Nestroy: Satire and Parody in Viennese Popular Comedy

Johann Nepomuk Nestroy (1801–1862), for a quarter of a century the dominant actor on the popular Viennese stage, was the author of over eighty dramatic works, all but one of them comedies in the local Viennese tradition. It was only in the twentieth century that Nestroy's influence, above all as a satirist and master of language, was recognised. In this 1972 publication, the first book in English on Nestroy, Professor Yates centres his discussion of the possen (theatrical comedies) on the dominant comic elements of satire and parody, which are considered in close relation to the sources. He examines in detail five of Nestroy's best-known plays, considering them in relation to their Viennese setting and providing an introduction to the history and conditions of Viennese popular theatre from the early eighteenth century up to Nestroy's times, including an assessment of its relationship to other traditions of popular drama.