Pygmalion inversus – Inversion des Mythos bei Gundolf und Kaiser

Abstract

Myths are not static, but rather characterised by variation and variability. Thus since classical times and continuing to the present day, one can recognize a mythopoetic freedom in the use of and interaction with the traditional myths. This thesis takes up Ovid’s myth of the artist Pygmalion and examines its reception in the dramatic works of Friedrich Gundolf and Georg Kaiser. Both plays, each of which culminate in a turning-to-stone, are presented as inversions of the myth they treat, reversing the Ovidian pattern. A detailed analysis of the plays demonstrates the extent to which each author deviates from the Ovidian model and transforms the myth, in order to open up new depths and modes of thought played out against the classical backdrop.