Bücher von Steffen Laa

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Nottingham, course: Early Modern Love, language: English, abstract: 1. IntroductionThe Renaissance was an exciting age. It was a time of exploration and discovery. People were eager for knowledge and keen on unravelling fundamental mysteries that make up their existence: What is Man? Which position does he take in the universe? What is he there for at all? Why is life so short? What is love?Without generations being so inquisitive and inquiring, human progress would have come to a standstill. Luckily, people increasingly became aware of the fact that they are an integral part of nature¿s changing course and controlled by an external force which is far beyond their power: time.In this essay, the concept of time is of utmost interest. It shall serve as a microscope to examine literary and theoretical writings that deal with such fundamental issues like love, desire and death. Their readings are presented from a fascinating angle where time functions as a metaphor. To this end, three core texts will be explored: William Shakespeare¿s tragedy Romeo and Juliet and his narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece, and Sigmund Freud¿s Mourning and Melancholia. Before we embark upon a ¿metaphorical reading¿, I present an interesting framework that will come in useful when we investigate the texts. First, we study the relationship between time and metaphor.2. Metaphorizing timeLet us imagine an elderly long-bearded man dressed in a robe. He is bald, but he has a forelock of hair. With him, he carries a scythe and an hourglass. Sometimes he is depicted cradling a baby in his arms ¿ This mythical figure is commonly known as Father Time.This example vividly shows how abstract ideas like that of time lose their obscurity and become more apprehensible by means of personification. However ungraspable the notion of time may be, personifying facilitates the determination of time¿s typical features on a non-abstract level.I must note at this point that, in this essay, I will not draw a distinction between the concepts of personification and metaphor because I regard personification as the ultimate metaphor achievable. When we are able to personify something, the abstract becomes us, like us ¿ and it is the notion of ¿likeness¿ upon which both personification and metaphor are based.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 1,3, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg (Institut für fremdsprachliche Philologien), course: Intercultural Learning, language: English, abstract: Intercultural Learning and Intercultural Competence are ubiquitous buzzwords that have been used in the sphere of English teaching and learning for more than two decades now. It has been recognized that modern language teaching goes far beyond the acquisition of grammar and vocabulary alone. As students progress in their study of the foreign language, it is expected that they extend their knowledge and broaden their awareness about the target culture¿s characteristics and peculiarities.Theoretically, the creative implementation of Intercultural Learning could, if intelligently put into practice, have also led to an ¿overthrow¿ of outdated teaching methods that, as a rule, emphasise pure cognition rather than communication or interaction. Unfortunately, the initial euphoria has gone and only little has changed in German classrooms. Still, interculturality is often taught in a way that appears uninteresting and ineffective, that is mainly based on facts and figures, and therefore rendering English sometimes not particularly popular as a subject among students.The reasons for this situation are manifold. Teachers (and students) know too little about Intercultural Learning because it is a concept too fuzzy, vague, abstract and indefinite so as to be grasped immediately. It may also be due to the apparent lack or shortage of suitable learning and teaching materials that can be used in day-to-day school life. Luckily, current textbooks increasingly include creative aspects of interculturality. But how useful and fruitful are these modest ¿intercultural elements¿ in practice?In this paper, I will analyse two German textbooks used in institutional English teaching and learning nationwide and scrutinise them from an intercultural point of view. Before that, I will carry out a brief but thorough investigation into the notion of ¿Intercultural Learning¿ (abbreviated to IL). I will then look into general functions of school textbooks as the primary teaching instrument, followed by a critical description and analysis of Green Line 5 (Klett) and English G 2000 D5 (Cornelsen).

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Comparative Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Nottingham (English Studies), course: Literature on British India, language: English, abstract: The legacy of British colonialism in India is not only of economic or social nature, but also of highly literary interest. What makes the literature of British India so fascinating is first and foremost its depiction of the ¿other¿, the exotic and unknown.On the basis of selected representative texts by both British and Indian writers, this essay attempts to set out visible similarities and differences in Anglophone literature on India. To this end, Anand¿s Untouchable and Narayan¿s The Painter of Signs shall serve as core texts around which the comparisons will be centred.It must be noted that representations of India do not embrace people alone, even though this is one of them most interesting and exhaustive aspects. Elements I will also elaborate on are the representations of landscapes and stereotypical images of India. As far as the British are concerned, it is the colonizers that are of primary interest here.The literary material we will be discussing covers a period of more than 200 years ¿ from 1772 to 1976. But it was only in 1978 when Edward Said published his most influential book Orientalism which studies the East through Western eyes. His vies will be used as a starting point for our investigation.