Examines transformation and transcendence as rhetorical strategies of definition and redefinition, in the controversy surrounding President Reagan's plan to visit the German war cemetery at Bitburg. Contrasts Reagan's scientistic perspective with his opponents' dramatistic perspective, and explores their clash in three dimensions: time, space, and…

Compares the teaching of literature in East and West Germany. Discusses both the nature and titles of the material taught and problems of teaching literature espousing individual thought and criticism in a communist system. Describes common ground in the literature curriculum of both that may serve as a basis for curriculum of unified Germany. (DK)