1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9911008470403321

Autore

Berwald Olaf

Titolo

An introduction to the works of Peter Weiss / / Olaf Berwald

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Suffolk : , : Boydell & Brewer, , 2003

ISBN

1-57113-623-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (vii, 170 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture

Classificazione

GN 9671

Disciplina

832/.914

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [131]-160) and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Subversive slapstick: the early plays Der Turm, Die Versicherung, Nacht mit Gästen, and Mockinpott -- 2. The choreography of documents: Die Ermittlung, Gesang vom Lusitanischen Popanz, and Viet Nam Diskurs -- 3. Staging writers as outcasts: Marat/Sade, Trotzki im Exil, Hölderlin, Der Prozess, and Der neue Prozess -- 4. Scenarios of stagnation: early prose -- 5. Autobiography and fiction: Abschied von den Eltern, Fluchtpunkt, and Rekonvaleszenz -- 6. Poetics and politics: essays, open letters, and fragments -- 7. Perception as resistance: Die Ästhetik des Widerstands -- Works consulted.

Sommario/riassunto

The plays and prose works of the German writer, director, and political activist Peter Weiss (1916-1982) were immensely influential in the shaping of European Modernism in the second half of the twentieth century. Combining exploratory aesthetic openness with an uncompromising ethical drive, Weiss's literary works, especially the plays 'Marat/Sade' (1964), 'The Investigation' (1968), and 'Hölderlin' (1971), as well as the novel 'The Aesthetics of Resistance' (1975-81) continue to provide vital points of reference for any discussion of culture and politics in our times. Berwald's study serves as a comprehensive introduction to Weiss's work and vision. The introductory chapter outlines Weiss's life and work in exile. Three chapters provide detailed discussions of Weiss's theater work, from his early grotesque plays and the documentary dramas from the 1960s that address Auschwitz, Angola, and Vietnam, to his most complex plays in which intellectuals are staged as outsiders. The subsequent four chapters discuss Weiss's prose works, which include his



autobiographical novels from the early 1960s, essays and notebooks on art and politics, and his summum opus, 'The Aesthetics of Resistance'. Olaf Berwald is Assistant Professor of German at the University of Tennessee.