About the work
Der Sohn (The Son) is a five-act drama by Walter Hasenclever, written in 1913/14 and first published in 1914 in the journal Die weißen Blätter and by Kurt Wolff Verlag. It premiered on 30 September 1916 at the Kammerspiele of the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, directed by Hans Demetz, followed by a much-noted performance on 8 October 1916 at the Albert-Theater in Dresden under Adolf Edgar Licho.
Plot
A young man lives under the authoritarian rule of his father, who denies him any self-determination. Through a lover and a circle of friends from the youth movement, he develops a growing resistance that escalates from private despair into politically revolutionary defiance. The play ends with the father's death and the son's liberation from his authority.
Cultural significance
The play is considered one of the major dramas of literary Expressionism and was hailed at its 1916 premiere as a prototype of ecstatic rebellion against outmoded authority. As an early father-son drama it shaped Expressionist theatre and became a model for numerous later plays of transformation and proclamation.