Memoria storica, memoria letteraria e critica del presente nel Doktor Hoechst di Robert Menasse

Abstract

Doktor Hoechst by Robert Menasse (staged in 2009 and published in 2013) is a “Faust-Play” (subtitle) dense with references and allusions to Goethe’s Faust, whose purpose is not so much to provide a contemporary reinterpretation of the Faustian myth, but rather a Faustian interpretation of contemporaneity. This contribution will investigate the convergences that arise between this reinterpretation, charged with tensions with the present, and the theme of memory – a memory that, although it does not belong to the source text, is overwritten on it, reactivating some essential meanings.

Keywords

• historical memory
• faust
• faustian myth
• johann wolfgang goethe
• robert menasse
• rewriting
• transhumanism