SOURCE: Vance, Kathleen A. “Der Schatten des Körpers des Kutschers: The Phenomenology of Alienation.” In The Theme of Alienation in the Prose of Peter Weiss, pp. 6-54. Las Vegas, Nev.: Peter Lang, 1981.

In the following essay, Vance investigates the alienation of the characters in Der Schatten des Körpers des Kutschers, concluding that “the degree to which the characters are self-absorbed in their occupations measures the extent to which they are estranged from themselves, from each other, and from the world about them.”

The central theme of Peter Weiss's narrative, Der Schatten des Körpers des Kutschers, is that of alienation. The concern of the novel is with alienation as a phenomenon, that is, with alienation as it is experienced by the characters in relationship to themselves, to one another, and to the world about them. The following study consists of an examination of the characters of...