Redefining reality: Friedrich Wolf as Communist movement rhetor

This dissertation examines how Friedrich Wolf crafted his dramatic work in the last years of the Weimar Republic to serve as rhetoric for the Communist movement in Germany. Analyzing these plays as social movement rhetoric affords new insights into Wolf's dramatic works during the late 1920s and early 1930s.;Wolf demonstrated with these plays that the "reality" his audience perceives is only a definition of reality, one imposed upon society by its most powerful members. This revelation was the first part of his task as Communist movement rhetor: to redefine reality, that is, provide new perspectives on current and future events and situations which better matched Communist views. This dissertation examines the extent to which Friedrich Wolf provided a complete and coherent redefinition of society. Inasmuch as Wolf intended to use his dreams as "Waffen" for the Communist movement, such an analysis is long overdue.;The study focuses on Wolf's dramatic works from the years between 1928 and 1933, encompassing four stage dramas, two radio plays and three agitprop works. An initial examination of the theatrical and political and of Wolf's personal background reveals that the Communist message was itself unclear during the time Wolf wrote these plays, both in the literary world and within the movement as a whole. The following chapter demonstrates how Wolf established himself as a capable rhetor for the Communist movement through these plays, which he did by the use of facts and statistics, among other means. Subsequently, this dissertation shows how Wolf changed perceptions of current events and situations by his presentation of the working class as a victimized collective in his plays. How he presented the victimizer is analyzed in the following chapter, one which uncovers how Wolf's efforts in this area were almost as thorough as those to establish both a victim group and his own credibility as a rhetor. Finally, the analysis reveals that Wolf's efforts to re-frame society's future were largely unsuccessful, due in part to the Communist movement's own relative lack of focus on the future.;This dissertation demonstrates that Wolf's suasory efforts were largely, if not wholly, compatible with the dramatic form. It also sheds light on factors affecting Wolf's ability to craft his rhetorical efforts within these dramas, prominent among these being the challenges and requirements of the dramatic genre. Conclusions drawn from this dissertation further reveal that Wolf's ability to craft his message depended on his familiarity with each of the different types of play he used to convey his message: it depended both on his experience in writing for each of these sub-genres and on his expertise crafting the Communist message within them.