Von Horvth: Plays One: Sladek; A Sexual Congress

(Paperback)

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Includes the plays Sladek and A Sexual Congress plus an introduction by Penny Black Set in the inter-war period of raging inflation in Germany, these two plays portray the losers in what von Horvth called the gigantic battle between the individual and society. In Sladek, Blacks version being the first to be published in English, we see how social conditions lead people to desperate action and violence, opening the road for dictators and fascists. Writtenjust as the Nazis came to power, A Sexual Congress predicts with frightening accuracy the cycle of violence that was to spread throughout Europe.

Author Bio

Odon von Horvath (1901-38) was an influential Austro-Hungarian dramatist and novelist. His first plays depicted the coruption of contemporary society; Sladek The Black Militia Man caused a riot at its premiere in 1929. He was already an exile from Hitler's Germany when the two plays in this volume were written. His experience as an outside observer is reflected in their themes of displacement and exile.