Deutsche Widerspiele der Französischen Revolution - Reflexionen des Revolutionsmythos im selbstbezüglichen Spiel von Goethe bis Dürrenmatt

With astounding tenacity, though hitherto largely unremarked, reflection on the French Revolution in German drama of the two centuries following it has made consequential use of the play-within-a-play form. In this process, the revolutionary 'drama of history' has been transposed into an aesthetic mode which, in this context, gains a heightened epistemic significance for the perception of history. By aesthetically demythologizing the revolutionary myth, the self-referential drama achieves a comprehensive critique of the modern understanding of history. In the last instance, this critique also thematizes the limits of the dramatic form itself.