Kapitel I Seghers´ Sinologiestudium
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Anna Seghers´ China-Begegnung in ihrem Leben und ihren Werken Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Weijia Li Graduate Program in Germanic Languages and Literatures The Ohio State University 2009 Dissertation Committee Helen Fehervary, Advisor Bernd Fischer John Davidson Copyright by Weijia Li 2009 Abstract My dissertation examines Anna Seghers’s encounter with China and how this encounter influenced her life and her writing. By using materials available in the Anna- Seghers-Archive in Berlin, results of studies in various related disciplines such as sinology, history, and political science, etc., as well as historical and current Chinese sources, this dissertation seeks to reconstruct chronologically Anna Seghers’s intellectual involvement with China. My research traces Seghers’ encounter with China back to her study of Chinese language and culture at the University of Heidelberg and her internship in the East Asian Art Museum in Cologne in the early 1920s. It illustrates that her early fascination with the cultural and political developments in China and her personal contact with several Chinese political refugees in Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s were essential for her intellectual involvement with China over the following 50 years. As the first comprehensive study of its kind, this dissertation seeks to fill a void surrounding current research on Anna Seghers. The study will produce meaningful connections between Seghers’ intellectual pathways and literary activities as they intertwine with the writer’s encounter with another culture and nation. Findings from my research will inform future studies in contextualizing Seghers’ works within various cultural paradigms that played a role in the eventful career of the most prominent German woman writer of the twentieth century. ii Dedication Dedicated to my wife, Xueli Wang iii Acknowledgments Many individuals provided guidance and support for me to complete this dissertation. First and foremost, my gratitude goes to Prof. Helen Fehervary, my dissertation advisor, for her continued guidance and encouragement throughout my entire graduate study at The Ohio State University. I thank her for engaging, challenging, and guiding me intellectually, and for providing me with tremendous support when it was most needed. This dissertation would not have been possible without her constantly pushing me to my full potential. I am deeply grateful to Prof. Bernd Fischer, Prof. John Davidson, and Prof. Gregor Hens for their stimulating feedback on my Candidacy Exams and dissertation research, as well as their guidance on my academic work since I came to Ohio State in 2003. I thank the late Prof. Alexander Stephan for his inspiration and guidance in the early phase of my dissertation research. His vision and encouragement are essential in shaping the goals and objectives of my research. I would like to sincerely thank the late Prof. Frank Wagner for his intellectual encouragement and his generous support for my research in Berlin. I am also indebted to Prof. Anna Grotans and Prof. Kathryn Corl who have always supported me with their understanding, expertise, and patience. I also thank the iv Department of Germanic Languages and literatures at The Ohio State University for making the past six years of my academic and professional life worthwhile. I owe many heartfelt thanks to my wife Xueli, the most intelligent and lovely woman I have ever met. Her support, encouragement, understanding, patience, and her selfless unwavering love were undoubtedly the foundation upon which the past ten years of my life and my academic career have been built. v Vita 1994 ……………………………………… B.A. German Language and Literature, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China 2005 ……………………………………… M.A. Germanic Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University 2003 to present …………………………... Graduate Teaching Associate, Germanic Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University Publications Li, Weijia. „Projektorientierte Maßnahmen zur Binnendifferenzierung am Beispiel des Seminars ‚Deutsche Landeskunde‘ im Germanistikstudium.“ Neues Jahrhundert, neue Herausforderungen: Germanistik im Zeitalter der Globalisierung. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2004. 772-81. Li, Weijia. „Zukunftsorientierte Landeskunde. Der Erwerb landeskundlicher Kenntnisse und moderner Arbeitstechnik als Lernziele.“ Didaktische Reflexionen: „Berliner Didaktik“ und Deutsch als Fremdsprache heute. Ed. Hans Werner Hess. Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag, 2004. 109-20. Li, Weijia. “The Application of Acting Techniques in Teaching College-Level German Courses.” Journal of Beijing International Studies University 3 (2002): 24-30. Li, Weijia. “Multimedia Technology in Foreign Language Teaching: Principles and Methods.” Journal of Beijing International Studies University 4 (2002): 27-31. Fields of Study Major Field: Germanic Languages and Literatures vi Inhaltverzeichnis Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ..................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................................................iv Vita.................................................................................................................................................................vi Inhaltverzeichnis .......................................................................................................................................... vii Siglen...............................................................................................................................................................x Einführung.......................................................................................................................................................1 Kapitel 1: Der sinologische Beitrag zur China-Rezeption in der deutschen Literatur.....................................7 Kapitel 2: Seghers´ Sinologiestudium an der Universität Heidelberg...........................................................32 2.1 Die Sinologie an deutschen Universitäten bis zu den 1920er Jahren .........................................32 2.2 Der Anlass des Sinologiestudiums an der Universität Heidelberg.............................................35 2.3 Der Inhalt des Sinologiestudiums...............................................................................................38 2.4 Seghers und die chinesische Kunst ............................................................................................41 Das Praktikum am Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst in Köln...........................................41 Seghers und der „Kölner Kreis“ .......................................................................................45 Seghers´ Büchersammlung über die chinesische Kunst....................................................50 2.5 Seghers und die chinesische Philosophie ...................................................................................51 Der Konfuzianismus .........................................................................................................51 Der Taoismus....................................................................................................................53 2.6 Seghers und die alte chinesische Literatur .................................................................................56 vii 2.7 Der Einfluss der frühen China-Begegnung auf Seghers´ China-Rezeption................................60 Kapitel 3: Seghers´ China-Begegnung und ihre China-Werke bis 1933 .......................................................68 3.1 China und die deutschen Schriftsteller in der Weimarer Republik ............................................70 3.2 Der Roman Die Gefährten und Seghers´ chinesische Gefährten ...............................................76 Die chinesischen Studenten in Berlin ...............................................................................78 Seghers´ persönliche Erfahrungen im Roman ..................................................................87 Die chinesischen Gefährten ..............................................................................................91 3.3 Die zeitgenössischen politischen Ereignisse Chinas in Seghers´ Werken................................113 „1. Mai Yanschuhpou“ und die chinesische Arbeiterbewegung .....................................115 „Der Führerschein“ und der Widerstandskampf gegen die japanische Invasion ...........129 „Die Stoppuhr“ und die deutschen Militärberater im chinesischen Bürgerkrieg............135 3.4 „Der Last-Berg“ – ein taoistischer Mythos? ...........................................................................145 3.5 Das neue China- bzw. Chinesenbild in Seghers´ Werken bis 1933.........................................150 Kapitel 4: Seghers´ China-Begegnung und ihre China-Werke in den 1940er Jahren.................................153 4.1 „Chinas Schlachtgesang“ und Chinas Bedeutung im antifaschistischen Kampf .....................154 4.2 Fortsetzung der China-Thematik aus den 1930er Jahren .........................................................162