HEINER MÜLLER AND THE GESCHICHTSDRAMA: SEARCHING FOR A NEW GERMAN IDENTITY IN THE POST-WORLD WAR II (GERMANIA TOD IN BERLIN) AND POST-REUNIFICATION ERAS (GERMANIA 3 GESPENSTER AM TOTEN MANN)
Open Access
- Author:
- Ganter, Theresa Marie
- Graduate Program:
- German
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 07, 2005
- Committee Members:
- Daniel Leonhard Purdy, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Cecilia Novero, Committee Member
David Pan, Committee Member
Greg Eghigian, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Heiner Müller
Geschichtsdrama
German Identity
Germania Tod in Berlin
Germania 3 Gespenster am Toten Mann
Post-World War II German Literature
Post-Reunification German Literature
GDR Literature - Abstract:
- This dissertation investigates Heiner Müller's search for post-World War II and post-reunification German identity as depicted in his GESCHICHTSDRAMEN, GERMANIA TOD IN BERLIN in Berlin (1956/1971) and GERMANIA 3 GESPENSTER AM TOTEN MANN (1996), respectively. In my analyses, I demonstrate how Müller exposes the various myths surrounding German identity by combining historical elements with the literary techniques of collage, intertextuality, metaphors, allegorical figures, political songs, ballads, and fairy tales. GERMANIA TOD covers the time spectrum from the first to the mid-twentieth century as the author looks for clues to help explain the evolution of German identity which led to Hitler's reign of terror and Germany's ultimate defeat by the Allied Forces in 1945, the division of Germany, and the formation of the GDR in 1949. GERMANIA 3 offers a retrospective look at the GDR following reunification with an emphasis on the enduring German-Russian aggression as a remnant of German identity based on the legacies of Hitler and Stalin. Chapter One consists of a presentation of scholarly research on Müller and his works, including a classification of his dramatic oeuvre. In Chapter Two I offer an overview of this literary genre: its development over the centuries, beginning with Goethe and concluding with Brecht; followed by critics' views about the GESCHICHTSDRAMA, starting with Friedrich Sengle in the fifties and ending with Jürgen Schröder in the nineties: Schröder's criteria about defining a GESCHICHTSDRAMA serve as the basis for my analyses. In Chapter Three I present relevant historical information relating to post-World War II Germany: the social, economic, political, religious, and literary differences; followed by an overview of the political, economic, and literary situation in post-reunification Germany, with an emphasis on the new challenges facing German literature and German identity in post-reunification Germany. In my analysis of GERMANIA TOD in Chapter Four, I offer a classification of the various historical characters Müller chose to represent German identity. In my analysis of GERMANIA 3 in Chapter Five, I present the legacies of various historical characters whom Müller believed continued to influence German identity even after reunification. In Chapter Six, the Conclusion, I present the reception of each play; I compare and contrast how each deals with German identity and; finally, I discuss the challenges facing German identity of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century.