Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Ranging over a wide number of examples of German drama from Lessing to Brecht, Bennett follows a number of themes. Among these are such ideas as the intellectual component in the relation between stage and spectator, the notion of attempting, by drama, to exercise a vitalizing or reforming influence on society, the use of irony in modern drama, and the technique of playing on the spectator's self-consciousness. He discusses the problem of the heroic character in a self-conscious age in several different plays. In all these and others, he tries to relate modern German drama to German drama of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Bennett has provided analyses of several dramas in considerable detail including Kleist's Prinz Friedrich von Homburg, Lessing's Nathan der Weise, Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris and Egmont, and Schiller's Maria Stuart. He concludes with a discussion of Brecht, whom he classes as a 'Classic Modern,' and his drama Der kaukasische Kreidekreis. In a brief review, it is impossible to consider all the many facets of Professor Bennett's book. Suffice it to say, it should be read carefully by every student of German drama and will be helpful to anyone interested in drama in general." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)