Demised Heroes: Nibelung's Rewritings in contemporary Theater

Abstract

This essay investigates the actual relationship between heroism and cultural identity through the analysis of the rewriting and transcoding of the Nibelungenlied in four case studies of the postmodern German theater scene, as Heiner John von Düffel, Felicitas Hoppe e Thomas Köck. Between 1970 and today, three generations of German theater have recognized in the Nibelungenlied a symbol of Teutonic identity, able to connect past and present. The first chapter contextualizes the main topic in the recent studies on heroism. The following two chapters are dedicated to the analysis of the case studies: heterogenous and, at the same time, all aiming to destructing the heroic value of the protagonists, which are portraited as responsible of the brutality of the recent German history, as useless common people, and, finally, as deranged guests of a psychiatric hospital. Particularly relevant are the female protagonists, who open new research perspectives.

Keywords

• contemporary theater
• heroism
• «nibelungenlied»
• post-heroism
• rewriting