The Ironic Dissident: Frank Wedekind in the View of his Critics

This volume examines the criticism generated not just by Wedekind’s drama, but also by his often neglected poetry and prose, giving summaries of the historically important trends in their reception and offering a chronological survey of critical voices. Wedekind’s works appeared from 1890 to shortly before his death in 1918: most were controversial, outraging the conventions, and late Victorian censorship restricted stage performance. During the Weimar Republic, Wedekind’s work enjoyed great popularity on the stage, and although he was marginalised by the Third Reich, his reputation continued to grow after the Second World War; critics have emphasised his influence on Bertolt Brecht and the Expressionist movement (with which he is sometimes identified), and the Theatre of the Absurd, as represented by the Swiss playwrights Max Frisch and Friedrich Durrenmatt. The late 1980s marked a renaissance in Wedekindresearch; however, The Ironic Dissident is the first work in any language to engage with the criticism of his poetry, prose, and individual dramas within an historical chronology.