Norge-Russland 2004/2005 Норвегия-Россия 2004 ... - TopReferat

Chekhov is aware of the limitations in the Ibsenian dramatic form. There is no doubt that he was
Ibsen’s apprentice, and his dramatic practice will show that the Ibsenian form of drama was
coming to its end. Chekhov sets to work where Ibsen fades out. In the first place Chekhov uses a
far broader cast of characters and sets up groups of characters where Ibsen lets one character
be representative of the group. Chekhov provides few stage directions and says little about nonverbal
communication. It is only in Ivanov that we find a central figure, a main character, and a
traditional train of action. Here we have a hero with vitality and the power to act, one the public
can identify with. In his other plays the action is reduced to a state of standstill, the abstract. In
Three Sisters the action dissolves and the characters are empty of positive energy. This is
connected with the nature of the dialogue. Dialogue is interaction. When this ceases, the action
comes to a standstill. The dialogue in Chekhov does not have a linear-causal structure, but it is
circular (“equifinale”).
In Three Sisters the dialogue – as in the absurdists – is conversation. The conversation departs
from the principle of linear causality; it uses phrases, is often incongruent, it is split up into
segments. Second, the conversation has a stabilising effect and does not promote action. In
Chekhov we find long poetic monologues which are completely missing in Ibsen. The absurdists
go even farther: the dialogue ceases in the end, and silence steps in. Dialogue, which in Ibsen
served the action by virtue of the fact that it had the function of creating awareness and
generating conflict, ceases after Chekhov. The lack of dialogue (interaction) reflects modern
times, marked by absence of the power to act. Action designates a movement from one situation
to another, a transition or change. A change cannot occur until a character, consciously and
intentionally, sets in motion something goal-oriented in a given context.
A distinction can be drawn between “action” and “event”: In the case of action, the subject
consciously changes the situation; in the case of an event the subject becomes an object, yet a
conscious object of a changing situation. In Three Sisters the women are not able to act, they are
unwilling to identify themselves with their opponent, or they have other inadequate reactions to
their surroundings. The absence of action is not necessarily connected with lack of cognition; it
may also be a matter of reflection’s having taken the upper hand or of their being dominated by
“inner or mental action”. A distinctive feature of Chekhov’s characters is un-uttered inner action.
Stanislavsky emphasised that action had been replaced by restricted emotions.
When lines are drawn between Ibsen and Chekhov, it is usually done by setting up their dramas
in pairs: Three Sisters and Hedda Gabler, The Seagull and The Wild Duck, Uncle Vanya, The
Cherry Orchard and Rosmersholm. This parallel interpretation of the thematic aspect has not
been our purpose. What we have done is to point to Ibsen’s gradual dissolution of the action, and
the increasing discrepancy between cognition and action. Then we pointed briefly to the way in
which Chekhov further develops this in the direction of the absurdists.
Петр Палиевский: Кнут Гамсун в европейской культуре
Кнут Гамсун очевидно перебрался со своими проблемами в ХХI век, и нам надлежит
встретить его здесь достойно. Его образы вышли за пределы Норвегии в разные стороны,
и я буду говорить о нем тоже со стороны, – где его, правда, приняли с увлечением и
радостью. Сторонний взгляд, возможно, дает повод увидеть стереоскопически его
нынешнее присутствие в Европе.
И первое, что бросается в глаза в его значении для всех нас, что это писатель природы.
Верность природе проходит через всю его жизнь. В его последней книге311 , идеи которой
во многом пропадают оттого, что в ней ищут политических выводов, он думает о ней
прежде всего. Его тревожит молодая ель, он следит, появится ли ее желтеющая верхушка
и старается убрать мешающие ей ветви старого тополя; его волнует, посреди, кажется,
куда более важных дел, первый неумелый крик петуха: "Бедняга, он был один в целом
311 Интересно, что ее "природное" заглавие почти совпадает с названием книги Мартина Хайдеггера
"Hozwege" (1950), который также выдерживал в то время обвинения в сотрудничестве с нацистами.