2004 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Elfriede Jelinek’sRein Gold reconstructs the events of Wagner’s epicRing cycle and extends them into the present day. Originally written as a libretto for the Berlin State Opera,Rein Gold is abühnenessay, an essay for the stage, structured in the form of a dialogue between Wotan, father of the gods, and his favourite daughter, Brünnhilde, in the third act ofThe Valkyrie. The book opens with Brünnhilde diagnosing her father Wotan to b