Joan of Arc on the Stage and Her Sisters in Sublime Sanctity

This book examines the figure of Joan of Arc as depicted in stage works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, especially those based on or related to Schillers 1801 romantic tragedy, Die Jungfrau von Orleans (The Maid of Orleans). The author elucidates Schillers appropriation of themes from Euripidess Iphigenia plays, chiefly the quality of sublime sanctity, which transforms Joans image from a victim of fate to a warrior-prophet who changes history through sheer force of will. Finding the best-known works of his time about her Voltaires La pucelle dOrlans and Shakespeares Henry VI, part I utterly dissatisfying, Schiller set out to replace them. Die Jungfrau von Orleans was a smashing success and inspired various subsequent treatments, including Verdis opera Giovanna dArco and a translation by the father of Russian Romanticism, Vasily Zhukovsky, on which Tchaikovsky based his opera Orleanskaya deva (The Maid of Orleans). In turn, the books final chapter examines Shaws Saint Joan and finds that the Irish playwrights vociferous complaints about Schillers romantic flapdoodle belie a surprising affinity for Schillers approach.