_I DEDICATE THIS DRAMA TO MY FATHER
Reading edition
ROBERT HAUPTMANN.
You, dear father, know what feelings lead me to dedicate this work to you, and I am not called upon to analyse them here.
Your stories of my grandfather, who in his young days sat at the loom, a poor weaver like those here depicted, contained the germ of my drama. Whether it possesses the vigour of life or is rotten at the core, it is the best, "so poor a man as Hamlet is" can offer.
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