In der Schwebe

This dissertation addresses Botho Strauß’ work in the period around
1990. The research literature describes the author’s change in this
period to Real Presences and the Metaphysical. Strauß’ Essay, Der
Aufstand gegen die sekundäre Welt, which he wrote as an epilogue to
Georges Steiner’s Real Presences, is decisive for this
interpretation. This dissertation, however, proves through an exact
analysis of this essay that Strauß did not use notions of godly
presence, but remained within the semiotic paradigm. He does not
draw on a real presence of theological derivation for his
aesthetics, but postulates a presence which semiotically
corresponds to Pierce’s Index. In the plays under examination,
Besucher, Schlußchor and Das Gleichgewicht, the presence of the
signified can be derived from its performance. The question as to
what the aesthetic sign refers to, leads to Strauß’ remarks about
the unutterable, which may only be understood as a whole and cannot
be rationally divided into individual parts. In this way it is the
experience of art and beauty, in which the self awareness of the
subject is fulfilled. Based on the premise that subjectivity is in
a constant to and fro between the finite and infinite ego and
remains in the balance (“in der Schwebe”, Walter Schulz), the
dramas at hand show different incarnations of the subjectivity
problem: the conflict between the finite, everyday ego and the
phantasmagoric ego (Besucher), the interpretation of one’s own ego
as an indecypherable whole (Schlußchor), as well as the to and fro
between the concrete sphere of the body and passion for the
infinite (Das Gleichgewicht). The main thesis of this dissertation
is that the intrasubjective conflict between the finite and
infinite ego is implemented in the theatre as intersubjective
actions. The finite and infinite ego or indeed the reflexive self
is divided into different characters. The to and fro, the permanent
swaying of subjectivity is expressed in Strauß’ mode of expression,
which constantly undermines his statements and keeps what has been
said in the balance.