| Richard Wagner, Fritz Lang, and the Nibelungen: The Dramaturgy of Disavowal Subjects: Wagner Richard 1813–1883 Ring des Nibelungen; Lang Fritz 1890–1976 -- Cirticism and interpretation; Music and society -- Germany; Motion pictures -- Social aspects -- German; Germany -- Civilization -- 19th century; Germany -- Civilization -- 20th cen; This highly original book draws on narrative and film theory, psychoanalysis, and musicology to explore the relationship between aesthetics and anti-Semitism in two controversial landmarks in German culture. David Levin argues that Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Fritz Lang's 1920s film Die Nibelungen creatively exploit contrasts between good and bad aesthetics to address the question of what is German and what is not. He shows that each work associates a villainous character, portrayed as non-Germanic and Jewish, with the sometimes dramatically awkward act of narration. For both Wagner and Lang, narration--or, in cinematic terms, visual presentation--possesses a typically Jewish potential for manipulation and control. Consistent with this view, Levin shows, the Germanic hero Siegfried is killed in each work by virtue of his unwitting adoption of a narrative role. David J. Levin is Associate Professor of Germanic Languages and Literature at the University of Chicago. He is the editor of Opera Through Other Eyes . In addition to his academic work, he has served as a dramaturg at the Frankfurt Opera, the Bremen Opera, and the Frankfurt Ballet. |