March 12, 2011

German major Ryan Chiles '12 has received a competitive Davidson Research Initiative (DRI) grant to support 10 weeks of research on Heinar Kipphardt's play Bruder Eichmann. Brother Eichmannis a documentary play that dramatizes Adolf Eichmann's 1961 trial in Jerusalem. Kipphardt worked on the play for about twenty years; it was published in 1982. The play was first produced in 1983, but the major wave of interest in documentary theater had passed and it had only modest success with the public-though critics took it very seriously. As a result of the late arrival of the play (1980s) compared to similar works (1960s), the play has never been published in English.

Ryan, who not only studies German literature, but has extensive experience as an actor, will translate the play into English this summer and produce a staged reading during his senior year. He will also complete a substantial critical essay on the play as part of his senior thesis. This summer Ryan will spend two weeks each at the German National Literary Archive at Marbach, where the Kipphardt papers are available, and the German National Library in Frankfurt am Main, which houses the papers and documents about Eichmann trial. Then he will return to Davidson and spend six weeks on the translation. His adviser is Scott Denham. The DRI is supported by the Duke Endowment and funds about twenty Davidson students each summer. Congratulations, Ryan!
Here's an interview about the project with Ryan and Scott.

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Posted By: Burkhard Henke