Richard Beer-Hofmann’s ‚Das goldene Pferd‘ can be considered a prototypical example of the literary pantomime. As a performative and hybrid text, it seeks to challenge the dominance of the spoken word by introducing new media such as music, gestures and dance. This article analyzes how Beer-Hofmann adapts the textual, dramatic and narrative form of the pantomime to reflect the tension between language, visuality and (bodily) representation. As an intertextual adaptation of Grillparzer’s ‚Der Traum ein Leben‘, the pantomime furthermore develops a metatheatrical reflection on the fluid boundaries between dream and reality. As such, Beer-Hofmann didactically transforms the dream to an allegorical stage upon which the perspectivism and moral authority of the fairy tale hero are critically discussed.

Keywords: Richard Beer-Hofmann, literary pantomime, performativity, metatheatricality, intertextuality