Foreign Language Study : German

Take the angst out of learning German. Interested in learning to speak German but can't tell the difference between a strudel and a schnauzer? No need to feel intimidated! With German Demystified you'll develop language skills so quickly you'll pass for a wunderkind . Organized into twenty chapters that cover key grammar topics, this book contains the building blocks for the storehouse of your new German language skills. Covering common verb tenses, essential vocabulary, useful adjectives and adverbs, and even the correct way to ask questions, this guide makes learning what can be a difficult language both simple and entertaining. Test yourself at the end of every chapter for reinforcement that you're fast on your way to speaking, writing, and understanding German. This fast and easy guide features: Clear grammatical explanations that illustrate how the language works; Numerous examples that place new vocabulary in practical context; Helpful writing and speaking exercises that bring the German language to life; Coverage of everyday topics, conversational expressions, and cultural information; Quizzes at the end of each chapter reinforce new language skills. Simple enough for a beginner but challenging enough for a more advanced student, German Demystified is your shortcut to mastering this complex language. more...

Price: $19.95

In June 1942, Anne Frank received a red-and-white- checked diary for her thirteenth birthday, just weeks before she and her family went into hiding in an Amsterdam attic to escape the Nazis. For two years, with ever-increasing maturity, Anne crafted a memoir that has become one of the most compelling documents of modern history. She described life in vivid, unforgettable detail, explored apparently irreconcilable views of human nature—people are good at heart but capable of unimaginable evil—and grappled with the unfolding events of World War II, until the hidden attic was raided in August 1944. But Anne Frank's diary, argues Francine Prose, is as much a work of art as a historical record. Through close reading, she marvels at the teenage Frank's skillfully natural narrative voice, at her finely tuned dialogue and ability to turn living people into characters. And Prose addresses what few of the diary's millions of readers may know: this book is a deliberate work of art. During her last months in hiding, Anne Frank furiously revised and edited her work, crafting a piece of literature that she had hoped would be read by the public after the war. Read it has been. Few books have been as influential for as long, and Prose thoroughly investigates the diary's unique afterlife: the obstacles and criticism Otto Frank faced in publishing his daughter's words; the controversy surrounding the diary's Broadway and film adaptations; and the claims of conspiracy theorists who have cried fraud, along with the scientific analysis that proved them wrong. Finally, Prose, a teacher herself, considers the rewards and challenges of sharing one of the world's most read, and most banned, books with students. How has the life and death of one girl become emblematic of the lives and deaths of so many, and why do her words continue to inspire? Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife tells the extraordinary story of the book that became a force in more...

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Bertolt Brecht is amongst the world's most profound contributors to the theory and practice of theatre. This book offers an overview of the key periods in Brecht's life and work; and an analysis of his practical exercises and rehearsal methods. more...

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This book is the first to compare three contemporary women writing in German: Herta M--uuml--;ller (from Romania), Libuse Mon--iacute--;kov--aacute--; (from Czechoslovakia), and Kerstin Hensel (from the GDR). Drawing on psychoanlytical, feminist, and performativity theory, it looks at images of the body and their relationship to the structures of their writing as well as analysing the social, cultural, and political contexts. - ;This book examines the relationship between representations of the body and narrative strategies in the work of three contemporary women writers from the former Eastern Bloc countries: Herta M--uuml--;ller, an ethnic German from Romania; Libu%se Mon--iacute--;kov--aacute--;, who emigrated from Czechoslovakia to West Germany and chose to write in German; and Kerstin Hensel, from the GDR. Marven shows how the content and form of their works are interlinked, and how these challenge the hegemonic discourses within repressive socialist regimes. The introduction contextualizes the writers' socially, culturally, and historically, and outlines the theoretical basis of the approach, drawing on psychoanalysis, performativity theory, and feminist critical theory. Chapters on the individual authors offer new interpretations of the writers' works, focusing on the structures of trauma (in. M--uuml--;ller's work), hysteria (in Mon--iacute--;kov--aacute--;'s) and the grotesque (in Hensel's). The images of the body analysed in the first half of each chapter show the effects of violence; challenge the understanding of the body as natural or authentic; and raise questions about identity and gender. The analysis in the. second half of each chapter covers a range of formal features, from the fantastic and collage, through parody and intertextuality, to irony, plot, and story telling. The book also traces developments in the work of all three authors, taking account of the historical changes in the Eastern Bloc countries since 1989. Body and N more...

Price: $140.00

An accessible overview of the German writer's life, works, intellectual, historical and cultural background, and the reception of his work. more...

Price: $16.00