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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/114873
The Literary text as performative prophecy. Rereading history in Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas and Shelley’s The Mask of anarchy
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Abstract
[cat] Quan es tracta de contribuir al canvi social una de les principals virtuts de la literatura rau en
la seva capacitat de desafiar la narratologia oficial i oferir noves lectures de la història (passada
o present), en les quals es prioritzin aspectes sovint negligits pels relats oficials. Així, esdeveniments
la interpretació dels quals es considerava tancada poden revisar-se i contemplar-se des
d’una perspectiva diferent, fins al punt d’esdevenir exemples morals que donin alè i obrin camins
alternatius a la lluita social present, conseqüentment alterant el futur. L’objectiu del treball
present és examinar i investigar aquesta capacitat performativa del text literari en dues
obres la creació de les quals s’emmarca en el context de lluita social que marcà les dues primeres
dècades del s. XIX: Michael Kohlhaas de Kleist i The Mask of Anarchy de Shelley.
L’anàlisi i la comparació d’ambdós textos (sempre amb l’ajuda proporcionada per Kleist a
Aufsatz, den sichern Weg des Glücks zu finden i per Shelley a A Defense of Poetry) permetrà
observar com la literatura desplega, a través del contingut i la forma, els mecanismes de la
pròpia performativitat.
Paraules clau: Heinrich von Kleist, Michael Kohlhaas, Percy Byshee Shelley, The Mask of
Anarchy, Performativitat de la literatura
Zussamenfassung
[eng] One of literature’s strengths when contributing to social change lays in its ability to defy official narratives and offer new readings of history –be it past or contemporary– that foreground certain features usually neglected by official recounts. As such, well-established events can be presented in a new light and turned into moral examples which may encourage and lay down an alternative path for present struggles, thus eventually changing the future. The following essay intends to research this potential performativity of the literary text focusing on Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas and Shelley’s The Mask of Anarchy, both written in the context of social struggle during the first two decades of the 19th century. These two works will be analysed and contrasted, with the support provided by Kleist’s Aufsatz, den sichern Weg des Glücks zu finden and Shelley’s A Defense of Poetry, so as to see how literature’s mechanisms of performativity unfold through both content and form. Keywords: Heinrich von Kleist, Michael Kohlhaas, Percy Byshee Shelley, The Mask of Anarchy, Literature’s performativity
[eng] One of literature’s strengths when contributing to social change lays in its ability to defy official narratives and offer new readings of history –be it past or contemporary– that foreground certain features usually neglected by official recounts. As such, well-established events can be presented in a new light and turned into moral examples which may encourage and lay down an alternative path for present struggles, thus eventually changing the future. The following essay intends to research this potential performativity of the literary text focusing on Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas and Shelley’s The Mask of Anarchy, both written in the context of social struggle during the first two decades of the 19th century. These two works will be analysed and contrasted, with the support provided by Kleist’s Aufsatz, den sichern Weg des Glücks zu finden and Shelley’s A Defense of Poetry, so as to see how literature’s mechanisms of performativity unfold through both content and form. Keywords: Heinrich von Kleist, Michael Kohlhaas, Percy Byshee Shelley, The Mask of Anarchy, Literature’s performativity
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Treballs Finals de Grau de Llengües i Literatures Modernes: Alemany. Facultat de Filologia. Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2016-2017, Tutora: Dra. Loreto Vilar
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DOMINGO PASARÍN, Paula. The Literary text as performative prophecy. Rereading history in Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas and Shelley’s The Mask of anarchy. [consulted: 17 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/114873