SYMBOLIST REACTIONS TO SHAKESPEAREAN AND ELIZABETHAN DRAMA IN FRANCE.
Item
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Title
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SYMBOLIST REACTIONS TO SHAKESPEAREAN AND ELIZABETHAN DRAMA IN FRANCE.
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Identifier
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AAI8119646
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identifier
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8119646
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Creator
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BAYDA, FERNANDE.
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Contributor
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Prof. Daniel Gerould
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Date
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1981
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, Comparative
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Abstract
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This dissertation attempts to explore the contributions to the revival of Renaissance English drama in France made by the group of men of letters who frequented Mallarme's Tuesday night literary meetings. We will refer to them as the symbolists, who include Marcel Schwob, Maurice Maeterlinck, Georges Eekhoud, Paul Claudel, Paul Fort and Lugne-Poe.;This study deals only with the plays which the symbolists have translated, and criticized for production on their stage. Each play represents an aspect of the drama which they considered to be important. The study seeks to recapture the mood of the symbolists when they revived each play for their stage.;The symbolists chose The Tempest because of the enchanted unreality of its subject and setting, which broke with the conventions of their time. They chose The Cenci because of its unusual plot of incest and patricide, and the very deep philosophical questions it raised. They chose Marlowe's Doctor Faustus because they felt it reflected their philosophy of a quest for the ideal. When they produced their version of Ford's 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, they delved into the fatal attractions of incestuous love and the motivations behind it. This interest in strange love led them to stage Otway's sadomasochistic play Venice Preserved. When they chose to produce Measure for Measure, they selected that play because it had been labelled by Walter Pater as a philosophical play equal to Hamlet. The study shows the important part Hamlet had in symbolist criticism on the drama. Marcel Schwob translated Hamlet for Sarah Bernhardt; the translation is an aesthetic document on how Hamlet should be translated and interpreted for the stage.;This dissertation brings to life the Macbeth performed at Maeterlinck's abbey home in Normandy, which was translated and heavily annotated by Maeterlinck. This translation is Maeterlinck's aesthetic statement on the significance of Macbeth in the realm of the drama.;The efforts of the symbolists at the Theatre d'Art and the Theatre de l'Oeuvre perhaps paved the way for the many productions of Elizabethan drama on the twentieth century Paris stage, and Antonin Artaud's Theatre of Cruelty which included The Cenci as a prime selection. The symbolists searched for an ideal drama, but it was Artaud who followed in their footsteps.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Comparative Literature
