Die Sprachlosigkeit in Kroetzs Stallerhof and Geisterbahn

Abstract or Introduction

When Staller in Kroetz′s play Stallerhof says `Die Red bleibt eim weg′1, having a serious word with Sepp about his ill-advised relationship with Staller′s under age daughter Beppi, then this seems to be symptomatic for all the characters in the play, who, to some degree, all seem unable to express themselves and at times even appear completely speechless. Consequently, most striking in Stallerhof and, to less extent, Geisterbahn is not what people say, but what they do not say. And this is probably more you would think of in the first place.

In the opening scene of the first act we are introduced to Stallerin and Beppi, the latter reading aloud a postcard from her aunt. Beppi is struggling with her reading and receives a smack in the face from her mother when she misreads dialectal `mir′ instead of `wir′. Beppi′s mother′s rage is both, an irony in itself and totally inappropriate in this situation. First of all, it is the mother herself who only speaks dialect at home, naturally using `mir′ instead of High German `wir′ for this is one of the most obvious features of Bavarian dialect, and it seems only logical that her slightly handicapped daughter′s language behaviour is a mere representation of her parents′ for they serve as her model.