Der König, sein Held und ihr Drama
Politik und Poetik der klassischen Tragödie
[The King, His Hero, and their Drama. The Politics and Poetics of the Classical Tragedy]

In light of the epochal uncertainties of the late 18th century, Goethe and Schiller use their own dramas to explore the political dimensions and abysses of the classical French tragedy.

This is a time determined by covert state foundations, coup d’états, civil wars, and the failing state. However, it is only when it charges the classical form with fundamental questions of state policy that the drama of Corneille and Racine becomes newly relevant. The struggle for a normative poetics and its appropriate implementation as well as supposed trivialities such as the unity of time become the site of genuinely political reflections. Goethe and Schiller both refuse to restore the classical form, but they do rediscover and renegotiate its original energy. This becomes particularly evident in the case of the dramaturgical conflict between king and hero, a so far widely overlooked and yet foundational cornerstone of the classical tragedy.