| Despite the tremendous size of the bibliography on Thomas Mann (of more than 16000 titles), there is astonishingly little secondary literature dealing explicitly with the female figures in his works (less than a dozen titles, most of which consider only a single work or a single female character). In order to demonstrate that Thomas Mann was influenced by the writings of Theodor Fontane, in whose novels women play an important central role, this thesis attempts to analyze this influence, in particular with respect to the portrayal of the female figures, by comparing techniques of description and characterization of women in selected works of Fontane, as well as in early and, for comparison, later works of Thomas Mann, and by studying in detail the ways these women are shown to interact with the male protagonists and how they are depicted in their roles within marriage, family and society. |
