Sophocles' Antigone has been repeatedly translated, reanimated, and refigured during historical moments of massive human losses. In the years 1914–18, Antigone was popular because of the parallels between ancient Thebes and Germany: unlike Oedipus Rex or Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone takes place in the aftermath of a great war, when the dead are piled upon each other just outside the gates of the city-state. Hasenclever's Antigone (1917) shows that it was impossible to bury the dead to commemorate Germany's mass casualties in a therapeutic fashion. The commemoration that takes place on stage is in implicit dialogue with discourses of memorialization during and after World War I, converting the stage into a space of memory.
Comments (0)