Fetters of Allusion: The Daedalus Myth in the German Democratic Republic

The myth of Daedalus and Icarus has been alluded to by GDR authors and artists of both genders. Kunert, Mattheuer, and Biermann employ myth as received tradition. Their focus on Icarus rather than on Daedalus suggests an identification of dependent filial status, and their works thus represent a str...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The German quarterly 1986-10, Vol.59 (4), p.528-546
Main Author:	Fries, Marilyn Sibley
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	1900-1999 Allusion Ancient Greek myth Contemporary authors and GDR literature Creation myths Daedalus East German literature German literature Germanic domain Germany. See also: neo-Latin literatures History and sciences of litterature History of literature Labyrinths Legends Middle age Mythography Myths novel Novels Poetry Sons Wolves
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Summary:	The myth of Daedalus and Icarus has been alluded to by GDR authors and artists of both genders. Kunert, Mattheuer, and Biermann employ myth as received tradition. Their focus on Icarus rather than on Daedalus suggests an identification of dependent filial status, and their works thus represent a struggle couched in terms both personal and political, where the bold actions of the son portend an uncertain and dangerous outcome. The works by Wegner, Schubert, Maron, and Wolf evince a struggle of a different sort. These women discover that tradition provides them with no convenient analogy for the conditions they wish to oppose, but which are nonetheless bred by precisely those inaccessible traditions. Questioning them, therefore, requires negative allusion, reversal, and revision.
ISSN:	0016-8831 1756-1183 1756-1183