Article

Name: Theatralisation of the Narrative in Post-Symbolist Novels

Authors: G. A. Zhilicheva

Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University

Abstract: This article deals with theatralisation of the narrative. The research is based on the study of Russian novels of 1920–1950s. The term ‘theatrilisation’ refers to adding theatrical features to an epic text, or, to usage of a theatrical code which forms the plot. This paper investigates theatralisation both at the level of story (characters’ ‘stagy’ behaviorr, descriptions of ‘shows’ or ‘spectacles’ of various kinds) and at the level of narration (theatrical concepts and themes used in narrators’ speech). Furthermore, the article studies the metapoetical meaning of the ‘all the world’s a stage’ metaphor. Images of ancient, folk or street theatre (low farce, ‘balagan’, booth theatre, fit-up, miracle-play etc.) are being studied, as well as their their semantics and relevance to the literary works. Various ways of theatralisation in the novels are associated with their respetive narrative strategies. The term ‘narrative strategy’ can be defined as a specific model of interaction betweel a subject, an object and an addressee of the work. Post-Symbolist tends to incorporate multiple aesthetical paradigms. The novels, specifically, may follow either the narrative stragegy of ‘agitation’ (Social Realistic discourse), the narrative strategy of ‘provoking’ (Avant-Garde poetics), and the narrative strategy of ‘revelation’ (Neo-Traditionalistic poetics). Different narrative strategies correspond with different views on ‘the world as a stage’ and ‘the text as a stage’. Denis Furmanov’s Chapaev features a propaganda play about Communistic propaganda among the Cossack women. After watching it, The Red Army soldiers think that their enemies have been already defeated (‘de-agitated’, as in the play). To their minds, the show is expected to change the reality directly. Ancient connections between theatrical ritual and the world of the dead are reestablished in the plot: Chapaev’s act in the play predicts his later death and makes it symbolically unavoidable. Vsevolod Ivanov’s novel U grotesqually recreates many form of theatralisation (from archaic to modern). In the novel, characters’ relationships are based on a typical dramatic intrigue of commedia del’arte. Dr Andrieyshin, a mental specialist, falls in love with a profiteer’s daughter, Susanna (compare with tradiational Italian masks of Pantalone and his foster daughter Colombine). However, it is Cherpanov, a schemer, who becomes Susanna’s lover. During their date Dr Andrieyshin happens to be locked inside a trunk like a puppet in its box. Overall, comic novels tend to include characters’ stagy behavior (‘acting’ and/or ‘directing’), various kinds of ‘unreliable’ narration and games between the author and the reader. In Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, key episodes of the ‘revelation’ plot center around images of a crib and a cave, originating from the Nativity play. Zhivago sets the miracle of life in opposition to ‘Harlequinade of the Russian Revolution’ (quoting Alexander Blok), theatrical nature of the new era. Zhivago never visits theaters, circuses, cinemas or athletic fields. Theatrical nature of Pasternak’s novel is represented not in form of secular, entertaining theatrical ‘shows’, but in form of miracle-play (one of the episodes thakes place on an ancient burial mound, Zhivago’s poem equates an actor with Hamlet and Jesus). He contemplates life as a natural spectacle, and, as a spectator, he follows reversed pattern of the evolution of the European theatre, that is the ‘illusion’ for Zhivago is replaced with ‘revelation’. To sum it up, Social Realism incorporate theatrical elements (descriptions of stage shows, propaganda plays) which represent from the ideological point of the narrative. Novels which follow the narrative strategy of ‘provoking’ include theatrical images as a manifestation of ‘carnivalesque’, while Neo- Traditionalistic novels tend to reference a possibility of a miracle, revelation.

Keywords: theatralisation, commedia dell’arte, Post-Symbolism, novel, narrative

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