Playwriting
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Hauptmann: Bahnw?rter Thiel
"Bahnw?rter Thiel" (1988), by far the best story ever written by Gerhart Hauptmann, follows the principles of the Naturalist movement in its detailed study of the life and milieu of a humble and apparently unexceptional Prussian railwayman. Yet in its exploitation of symbolism, of techniques sometimes close to Impressionism, and in its subtle use of a changing narrative perspective, this Novelle goes beyond the essentially 'scientific' Naturalist approach: Hauptmann thus succeeds in exploring the complex interaction of suppressed social, psychological, physiological, and religious impulses far better than in any other work of this era.This new edition has been prepared withthe changing needs of the today's learners and students of German inmind. The late S.D. Stirk's scholarly edition of 1952, which alsoincluded "Fasching", has seen sterling service, and we aregreatly indebted to it. However, by concentrating on just one story, wehave been able to offer more linguistic help in the notes andvocabulary, as well as devoting considerably more space in theintroduction to detailed comments on characterisation and technique.References to other works and to other periods of Hauptmann's longcareer as a writer have been kept to a minimum.
Major Barbara
Major Barbara is a three act play which tells the story of an idealistic young woman, Barbara Undershaft, who is engaged in helping the poor as a Major in the Salvation Army in London. For many years Barbara and her siblings have been estranged from their father, Andrew Undershaft, who now reappears as a rich and successful munitions maker. Undershaft the father gives money to the Salvation Army, which offends Major Barbara who does not want to be connected to his "tainted" wealth. However, the father argues that poverty is a worse problem than munitions, and claims that he is doing more to help society by giving his workers jobs and a steady income than Major Barbara is doing to help them by giving them bread and soup. This 1905 play came before society had fully experienced the massive scale of the human cost from modern industrial weapons and warfare, but this would soon change during the coming carnage of World Wars I and II.?Download now and start reading this classic novel you won't be able to put down!