Karl Gutzkow’s Wally, die Zweiflerin (1835) features Cäsar, a brilliant and cold cynic who simultaneously courts and “emancipates” Wally, souring the restless young aristocrat toward her Christian faith and driving her to despair. Gutzkow’s roughshod novel provoked from critic Wolfgang Menzel a polemic as alarming as the novel itself, but that did it little justice. Mark Walhout’s concept of “orthopraxis,” a practice for determining how a novel encourages or discourages shalom, is a starting point for going beyond critical vendettas, and for challenging the purely empirical descriptions of epochal irresponsibility emphasized thus far in the criticism of the novel.

The paper explores parallels between the literary legacies of Doctor Antoine Despine (1777–1852) and Poet Clemens Brentano (1778–1842). Despine’s account of a magnetic cure, De L’Emploi du magnétisme animal et des eaux minérales dans le traitement des maladies nerveuses, suivi d’une observation très curieuse de guérison de névropathie (A Study of the Use of Animal Magnetism and Mineral Waters in the Treatment of Disorders of the Nervous System Followed by a Case of a Highly Unusual Cure of Neuropathy) (Paris: Germer, Baillière, 1840), and Brentano’s biography and transcribed visions of Sister Anne-Catherine Emmerich, The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, widen our understanding of the consequences of trauma, and of inspiring visions in the midst of illness and physical and emotional pain.   

The paper considers how Saint Augustine’s use of personal narrative as a form of spiritual exploration can be suggestive for journalling practices in the language classroom that could contribute not only to linguistic and critical thinking skills, but also to students’ spiritual formation.

This paper examines the treatment of  religious and ethical themes in relation to the holocaust in  Louis Malle’s film Au revoir les enfants, and suggests ways in which the film can enable discussion of religion, ethics and values in the French classroom.The film raises issues of philosophical and spiritual significance as it forces the viewer to grapple with some of the most atrocious events in human history.