{"product_id":"the-historical-experience-in-german-drama-9781571132550","title":"The Historical Experience in German Drama","description":"\u003cb\u003eA survey of 17th- to 20th-century German dramatic works that not only treat historical events but yield a historical \u003ci\u003eexperience\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn what is still the standard survey of German historical drama, \u003ci\u003eDas deutsche Geschichtsdrama\u003c\/i\u003e (1952), Friedrich Sengle understands \"historical drama\" as that in which objective history is blended with an \u003ci\u003eidea\u003c\/i\u003e that isthe basis of its dramatic coherence and force. This idea inevitably becomes the engine of a dramatic action, inclining the theatergoer to become wholly engaged with dramatic characters in a dramatic present, rather than with \"real\" figures in a historical past. Such plays (for instance Schiller's \u003ci\u003eMaria Stuart\u003c\/i\u003e) may remain broadly \"true to history,\" but the \u003ci\u003eexperience\u003c\/i\u003e they afford is often not historical; that is, it may be emotionally and intellectually compelling, but it will not be historical in the sense of causing us, in our present, to become engaged with our relationship with past figures and events and their continued relevance for us. Alan Menhennet identifiesand analyzes examples of German drama that are historical in the stricter sense: not only in terms of the provenance of the material, but also in that, while remaining dramatic in nature, they do convey a historical experience. Bymeans of a critical survey extending from the seventeenth century to the twentieth, in the contexts of literary history, the philosophy of history, and German history from the Thirty Years' War to the Second World War, Menhennetprovides a complement to Sengle's still-valuable study. Major figures treated include Gryphius, Lessing, Schiller, Goethe, Grillparzer, Hebbel, Schnitzler, and Brecht. There is no competing work in English.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Alan Menhennet is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. He is author of \u003ci\u003eGrimmelshausen the Storyteller\u003c\/i\u003e (Camden House, 1997).","brand":"Alan Menhennet","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48280667619579,"sku":"9781571132550","price":120.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/3917\/9771\/files\/9781571132550_c8c39226-7c66-42ae-833c-ac270138e0f3.jpg?v=1772484885","url":"https:\/\/indiepubs.com\/products\/the-historical-experience-in-german-drama-9781571132550","provider":"IndiePubs","version":"1.0","type":"link"}