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AUFKLÄRERISCHE BOTSCHAFT UND ERZÄHLTECHNIK IN SCHILLERS DER VERBRECHER AUS VERLORENER EHRE
Author(s) -
Avgerinou Sophia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
german life and letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1468-0483
pISSN - 0016-8777
DOI - 10.1111/glal.12065
Subject(s) - narrative , enlightenment , sympathy , objectivity (philosophy) , schema (genetic algorithms) , content (measure theory) , literature , philosophy , empathy , compassion , epistemology , aesthetics , sociology , psychology , art , social psychology , theology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , machine learning , computer science
This essay analyses Friedrich Schiller's short story Der Verbrecher aus verlorener Ehre from the viewpoint of narratology, based on the categories of time, mode and voice established by Gérard Genette in his Narrative Discourse . Schiller's commitment to the Enlightenment underlies the structure, form and content of the story. Certain formal elements, such as the narrative pause at the opening, the linear time schema and the mixture of authorial narration and narration in the first person singular enhance the understanding of the causes of the crime; others, such as the abrupt, dramatic ending of the story suggest a questioning of the traditional form of the crime story as well as a mitigation and at the same time enrichment of the pursuit of rational knowledge through elements of empathy with and sympathy for the criminal. The author's intention to enlighten his readers is also expressed through the content itself, where the case for objectivity, tolerance and humanism, as far as the penal system is concerned, is made. Apart from some doubts concerning the absolute validity of the Enlightenment's view of the world, in this short story Schiller indicates his belief in the priority of moral autonomy over the natural and social predetermination of human beings.