- Library Home /
- Search Collections /
- Open Collections /
- Browse Collections /
- UBC Theses and Dissertations /
- "Ich werde ganz einfach telegraphieren" : Subjekte,...
Open Collections
UBC Theses and Dissertations
UBC Theses and Dissertations
"Ich werde ganz einfach telegraphieren" : Subjekte, Telegraphie, Autonomie und Fortschritt in Theodor Fontanes Gesellschaftsromanen Thomas, Christian Erik
Abstract
"Ich werde ganz einfach telegraphieren" — Subjekte, Telegraphie, Autonomie und Fortschritt in Theodor Fontanes Gesellschaftsromanen Electronic media influence our thoughts and behaviours. Our present situation resembles that of the industrial world in the late nineteenth century, when electrical telegraphy, the precursor of today's media technologies, gained a dominant position in telecommunications. In our day, conditioning prevents us from reaching a deeper understanding of our relationship to technical media. Because electrical media were still new in the late nineteenth century, observers then were more readily able to analyse their effects and to recognize potentials of subjects in their accounts. In Germany the writer Theodor Fontane demonstrated through depictions in his late novels of society that, by reflecting on the nature of the self and its relation to telegraphy and concomitant ideologies, subjects have the capacity to become aware not only of factors that control them, but also of their autonomous potentials. This consciousness provides the basis for their self-empowerment in the use of telegraphy. However, because Fontane critically depicts Wilhelminian society, his protagonists only attain this level of Consciousness in isolated instances. Its realisation is continuously achieved through Fontane's narrative depiction and its reconstruction by the readers. The image of the subject and its potentials that emerges in this reconstruction provides valuable insights applicable also to evaluations of our present media involvement. Contrary to a wide-spread belief as to subjects'powerlessness and insignificance, our findings imply that the position of subjects in relation to media can be described more positively. Fontane's depiction is concentrated in three identifiable areas, in which the conjunction of telegraphy and ideology exerts a controlling influence on subjects. In accordance with this focus our study examines the views of nature and technology as fateful forces, the alteration of time- and space experiences, and the construction of German, foreign and technical cultures.
Item Metadata
Title |
"Ich werde ganz einfach telegraphieren" : Subjekte, Telegraphie, Autonomie und Fortschritt in Theodor Fontanes Gesellschaftsromanen
|
Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
Date Issued |
2002
|
Description |
"Ich werde ganz einfach telegraphieren" — Subjekte, Telegraphie, Autonomie und
Fortschritt in Theodor Fontanes Gesellschaftsromanen
Electronic media influence our thoughts and behaviours. Our present situation resembles
that of the industrial world in the late nineteenth century, when electrical telegraphy, the
precursor of today's media technologies, gained a dominant position in
telecommunications. In our day, conditioning prevents us from reaching a deeper
understanding of our relationship to technical media. Because electrical media were still
new in the late nineteenth century, observers then were more readily able to analyse their
effects and to recognize potentials of subjects in their accounts. In Germany the writer
Theodor Fontane demonstrated through depictions in his late novels of society that, by
reflecting on the nature of the self and its relation to telegraphy and concomitant
ideologies, subjects have the capacity to become aware not only of factors that control
them, but also of their autonomous potentials. This consciousness provides the basis for
their self-empowerment in the use of telegraphy. However, because Fontane critically
depicts Wilhelminian society, his protagonists only attain this level of Consciousness in
isolated instances. Its realisation is continuously achieved through Fontane's narrative
depiction and its reconstruction by the readers. The image of the subject and its
potentials that emerges in this reconstruction provides valuable insights applicable also to
evaluations of our present media involvement. Contrary to a wide-spread belief as to
subjects'powerlessness and insignificance, our findings imply that the position of
subjects in relation to media can be described more positively.
Fontane's depiction is concentrated in three identifiable areas, in which the
conjunction of telegraphy and ideology exerts a controlling influence on subjects. In
accordance with this focus our study examines the views of nature and technology as
fateful forces, the alteration of time- and space experiences, and the construction of
German, foreign and technical cultures.
|
Extent |
13296469 bytes
|
Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
|
Language |
ger
|
Date Available |
2009-10-05
|
Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
|
Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
|
DOI |
10.14288/1.0090751
|
URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
|
Graduation Date |
2002-11
|
Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
|
Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.