PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

The political and social problems of German reunification, which are referred to in Botho Strau ss' drama Schlu ss chor (1991), enable the author to reject a political exploitation of art. Strau ss sees art as a specific, not discursively and pragmatically restricted, form of expression and therefore drama requires realization onstage. Schlu ss chor directly refers to the historic event and interprets it through the depiction of several images of Germany. During the course of the play, these images gain visual and mythical conciseness, without, however, getting more discursive and comprehensible. There are no easy solutions to the ambiguities of the images of Germany or, analogously, to the ambiguities between social comedy and German tragedy. The drama exposes these conflicts very clearly. In German.