Elfriede Jelinek, Clara S. Musikalische Tragödie [Clara S. A Musical Tragedy]

Helga W. Kraft (University of Illinois at Chicago)
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Elfriede Jelinek's play

Clara S. Musikalische Tragödie

[

Clara S.: A Musical Tragedy

] premiered on 24 September 1982 at the Theater der Stadt Bonn, Germany, directed by Hans Hollmann. Critical and audience responses were mixed, a typical reaction to early Jelinek performances. The writer explores one of her central topics: the world of art in its pretensions, its connection to gender, its exploitation, and its commercialism. She expanded this theme later in

Die Klavierspielerin

[

The Piano Player,

1983]. As in her other plays, Jelinek uses intertextuality in order to expose concepts, myths, clichés and collectively accepted ideas. She does not want to imitate life on stage: “Actors should say what no person says, because it [theater] is not life” (

Theater heute

83, 102). Her…

1394 words

Citation: Kraft, Helga W.. "Clara S. Musikalische Tragödie". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 February 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16878, accessed 31 October 2024.]

16878 Clara S. Musikalische Tragödie 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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