Expressionism Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 33 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Expressionism.

Expressionism Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 33 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Expressionism.
This section contains 563 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the Expressionism Study Guide

Regeneration

The defining event of the expressionist movement is World War I. After the war, much expressionist writing portrayed the attempt to forge a new future for Germany. Writing from this time champions the birth of the "new man," the "new vision," and the "new society." Toller's play The Transformation typifies one strain of early postwar expressionist drama, as it shows how one man's spiritual renewal is linked to his country's regeneration. Written as a stationendrama, The Transformation follows the central character's spiritual progress through a series of episodes, connected only through the character's experience. The protagonist, Friedrich, a young Jewish sculptor, transforms himself from an alienated and wandering artist into a friend of the proletariat who finally finds a cause to believe in and die for. At the end of the play, Friedrich implores the masses to create a society based upon compassion and justice, and to throw...

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This section contains 563 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the Expressionism Study Guide
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Expressionism from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.