Die Geburt des modernen Mysteriendramas aus dem Geiste Weimars: Zur Bedeutung Goethes und Schillers fuer die Erkenntnistheorie, Aesthetik und Dramaturgie Rudolf Steiners (German text, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller)

Between 1910 and 1913, the German philosopher and esotericist Rudolf Steiner wrote a tetralogy of four spiritualistic theater plays---so called Mystery Dramas---, which have not yet attracted the attention of literary scholars. The study at hand shows that such disregard is undeserved since Steiner's plays are highly interesting documents of early German modernism and provide a yet virtually unknown facet of Goethe's and Schiller's impact on the twentieth century. They also constitute a tradition of almost one hundred years of living theater and thus an important aspect of German theatrical culture.; Hence a reception study is presented focusing on the presentation and interpretation of Steiner's numerous virtually unknown texts. Critical questions are addressed, but not discussed in depth. The author's chief intention is to analyze the development of Steiner's theoretical framework and its dramatic application in order to prepare the ground for a closer examination of Steiner's Spiritual Realism in consecutive studies.; By examining Steiner's main texts on epistemology, aesthetics and dramaturgy as well as his first Mystery Drama The Portal of Initiation, it is shown that his conception of drama as well as his aesthetical and epistemological views must be understood as the result of a productive interpretation and modern metamorphosis of Weimar Classicism. It is further suggested that Steiner's plays, although they are based on ideas of the eighteenth century and even relate to ancient mystery religions, are nonetheless modern artworks that establish the original dramatic genre of Modern Mystery Drama.