“La Torre”. La Totentanz dell’Unpolitischen in Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Abstract

The article proposes a choreutic interpretation of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s last play, The Tower, due to his great interest in the art of dance. Therefore, the performance of the protagonist Sigismund is analyzed in the whirl of a supposed Totentanz, which, in its im-policity, advances according to a linguistic movement that calms down in a illiterate pax. The prince represents a theater understood as a Kreis, where his “body-writing” is an ethical event because it refers to philanthropists becoming and disappearing. Trascending’s vis motrix nourishes the mise-en-scène of the dialectic between reality and appearance, making Hofmannsthal’s dramaturgy, as dance, a sensitive and engaged logos that comprehende and dialogues with all phenomena.