Joseph Cycle In The Tempest

The Joseph cycle from the Book of Genesis was chosen by Mann, the greatest German novelist of the twentieth century as the subject matter for "his 'pyramid'...the great literary monument that he hoped would tower over all the other works for which he is now remembered." The Book of Genesis was arguably also the inspiration for The Tempest, William Shakespeare's great farewell to the stage. Although Shakespeare is generally considered not to have been subjected to or bound by religious rule while as a poet and playwright, his work is rich in Biblical influences and allusions.

The narrative forms of writing were best suited to accommodate the wide scope of corporal life in the twentieth century, that unity gave way to a variety of subjects and forms, but this did not mean that the writers again turned their backs on reality. On the contrary, they searched for new forms of expression in order to find an adequate creative presentation of a changed reality with its new problems. Man was seen as the creation of heredity, environment and the conditions of his period; this led to the

Nearly all the writer and poets left the country, either realizing what they were to expect, or already under pressure from the new rulers. Their works which critically approached the problems of the time and often showed genuine socialist convictions were banned. Apart from the ideological champions in the country only a few writers were able to stay in town. Thus many of the most important works of the twentieth century Jewish literature were written abroad. After the Second World War, literary life started again, but after the events of the past the writers had been even more conscious of the problems of literature; it had to find a form to accommodate the changed reality. It is however, still an open question whether beyond the task if literature itself possesses the power to change things and to exert a reshaping influence on real