Nestroy's Häuptling Abendwind as Post-Colonial Text?

Nestroy's one-act play and penultimate farce, Häuptling Abendwind oder das gräuliche Festmahl (1862) offers the modern reader an early satire on European colonial mentality. Its particular focus on the notion of a 'civilizing' mission to native peoples lends itself to a reading informed by modern po...

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Published in:Austrian Studies Vol. 15; pp. 53 - 65
Main Author: Sagarra, Eda
Format: Article
Published: Modern Humanities Research Association 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        au: Sagarra, Eda
        affil: Trinity College Dublin
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        Satire
        Wit & humor
        One-act plays
        Drama
        Gender
        Allusions
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          Satire
          Wit & humor
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          Gender
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        Nestroy's one-act play and penultimate farce, Häuptling Abendwind oder das gräuliche Festmahl (1862) offers the modern reader an early satire on European colonial mentality. Its particular focus on the notion of a 'civilizing' mission to native peoples lends itself to a reading informed by modern post-colonial insights. Predicated, as was his French model, Vent du soir (1857), on the Atreus legend, Nestroy's text abounds in often absurd intertextual allusions, while his drastic subversion of the received wisdom of a 'hierarchy of races' finds a parallel in his witty reversion of the hierarchy of gender, the 'naïve' South Sea islander Atala proving more than a match for her sophisticated 'discoverer' and lover, Arthur.
        Nestroys Einakter und vorletzte Posse Häuptling Abendwind oder das gräuliche Festmahl (1862) bietet sich dem modernen Leser als frühe Satire der europäischen kolonialen Mentalität dar. Der besondere Fokus auf die Vorstellung einer 'zivilisierenden' Mission an einheimische Völker eignet sich für eine Lesart des Textes, die sich an postkolonialen Theorien ausrichtet. Da die Posse wie deren französische Vorlage Vent du soir (1857) auf der Atreus-Legende basiert, enthält der Text eine Fülle von oft absurden intertextuellen Anspielungen. Gleichzeitig findet Nestroys drastische Subvertierung akzeptierter Vorstellungen einer Hierarchie der menschlichen Rassen ein Gegenstück in der komischen Umkehr der 'Hierarchie der Geschlechter': die 'naive' Südseeinsulanerin Atala erweist sich als weitaus gewiefter als ihr affektierter 'Entdecker' und Liebhaber Arthur.
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    language: English
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