dealing with here. Accordingly, when the reader is presented with these words, it is not the concepts underlying them that trouble the narrator of 'The Sisters,' but the words themselves and their fundamental sounds. The narrator has, he says, taken to saying the word 'paralysis' 'softly' to himself 'every night ... .

Tags:escape, ireland, etymological, words, grey

Abstract
This paper examines how within "Ulysses" the family, its nature and its complex life are one of the central issues of Joyce's work. It looks at how Joyce demonstrates a vivid awareness of what it entails to be a member of a family, with a deep sense of its roles and commitments, the tensions and emotions generated within family life and how that life is intensely concerned with the past and with the wider society surrounding it. It shows how in order to define his concept of family and present elements of human nature which diminish its bonds, Joyce constructed very detailed scenes involving human activities such as voyeurism, gluttony, dementia and other destructive tendencies and how the deviance of these activities was emphasized by Joyce in order to evaluate why flawed human beings have difficulty maintaining healthy family relationships.

From the Paper
"In the process of examining the dynamics of family relationships, Joyce delved into explorations of deviance in Ulysses in order to display profound insights into the role deviance plays in human relationships, as well as the negative influence it can have on family cohesiveness. The novel presents the insides of families, private peculiarities underneath conventional form, portraying interior experience at the perceptual level. While the families in Ulysses take conventional outward forms, both families we see close up suffer. Stephen's family is Dickensian, having been wracked by increasing poverty and degradation and demoralised further by the recent death of Stephen's mother. His young sisters struggle to stay together, even to have enough to eat, evoking a deep pathos. Stephen, arrogant, isolated and troubled by his mother's ghost, remains aloof."

Tags:leopold, bloom, stephen, dedalus

Abstract
The essay examines how James Joyce's reacted with cynicism to sex, politics, and religion in his book of short stories, "Dubliners." The paper references many of the short stories, as well as analyzes Joyce's reaction to Dublin as a whole.

From the Paper
"Dubliners is a book that is fueled by unfulfilled stories, and disappointments, and it is clear that its people have adapted to expecting this. As a result, it is no surprise that "cynicism has invaded sex, politics, and religion." Dublin limits and frustrates its people, and it is clear that, considering the way he writes about the city, this is the effect it had on Joyce. This is particularly vivid in "A Painful Case," a desperate story of isolation and loneliness. Not only is the main character, James Duffy, cynical of love, but he is also scared of it. Mr. Duffy's imprisonment is self-imposed. He is terrifyingly alone and isolated, but he has chosen this life for himself. His life is based on routine: an obsession with tidiness, and cleanliness. He is prudish, and this is represented in his wholly sexless relationship with Mrs. Sinico. Duffy lacks the courage or imagination to pursue happiness with Mrs. Sinico, despite the fact that both people are clearly dissatisfied with their current situations. However, Mr. Duffy does not realize the extent of his loneliness until it is too late."

Tags:ireland, literature, Painful, Case, Sinico, Kearney

Abstract
This paper examines the notion that, while a literary work will continue to thrive for a long time, the figure of the author will vanish. To this extent, the paper analyzes a quote by Italo Calvino that expresses this idea. The paper relates "The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes to a discussion on James Joyce's "Ulysses," explaining how Joyce questions the authority of the author in "Ulysses," his cyclical vision of literature, his use of inter-textuality and varying styles, and his aim to damage the 'tyranny of the author'.

From the Paper
"Ulysses is renowned for its extensive use of intertextuality, through which Joyce could be said to undermine his own position as author. Ulysses propounds a cyclical, modernist view of history and of literature. The story of Homer's The Odyssey is self-consciously recuperated, its characters brought to life in twentieth century Dublin. The myth is revived, and the banal is elevated by a mythic dimension. Simultaneously, the past and the present are brought into ironic contrast, to comic effect. The past is renewed in Ulysses, but Joyce seems to doubt that anything completely 'new' can ever exist; history is a cycle, people are 'types' not individuals, and literature is a process not of creation, but of recycling. In this way, Joyce seems to doubt the author's ability to 'create', to ever be original, and it is this ability to create which is viewed as the main function of the author, and is the reason for much of society's admiration for them."

Tags:bloom, leopold, modernism, ulysses

Abstract
In Milan Kundera's novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" both Tereza and Tomas repeatedly think of the series of fortuitous events that brought them together. This paper considers the role of fortuity, chance and coincidence in their lives and discusses it in relation to Wislawa Szymborksa's poem "Love at First Sight".

From the Paper
"In both the novel and the poem, the authors want to make readers think about fortuities in terms of their own lives I believe. However one can speculate that these works are not out for solid answers, but work rather as a medium for the authors' views on this issue. In fact, it is an endless source of philosophical speculation because really, no one knows the answer. Significantly, neither of the authors brings God into their speculation but of course there are those who think everything is fated in advance. Others believe in free will but clearly in both texts the readers are being drawn into the debate. Kundera does this by often addressing the reader directly by using metafiction or asking questions. Szymborska uses rhetorical question directed to the archetypical couple. "

Tags:tereza, tomas, world, chance

Abstract
An exploration of the characteristics of the main protagonist of 'The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum', discussing whether these characteristics are realistic or idealized, and what impact they have on the force of Boell's critique of the press.

From the Paper
"When asked "wird [Katharina] nicht tats chlich eine positive Heldin?"(Isn't Katharina really a positive heroine") Boell replied: "Die Gefahr ist drin," (There is a danger of that.) acknowledging the potential for the reader to perceive her as an ideal whilst remaining free to form his own opinion on the consequences of this idealization. Boell went on in the same discussion to outline the ways in which Katharina Blum falls short of his ideal, which will be discussed later, concluding that "sie ist keine Heilige, und sie ist erst recht keine Heldin." (She isn't a saint, and she isn't even a heroine.) However, he did not deny that others might perceive the aspects of her character which he subjectively views as negative, to be positive, even exemplary. It is difficult to pass judgment on Katharina because much of what is said in the novel about her is by definition untrue. The reader is given the opportunity to make comparisons between the reports in the ZEITUNG (NEWS), often quoted verbatim, what other characters say about her, and what she says about herself. However, doubt is cast over what she says in the police interview by the fact that she is clearly either lying or withholding information about some aspects of her involvement in the affair. Whether we are to believe the rest of information offered or not, clearly it cannot be accepted uncritically. Even if the facts about her childhood, for example, are accepted, they are no more than that bare facts that give little insight into the mind of Katharina herself. It may be that what her actions reveal is most illuminating of all."

Tags:ehre, german, honor, lost, post, verlorene, war, wirtschaftswunder

Abstract
The writer explores this character friend in Russia. It shows that this hardly a character at all - we do not know his name, nor do we meet him - but he is a device through which Kafka reveals the true character of Georg Bendemann and accounts for the sentence of death which his father passes on him. Georg rejoices in his friends failures and uses them to underline his own successes, and by not inviting his friend to his wedding, he does not allow him to share in his own happiness. Other subtexts of the father's attitude to his son are explored, such as possible Freudian interpretations.

From the Paper
" Nameless, he is given only the bare bones of a personality, and appears in two differing incarnations, both as Georg's "childhood friend" , and the "son after my own heart" described by Bendemann senior. As such, he cannot be said to play an active role in the relationship between the father and son. He becomes instead a token, used by each to their own ends. Through the ways in which each character interprets the friend in Russia, and uses the image of this friend as a weapon, Kafka reveals the personalities of the protagonists, and exposes the relationship between them."

Tags:austrian, czech, franz, german, judgement, kafka, prague, sentence, short, story, urteil