The Origin of German Tragic Drama —_—_@—______ WALTER BENJAMIN Translated by John Osborne VERSO London « New YorkThis edition published by Verso 1998 © Verso 1998 First published as Ursprung des deutschen Trauersprels 1963 © Suhrkamp Verlag 1963 This paperback edition first published by Verso 2003 © Verso 2003 All rights reserved The moral rights of the authors/editors/translators have been asserted 10987654321 Verso UK: 6 Meard Street, London WIF 0EG USA: 180 Varick Street, New York NY 10014-4606, Verso is the imprint of New Left Books ISBN 1-85984-413-8 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Benjamin, Walter, 1892-1940 The ongin of German tragic drama 1, German drama (Tragedy) - History and criticism 1. Title 832'.0512'09 ISBN 1859844138 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Printed by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King’s Lynn.Contents George Steiner Introduction Epistemo-Critical Prologue The Concept of the treatise - Knowledge and truth ~ Philosophical beauty - Division and dispersal in the concept ~ Idea as configuration The word as idea - Ideas non-classificatory - Burdach’s nominalism — Verism, syncretism, induction - Croce and the artistic genres — Origin — Monadology - Neglect and misinterpretation of baroque tragedy — ‘Appreciation’ ~ Baroque and expressionism ~ Pro domo Trauerspiel and Tragedy Baroque theory of the Trauerspiel— The insignificance of the influence of Aristotle — History as the content of the Trauerspiel~ Theory of sovereign- ty - Byzantine sources — Herodian dramas ~ Indecisiveness — Tyrant as martyr, martyr as tyrant — Underestimation of the martyr-drama Chris Play and reflection - Sovereign as creature ~ Honour ~ Destruction of the intriguer - The ian chronicle and Trauerspiel - Immanence of baroque drama ~ historical ethos — Setting ~ The courtier as saint and as didactic intention of the Trauersprel. Volkelt’s ‘Aesthetics of the Tragic’ — Nietzsche’s ‘Birth of Tragedy’ - The