The German Nachspiel in the Eighteenth Century

Roman S. Struc is a professor of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the
University of Calgary.

John, a professor of German at the University of Waterloo, presents here
a study of a subgenre of German drama known as “Nachspiel” (known in
classical terminology as “exodium,” and as “afterpiece” in
English). His study is destined to become a standard work on the
subject. First, this monograph—apart from definitions and brief
descriptions in the literary lexica—is a first extensive study on this
topic. Second, its scope and scholarly quality assure it a prominent
place in the history of German drama and theatre.

Chapter 1 deals with both modern and contemporary definitions and
opinions, and finds them inadequate—especially since they fail to
recognize that the Nachspiel, notwithstanding its genesis as an
“appendix” to a larger and more significant drama, tragedy or
comedy, developed its own structure, themes, and thrust, and in the
later eighteenth century became a rather independent piece of theatre.
Moreover, a distinction must be made, the author suggests, between the
“literary” kind of Nachspiel and the variety that frequently was not
written down, save for some very general suggestions and instructions.
The book’s concluding remarks will in all likelihood become part of a
standard definition of this neglected genre.

The book, in its bulk, examines “Repertoires and Performances” in
the migratory and standard theatres of the eighteenth century,
concentrating on eight cultural centres in Germany. Furthermore, the
monograph presents three previously unpublished Nachspiele, as well as a
great number of summaries and informed commentaries on some thirty
extant Nachspiele.

The book concludes with an extensive biographical appendix that lists
primary works, performances of extant Nachspiele, and an annotated
bibliography of both the primary and secondary literature on the
subject. John has produced an exemplary piece of solid philological
scholarship.