German Expressionist Theatre: The Actor and the Stage considers the powerfully stylized, anti-realistic styles of acting on the German Expressionist stage from 1916 to 1921. It relates this striking departure from the dominant European acting tradition of realism to the specific cultural crises that enveloped the German nation during the course of its involvement in World War I. This book describes three distinct Expressionist acting styles, all of which in their own ways attempted to show how symbolic stage performance could be a powerful rhetorical resource for a culture struggling to come to terms with the crises of historical change. The examination of Expressionist script and actor memoirs allows for an unprecedented focus on description and analysis of acting itself.

Contains citations to books, dissertations, and articles in English and German concerning German expressionist drama of the early twentieth century, including separate sections devoted to German dramatists Ernst Barlach, Bertolt Brecht, Arnolt Bronnen, Reinhard Goering, Walter Hasenclever, Hans Henny Jahnn, Hanns Johst, Georg Kaiser, Oskar Kokoschka, Paul Kornfeld, Ludwig Rubiner, Reinhard Johannes Sorge, Carl Sternheim, Ernst Toller, Fritz von Unruh, and Franz Werfel.

New essays examining the complex period of rich artistic ferment that was German literary Expressionism.

This volume in The German Library includes the following authors and plays, which best represent the Expressionist movement of the early 20th century: -- Georg Kaiser: Gas I and Gas II -- Ernst Toller: Masses and Man -- Gottfried Benn: Ithaka -- Oskar Kokoschka: Murderer the Women's Hope -- Carl Sternheim: The Bloomers -- Walter Hasenclever: The Son>