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Matthias Busch - Matrikelnr.: 521414

1. The entertainment factor aside, we should read literary texts from before 1900 to expand our understanding of present day literature. It can help us re-evaluate our own view on reality and put certain things into perspective as well as give us an idea of the time it was written in. Furthermore, it is imperative in order to spot and comprehend intertextual connections which may represent encoded information the access to which we would be denied without knowledge of texts written in post-modern times. 2. The first collected edition of Shakespeare's works that is considered reliable was produced by John Heminges and Henry Condell in 1623 and is commonly referred to as "the First Folio" (although the original title had been "Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories. & Tragedies"). 3. What Eliot particularly liked about metaphysical poetry was the depiction of experiences as psychological as well as sensual, and the way in which metaphysical poets - in his opinion composed their texts with wit and in an unique manner. 4. The central theme - in terms of content - is the well-known biblical story of Adam and Eve. As for the primary metaphorical theme, there is no simple answer. Paradise Lost has been interpreted in several different way, critics having spotted connections to subjects as diverse as marriage, idolatry and other sins, the justification of God's ways to man, redemption and volition, to name but a few. 5. It has been postulated that, among others, spiritual autobiography, travel writing and - quite obviously - diary keeping as a genre of literature have had a noticeable influence on the making of Robinson Crusoe, with the former being considered the most important one. 6. Tom Jones may be called a "scepticist" novel in that throughout the entire plot, characters act and react in the way they do due to believes or assumptions that later turn out to have been untrue. Even the reader is misled and forms their opinion based on what appears to be set as a premise in the very beginning, namely Tom's being the son of Jenny Jones rather than Bridget Allworthy. All of this could serve as a means to illustrate the central postulate of philosophical scepticism which is the near impossibility of obtaining knowledge or truth since all reasoning

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Matthias Busch - Matrikelnr.: 521414

must ultimately be based on assumptions that in turn could be untrue. In contrast Fielding's characters are all to willing to believe what they are told - a truly "unsceptical" approach. 7. Personally, I would only partly agree with Wordsworth's thesis, namely when speaking of poetry that is meant to express emotions. In my opinion, a philosophical poem (to name one example) does usually not require feelings while being written, nor does it strive to express them or invoke them in the reader. In contrast, other types of poetry (e.g. romantic poems) will likely aim at doing both, and I would argue that in order to capture and convey what poets like to call "true feelings", one has to be powerfully affected by them while composing a piece, lest the result be a mere hollow construction that, while possibly technically flawless, would lack actual meaning or a "soul", if you will. 8. The eponymous protagonist of Austen's novel Emma represents a mixture of what Wollstonecraft and Enlightenment feminism both criticise and demand, namely education not being put to use (although Emma's education appears to be much better than what Wollstonecraft wrote women normally received at that time) and women having their own agency respectively. Emma decides for herself and does not see marriage as the ultimate goal in life. Quite the contrary. In her own way, she is an independent, intelligent woman and could have served as a role model and example of what feminist demanded were it not for her confining herself and her intellectual capacities to matchmaking and other activities Wollstonecraft would likely have considered insignificant and sadly typical for what women of her time were expected to be doing. 9. James Joyce used the word epiphany to describe a sudden feeling of something falling into place, like a puzzle piece, a deep realisation (be it philosophical in nature or furthering the understanding of a person or thing) that may or may not have been triggered by something apparently insignificant. He is often credited as having contributed greatly to the popularity of this non-secular meaning of the term. 10. Two structuring principles of Woolf's Mrs Dalloway would be London (especially Regent's Park) for one, and the intellectualism-intuition opposition for another.

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Matthias Busch - Matrikelnr.: 521414

11. The narrator of George Eliot's Middlemarch is an external one who perceives things from within. Although omnisciently describing the events for the most part, there are also passages in which they comment (with partly didactical intentions, as it seems) and express their own opinions about or feelings towards something. Critics have been arguing for a while whether the narrator is a character of their own, though not interacting with other characters, or maybe the author's own voice speaking, without finding a definite answer. The plot comprises several different interwoven narratives (with the three main ones dominating more than two thirds of the novel) and various subplots that also help to connect the different threads with one another. The character Dorothea Brooke, in a way, serves as a means to have the story come full circle as it begins and ends with her. 12. In The Black Album, Islamist fundamentalism is depicted as something alienated Muslim youths in Britain might use to rid themselves of confusion, doubt and uncertainty as to their role and place in society and their own identity. It plays the part of something that creates a sense of belonging, of not being alone.