Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Assignment 10
The Vegetational Fatherhood was an especially unusual tale, however, I believe it does fit within the Kunstmarchen category. The themes are more complex than the tales we read earlier in the semester. Specifically the relationship between humans and nature is something the reader is forced to consider. The ending was also particularly interesting and definitely not for a child audience. The bride is killed and her husband and mother are sent to an asylum, as their connection with her death is questionable. Like a Kunstmarchen, we have an unhappy conclusion and end with uncertain relationships. The only connection with the literary fairy tale that I cannot make with The Vegetational Fatherhood is the social critique element. Perhaps I find the tale too strange to read any social commentary into it, but I don't see how a woman turning into a rose could have anything to do with contemporary issues. I find the tale to be more concerned with abstract concepts, such as nature, rather than concrete criticisms.
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That is interesting. I think that while the story might not deal with exclusively contemporary issues...the themes are relevant to humanity as they deal with the human:nature relationship.
ReplyDeleteI think it critiques the enlightenment and puts Romanticism to the forefront. It could also point to the lack of imagination of doctors, science and the modern people who do not believe their story because of the lack of evidence or that it seems unexplainable/unreasonable. It could also be a critique of fatherhood. I think it points to the common idea that the man was the head of the house and he was in the house but it was more like he never was there or of the family.This story did come out a year before the war. The story might point to some freudian principle ie that children reject their mothers and grow closer to their fathers. I don't know. i just find the title curious. She explicitly chooses to highlight the father although he was never really in the story.
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