Mythology as Metaphor: Romantic Irony, Critical Theory, and Wagner's URing [Hardcover]

This literary and critical approach to Wagner'sRingprovides an original interpretation of theRingtetralogy and challenges the standard political analyses of the work. TheRingis examined in the tradition of the Romantic drama as a reworking of Greek tragedy as theoretically expressed in the second part ofOper und Drama. In theRing, using myth as a metaphor for history presents a paradoxical world. The innertextual reflection that Wotan performs in his monologue causes theRingto self-destruct from within. He actually dismantles or deconstructs the text of theRing. The doom of the gods happens because theRinghas undermined, unworked, and dismantled its system of signification.

Studies of Wagner's theoretical writings and music-dramas have not emphasized aspects of his works within the tradition of German drama and aesthetic theory. This discussion of Wagner's revision of Greek tragedy inOper und Drama, supplemented by an original interpretation of theRingoperas, places Wagner's writings within these realms. As a fresh interpretation of theRingtetralogy, this valuable analysis will appeal to Wagner scholars and musicologists interested in Wagner's operas as well as to German cultural history and literary scholars.

Preface
Interpreting Wagner's Ring
Wagner, Romantic Irony, and Mythology
Mythology and Tragedy in Oper und Drama
Mythology and Hermeneutics: The Ring as Romantic Drama
Wotan's Monologue: Mythological Deconstruction
Wagnerian Deconstruction?
Selected Bibliography
Index