Date Approved

2004

Degree Type

Open Access Senior Honors Thesis

Department or School

World Languages

Abstract

Although Jurij Brezan is probably the most prolific, best-known, and most acclaimed Sorbian writer of the 20thcentury, he remains relatively obscure. Brezan is first and foremost a Sorbian writer, although he also writes in German. The most prominent theme in his work is Sorbian identity: the identity of a minority people indigenous to Germany, whose language and culture have been suppressed by their German-speaking neighbors for more than a thousand years. 1Brezan draws on themes from Sorbian folklore in much of his writing, and writes in a surrealistic style reminiscent of myth. Grounding his works in the history and folklore of his people, Brezan mounts a critique of the forces of environmental degradation and globalization that threaten indigenous cultural survival.

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