Publisher's Synopsis
The tragedies of Grillparzer (and "King Lear" in the introduction) are used as models for discussion of a new theory of the tragic. Particular features of essential tragedies are an awareness of major fate and guilt concepts without adhering to only one, a merging of such concepts usually in irrational love, and a characteristic "open" end, which raises many questions, but does not give answers. Multiplicity of meanings is also reflected in the extreme range of contradictory interpretations of such tragedies, as in the case of Grillparzer.;Part One of this study presents a general discussion of this new theory of the tragic, an outline of the history of tragedy, and the methodology. Part Two contains interpretations of Grillparzer's ten completed dramas with regard to their tragic nature and to fate and guilt concepts in particular. The final section is a summary, a general discussion of Grillparzer as tragedian, and a proposal for solving the dilemma experienced by many interpreters in this context.
