NARRATIVE TO DRAMA: EXPLORING TEXTUAL TRANSFORMATION IN BORCHERT’S SHORT STORY DAS BROT

Abstract

This study examines the transformation of short story texts by Wolfgang Borchert into dramatic scripts as a classroom learning activity, with particular attention to three of his short story ”Das Brot” (1946). By adopting Klaus Brinker’s concept of text type analysis–particularly his criteria of narrative structure–and Manfred Pfister’s of drama analysis as the main theoretical frameworks, the study analyzes the structural and communicative changes that occur in the process of transforming narrative texts into the dramatic genre, which serves as the basis for the students in composing dramatic scripts. This process also serves as the basis for students in composing their own dramatic scripts. The findings indicate that students are generally able to identify narrative elements and transform them in accordance with the conventions of dramatic texts, although challenges remain, particularly in shifting the narrator’s point of view into dialogue between the characters. This study contributes to the development of text-transformation-based learning in the context of German language and literature teaching.