Regeneration

The defining event of the expressionist movement is World War I. After the war, much expressionist writing portrayed the attempt to forge a new future for Germany. Writing from this time champions the birth of the "new man," the "new vision," and the "new society." Toller's play The Transformation typifies one strain of early postwar expressionist drama, as it shows how one man's spiritual renewal is linked to his country's regeneration. Written as a stationendrama, The Transformation follows the central character's spiritual progress through a series of episodes, connected only through the character's experience. The protagonist, Friedrich, a young Jewish sculptor, transforms himself from an alienated and wandering artist into a friend of the proletariat who finally finds a cause to believe in and die for. At the end of the play, Friedrich implores the masses to create a society based upon compassion and justice, and to throw...