“Meine Nachahmung eine Neuerschaffung” – Aneignung und Ent-Stellung in Dea Lohers Manhattan Medea

Abstract

The question how to situate Dea Loher’s drama Manhattan Medea in the Medea reception serves as a point of departure for a discussion of imitation, originality, and the act of copying. In their dialogues, the characters Medea, as in Euripides’ tragedy a refugee, and Velazquez, a security guard, refl ect on originality and imitation. The article explores the theoretical and self-referential aspects evoked by these discussions and links them with a more general inquiry into the dimensions of interpretation in the arts. The question of originality and appropriation is expanded and problematized through focusing on radical social criticism voiced among others by the drag queen Deaf Daisy. In this context the article also examines the potential of performative signifi cation encountered in Medea’s deadly bridal gift, especially in light of Marjorie Garber’s remark that “[w]hat gets married is a dress.” Transgressive in its form too, Manhattan Medea combines tragic elements and those characteristic of comedy. (SW; in German)