Written in 1970 but not published till 1976,
Mauserrepresents the culmination of Heiner Müller’s long preoccupation with Brecht’s
Lehrstücke[learning plays] and remains his most confronting and provocative play. Like Brecht’s
Die Massnahme[
The Measures Taken, 1930], of which it is both a critique and a development, the play was effectively banned in the GDR. It presented the problem of revolutionary violence and terror during the period of war communism and civil war in Russia in such an uncompromising manner that it threatened the party’s efforts to “move on” from the earthquake caused by Kruschchev’s condemnation of Stalin at the twentieth Party Congress. The GDR leadership at this time still tried to avoid any radical process of “de-Stalinisation”. Müller’s…
829 words
Citation: Milfull, John. "Mauser". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 March 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14468, accessed 23 November 2024.]
