An Introduction to the Works of Peter Weiss

Download or read book An Introduction to the Works of Peter Weiss written by Olaf Berwald and published by Camden House. This book was released on 2003 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses Weiss's plays, fiction, autobiography, and non-fiction prose. Pp. 22-25 illuminate "Die Ermittlung", an oratorio based on Weiss's 1964 attendance at the Frankfurt war crimes trial. He used actual documents both aesthetically and politically. 18 of the defendants appear with their real names, either defending themselves with the jargon of doing their duty or totally denying their guilt. Among the charges against these Nazis were conducting medical experiments, torture, and murder. Ch. 7 (pp. 107-129) elucidates Weiss's three-volume novel "Die Ästhetik des Widerstands", about resistance to Nazism in thought and action. The characters in the novel are based on members of the Rote Kapelle resistance group. Politics and creative thinking (art) are shown as complementary, not contradictory.