Kerstin Hensel’s Dialogue with Marieluise Fleißer

What is it about?

This article analyses Kerstin Hensel’s play Atzenköfls Töchter (Atzenköfl's Daughters), written and performed for the centenary of Marieluise Fleißer’s birth in 2001. The play focuses on the relationship between a teacher, Fräulein Atzenköfl and her pupil, Berta Schmidt. Hensel appropriates and updates themes from Fleißer, particularly her critique of male privilege and authoritarian tendencies. I argue that Fleißer’s text about Buster Keaton is key to understanding Hensel’s form of distanced, deadpan comedy. In Atzenköfls Töchter, Hensel’s debunking of her authoritarian characters shows a certain affinity with the “absurd” satires of Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and Hensel’s play accords with Dürrenmatt’s dictum that the worst possible twist must occur, or at least be imagined. In order to survive, Berta must liberate herself from her teacher’s malign influence.

Featured Image

Photo by Rob Laughter on Unsplash

Photo by Rob Laughter on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This article is important because it shows how modern German female dramatists use comedy and satire in order to combat sexist discrimination.