SOURCE: "Der Blaue Boll and the Problem of Vision in Barlach," in The Germanic Review, Vol. XL, No. 1, January, 1965, pp. 31-40.

In the following essay, Chick assesses Barlach's literary stature and value.

The accepted image of Ernst Barlach as an eccentric, probably profound, but heavy and obscure playwright needs correction. Articles such as '"Der blaue Boll' and the New Man"¹ and Herbert Meier's Der verborgene Gott: Studien zu den Dramen Ernst Barlachs (Nürnberg: Glock und Lutz, 1963) may do justice to the philosophical side of the plays, but they neglect the critical question of artistic merit. Is Der blaue Boll (1926) a good play? Or better: Is it good literature?

When reduced to a bare ideological pronouncement—e.g., "Er [a quote from the play which allegedly contains its essence] bestätigt den transzendentalen Imperativ, widerruft die tragische 'Exkarnation' und wiederholt das Gesetz, nach dem das immanente Selbst...