Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Siegfried Mews

Critical Essay by Siegfried Mews

Zuckmayer's enormous success of approximately a decade ago [was] his autobiography Als wär's ein Stück von mir. The autobiography will, without doubt, retain a distinguished place in the annals of literary history as both a vivid account of the writer's development and a moving documentary report on the turbulent first half of our century. (p. 299)

Although Zuckmayer himself occasionally expressed his preference for his prose fiction, it is undeniable that the dramas have attracted the major share of critical acclaim and popular attention. The "German Trilogy" of Der fröhliche Weinberg (1925), Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (1931), and Des Teufels General (1946) established Zuckmayer's claim to fame, one may argue, because the individual plays come to grips with important phases of twentieth-century German history. They do so not in abstract terms but by means of vibrant theater with full-blooded characters. Thus Der fröhliche Weinberg, which did away with the abstractions...
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