<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article examines the modernist medievalism of Georg Kaiser’s <italic>From Morning to Midnight</italic> (<italic>Von morgens bis mitternachts</italic>), discussing the influence of the morality play genre on its form. The characterization and action in Kaiser’s play mirrors and evokes that of morality plays influenced by and including the late-medieval Dutch play <italic>Elckerlijc</italic> and its English translation as <italic>Everyman</italic>, in particular Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s <italic>Jedermann</italic>, first produced in Berlin in 1911. The medievalism of Kaiser’s play is particularly evident when it is compared to Karl Heinz Martin’s film version of the text, produced in 1920. The play’s allegory and message, though contemporary, are less specifically historically contextual than the film’s, while its central protagonist is more representative of generic capitalist subjectivity. The detective film shapes Martin’s adaptation, obscuring the morality play conventions and therefore medievalism of Kaiser’s earlier text.</p></abstract>

This article examines the modernist medievalism of Georg Kaiser’s From Morning to Midnight (Von morgens bis mitternachts), discussing the influence of the morality play genre on its form. The characterization and action in Kaiser’s play mirrors and evokes that of morality plays influenced by and including the late-medieval Dutch play Elckerlijc and its English translation as Everyman, in particular Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann, first produced in Berlin in 1911. The medievalism of Kaiser’s play is particularly evident when it is compared to Karl Heinz Martin’s film version of the text, produced in 1920. The play’s allegory and message, though contemporary, are less specifically historically contextual than the film’s, while its central protagonist is more representative of generic capitalist subjectivity. The detective film shapes Martin’s adaptation, obscuring the morality play conventions and therefore medievalism of Kaiser’s earlier text.

Modernist Medievalism and the Expressionist Morality Play: Georg Kaiser’s <italic>From Morning to Midnight</italic>

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Modernist Medievalism and the Expressionist Morality Play: Georg Kaiser’s 

This article examines the modernist medievalism of Georg Kaiser’s From Morning to Midnight (Von morgens bis mitternachts), discussing the influence of the...

Modernist Medievalism and the Expressionist Morality Play: Georg Kaiser’s From Morning to Midnight

Published Online: Aug 17, 2019

Page range: 81 - 101

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausfm-2019-0005

Keywords
Modernism, Expressionism, Medievalism, morality play

© 2019 Leanne Groeneveld, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Modernist Medievalism and the Expressionist Morality Play: Georg Kaiser’s From Morning to Midnight

Published Online: Aug 17, 2019

Page range: 81 - 101

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausfm-2019-0005

KeywordsModernism, Expressionism, Medievalism, morality play

© 2019 Leanne Groeneveld, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Modernism, Expressionism, Medievalism, morality play