Ithaca College

Walter Byongsok, Assistant Professor of Dramaturgy and Theatre Studies, presented his paper “How German Romantic Theatre Still Shapes Contemporary Culture” for the panel, Teaching German Romanticism to Today’s Undergraduates, at the NeMLA (Northeast Modern Language Association) Conference, in Washington DC on March 23.

His paper focuses on the problematic omission and misconception of German romantic theatre in theatre education, and how a modified understanding and appreciation of German romantic theatre contribute richly to the education of drama and theatre, history, and theory.  

Excerpt from the Paper:

“While Romanticism spans over decades with varying definitions and movements across countries, it is generally agreed that the theory of romanticism historically began in Germany in the late 18th century, with the so-called Early Romantics or Jena Romantics. They were active in the cities of Jena and Berlin from approximately 1798 to 1801, and produced the foundational material of German Romanticism, most notably the theory of romantic irony. Among the members, which included included the brothers Friedrich and August Wilhelm Schlegel, Friedrich Schleiermacher, W. H. Wackenroder, F. W. J. Schelling, Friedrich von Hardenburg (more widely known as Novalis) who were mostly theorists, there was one dramatist, Ludwig Tieck.

Tieck was known as “the group’s poet. ” For his plays Puss-in-Boots (1797) and The Land of Upside Down (1797), Tieck has customarily been recognized as the founder of romantic irony in dramatic practice. His plays are filled with in-the-theatre jokes such as an actor forgetting his lines in the middle of the performance or a curtain rising prematurely. There are also satiric portrayals of Tieck’s contemporary critics, who question the validity of a talking cat, and also multiple breaking of theatrical frames in an epic level. Despite the hilarity and sophisticated intellectual engagement one can enjoy from Tieck’s plays, they are hardly taught in undergraduate theatre courses.

. . . . . .

From the contemporary examples using a similar framing device as Tieck’s plays, can their focus on current social issues bring more appreciation of the meta-theatrical form itself, where it came from, and when it peaked (with Tieck)?

The inherent richness of romantic theatre and romantic irony and its continuing influence make German romantic theatre an appealing topic that embraces theoretical inquiry, dramatic literature, and multiple contemporary connections. Teaching german Romantic theatre to undergraduate students helps them understand the significance of the transition from the classical to the romantic and modern, further illuminating how prevalent German Romanticism still is in contemporary culture, discourse, and practice.”