The mechanisms of totalitarian power in Erich Kästner’s drama “The school of dictators”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15633/tes.11314Keywords:
Erich Kästner, German literature, drama, “The school of dictators", totalitarianism, political powerAbstract
Erich Kästner is mainly known as an author of literature for children and young readers, while his work for an adult audience is less recognisable. The aim of this paper is therefore to introduce the issue of his drama “The school of dictators” (1956), based on Kästner’s experiences of life in the Third Reich. The study focuses on the reception of the play in Poland, its translation and staging, the genesis of the work and the path to its publication on the German market. Particular attention was paid to the analysis of the ways of exercising totalitarian power presented in the drama. Moreover, the fundamental issues of the work were pointed out, such as the abuse of political power, the susceptibility of society to manipulation, and the loss of individual subjectivity. It has been shown that the instruments of power presented in the work, such as public speaking, shaping public opinion and maintaining system stability, are monopolized and stripped of oversight in a dictatorship, leading to the subjugation of the individual to the state.
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