Otfried Preußler: The Little Water-Sprite, The Little Witch, The Little Ghost. Analysis and Interpretation of Fairy Tale Novels in the Teaching of German as a Foreign Language at the Elementary Schooling Level

This thesis examines Otfried Preußler's trilogy of stories The Water Sprite, The Little Witch, and The Little Ghost in the context of his autobiographical texts declaring his ideas about children's literature. It also deals with the use of these texts in teaching German at the elementary school level. The introductory section focuses on the significant stages of Otfried Preußler's life that are related to the creation of the selected works. Attention is drawn to the significance of these titles in the author's career and the perception of these works, particularly in the Czech context. The author's vision of writing for children, based on his autobiographical texts, is also defined. The analytical and interpretative part of the work uses structural analysis and problem-oriented interpretation to find answers to questions about what connects and distinguishes the stories in the trilogy, what message the trilogy brings, and how the author fulfilled his vision of literature for children through these stories. The focus is on the characteristics of the title figures and the relationship between reality and fantasy. The aim of the theoretical and analytical research is to find and document the connection between the author's vision of writing for children and the fulfilment of this vision in selected...