the love fairy pocahontas or kasper as a deer

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Data
Title: the love fairy pocahontas or kasper as a deer
Original language: German
Author: Hans Carl Artmann
Publishing year: 1961
Place and time of the action: American Civil War, 1865
people
  • kasper as a private in the army of the northern states
  • a colored first class train soldier named Johann
  • the cook , a fat person named johann
  • mr captain , an evil person named johann
  • the love fairy pocahontas
  • the beautiful wife of mr captain
  • the uncle sam , who also johann 's
  • forest hornist of the northern states a , which johann calls
  • the president johann linkoln , who does not appear

the love fairy pocahontas or kasper as a deer is a drama by Hans Carl Artmann . It was published in Vienna in 1961 .

The piece

place and time

The play “die liebe fair pocahontas or kasper als schildwache” (1961) is set for the first time in 1865 at a conquered Confederate camp in Georgia . In the second elevator, however, in a clearing in the state of North Dakota, also in 1865, but one day later.

content

1st elevator

Kasper is a soldier in the army of the northern states and is on the orders of the President, Johann Linkoln, sentry keep. On the one hand, however, he is fearful, and on the other hand, because his captain is not called Johann like everyone else, he is considered a spy and traitor and is therefore harassed. During his watch, an Indian fairy appears to him who wants to help him, but Kasper initially faces her suspiciously. Thereupon the fairy conjures silver coins into the left pocket of the Kaspers's skirt. In order for the fairy to come to his aid in the future, the Punch only has to call her and say what she should appear as. He calls the fairy as a crocodile, then as a cuckoo and also as "this and that", but every time the Punch is frightened and sends her away again. After the failed attempts, she finally appears to him as the fairy Pocahontas . Kasper wants her to be the captain's beautiful wife. While Kasper is lying in bed with the captain's wife, her husband suddenly appears. The Punch then hides under the bed, the captain lies down with his wife and falls asleep.

The first act ends when the bed rolls out of the scene and only the puppy can be seen next to a chamber pot.

2nd elevator

At the beginning of the second act, the Kasper is still lying next to the chamber pot, but it's morning and a French horn player from the Union sounds the wake-up call. The French horn player first introduces himself as Johann, but later he confesses to Kasper that this is not his real name. His real name is Abraham.

Shortly afterwards the captain appears, although he does not recognize the Kasper because he has taken off his uniform in the meantime. Kasper introduces himself to him as Hans Wurst, but the captain only accepts the name Johann Wurst. The captain sees the chamber pot, becomes skeptical and orders the French horn player to examine it. He finds an inscription next to a yellow coating, whereupon the captain notices that it is his chamber pot. However, since the Kasper previously claimed that he had received the chamber pot from his blessed father, the captain believes him to be a Confederate spy and therefore calls the guard.

Kasper calls the fairy Pocahontas to appear as a guard. She appears as a soldier and leads Punch away. She takes him to a place in North Dakota where he is safe from the captain and can wait until the war ends. That alone is not enough for the Kasper, however, and he wants the captain's wife too. When this wish has come true, the Kasper asks the captain's wife for her name, whereupon she first replies that her name is Johanna. The Punch then jokingly calls the French horn player to sound the alarm, which actually appears. However, this does not sound the alarm, but a verse from the song "Waldesruh". When Kasper names the captain's wife Johanna, she no longer wants to be addressed like that, since her real name is Gretel. Both go off tightly intertwined and the piece ends with a new stanza of "Forest Rest".

The figure of Kaspers

In the play, the Kasper is a security guard in the Army of the American Northern States, but he is neither interested in the job nor does it suit him. He wears a uniform skirt that is much too big and looks like a little boy in his outfit. In addition, he is naive, scared, fearful, even afraid of the moon and is by no means self-confident. Kasper is the only one in the army who does not bear the name Johann and thus occupies an outsider position. The common captain thinks anyone whose name is not Johann is a spy. Therefore he believes that Kasper is a traitor and treats him accordingly. For the captain, the puppet with his red hair, red nose and pointed cap looks like a circus man. The dear fairy Pocahontas, on the other hand, supports Kasper and considers him a lovable artist. Furthermore, the Kasper is not particularly smart. Only after many failed attempts does he manage to summon the fairy Pocahontas without having to send her away again out of sheer fear. In between he is happy, jumps, dances, is acrobatic, takes things literally and uses amusing word compounds. Kasper is against the war, or rather not at all interested in it, instead he directs all his interest only to the captain's wife. Finally she comes rolled up in a big suitcase and he goes looking for mushrooms with his Gretel, who are tightly entwined .

interpretation

The puppet play takes place at the time of the American Civil War and can be understood as a general disapproval of the war. The Punch is not interested in the war and detests the captain. He is of the opinion that there would be no war if all soldiers were called Kasper. Likewise, "the stupid conformity on the level of naming as a symbol for the National Socialist ideology " can be understood. To be satisfied, good food and the captain's wife are enough for him. In general, he only cares about his well-being, he prefers to play with his saber and he looks rather funny in his uniform. Furthermore, he is by no means portrayed as a hero, but rather as a fearful, funny person. Only the fairy can save him from tricky situations, who also has a negative view of war.

The play was premiered in 1971 in the Kleiner Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna . Otto F. Beer in der Zeit writes: " This is artificial puppet comedy and refined naivete, is, as is so often the case with Artmann, a little weak on the chest in the dramatic, but extremely appealing as an equilibristic disguise. "

literature

  • Artmann, Hans Carl: The Best of HC Artmann. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp 1970
  • Donnerber, Joseph: pose, antics and poetry. On the work of Hans Carl Artmann. In: Müller, Ulrich et al. (ed.) .: Stuttgart theses on German studies. No. 100. Stuttgart: Hans-Dieter Heinz Verlag 1981.
  • Röbl, Helene: The trip to the island of Nantucket. A few selected plays as an example of HC Artmann's poetic process. In: Müller, Ulrich et al. (ed.): Stuttgart work on German studies. No. 355. Stuttgart: Hans-Dieter Heinz Verlag 1998.
  • Schuster, Marc-Oliver: HC Artmann's Structuralist Imagination: A Semiotic Study of His Aesthetic and Postmodernity. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann 2010.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Röbl, Helene: The trip to the island of Nantucket. A few selected plays as an example of HC Artmann's poetic process. In: Müller, Ulrich et al. (ed.): Stuttgart work on German studies. No. 355. Stuttgart: Hans-Dieter Heinz Verlag 1998. Page 141 f.
  2. ↑ Hilde game: The Contemporary Literature Austria (=  Kindler's literary history of the present: authors, works, themes, trends since 1945 . Band 3 ). Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 1976, ISBN 3-463-22003-2 , pp. 591/598 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ Abroad • Del extranjero • De l'étranger: votive pillars for the mind . In: The time . No. 14/1971 ( online ).