February 24, 2015
Hofmannsthal is known for his skepticism of language – its limitations in grasping objective reality (see The Lord Chandos Letter http://depts.washington.edu/vienna/do...). It shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that language does not reflect reality. The question is whether it is a barrier. To that, I guess that a life narrowly focused on art/language and the inner world, to the detriment of worldly connections, would be a barrier to reality (whatever that is).
It appears, though, that Hofmannsthal also intended that to mean that art or language divorced from the social context (such as salon or avant-garde poetry) was not meaningful. For him, it appears to me, poetry needs to be conducted/performed/used as part of an active, practical life connected to the social world. He wanted to restore poetry (and the artist) to an active role in the community.
Hofmannsthal's verse plays are beautiful pieces, but ephemeral.
Death and the Fool **** – This appears to be some kind of Christmas Carol with a less happy ending. Death comes for a man who realizes he hasn’t lived. He is confronted by the spirits of several people has abused during his life, and seeing his error he begs for a second chance at life. Death denies his request, so the man decides to embrace death to its fullest.
The Emperor and the Witch ** – This is an odd story about an emperor out in the woods trying to avoid having sex with a witch for seven consecutive days. It appears that would break some kind of spell – though the cost of that spell is unclear. The cause of the spell seems to be that he wasn’t true to himself, but I’m not sure what or how the emperor has been untrue to himself. Meanwhile, he confronts people from is past and he debates what control one has over his own life.
There’s something I’m missing in this play.
Prologue to the “Antigone” of Sophocles *** – This is a short but intense exploration of the nature of man, of theatre and dream, and how they come together confusedly. All the world’s a stage, and all the stage is a world, and they both embody dreams.