Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1999

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Modern Foreign Languages

Major Professor

Carolyn R. Hodges

Committee Members

Peter Hoyng, Karen D. Levy

Abstract

This dissertation examines French historical influences on the dramas of Brecht, Sartre's influence on the dramas of Frisch, French literary sources for Müller's Quartett, and how the three playwrights adapted Molière’s Dom Juan. Brecht's Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe, Die Gesichte der Simone Machard, and Der Prozeβ der Jeanne d'Arc zu Rouen 1431 include a Joan of Arc figure. The first was written as Europe prepared for the five hundredth anniversary of her death. This event may have inspired the tenuous association of Joan of Arc with a figure from a Salvation-Army-type establishment. Outside history had a role in the second play as Joan of Arc remained a symbol for French resistance in the 1940s. The Slansky trial in Prague coincided with the premiere of the third play, an adaptation of a radio play by Anna Seghers. The controversy over the role of female assistants in Brecht's collective theatrical enterprise causes one to speculate on the appeal of Joan of Arc to them as well as to audiences. Die Tage der Commune, based on the Paris Commune of 1871 and written as a counterplay to Nordahl Grieg's The Defeat, is the final Brecht play examined. It is motivated by the question of how a revolt can succeed rather than be defeated.

Sartre's existentialist themes of freedom, the struggle between bad faith and authenticity, the role of the Other in self-definition, individual freedom versus responsibility to the community, and the role of a fundamental project are examined in six plays by Frisch: Santa Cruz; Graf Öderland; Biedermann und die Brandstifter with its Epilogue; Andorra; Biografie. Ein Spiel; and Triptychon.

Müller's play Quartett is examined in relation to Laclos's novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and affinities with Antonin Artaud. Some performances reflect Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet. Violence and terrorism as layers of the play can be traced back to Georges Bataille and Jean Baudrillard.

Both Brecht and Frisch adapted Molière’s play Dom Juan and Müller translated it. Frisch wrote a very original play with the title character's existentialist struggles to create an identity separate from the legend.

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