Performativities in Brief einer Unbekannten

Abstract

Stefan Zweig's novella Brief einer Unbekannten continues to draw critical and popular interest for its intriguing contents. The article explores the performativities relating to social status and then discusses its culturally and cinematically distinct representations in the Hollywood adaptation by Max Ophüls (1948) and the film by Chinese director Xu Jinglei (2004). This approach suggests that the novella consists of two interwoven narrative threads, one devoted to the theme of unrequited love and the other to the development of Aladdin's “rags to riches” motif linked to the performativities of social status. The challenge for a film adaptation is the creation of a visual representation that will retain the impassioned voice speaking from the written text. Ophüls shifts the narrative and performativities toward a melodramatic romance with an ending that plays into the practical expectations of Hollywood. Xu is concerned not with the relief from an emotional condition but with feudal mentalities.