Między tragedią antyczną i mieszczańską – postdramatyczna estetyka Heinera Müllera
Between ancient and bourgeois tragedy: the post-dramatic aesthetics by Heiner Müller

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the adaptations of ancient tragedies and mythological motifs in dramas by Heiner Müller – a renowned German dramatist, who is considered the successor of Brecht. Despite numerous problems with censorship, Müller never decided to leave the German Democratic Republic and emigrate abroad. Just like his other dramas, Müller’s adaptations can be read as politically involved writings which – through an elaborate argumentation – remonstrate the flaws of the Communist system. It is not, however, the reason why his works still remain topical. Their aesthetic allure lies in the proposal of a dialectical bond between two traditions of drama. On the examples of Müller’s three representative texts The Horatian, Philoc¬tetes and Despoiled Shore Medea-material Landscape with Argonauts, the article presents the dramatist’s poetological strategy that combines tragedy with bürgerliches Trauerspiel – two mutually exclusive forms of German drama. The synthesis results in a significant political conclusion, which was obviously missed by the East German censors.

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