Zugl.: Nijmegen, Radboud Univ., Diss., 2009. / Zusammenfassung auf Niederländisch.

(anglicky) This dissertation joins a conversation in German literary studies about East German literature's role, identity, and characteristic features. The thesis discusses the phenomenon of autonomy of the dramatic compositions written by Peter Hacks and Heiner Müller in the 1960s and 1970s in the GDR. The theoretic background of the research consists, among other things, of a short introduction to theoretical concepts developed by Kenneth Burke (particularly his New Rhetoric approach presented in The philosophy of literary form), Raymond Williams (including his cultural materialism), as well as Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno (Critical Theory). Furthermore, the dissertation deals with the idea of metatheatre, and it discusses elements of metadrama (Karin Vieweg-Marks) in the selected plays. The symbolic boundaries of research are the Berlin Wall's construction in 1961 and the expulsion of the German poet and songwriter Wolf Biermann in 1976. By analyzing the authors' concrete strategies, the thesis demonstrates that their plays articulate both the European literary tradition and the (East) German socialist project.

Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., Diss.

No description available.

The thesis explores the variety of dialogue in the work of American poetess Louise Glück (*1943). It also points out three options for crossing over the aesthetics of absence. The analysis concerns mainly poems included in the collection The Wild Iris (1992), but it also takes in consideration Gluck's other poetical books such as Averno (2006) and Meadowlands (1996). After naming the nodes which make the contact in the collections, the thesis surpasses the field of literature for creating the dialogue with the aesthetics of absence according to German composer Heiner Goebbels (*1952), with the negative theology of French philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943) and with the absence of the other in the paintings of Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916). This interdisciplinary dialog seeks to describes one of the major tendencies of Gluck's poetry, which is the ghostly possibility of encountering with otherness

[pt] Esta pesquisa investiga de que modo saberes das artes, das humanidades e das ciências da Terra têm sido mobilizados por experimentos estéticos, sobretudo cênicos e performativos, empenhados em abordar os desafios existenciais trazidos à tona pelo Antropoceno — aqui interpretado como consequência direta de um projeto de modernidade antropocêntrico e capitalístico. A pesquisa investiga, portanto, propostas críticas e criativas que fazem da cena uma contra-cena, isto é: experiências que se apresentam como contraposições radicais às premissas ideológicas que fundamentam a modernidade e que engendram o Antropoceno. Trata-se de respostas estéticas que se empenham, sobretudo, em deslocar o humano das ilusórias posições de centralidade, soberania, onipotência, autossuficiência e de independência em relação à trama da vida. Na etapa final do trabalho, as noções de polifonia, de simpoiesis e de composições interespecíficas são investigadas enquanto dispositivos reflexivos e formais capazes de estruturar propostas performativas que, em forma-conteúdo, em dramaturgia e em encenação, se instauram enquanto contra-cenas ao Antropoceno e ao antropocentrismo. A partir de obras como Stifter s dinge, do encenador Heiner Goebbels, podemos vislumbrar formas de experiência cênica em que o humano deixa de estar representado enquanto protagonista único, soberano e indispensável da cena da vida — tanto da Terra como, também, do Teatro. / [en] This dissertation investigates how knowledges from arts, humanities and Earth sciences have been mobilized by aesthetic experiments, especially scenic and performative, engaged in approaching the existential challenges brought up by the Anthropocene — here interpreted as a direct consequence of an anthropocentric and capitalistic modernity project. The dissertation investigates, therefore, critical and creative proposals that make the scene a counter-scene, that is: experiences that present themselves as radical counterpositions to the ideological premises that underlie modernity and that engender the Anthropocene. These are aesthetic responses that strive, above all, to displace the human from the illusory positions of centrality, sovereignty, omnipotence, self-sufficiency, and independence in relation to the fabric of life. In the final stage of the work, the notions of polyphony, sympoiesis and interspecific compositions are investigated as reflective and formal devices capable of structuring performative proposals that, in form-content, dramaturgy, and staging, establish themselves as counter-scenes to the Anthropocene and anthropocentrism. From works like Stifter s dinge, by Heiner Goebbels, we can glimpse forms of scenic experience in which the human ceases to be represented as the only and indispensable protagonist of the scene of life — of the Earth as well as of Theater.

In 1985, the East German playwright Heiner Müller (1929-95) spoke of the importance of a ‘democratic’ theatre: for Müller, the theatre was to be a space in which audience members are free to produce their own interpretations of the material presented on stage. In turn, the audience is encouraged to question the composition of its material reality but is not presented with a solution. Müller explicitly related this practice to his own production of his three texts Der Lohndrücker (1956-57), Der Horatier (1968), and Wolokolamsker Chaussee IV: Kentauren (1986) together at the Deutsches Theater in 1988-91. As this thesis demonstrates, Müller foregrounds instigating audience participation and the means of creating ‘democratic’ theatre from the very beginning of his career. In studying the composition of Müller’s texts, the historical contexts in which they were written, and their premières we gain new perspectives on the ways in which the possibility for political theatre is anchored in Müller’s texts and just how this political theatre aims to engage its contemporary, implied audiences; indeed, this thesis argues that the politics of Müller’s theatre can be best defined as ‘democratic’. In the introduction, I establish how Müller understands the term ‘democratic’ and how his understanding differs from interpretations of democracy contemporary to him; in doing so, I borrow critical vocabulary from the contemporary French philosopher Jacques Rancière. The introduction also elaborates a methodology for studying both implied and real audiences. While each of the prevalent semiological, phenomenological, or materialist theories of audience response has its strengths, in order to pay sufficient attention to the multiple influences upon and aspects of audience interaction, we must take a more holistic approach to audience research. I therefore articulate a new materialist phenomenological approach to audiences, drawing on Martin Heidegger’s phenomenology. In the following chapters, I study Der Lohndrücker, Der Horatier, and Kentauren in their historical contexts and consider how they were both composed with their contemporary audiences in mind and staged in their premières. This approach sheds new light on each text in question: not only do all three texts demonstrate a concern for a lack of democracy in material reality, but each also contains strategies for engaging audience involvement in a piece of ‘democratic’ theatre. My final chapter analyses Müller’s own staging techniques in Der Lohndrücker in 1988, arguing that they enhance the production’s democratic political potential and contribute to our understanding of Müller’s political theatre. While the productions discussed in Chapters 2 and 3 have largely been overlooked by theatre scholarship to date, they provide important insights into the politics of Müller’s texts and the possible limits of writing political theatre texts. This thesis draws on a wide range of both published and unpublished materials, including rehearsal notes, stage manuscripts, audience letters, newspaper reviews, theatre programmes, records of reactions to Müller’s works within the GDR’s statecraft, and Müller’s own notes for writing his texts. Through this wealth of material we not only gain an insight into the ways in which Müller’s texts were written for his audiences but we also recognise the parameters for his audiences’ responses. In offering a fresh perspective on Müller’s works, this thesis demonstrates both a compelling model for audience research and that a synthesis of textual/performance analysis, historical contextualisation, and audience research provides us with a very adept tool for analysing the making of political theatre and the politics of making theatre.

Zugl.: Köln, Univ., Diss.

Hawai, Univ. of Hawaii, Diss.--Honolulu, 1999.

Zugl.: Bochum, Univ., Diss., 2007