About the work
Der Traum, ein Leben (A Dream Is Life) is a dramatic fairy tale in four acts by Franz Grillparzer, modelled on Calderón's 'La vida es sueño'. It premiered on 4 October 1834 at Vienna's Burgtheater and was published in 1840.
Plot
The huntsman Rustan dreams of a life of adventure and glory. In the dream he falsely claims to have saved a king from a snake, kills the man who actually did so, and courts the king's daughter, until his lies and crimes drive him to ruin. On waking, Rustan turns away from adventure and chooses a quiet life at the side of his devoted fiancée Mirza.
Cultural significance
The play is regarded as a literary expression of the Biedermeier ideal that prizes inner contentment over outward ambition, combining fairy-tale motifs with a psychological reading of the dream as a mirror of repressed desires.