Joseph in Egypt land

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Joseph in Egyptland (Turkish original title Yusuf ile Menofis ; German: Josef and Menofis) is an internationally performed play in three acts by the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet . Staged only sporadically in the young Federal Republic of Germany under the title Josef in Egypt , the 1948 play about the "first workers' uprising against the pharaohs" ( Schünemann Verlag , 1961) in the German Democratic Republic , translated by Alfred Kurella , achieved lasting fame.

content

people

The following people can be found in the role index of the play:

Furthermore, two women, two guards, two visitors, four supplicants, two priests, a negro slave and a warrior appear in Joseph in Egypt , as well as a number of other priests and prisoners, bodyguards, entourage of the Pharaoh, the remaining brothers of Joseph and relatives of the People.

action

The narration of the scene selling Joseph to the Egyptian traders , here in a representation from the fresco cycle of the Casa Bartholdy, Berlin , Alte Nationalgalerie by Friedrich Overbeck , can be found at the beginning of the first act in a conversation between the prisoners

The around 1600 BC The storyline of the legend game roughly follows a material known from the Koran and the Bible: It depicts the life of Joseph, who was sold as a slave in Egypt to the court master Potifar by his envious brothers . When Josef refuses to have a love affair with his wife, he is denounced by her and ends up in prison. Here, however, by betraying his fellow inmates, he becomes their overseer. After the interpretation of the dream of the seven fat and seven lean years, he finally becomes the pharaoh's vizier. Hikmet adds a positive figure to this event with the slave Menofi, but at the same time an opponent of Joseph - a leader of the prisoners and the oppressed, whose last words, when Joseph finally has him murdered,

For three millennia they will celebrate you and keep silent about me. But then comes my triumph. Nobody will talk about you anymore, but I'll be on everyone's lips

weave the imaginary figure in a congenial way with the old legend.

Earlier, Menofis charged Joseph with selling his people (those of the Jews) and the people of Egypt to Pharaoh and foretold a terrible time of suffering for the Jews. At the end of the play, Hikmet's figure of Menofis, which is neither documented in the Koran nor in the Bible, shows himself to be a fighter “for a better life” for all.

structure

Joseph in Egypt is divided into three acts. Hikmet depicts the well-known Joseph story up to the guards over the prisoners through conversations and scenes in the prison yard mainly with narrative means. From the appearance of the Menofis on, the story takes place in four other locations (including the court of the pharaoh) in a dramatic form and Sometimes deviating from the known material, but never changing it in an impossible way, developing it further.

Emergence

The author grew up near the area in Turkey where, according to Genesis, the birthplace of the title hero Joseph was located. The play was written in 1948 when Hikmet had already been imprisoned for eleven years, which may have contributed to the empathy expressed in Joseph in Egypt for the Jewish people who were imprisoned by Joseph.

Material history

Both the Bible and the Koran tell of the patriarch Joseph, the son of Jacob and Rachel , and the wife of Potiphar. A somewhat less positive portrayal of Joseph can also be found in Jewish traditions.

effect

The play is one of the most important plays by Nazim Hikmet, as it established the poet's international fame as a playwright, together with the works Auf dem Güterbahnhof , Blood feud , Fatme and Ali and Legend of Love .

In Germany, the work only became better known in the GDR . On December 6, 1960, it had its first performance as Joseph in Egyptland in Zwickau . In the following year it was published in the stage sales department at Henschelverlag in Berlin, and in 1962 also in the Leipzig publishing house Philip Reclam junior in a volume with another play by Hikmet: Legende von der Liebe . Alfred Kurella wrote the afterword for this edition .

Others

Sound recording

  • Nazim Hikmet: Joseph in the land of Egypt. Berlin: State. Broadcasting Committee. Play. 1 cash

See also