Of Mice and Men - the Crisis of Drama
The Drama
Based on Peter Szondi’s studies, the Drama of modernity had its beginning in Renaissance. After the collapse of the medieval worldview, an artistic reality in which a human being could fix and mirror himself on the basis of interpersonal relationships was created. Man disclosed himself to his contemporary world: nothing outside the interpersonal relationships was accepted in the drama. Drama is absolute and unique for it is separate from everything outside itself and it is constructed by dialogue, which is dominant. The author cannot appear anywhere in drama – referred to what is spoken – but it belongs to him just as a whole and everything spoken cannot be out of context. Also, the absoluteness of this artistic reality regards to the spectator that has to be passive: “silent, with hands tied, lamed by the impact of this other world”(p.8)¹. The relationship between actor and role cannot be visible, since no things can exist besides those demonstrated in the drama – actor and character become one. The drama is always primary, which means that it represents only itself. It is not related to some historical event, or to something that is happening in the contemporary world, and these both characteristics always leads to the “present” as Drama’s internal time. The internal time, or present, is constructed through dialogue – as the dialogues pass, the action pass and the present is dressed by a new present. As Szondi affirms, “every moment must contain the seeds of future” (p.9), otherwise, the linearity and the principle of absolute presence in Drama would be subverted. From this point of view, the temporal fragmentation of the scenes would result in the break of unity of time. Another aspect of drama consists on its unity of place. The spatial context should not be large, since the larger the scene, the more difficult it is to the spectators to follow it. Then, with Drama’s characteristics mentioned above, this paper will
Based on Peter Szondi’s studies, the Drama of modernity had its beginning in Renaissance. After the collapse of the medieval worldview, an artistic reality in which a human being could fix and mirror himself on the basis of interpersonal relationships was created. Man disclosed himself to his contemporary world: nothing outside the interpersonal relationships was accepted in the drama. Drama is absolute and unique for it is separate from everything outside itself and it is constructed by dialogue, which is dominant. The author cannot appear anywhere in drama – referred to what is spoken – but it belongs to him just as a whole and everything spoken cannot be out of context. Also, the absoluteness of this artistic reality regards to the spectator that has to be passive: “silent, with hands tied, lamed by the impact of this other world”(p.8)¹. The relationship between actor and role cannot be visible, since no things can exist besides those demonstrated in the drama – actor and character become one. The drama is always primary, which means that it represents only itself. It is not related to some historical event, or to something that is happening in the contemporary world, and these both characteristics always leads to the “present” as Drama’s internal time. The internal time, or present, is constructed through dialogue – as the dialogues pass, the action pass and the present is dressed by a new present. As Szondi affirms, “every moment must contain the seeds of future” (p.9), otherwise, the linearity and the principle of absolute presence in Drama would be subverted. From this point of view, the temporal fragmentation of the scenes would result in the break of unity of time. Another aspect of drama consists on its unity of place. The spatial context should not be large, since the larger the scene, the more difficult it is to the spectators to follow it. Then, with Drama’s characteristics mentioned above, this paper will
Bibliography: ROSENFELD, Anatol. “O Teatro como Instituto Didático”, in O Teatro Épico. Coleção Buriti. SZONDI, Peter. “The Drama” e “The Drama in Crisis”, in Theory of the Modern Drama. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1999. STEINBECK, John. Of Mice and Men.