ProQuest
Abstract/Details

The Ambiguity of Otherness in Adaptations of the Nibelungen Myth: "Das Nibelungenlied" and Fritz Lang's "Die Nibelungen"

Bickert, Neale G.   University of Victoria (Canada) ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  2012. MR94764.

Abstract (summary)

Over eight hundred years ago anonymous poets set the orally transmitted Nibelungen myth to parchment. This action started a trend of adapting the myth for contemporary audiences, a trend that has lasted since the High Middle Ages. Since then, the Nibelungen myth has become a sustaining element of the self-mythologization of German national identity. The problem, however, with adapting the Nibelungen myth for the purpose of creating a German identity, be it in the medieval epic, the Nibelungenlied, or Fritz Lang's 1924 film, Die Nibelungen, is that this model of identification is flawed—flawed because it consists of systematic binary divisions positing self-other dichotomies. What becomes evident is that in the adaptations of Nibelungen myth, the representations of alterity are contradictory and ambiguous, provoking the question: why is the Nibelungen myth an effective source from which one can project a national identity?

Indexing (details)


Subject
Medieval literature;
Germanic literature;
Folklore;
Film studies;
German literature
Classification
0297: Medieval literature
0311: German literature
0358: Folklore
0900: Film studies
Identifier / keyword
Language, literature and linguistics; Social sciences; Communication and the arts
Title
The Ambiguity of Otherness in Adaptations of the Nibelungen Myth: "Das Nibelungenlied" and Fritz Lang's "Die Nibelungen"
Author
Bickert, Neale G.
Number of pages
120
Degree date
2012
School code
0244
Source
MAI 52/03M(E), Masters Abstracts International
ISBN
978-0-494-94764-7
Advisor
Pnevmonidou, Elena
Committee member
Pollard, Matthew
University/institution
University of Victoria (Canada)
Department
Germanic and Slavic Studies
University location
Canada -- British Columbia, CA
Degree
M.A.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
MR94764
ProQuest document ID
1441959205
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/dissertations/docview/1441959205/abstract/E7B085E2F2F74C37PQ/1