The Rise and Development of Modern German Comedy

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The purpose of this project is to make clear the special problems of modern German comedy by investigating its origin and development. The following results were obtained :1. NAKAMURA has studied especially the elements that had hindered the development of German comedy in the age of German Classicism. An extraordinarily ambivalent character of the German comedy of the time can be found in Goethe's Great Cophta (Grobeta-Cophta), his greatest yet failed attempt at writing a comedy. The cause of the failure consists in its mixture of elements both of comedy and opera which has made the work imperfect either as a comedy or as an opera buffa in the line of Figaro's Wedding. This mixture is conditioned by the social problems of Germany at the time and Goethe's attempt was to exert a negative influence upon the later development of German comedy.2. HARA has explicated some problems of Austrian folk drama which have not been successfully integrated in the history of German comedy by other descriptions of it. A clear change in the intentions of the dramatists, caused by the changing social conditions, can be observed, especially in the transffomation of the fool, Hanswurst. This development is traced through the works of Raimund, Nestroy, and Anzengruber.3. KUBOTA has investigated the role of comedy in Romantic literature. He has found interesting comic elements represented by fool-like figures, especially in the works of Heine which has so far been ignored in the history of German comedy. It is made clear that the comic element or the comic figure has great influence not only upon the dramatic but also other non-dramatic genres.