Voices from East Germany: Heiner Müller and Thomas Brasch

Abstract

Like Franz Xaver Kroetz, Heiner Müller (b. 1929) is a confirmed Marxist, but his historical perspective derives from early experiences in Nazi and wartime Germany, followed by the construction period of the German Democratic Republic. Virtually all of his plays (there are over thirty) are concerned with aspects of this history, either in realistic modern East German settings, or in broad historical and mythic fashion, relating divided Germany’s special ‘misery’ (to use Brecht’s term) to traditions of Teutonic barbarism and Prussian authoritarianism, or to crucial moments in the twentieth century such as that following World War I, when Germany failed to create its own Marxist revolution. Müller’s voice, unlike the voices of the most successful West German and Austrian dramatists, encompasses a wide range of experience and literature. The seriousness and importance of theme, coupled with the openly experimental attitude toward form, make him one of the more interesting of German language playwrights currently receiving attention.