Peter Weiss was a writer whose entire life was dominated by feelings of alienation and deepseated insecurity. As a youth he made frequent attempts to escape from the social conventions into which he w...
Read more
Peter Weiss's play Die Verfolgung und Ermordung Jean-Paul Marats, dargestellt durch die Schauspielgruppe des Hospizes zu Charenton unter Anleitung des Herrn de Sade (1964; translated as The Persecutio...
Read more
In the following essay, Best examines the novels Leavetaking and Vanishing Point as works of confessional literature.
Abschied von den Eltern (tr. Leavetaking) and Fluchtpunkt (tr. Vanishing Point)...
Read more
In the following essay, Vance investigates the alienation of the characters in Der Schatten des Körpers des Kutschers, concluding that “the degree to which the characters are self-absorb...
Read more
In the following essay, Garner considers the influence of Bertolt Brecht on Weiss's work and classifies Weiss's dramas as post-Brechtian.
The chief defect of all hitherto existing mat...
Read more
In the following essay, Stephan asserts that Weiss's treatment of the Spanish Civil War in Die Ästhetik des Widerstands allows him to explore “the two central themes that have det...
Read more
In the following essay, Cohen offers a thematic and stylistic overview of Weiss's early work.
Peter Weiss's early life is defined by everything it lacked: familial warmth, friendship,...
Read more
In the following essay, Garloff discusses the issues of exile and diaspora in Weiss's work.
Bin inzwischen zu einem ‘deutschsprachigen Autor’ geworden. Sitze in Stockholm, mit ...
Read more
In the following essay, Cohen examines the critical reaction to The Investigation and elucidates the central themes of the play.
In the mid-1990s a critic referred to The Investigation (Die Ermittl...
Read more
In the following essay, Berghahn regards The Investigation as “one of the best representations of the Holocaust for the stage” and chronicles the critical controversy surrounding the pla...
Read more
Critical Essay by Peter Weiss
[Because I'm] isolated, not belonging to any country, any city and any language—I have to find a place where I can just be alive as much as possible. And t...
Read more
Critical Essay by Susan Sontag
Theatricality and insanity—the two most potent subjects of the contemporary theater—are brilliantly fused in Peter Weiss' play, The Persecution and...
Read more
Critical Essay by Gertrud Mander
To my mind there is a strong element of spurious arrogance, of pretentiousness and slickness in everything Peter Weiss has written for and thought about the theatre. ...
Read more
Peter (Ulrich) Weiss
Critical Essay by Otto F. Best
