In my thesis, I focused on the use of the second-by-second style in Gerhart Hauptmann's novella Lineman Thiel (1888). Hauptmann, one of the leading writers of the German naturalist movement, documents the life of a simple man caught between nature and industrialization. The second-by-second style, with its ability to precisely and objectively record events, allows Hauptmann to immerse the reader in Thiel’s world and, through detailed descriptions, limits the reader's use of their own imagination. I analysed how the second-by-second style is connected to the content and how it affects the reader, finding that this style is not merely a tool of naturalism but also a way for Hauptmann to portray Thiel's emotional and psychological conflicts. That is how the detailed descriptions of nature and the railway, that should have been objective, acquire a subjective dimension that portraits the conflict between the old and the modern world. The novella also contains symbolic and impressionistic elements that, together with the second-by-second style, create a multilayered literary piece. Through this, Hauptmann provides a deep insight into the world of his protagonist and highlights the social injustices of his time.
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