Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2012-12-12 In Search of Real Fathers: Plenzdorf's Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. and Vater, Mutter, Mörderkind Michelle Schwoebel Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the German Language and Literature Commons, and the Slavic Languages and Societies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Schwoebel, Michelle, "In Search of Real Fathers: Plenzdorf's Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. and Vater, Mutter, Mörderkind" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 3544. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3544 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. In Search of Real Fathers: Plenzdorf's Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. and Vater, Mutter, Mörderkind Michelle Schwoebel A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Thomas Spencer, Chair Hans-Wilhelm Kelling Christian Clement Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages Brigham Young University December 2012 Copyright © 2012 Michelle Schwoebel All Rights Reserved i ABSTRACT In Search of Real Fathers: Plenzdorf's Die neuen Leiden des jungen W. and Vater, Mutter, Mörderkind Michelle Schwoebel Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, BYU Master of Arts Plenzdorf’s works, one written before the fall of socialism in the German Democratic Republic (hereafter referred to as the DDR), and one after, portray relationships between fathers and sons, which act as a metaphor to express a personal perspective of the state, revealing that the DDR was neither as repressive or as omnipresent for the average citizen as outsiders are often given to believe.