The elevated status of Prometheus as the patron saint of the proletariatrais-
es anumber of basic questions thatare relevant to most cultural practices devel-
oped in the name of socialism: How can the thematic and formal choicesmade
to visualize rebellion againstauthority in“PrometheusBound”be explained? Or,
to rephrase the question in moregeneralterms, what accounts for the prolifera-
tion ofmythological figures and the preferencefor allegoricalreadings in the so-
cialist lifeworld of Imperial Germany? If myths are stories aboutgods and demi-
gods, and if the proletariat takes the place of Prometheus, is thisasocialist form
of deification, or the substitution ofasocialist cosmology foraclassicalone?
How did the Prometheusmyth inspire thevery different visionsofprogress,
labor,and industry promoted in the name of capitalism and socialism?Issocial-
ist allegory merelyarefunctionalizing of existing forms and conventions?Or
must its conventionality beread asaconvenientvehicle for imaginingbrief mo-
ments of discursive mastery,ofallegoresis as omnipotence, that hingeonthe era-
sure of the gapbetween socialist utopian thoughtand the harsh realities of work-
ing-class life?
Along similar lines, what accounts for the enduringpopularity of allegory
andmythologyamong socialist workers who believed in economic determinism
Fig. 5.1“Der gefesselte Prometheus/PrometheusBound,”Der WahreJacob136 (1891): 1104.
Withpermission of Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg.
102 Chapter 5