Literatur Und Politik: Analyse Der Revolutionären Figuren in Deutschsprachigen Und Afrikabezogenen Theaterstücken

Abstract

Literature in general often combines fiction and reality. In 1935 Georg Buchner's Dantons Tod appeared. This playwright which fictionalised the French Revolution of 1789 in the years of terror which led to the death of Danton and his friends. Drawing a parallel between this theatre of the Revolution and its leading characters and contemporary German (Die Revolution frisst ihre Kinder! - The Revolution kills its children!) and African (Sank ou la patience des morts - Sank or the patience of deaths) theatres brings out similarities both in writing and the attitudes of the so-called revolutionary characters. The concept of the Revolution takes on many dimensions and can be interpreted from the perspective of philosophy, sociology and also literature. The notion of the revolutionary character is not much discussed but is analysed, like any theatre character, as a semiotic sign. The revolutionary characters in the chosen playwrites (Danton, Robespierre, Thomas Sankara, Blaise Compaore) are only found in a public and private space or only in a public space. The public space is obviously the panacea of the revolutionary character. The theories of theatre semiotics from Aristotle, Gustav Freytag to Erika Fischer-Lichte and Manfred Pfister will be discussed step by step before looking at the method of analysis of the theatre theorist Anne Ubersfeld. The theatre of the Revolution is marked by writing processes that combine intertextuality, intermediality and interculturality. Finally, the theatre of the revolution is a junction of fiction and reality, as it starts from real facts and personalities (who are not completely similiar to reality) to make fiction.