Old Masters in New Interpretations : Readings in Literature and Visual Culture [1 ed.] 9781443868457, 9781443803304

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Old Masters in New Interpretations

Old Masters in New Interpretations: Readings in Literature and Visual Culture Edited by

Anna Kwiatkowska

Old Masters in New Interpretations: Readings in Literature and Visual Culture Edited by Anna Kwiatkowska This book first published 2016 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2016 by Anna Kwiatkowska and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-0330-8 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-0330-4

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TABLE OF CONTENT List of Illustrations ....................................................................................vii List of Tables ........................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements .......................................................................... ........ ix Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Anna Kwiatkowska PART I. Poetry Chapter One ............................................................................................ 10 Notes in the Margins, Insertions and Deletions. Andrzej Sosnowski (Re)interpreting Poetry 'RPLQLND.RWXáD Chapter Two ............................................................................................ 23 Should One Be Afraid of Death? Holy Sonnets and The Songs and Sonnets by J. Donne–Tradition and Novelty 'RURWD*áDGNRZVND Chapter Three ......................................................................................... 43 Translating ”The Wasteland”: an Analysis of the Poem’s Title Agata G. Handley PART II. Opera & Theatre Chapter Four .......................................................................................... 64 Opera in Contemporary Light: the Challenges of Presenting and Translating Modernised Opera Productions $OHNVDQGUD2ĪDURZVND Chapter Five ............................................................................................ 75 Wagner and the 21st Century Contribution to Contemporary Opera Direction /DXPD0HOOƝQD%DUWNHYLþD

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Chapter Six .............................................................................................. 87 William Shakespeare’s Tragedy Hamlet LQ 2ƺƧHUWV .URGHUV¶V 6WDJH ,QWHUSUHWDWLRQV Vesma Levalde PART III. Tales & Legends Chapter Seven ....................................................................................... 100 W.B. $VWDWHWHUUDLQLQKDELWHG 20

,QWKHVHFDVHVWKHEHJLQQLQJRIFKDRVDQGDUPHGFRQÀLFWVDUHGLUHFWO\FDXVHGE\ the hero’s failure to ask the question about the Grail. 21 Emphasis mine. 22 The key to the proper interpretation lies, according to Niemojowski, in the meanLQJRIWKH(QJOLVKFROORFDWLRQWR³OD\ZDVWH´]GHZDVWRZDü]QLV]F]\üVSXVWRV]\ü

56

Translating “The Waste Land”

by a certain group of people] (Markowski 1999, 365). The noun’s closest (QJOLVKHTXLYDOHQWWKHZRUG³FRXQWU\´FDQEHGH¿QHGDV³WKHWHUULWRU\RID nation with its own government; a state” (Pearsal 1998, 419). Niemojowski states that by narrowing the possible interpretation of the word “land” to its second meaning contained in the word “country”, the English and European FKDUDFWHURIWKHRULJLQDOLVPDLQWDLQHG8QIRUWXQDWHO\WKHVSHFL¿FDWLRQRI both time and place together with the emphasis on the war as the main cause of land’s plight, undermines the universal implication of the poem. The title “Kraj spustoszony” implies that what the reader is about to face is a critique of a particular generation rather than of mankind as such. Southam suggests that: Eliot does not regard this [i.e. a state of waste] as a single moment in history, particular to the West in the twentieth century ... the poem is organised to present an inclusive, comparative vision, a perspective of history in which ... twentieth-century forms of belief and disbelief of culture and of life, are kept in a continuous and critical relationship with those of the past. (69)

Eliot himself insists that he is not interested in the disillusionment of a particular generation and that consequently, the search for restoration, which constitutes an important theme of the poem, is a search undertaken by a “Gentile or Jew” (Eliot 2004, 319)23DUHSUHVHQWDWLYHQRWRIDVSHFL¿FQDWLRQ but of mankind. As T.S. Pearce explains, a precondition for understanding “The Waste Land” is the assumption that: All wars are one war, all battles one battle, all journeys one journey, all rivers one river, all rooms one room, all loves one love, indeed ultimately DOOSHRSOHRQHSHUVRQVRWKDWDOOWKHVSHFL¿FH[DPSOHVRIWKHVHWKLQJVLQWKH poem are in every case representative of their kind. (1969, 95)

Niemojowski’s decision to choose the boundaries of Europe as those of the waste land is heavily criticised by Jerzy Paszek, who points out that “none of Niemojowski’s arguments about the collocations of the word µZDVWH¶FDQRXWGR(OLRW¶VRZQFODUL¿FDWLRQ´1LHPRMRZVNL ,WPXVW be admitted that Niemojowski neglects not only the author’s own remarks on the highly universal character of the poem, but also a pertinent comment included in Eliot’s own notes on “The Waste Land”: 23

I.e. “all mankind, a note frequently struck in the New Testament: ‘For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles’ (I Corinthians, xii, I3)” (Southam, 184)

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Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston’s book on the Grail legend: From Ritual to Romance (Cambridge). Indeed, so deeply am I LQGHEWHG 0LVV :HVWRQ¶V ERRN ZLOO HOXFLGDWH WKH GLI¿FXOWLHV RI WKH SRHP much better than my notes can do. (2004, 74)

According to Paszek, the fact that the link between the waste land of the legend and the waste land of Eliot’s title is not accidental means that Polish translations should maintain this association (Paszek 27-28). Therefore, Niemojowski’s interpretation is controversial as it contradicts the author’s intentions. At this juncture, the question arises as to what other factors (apart IURP¿GHOLW\WRWKHDXWKRU¶VLQWHQWLRQ ZRXOGPDNHDVXFFHVVIXOWUDQVODWLRQ of the title possible? One aspect of a successful translation is undoubtedly a correct recognition of the role that a particular title performs. In the opinion of Jerzy Jarniewicz: The titles of literary works perform several functions. The most important of ZKLFKLVXQGRXEWHGO\DSUDFWLFDORQHRILGHQWL¿FDWLRQZKHUHE\LWLVSRVVLEOH ”to easily identify a given work, distinguishing it from other individual works of a certain ilk” (Wallis 1983, 226). ... Even so, titles perform yet other simultaneous functions: they state the theme of the work, prepare the UHDGHUIRUDQHQFRXQWHUZLWKWKHWH[WGHYHORSDVSHFL¿FPRRGLQWKHUHDGHU and produce expectations. Many titles play a role in authorial commentary, outlining future interpretations of the work. (2000, 478)

Referring to the example set forth in the essay quoted above, one may draw a comparison between the Eliotian title and the title of James Joyce’s famous work: “As a result of inter-textual allusion the title Ulysses casts a mythological web of references over the novel’s text; not only, in this way, VXJJHVWLQJWRWKHUHDGHUDNH\WRGHFLSKHULQJWKHZRUNEXWDOVRGH¿QLQJWKH limits of its interpretation” (Jarniewicz 478). Just as in the title Ulysses, “The Waste Land” seems to belong to a group of metaphorical titles which, DV-DUQLHZLF]VWDWHVUHIHUULQJWR0LHF]\VáDZ:DOOLV¶RSLQLRQFRQIURQWWKH reader with mutual explanatory relationships: The title sheds light on the subsequent text ... but equally, the text itself helps to further understand the meaning of the title. One may try to establish the sense of Conrad’s metaphor in “heart of darkness” only after having read the entire work which, in turn, is channeled by the metaphor contained in WKHWLWOH7KXVDFKDQJHRIWLWOHLQWUDQVODWLRQFDQKDYHDQLQÀXHQFHRQWKH interpretation of the literary work. (Jarniewicz 477)

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Translating “The Waste Land”

Exactly the same predicament is to be found in the case of the original and Polish language versions of “The Waste Land” by Piotrowski et al. The title not only sends the reader into a world of mythical symbolism, but, more importantly, establishes the place where the poem’s action occurs. This place, referred to as the waste land, constitutes a metaphor for the human soul touched by a spiritual barrenness caused by either external or internal forces.24&RQVHTXHQWO\WKHWLWOHLQÀXHQFHVWKHUHDGHU¶VVXEVHTXHQW interpretation of the text, for it evokes certain expectations as to the space described, not necessarily to be understood only in a literal sense, but in a metaphorical one too. The land in Eliot’s poem constitutes an example of a container metaphor which, according to George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, belongs to the wider category of entity and substance metaphors. The authors of Metaphors We Live By claim that: Each of us is a container, with a bounding surface and an in-out orientation. We project our own in-out orientation onto other physical objects. … We impose this orientation on our natural environment as well. … Even where WKHUH LV QR QDWXUDO SK\VLFDO ERXQGDU\ WKDW FDQ EH YLHZHG DV GH¿QLQJ D container, we impose boundaries ... whether a wall, a fence, or an abstract line or plane. (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, 29)

The notion of land used in the original title and its close equivalent LQ 3ROLVK ´]LHPLD´ IXO¿O WKH GH¿QLWLRQ RI D FRQWDLQHU PHWDSKRU DV ERWK D territory and a substance. The boundary of this land’s surface marks two areas where the action of the poem takes place: both above and below the ground. These places of action comprise a vertical up and down movement above and below the ground and a complementary horizontal movement enacted upon the surface of the land. The reader is confronted with a symbol of land as territory which is not only presumed to have a centre and a periphery, constituting a natural environment for human peregrination, EXW DOVR D VXEVWDQFH D ¿QDO GHVWLQDWLRQ IRU WKRVH ZKR ZHUH RQFH ERWK “handsome and / tall” (Eliot 2004, 321-322) and who must share the fate of every living creature in returning once again to dust. What interests the author most is the experience that occurs on the verge of these two 24

In the case of Niemojowski’s translation we may speak of the external cause of the land’s plight, i.e. war. In the case of the versions by Piotrowski et al., the cause seems to be internal: mythical illness of the Fisher King symbolises weakness of human character and spirit that kills the land from the inside.

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worlds: the one being situated under and the other above the ground. This experience consists of forward and backward movements: from life to death and from death to life according to eternal rules of the “vegetation processes” described in Weston’s book. The reader’s attention is drawn to the point where the horizontal movement intersects with the vertical one, where life is confronted with death and growth is simultaneous with decay. The interpretative dimension discussed above can be captured by the reader only when the dual character of the word “land” is preserved, as in the case of translations by Piotrowski et al. The importance of maintaining the equivalence as crucial for the understanding of Eliot’s work is strengthened by the development of the symbol of land at the beginning of the poem. According to Pearce, iWV¿UVWVHFWLRQFRQVLVWVRIIRXUSLFWXUHVWKH¿UVWWZR being introduced by two establishing passages which portray the waste land: Here the setting is made particularly painful by the choice of lilacs, which, OLNHK\DFLQWKVLQWKHVHFRQGSLFWXUHDUHÀRZHUVRISHFXOLDULQWHQVLW\7KH people of the waste land ... would rather sleep away through the winter, dull, and warm, and dried, a little life. ... The waste land becomes a desert, where there is draught, and death and a burning sun, and just a little shadow ZKHUHWKHSRHWFDQ¿QGOLIHHQRXJKWRVKRZDIHDUIXOYLVLRQRIDGHVRODWH land. (96)

$SDUWIURPGHVFULELQJWKHVHWWLQJLHWKHZDVWHODQG WKH¿UVWSDVVDJH of the poem tells the story of an attempt to reverse the process of becoming waste, suggested by an upward movement represented as growth: April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. (Eliot 2004, 1-4) What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? (18-20)

Contrary to the ostensibly downward movement into the earth indicated by the title “The Burial of the Dead”, Eliot describes in this section the process of burial with a surprisingly unreal anticipation: “That corpse you planted last year/ in your garden/ Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?” (2004, 71-73). Although this passage contains an air of irony, the

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Translating “The Waste Land”

fact that the land laid waste awaits a change, symbolised by the approaching VSULQJVHHPVRSWLPLVWLF$IWHUJRLQJWKURXJKWKH¿UVWVHFWLRQRIWKHSRHP the reader looks back and notices that, contrary to what the title suggests, the land may not yet be a desert. There is still hope for regaining fertility. Taking into consideration the previous analysis, it can be assumed that Wallis’s mutual explanatory relationships occur in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”. Unfortunately, in Niemojowski’s version, when “land” is replaced by the noun “kraj” [country], the container metaphor has only its territorial dimension with the idea of boundaries strongly imposed by the political character of the Polish language equivalent. The whole notion of the land as substance disappears from the title and as a result, the connection between WKHWLWOHDQGWKH¿UVWVHFWLRQRI(OLRW¶VZRUNVRVWURQJO\UHSUHVHQWHGLQWKH original, is broken. The multidimensional character of the central symbol of the land becomes even more vivid when we realise that in his, arguably, most important poem, Eliot not only attempts to assess the damage and acknowledge the exhaustion of human spirit, but he is primarily concerned with the value of ruins, the waste every new generation inherits and inhabits. Only constant interpretation and reinterpretation, a process which entails close analysis and realisation of the land’s condition, brings hope for renewal: a laborious process which has to be constantly maintained and continued. Eliot’s declaration which opens the “The Waste Land”: “These fragments I have shored against my ruins” (2004, 431), suggests that although he looks into WKHSDVWWR¿QGWKHYDOXHVXSRQZKLFKWKHPRGHUQLPDJLQDWLRQIHHGVKHDOVR understands that the old myths cannot be brought back to life in their old IRUPV6LPLODUO\QHZWUDQVODWLRQVRIWKHSRHPZLOODOZD\VORRNEDFNWR¿QG new solutions and construct new versions of the iconic text.

Works Cited Baker, Mona, ed. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. London: Routledge, 2001. Bassnett, Susan. Translation Studies. London: Routledge, 2000. %RF]NRZVNL.U]\V]WRIWUDQV³=LHPLD-DáRZD´76(OLRW6]HSW\QLHĞPLHUWHOQRĞFL Poezje wybrane. Ed. Bogdan Baran. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Baran L6XV]F]\ĔVNL —. Forward. 6]HSW\QLHĞPLHUWHOQRĞFL3RH]MHZ\EUDQH. By T. S. Eliot. Ed. Bogdan %DUDQ.UDNyZ:\GDZQLFWZR%DUDQL6XV]F]\ĔVNL Brooks, Cleanth. “’The Waste Land’: Critique of the Myth.” T. S. Eliot: The Waste

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Land. Ed. C. B. Cox and Arnold P. Hinchliffe. Nashville: Aurora Publishers Incorporated, 1969: 128-162. Budziak, Anna. &]DVLKLVWRULDZSRH]ML76(OLRWD.RQWHNVW\¿OR]R¿F]QH:URFáDZ :\GDZQLFWZR8QLZHUV\WHWX:URFáDZVNLHJR Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Eliot T.S. “Ezra Pound.” Ezra Pound: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Walter Sutton. Englewood Cliffs N.J., 1963. —. “The Frontiers of Criticism.” On Poetry and Poets. London: Faber and Faber, 1957. —. “from Baudelaire.” Selected Prose of T. S. Eliot. Ed. Frank Kermode. London: Faber and Faber, 1975: 231-236. —. “The Waste Land.” =LHPLD -DáRZD 7KH :DVWH /DQG7UDQV &]HVáDZ 0LáRV] Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2004. Frawley, William, ed. Translation: Literary, Linguistic and Philosophical Perspectives. London: Associated University Presses, 1984. Frye, Northrop. T. S. Eliot. New York: Capricorn Books, 1972. Gallagher, T. “Poetry in Translation: Literary Imperialism or Defending the Musk Ox”, 3DUQDVVXV7KH3RHWU\5HYLHZ 9 (1981): 148-67. Heydel, Magdalena. “In and Out: Imagery and Metaphorical in the Beginning of ‘The Waste Land.’” 3U]HNáDGDQLHF2 (1996): 118-122. —. 2EHFQRĞü 7 6 (OLRWD Z OLWHUDWXU]H SROVNLHM :URFáDZ :\GDZQLFWZR 8QLZHUV\WHWX:URFáDZVNLHJR Holy Bible, The: The Old and New Testaments, Authorized King James Version. London: Collins Bible, A Division of Harper Collins Publishers, 1957. -DUQLHZLF] -HU]\ ³3U]HNáDG W\WXáX PLĊG]\ HJ]RW\Ną D DGDSWDFMą´ 3U]HNáDGDMąF QLHSU]HNáDGDOQH (G: .XELĔVNL 2 .XELĔVND DQG7 =:RODĔVNL *GDĔVN :\GDZQLFWZR8QLZHUV\WHWX*GDĔVNLHJR .DUDVHN.U]\V]WRI³:FLąĪĪ\]QDµ-DáRZD]LHPLD¶´/LWHUDWXUDQDĝZLHFLH 6 (1980): 211-232. Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980. Lefevere, André. Translating Poetry: Seven Strategies and a Blueprint. Amsterdam: van Gorcum, 1975. 0LáRV] &]HVáDZ WUDQV ³=LHPLD -DáRZD´ 7 6 (OLRW =LHPLD -DáRZD 7KH :DVWH Land. Ed. Krystyna Zaleska. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2004. ²³8ZDJLWáXPDF]D´Kultura 2-3 (1952): 98-103. New Oxford Dictionary of English, The. Ed. Judy Pearsall. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Niemojowski, Jerzy, trans. “Kraj Spustoszony.” T. S. Eliot. Syrinx. Vol. I. London:

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Sumptibus Privatis, 1978. 1LHPRMRZVNL -HU]\ ³7HRUHW\F]QH UR]ZDĪDQLD L SUDNW\ND SU]HNáDGX poetyckiego.”Forward. Syrinx. Vol. I. London: Sumptibus Privatis, 1978. 10-48. 3DV]HN -HU]\ ³2 WU]HFK SROVNLFK SU]HNáDGDFK µ7KH :DVWH /DQG¶ (OLRWD´ Poezja XX. 7-8 (1985): 9-28. Pearce, T. S., T. S. Eliot. New York: Arco, 1969. 3LRWURZVNL$QGU]HMWUDQV³=LHPLDMDáRZD´76(OLRWPoezje Wybrane. Warszawa: Instytut Wydawniczy, 1960. 3LVPR ĝZLĊWH 6WDUHJR L 1RZHJR 7HVWDPHQWX %LEOLD 7\VLąFOHFLD 3R]QDĔ Wydawnictwo Pallottinum, 2000. 3RPRUVNL$GDPWUDQV³=LHPLDMDáRZD´76(OLRW:PRLPSRF]DWNXMHVWPyMNUHV :DUV]DZDĝZLDW.VLąĪNL Richards, I. A. “Comments and Reactions.” T. S. Eliot: ‘The Waste Land’. C. B. Cox and Arnold P. Hinchliffe, ed. Nashville: Aurora Publishers Incorporated, 1969: 51-68. Rulewicz, Wanda. Forward. :\EyU SRH]ML. By Thomas Stearns Eliot. Trans. .U]\V]WRI %RF]NRZVNL -y]HI &]HFKRZLF] :áDG\VáDZ 'XOĊED $UWXU 0LĊG]\U]HFNL &]HVáDZ 0LáRV] -HU]\ 1LHPRMRZVNL $QGU]HM 3LRWURZVNL -DURVáDZ 0DUHN 5\PNLHZLF] 0LFKDá 6SUXVLĔVNL DQG -HU]\ =DJyUVNL &RPS .U]\V]WRI %RF]NRZVNL DQG :DQGD 5XOHZLF] :URFáDZ =DNáDG 1DURGRZ\ ,PLHQLD2VVROLĔVNLFK9&;9,,, 6áRZQLNMĊ]\NDSROVNLHJR. Ed. Witold Doroszewski. Warszawa: PAN, 1961. 6áRZQLNSRSUDZQHMSROV]F]\]Q\3:1. Ed. Andrzej Markowski. Warszawa: PWN, 1999. 6áRZQLN VWDURSROVNL 6WDQLVáDZ 8UEDĔF]DN HG .UDNyZ :\GDZQLFWZR 3ROVNLHM Akademii Nauk, 1998. 6áRZQLN V\QRQLPyZ SROVNLFK %RJXVáDZ 'XQDM HG :DUV]DZD :LGDZQLFWZR WILGA, 1996. 6áRZQLN ZVSyáF]HVQHJR MĊ]\ND SROVNLHJR %RJXVáDZ 'XQDM HG .UDNyZ Wydawnictwo SMS, 2000. Smith, Grover. The Waste Land. London: George, Allen & Unwin, 1983. Southam, B. C. A Students’ Guide to the Selected Poems of T. S. Eliot. London: Faber and Faber, 1994. Weston, Jessie L. From Ritual to Romance. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Woodward, Daniel W. “Notes on the Publishing History and Text of ‘The Waste Land.’” T. S. Eliot: ‘The Waste Land’. Ed. C. B. Cox and Arnold P. Hinchliffe. Nashville: Aurora Publishers Incorporated, 1969: 71-91.

PART II Opera & Theatre

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CHAPTER FOUR OPERA IN A CONTEMPORARY LIGHT: THE CHALLENGES OF PRESENTING AND TRANSLATING MODERNISED OPERA PRODUCTIONS

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Introduction The genre of opera, whose rise can be traced back to the end of the 16th century, is still considered to be one of the highest forms of art, and all the past centuries did not manage to dethrone its special status. On the contrary: the tickets for most productions in best opera houses are extremely expensive and they are sold out very quickly. However, it is also true that opera is often considered to be old-fashioned, too traditional or even boring. That is why a great number of opera managers and directors aim at presenting this genre in a new light. Thanks to modern media, live operas can be seen today not only by the audience sitting in the very opera house, but also by people in cinemas or at home. For example, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York has gained much of its international acclaim thanks to Live in HD: a series of live opera broadcasts shown in numerous countries all over the world. Some of the most popular European opera houses, like the Royal Opera House or La Scala, also broadcast their performances, but on a considerably smaller scale. In addition, more and more opera houses, for instance the Bavarian State Opera, broadcast their performances on the Internet, so it is possible to watch them free of charge at home. Fortunately, the increased availability of opera does not lead to the deterioration of its quality and charm. Today opera is thriving also because it has become more “audiencefriendly”: viewers are nowadays provided with the translation of the libretto synchronised with what is being sung. The vast majority of contemporary opera houses provide their auditoriums with surtitles: the translated libretto shown on the screen above the stage. In the past the viewers had to become familiar with the plot before or follow the printed translation during the

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performance, which was highly uncomfortable. That is why being presented with translation which is not only synchronised with what is being sung, but which is also presented on the stage, seems to be greatly appreciated by the majority of opera-goers. Therefore, it is thanks to modern technology and new, unique ideas that the whole stereotypically daunting world of opera becomes much more approachable and even more inspiring than before.

Modernising opera productions These days opera producers are very well aware that in order to maintain the popularity of this genre and of particular opera houses, the productions should be highly interesting and innovative. The directors often aim at rendering operas in an exceptionally attractive fashion, as WKHLU VWRULHV KDYH XVXDOO\ RYHUVLPSOL¿HG RU RYHUFRPSOLFDWHG SORWV $V Lucile Desblache rightly notices in her article “Challenges and Rewards of Libretto Adaptation”, “[a]s far as content is concerned, there rarely seems to be a happy medium in opera” (Cintas 2009, 72). The stories are quite frequently based on repetitive structures and most operas are already known to the audiences coming to the opera theatres. Thus, in order to attract the attention of a wider audience, opera directors try to be exceedingly imaginative, and staging modernised opera productions, i.e. transferring their plots and settings from, for example, the 16th century to the here and now, is nowadays one of the most popular ways of achieving this aim. 7KH FUDIW RI VWDJLQJ RSHUDV KDV DOZD\V EHHQ VLJQL¿FDQW IRU WKLV JHQUH because it is obviously not only music and singing, but also opera’s visual DVSHFW WKDW PDWWHUV 7KH ¿UVW WUHDWLVH FRQFHUQLQJ WKH VXEMHFW RI VWDJHFUDIW Il corago ZDV ZULWWHQ LQ )ORUHQFH LQ WKH ¿UVW KDOI RI WKH th century. Created by an anonymous author writing from the point of view of a person supervising theatrical productions, it contains a number of instructions and rules concerning staging and acting in opera (Savage 1994, 367). Whether conservative or more daring, up to the 20th century, operatic productions used to follow the content of the libretti and stage directions, but WKHQWKHWUHQGVEHJDQWRFKDQJH7KH¿UVWFRPSRVHUZKRSHUFHLYHGRSHUDQRW only as music and singing, but rather as a complete theatrical production, was Richard Wagner. In one of his essays, “Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft” (1849), he proposed a new idea – Gesamtkunstwerk >DXQL¿HGZRUNRIDUW@ It was a form of art “in which all the arts–poetry, drama, the visual arts, music, song–should be united so as to form a new and complete work of art” (Warrack 1995, 276). Moreover, as his operas are full of fantasy, symbolism and allegory, they are particularly interesting for creative directors, who

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incessantly look for reinterpretation and the uncovering of new meanings. Subsequently, the end of the 20th century initiated the domination of opera revivals. More and more people wanted to learn about the opera they were going to see. The audiences were no longer interested merely in how the opera would be played and sung, but they were eager to know how the opera would be staged as well. It became obvious that in order for the production to be successful, it should be absorbing both audibly and visually. Subsequently, to meet the wishes of the opera goers, stage directors had to adjust the productions to the contemporary viewer. This has all led to a variety of interpretations and extraordinary or surprising stagings. The 21st century has already witnessed many unusual and modernised opera productions. As has been already noticed, today opera is much more easily available than it used to be. The contemporary viewers have many ways of seeing operas staged in different productions: they can go to an opera house, see a broadcast in the cinema or simply buy a DVD record. Therefore, opera directors and producers want to create a production that will present a particular work in a different light and, as a result, draw the attention of those who are already familiar with a given opera. Modernising opera productions is particularly noteworthy because LWJLYHVRSHUDVQHZVLJQL¿FDQFHDQGIUHTXHQWO\HPSKDVLVHVWKHLUWLPHOHVVQHVV sometimes some new aspects of particular works are underlined, and the viewers can see the elements that have not been noticed before. Additionally, PRGHUQSURGXFWLRQVLQÀXHQFHWKHLQWHUSUHWDWLRQFRQVLGHUDEO\$VWKHVLQJHUV always sing the original libretto with no alterations, it is fascinating to see how powerful the stage design and acting can be. One of the most regularly modernised operas is La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, set originally in 19th-century Paris. Today one of the most popular productions of this opera is the one directed by Willy Decker, premiered in 2006 at the Salzburg Festival and then performed, for example, in the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This La Traviata does not resemble its RULJLQDOLQIRUP³>W@KHHQWLUHVWRU\LVSOD\HGZLWKLQWKHFRQ¿QHVRIDWDOO curved grayish-white wall, as if the action were taking place in an arena under clinically bright lights” (Tommasini 2011, January). Violetta Valéry, originally a Parisian courtesan suffering from tuberculosis, wears a red cocktail dress, and every member of the choir, male or female, wears a black tuxedo, which makes “the crowd look androgynous and threatening” (ibidem). This is still the same opera by Giuseppe Verdi, but visually this La Traviata certainly differs very much from the La Traviata seen by the 19th-century audiences. It should also be noticed that some operas are easier to stage as modernised .

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SURGXFWLRQV WKDQ RWKHUV )DQWDV\ RSHUDV ZKLFK DUH QRW VSHFL¿FDOO\ VHW in any particular time and space, for example Les Contes d’Hoffman by Jacques Offenbach, 'LH=DXEHUÀ|WH by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or most of Wagner’s operas, are frequently modernised. However, as a number RIIDPRXVZRUNVLVHLWKHUVHWYHU\¿UPO\LQVSHFL¿FKLVWRULFDOWLPHVRULV just inextricably connected with certain cultural contexts, modernising them can become a risky venture. For instance, the libretto of Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, which is set in Gaul during the Roman invasion, contains a great number of references to Gaulish and Roman culture. It seems almost impossible to modernise such a work, but there are directors who attempt to present this type of opera in a contemporary light. Subsequently, it comes as no surprise that the trend of modernising opera productions frequently meets with strong opposition from numerous traditionalists, who, particularly in the most traditional opera houses such as La Scala, do not hesitate to express their dissatisfaction with the set designs or the directors by booing them during the curtain calls. It is undeniably true that the very idea of modernising operas “is a staple of opera directors today, especially in Europe, and it sparks feuds between traditionalists and updaters as regularly as the sun rises” (Wakin). As has been mentioned above, opera is still considered a high genre of art and its style may clash with modern sets, which are often ill-considered and shocking. Modernising has also gained its ill-fame because of numerous unsuccessful productions. Very often, especially in smaller opera houses, modernising is the result of a low budget and the stage design may be visibly economical. However, if there is a particularly interesting idea behind presenting an opera in a modernised production, the result can be remarkable. Such spectacles frequently show new interpretations of the works which are traditionally perceived as unambiguous and univocal. Consequently, VRPHWLPHVWKHZKROHVLJQL¿FDQFHRIDZRUNFDQEHDOWHUHGDQGWKHDXGLHQFH may be presented with a performance they did not expect. It nevertheless should be emphasised that it does not signify disrespect for the original but it provides it with additional meaning: “the interpretation of operatic text is not exclusively bound to text but also largely depends on visual, musical and emotional elements present through each performance” (Desblache 2007, 165). Therefore, showing the work of Old Masters in a new light can enrich the way people look at them. Visually, such productions may differ considerably from the original ones, but the music, singing and libretto are invariably the same. Instead of losing something, it is possible to notice something new and inspiring. Tradition should undoubtedly be preserved, but, on the other hand, it should be a source of inspiration as well.

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Translating libretti for modernised opera productions As the 21st century is an era of information, it is nowadays necessary to complement operatic productions with the translation of their libretti. 7UDQVODWLRQ KDV DOZD\V EHHQ VLJQL¿FDQW IRU RSHUD DQG WKURXJKRXW the centuries, in answering the needs and wishes of the audiences, it has adopted different methods and trends. As far as the issue of operatic translation is concerned, there are three types of performances, namely performing an opera in its original language with the audience following its translated libretto in print, singing a translated libretto in the language of the country where the performance takes place, and performing an opera in its original language with the audience being provided with the translated libretto displayed on a screen, usually placed above the stage. However, the beginnings were quite different. In the 17th and 18thFHQWXULHV,WDO\ZDVXQGRXEWHGO\WKHPRVWVLJQL¿FDQW country for opera development, and even the composers from France and Germany used to work with Italian librettists. Consequently, at that time the vast majority of operas were sung in Italian. If the non-Italian speaking audience wanted to understand exactly what was happening in the opera they were watching, they had to follow printed libretti during the performance, which was certainly impractical and it diverted their attention from the very performance.1 The trend of performing operas in translation developed in the 19th century and according to Lucile Desblache, there were two reasons for LW ³WKH ¿UVW ZDV WKH HPHUJHQFH RI VWURQJ QDWLRQDO LGHQWLWLHV LQ (XURSH expressed in all artistic forms, including music; the second was the trend towards more realistic operas, less mythological texts . . .” (163). This phenomenon was particularly popular in countries in which operas were not very popular, for example in Poland, 19th-century Bohemia or Russia. It needs to be emphasised, though, that translating the libretto which is to be sung brings with itself a number of problems mostly because of the vocal aspect concerning the very sounds. For instance, vowels play a very VLJQL¿FDQWUROHLQVLQJLQJDQGWKHUHIRUHWKH\VKRXOGDSSHDUWRJHWKHUZLWK particular notes. The musical and semantic aspect is important as well because the melody of the music must be in agreement with the meaning of the words. Subsequently, the new versions of libretti diverted considerably 1

Nevertheless it was possible, because, unlike today, up to the late 19th century theatre halls were illuminated throughout the whole performances (Desblache 162).

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from the original ones. However, except for a few examples, like the French versions of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (French: Lucie de Lammermoor) and Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (French: Orphée et Eurydice), which are almost as popular as their Italian originals, most of the operas with translated libretti were of a relatively poor quality. The close of the 20th century witnessed the comeback of singing libretti in their original languages and these days this solution is the most popular one: most opera houses provide their audiences with libretti translations in the form of surtitles or seatback titles. Creating successful surtitles is not easy, as it is governed by numerous rules. According to Jonathan Burton, “[t]he aim of surtitles is to convey the meaning of what is being sung, not necessarily the manner in which it is being sung” (2009, 62). Repetitions of words or even whole fragments of arias are not always included in translation, but sometimes it is useful to add some personal pronoun or a name in order to clarify the plot (ibidem, 63). Furthermore, crowd scenes DUHSDUWLFXODUO\GLI¿FXOWWRWUDQVODWHDVWKHWUDQVODWRUKDVWRFKRRVHZKRVH lines are the most vital for understanding the plot. One of the solutions is to put the names of the characters in front of the lines of translation but it may render it more unintelligible and even longer. Generally, the language of the WUDQVODWLRQVKRXOGEHVLPSOL¿HGDQGFRQFLVHRQHFDSWLRQVKRXOGFRQVLVWRI no more than two lines of text, and each line should consist of no more than 40 characters; the text is usually centred (ibidem 64). It is, however, very easy to reach the other extreme and oversimplify the translations, which, subsequently, are not adjusted to the high genre of opera. The original libretti are often written in a high register, so DVW\OLVWLFDOO\VLPSOL¿HGWUDQVODWLRQVHHQE\WKHDXGLHQFHPD\EHLOO¿WWLQJ 0RUHRYHULWLVVLJQL¿FDQWWRSUHVHUYHWKHJHQHUDODWPRVSKHUHRIWKHRSHUD which is frequently created by the very language of the libretti. For instance, Italian operas by Gioachino Rossini have a considerably different gravity than the tragic works by Richard Wagner—not only because of their different plots and music, but also because of the difference in the way the respective languages sound. What follows is that creating surtitles becomes especially awkward in the case of modernised productions. Besides, there is always a question whether, for example, an 18th-century libretto suits a story set in modern times. Apart from that, it has to be emphasised that the singers usually sing the original version of the libretto, but the translations prepared for SDUWLFXODUSURGXFWLRQVYDU\WRDJUHDWH[WHQW7KXVLWLVMXVWL¿HGWRFODLP that depending on whether a particular opera is staged traditionally or in

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a modernised way, it should have different translations. There are, obviously, different levels of adapting the translations to the production: usually certain concepts present in the original libretti but absent in the staged productions are omitted in translation, some are generalised, some are added, but there are cases in which what is sung and what is read by the audience do not have much in common. The extreme cases take place when the whole libretto is adjusted to a particular production: adjusted mostly in terms of form, but also in terms of meaning. Translations adapted to productions aim at helping the today audience feel the atmosphere of the performance. For if the translation was more conservative, it might be confusing for they would be unable to wholly appreciate the performance. In addition, modernised productions may sometimes be fairly complex, so good titles should render the plots in a clear way and help the viewers understand what is going on the stage. What is important is the fact that the primary function of titles cannot be lost: they are to inform the audience about the action taking place on the stage, and this information should be adjusted to the audience’s needs. A good example of a modernised production with adapted surtitles is the above-mentioned La Traviata directed by Willy Decker. Watching this production in the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the audience was presented with a translation that closely followed the production. Original libretto sung by the singers (translation mine)

Translation provided by the opera house

GIUSEPPE

GIUSEPPE

The lady has left

My lady has left.

In a carriage waiting for her,

She went to Paris

She’s on the way to Paris.

And Annina left before her.

Annina went out before her.

…

…

MESSENGER

MESSENGER

A lady in the carriage,

A lady asked me

Some way from here,

To deliver this message to you.

Gave me this message for you. Table 5-1. Sample 1

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In Act II, for example, there is a scene in which two minor characters are talking about carriages. Obviously, 19th-century carriages do not comply with the realities of this production, so they were simply omitted in the surtitles. The issue of these vehicles is not particularly important, so omitting the word ‘carriage’ [Italian: cocchio] made the text even more clear and concise (see Table 5-1 above). There are, however, a number of modernised operas, in which the action on the stage contrasts markedly with the libretti sung by the singers, so the task of creating surtitles becomes even more complex. The goal RIWUDQVODWLRQLQVXFKVLWXDWLRQVLVQRWVRHDV\WRGH¿QHWKRXJKLWGH¿QLWHO\ still consists in transferring the information to the audience. But what should the audience be informed about? About what the singers are singing or about what is taking place on stage? On the one hand, the discrepancy between what happens on the stage and what the surtitles or subtitles show is not desirable, as the audience are mainly focused on the performance. If they suddenly read something completely different in the translation from what they see, they will certainly be confused. On the other hand, if the translation shows something different than what is present in the original, it is doubtful whether it is still a translation. An example of a production in which the action on the stage does not follow the libretto very closely is Faust by Charles Gounod staged by the Metropolitan Opera House and directed by Des McAnuff (2011). Based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s )DXVW 3DUW  and originally set in the 16th century, this opera was presented as an allegory of the 20th century reality and Faust appeared as a nuclear scientist who “works in a big laboratory where the atomic bomb is under development” (Tommasini 2011, November). Due to the fact that there are a few moments in which the production diverges from the original French libretto, the translation VHHQ E\ WKH DXGLHQFH KDV EHHQ FRQVLGHUDEO\ DGMXVWHG7KH ¿UVW FKDQJH LV YLVLEOHZKHQ0pSKLVWRSKpOqVYLVLWV)DXVWIRUWKH¿UVWWLPHLQKLVODERUDWRU\ The former is dressed in a white suit, although according to the original OLEUHWWRKLVRXW¿WLVFRPSRVHGRIDFORDNDKDWZLWKDIHDWKHUDQGDVZRUGVHH the table below). As for translation, the audience receives the description adjusted to what can actually be see on the stage.

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Original libretto sung by the singers (translation mine)

Translation provided by the opera house

MÉPHISTOPHÉLÈS

MÉPHISTOPHÉLÈS

Here I am! Are you surprised?

Here I am! Why are you so surprised?

You dislike my dress?

I’m not what you expected?

My sword, a feather in my hat,

With the cane and panama hat,

Money in my pouch and my rich cloak. Dressed to the nines… All in all, a true gentleman.

Altogether: a real gentleman.

Table 5-2.Sample 2

As a result, what can be seen on the stage diverges considerably from what the bass playing the role of the devil is singing. Therefore, in order not to confuse the viewers, the translation available to them is adjusted to the production, and that is why the original “My sword, feather in my hat/ Money in my pouch and my rich cloak” is translated as “the cane and panama hat, dressed to the nines”. The role of this translation consists in informing the audience of what the character is generally saying and, also, in rendering the production consistent. Subsequently, it is easy to notice that in such cases it is necessary IRU WKH WUDQVODWRU WR ¿QG D KDSS\ PHGLXP EHWZHHQ VWD\LQJ IDLWKIXO to the original and, simultaneously, following the modernised production. $V WKH DERYH H[DPSOHV KDYH VKRZQ LW LV XQGRXEWHGO\ YHU\ GLI¿FXOW DQG demands, on the one hand, great expertise in translation, but on the other, a thorough knowledge of the world of opera. Only such a combination may lead to a fully successful libretti rendering. In modernised productions the discrepancy between the staging and the original libretto is highly undesirable, but it is usually unavoidable. However, the audience coming WRWKHRSHUDKRXVHH[SHFWVWRVHHDXQL¿HGDQGXQGLVWXUEHGSHUIRUPDQFH which can only be achieved by adjusting translation to the production. As the disharmony which renders the whole production unclear can only be resolved by proper surtitles, the translation becomes a principal and indispensable element of the performance.

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Conclusion It is probably safe to say that nowadays opera is having its renaissance, ZKLFK FDQ EH FRQ¿UPHG QRW RQO\ E\ LWV XQVZHUYLQJ SRSXODULW\ DPRQJ classical music connoisseurs, but also by the growing interest in this genre among younger generations. Thus, offering new interpretations of Old Masters in the form of modernised opera productions does not show lack of respect for them but, on the contrary, enriches their content considerably. It proves that people still seek some new and extraordinary opera presentations, and this search is particularly characteristic of the postmodern 21st century audience. Moreover, it is important to observe that uncovering new meanings of artistic works is also enriching for ourselves, as it helps us to abandon the stereotypes and perceive art as an inexhaustible source of inspiration. The libretti translations may be modernised as well, either slightly or comprehensively. Translating libretti for such productions may be regarded as unconventional because the target text usually needs to differ greatly from the source text; therefore, the translators must frequently WDNH GLI¿FXOW GHFLVLRQV EXW LUUHVSHFWLYH RI WKH VLWXDWLRQ LW VKRXOG EH emphasized that they should always be in full control of the text. According to Susan Bassnett, it is essential to “recognize the role they [translators] play in reshaping texts, a role that is far from innocent, and is very visible indeed” (1996, 23). 7UDQVODWLQJ OLEUHWWL LV GH¿QLWHO\ D GLI¿FXOW WDVN DQG WKDW LV ZK\ WKHUH are so many imperfect titles. In order to do it successfully, one needs “not only a wide range of linguistic and musical skills but also . . . the indepth knowledge of operatic cultural background and an artistic sensitivity” (Desblache 2007). The coexistence and cooperation of translational skills and classical music expertise are therefore indispensable elements for achieving the goal of successful titles. Moreover, because of the high genre of opera, translating libretti enjoys a special status as well: “[t]he titling of opera is not only a craft, but also an art” (Burton 2009, 69). The trend of modernising operas is not approved of by many, but it is probably here to stay and requires the correct translation of the operas’ libretti. &UHDWLQJ WLWOHV IRU VXFK SURGXFWLRQV LV GH¿QLWHO\ GLI¿FXOW EXW EHFDXVH RI that it is also challenging and inspiring. Modernised productions with adapted titles also demonstrate the potential of opera translation: translation is not regarded as only a marginal element RIRSHUDWLFSURGXFWLRQEXWUDWKHUDVRQHRILWVFUXFLDODQGGH¿QLQJSDUWV Therefore, if surtitles play such an essential part in forming the meaning of DPRGHUQLVHGSURGXFWLRQWKH\DOVRLQÀXHQFHWKHZD\FRQWHPSRUDU\YLHZHUV

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perceive the works of Old Masters. According to Lucile Desblache, “[o] SHUDDQGWKHDWUHVXUWLWOHVUHTXLUHÀH[LELOLW\DVHDFKSURGXFWLRQDQGDW some level, each performance gives a new meaning to the work interpreted” (2007). Modernising does not change original works, which is probably the greatest fear of those who oppose modernised opera productions, it actually enriches our contemporary opinion about them, which, whether it is desirable or not, cannot be the same as it was before. Modernising shows the beauty and timelessness of art, and proves that we can still learn a great deal from the Old Masters.

Works Cited Bassnett, Susan. “The Meek or the Mighty: Reappraising the Role of the Translator.” In Translation, Power, Subversion, ed. Román Álvarez and M. Carmen-África Vidal, 1-24. Clevedon, Multilingual Matters, 1996. Burton, Jonathan. “The Art and Craft of Opera Surtitling.” In Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen, edited by Jorge Díaz Cintas and Gunilla Andermann, 58-70. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Desblache, Lucile. “Music to My Ears, but Words to My Eyes? Text, Opera and Their Audiences.” Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series – Themes in Translation Studies, No 6, 2007. Accessed March 29, 2015, https://lans-tts.uantwerpen.be/ index.php/LANS-TTS/article/view/185/116. — “Challenges and Rewards of Libretto Adaptation.” In Audiovisual Translation: Language Transfer on Screen, edited by Jorge Díaz Cintas and Gunilla Andermann, 71-82. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Savage, Roger. “The Staging of Opera.” In The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, edited by Roger Parker, 350-420. New York-Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Tommasini, Anthony “This Faust Builds Atom Bombs (He Still Sings).” New York Times, November 30, 2011. Accessed March 29, 2015, http://www.nytimes. com/2011/12/01/arts/music/a-review-of-the-metropolitan-operas-faust.html. —. “Timeless Tragedy in Modern Disguise.” New York Times, January 1, 2011. Accessed March 29, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/arts/ music/03traviata.html. Wakin, Daniel J. “Oh, Baby! That Duke Sure is a Dreamboat in the New Rigoletto.” New York Times, February 8, 2013. Accessed April 25, 2015, http://www. nytimes.com/2013/02/09/arts/music/mets-titles-translate-rigoletto-into-1960rat-pack-speak.html. Warrack, John, and Ewan West. The Oxford Dictionary of Opera. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

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CHAPTER FIVE WAGNER AND THE 21ST CENTURY: CONTRIBUTION OF THE CONTEMPORARY STAGE DIRECTION /$80$0(//(1$%$57.(9,ý$ Director in the Spotlight The 1970s of the 20th century saw a decisive change as regards the role of directors working in the opera genre. Before, these were the conductors WKDWUHLJQHGLQWKDW¿HOG6LQFHWKHQPRVWRIRSHUDGLUHFWRUVKDYHDPDUNHG GUDPDWLFWKHDWUHDQGRU¿OPEDFNJURXQG$PRQJWKHPWKHUHDUHQDPHVVXFK DV)UDQFR=HI¿UHOOL/XFKLQR9LVFRQWL3HWHU%URRNDQG5REHUW:LOVRQWR PHQWLRQMXVWDIHZ7KRVHQHZFLUFXPVWDQFHVFHUWDLQO\LQÀXHQFHWKHZD\ opera productions are perceived nowadays, in the 21st century. This article is devoted to the directing of the works of Richard Wagner, one of the brightest artistic personalities of the 19th century. He had a VLJQL¿FDQW LPSDFW RQ PRGHUQLVW DUW WKURXJKRXW WKH th century, and his works have been appropriated and misappropriated by adherents of different ideologies. However, most importantly, his works have never ceased to be a part of a hot debate, and therefore they have been frequently and eagerly reinterpreted and activated within the framework of varius genres and methodologies. One might wonder what it is that keeps Wagner so relevant for more than 150 years. Before turning to the discussion proper, let us offer a few historical facts. As a genre with a relatively limited repertoire, opera goes back to the 17th century, but its golden age came in the 19th century when two great contemporaries who never met–Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagnerwere artistically active. But it is Wagner who is also claimed to be the reformer of the genre, who longed for “the art of the future” (Wagner 1849) as well as for the predominance of the contents over the form in comparison to Italian operas or French grand operas (Wagner 1851). Next, the idea of bringing the contents of myth into symbolic musical dramas introduced by Wagner is what increases the interpretative potential of his operas throughout time.

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It is interesting to note that they actually have never become outdated; they are merely reinterpreted and recontextualized in different historical and social circumstances, producing new meanings and receptions. The context of Wagner’s bicentenary, 2013 brought a new trend of discovering Wagner’s impact on his contemporary world and our times, beyond traditional geographical borders. Thus, a new direction in the new millennium is inaugurated concerning Wagnerian research, covering different peripheries inspired by the composer’s artistic heritage. For instance, the topic of Wagnerism in Baltic States and Scandinavia is widely discussed in the exhaustive study by Finnish scholar Hannu Salmi (2005). The issue was previously touched upon by Rosamund Bartlett’s writings RQ:DJQHU¶VLQÀXHQFHRQ5XVVLDQOLWHUDWXUHDQGFXOWXUHHVSHFLDOO\5XVVLDQ symbolism, as well as on changing ideological perspectives in Russia since the end of the 19th century up to the 1990s of the 20th century (Bartlett 1995). Besides, many articles, such as, for example, those collected in the volume Wagner in Russia, Poland and Czech Lands: Musical, Literary and Cultural Perspectives (Stephen 2013), cover a variety of topics related to the subject of Wagner and his music, mostly in a historical perspective. This article will consider the contemporary productions of Wagner operas Das Rheingold and The Twilight of Gods [Göterdammerung] through the perspective of cultural anthropology. The 21st century proposes the concept of Regietheater or “director’s theatre” on the stages of opera theatres. Regietheater is one of the dominant practices in contemporary opera productions. Typically, this framework implies a recontextualization of the plot and ideas, relocation of the action in time and space, bringing in new contexts and meanings through collectively recognizable symbols. One of the most widespread tendencies among stage GLUHFWRUVLVWRUHÀHFWRQWKH(XURSHDQKLVWRU\RIWKHth century. These are the traumas and consequences of two world wars that have left a deep traces in the collective memory and consciousness of different nations. As for the reception of the production realized according to the Regietheater concept, the reactions of the audience differ from production to production. Due to this divide, such productions are called “progressive” by VRPHRIWKHRSHUDYLHZHUVDQGE\RWKHUVWKH\DUHFODVVL¿HGDV³GHEDWDEOH´ although no strict criteria are established for naming them like this. Two extreme examples in terms of reception are Stefan Herheim’s Parsifal (2008), where the knights of Holy Grail were shown as German soldiers in the World War II, and Frank Castorf’s Ring cycle (2013), where he treats the whole story as the 20th century geopolitical battle for oil as the symbol of power. The former was loudly applauded, while the latter was Thoroughly

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disdained both by the audience and critics. The discussions that were stirred by the above mentioned productions have led to the question whether the trend of the director’s theatre is a sustainable phenomenon or is just a temporary fashion. Has the so-called “classical opera” come to an end? And what is the contribution of the contemporary opera productions as regards interpretation of “classics”, and, in particular, Wagner, who thought he wrote his operas for the audiences of the future? Looking for answers to the above issues, I have come to the conclusion that Wagner’s operas are universal thanks to the use of the mythical structures and the reinterpretable symbols, particularly those of the Ring operas. What follows is that Wagner asks questions related to power and love with the use of juxtaposition, but he gives no answers. And every stage director looks for the most appropriate way to answer these questions in a form that would thrill the audience of the time. As for the modern interpretations of Wagner’s operas, it can be argued that the Regietheater started in the middle of the 20th century with experimental minimalist and symbolist productions by the famous composer’s grandson, Wieland Wagner. He rooted his concepts in the theories of Adolphe Appia, which were later continued by the “French revolution in Bayreuth”, namely, the legendary centennial Bayreuth Ring cycle staged by Patrice Chéreau and conducted by Pierre Boulez in 1976. Therefore, Regietheater is not necessarily a swearword when talking about opera since the idea behind it is to tell an old story in a new way, applying supposedly associative contexts and symbols to bring closer the plot and the audience. As a result, there is no doubt that the stage director in a way has become a new author of the opera, but from the ethical point of view his right to distort the original, both when it comes to text and music, should be questioned. The big doubt is what makes a new interpretation different from a misinterpretation, especially without any pre-set ideological frame. Wagner’s music dramas are challenging due to the symbolic complexity of the plot and its relation to the score, the existing historical traditions of production and different well-settled stereotypes and prejudices about Wagner’s music in the audience, both Wagnerians and unprepared spectators. This makes the latter group even more risky in terms of reception, since this group is hardly able to understand the irony, humour and paradoxes often included in postmodern productions of Wagner’s operas. Subsequently, stage directors rearrange the images and symbols, and construct new meanings on the basis of Wagner’s structures. My current research deals with the contextualization and staging of Richard Wagner’s operas in the 21st century. I am particularly interested in the productions

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of the Ring cycle made in Riga, therefore my examples will mainly come from my case study—the recent Ring cycle productions by Latvian National Opera. In order to illustrate the contribution of the contemporary direction, the two already mentioned stagings, i.e. Das Rheingold by Stefan Herheim (2006) and The Twilight of Gods by Latvian director Viesturs Kairišs, will be discussed. These productions contain a vast number of socio-historical contexts integrated into the dramaturgy of the plot and impacting the interpretation and reception of these particular operas.

Wagner in the Light of Collective Memory Arnolds Klotinš, a Latvian musicologist who used to write about the correlation of music and ideas in the mid 1980s, once stated that it is essential to understand that Wagner belongs to those past thinkers who have come up with essential cultural problems to which every new epoch tries WR¿QGQHZUHVSRQVHV $QGLQVXFKOLJKWZHVKRXOGORRNDWWKH productions in question. The framework chosen by Norwegian-German director Stefan Herheim in his staging of Das Rheingold is psychoanalysis—he transforms the OLEUHWWRLQWRWKH³EUDLQSX]]OH´RI5LFKDUG:DJQHUDQG¿OOVWKHSURGXFWLRQ with many representations. It is important to note that the representations here are understood according to the description offered by English cultural WKHRULVW6WXDUW+DOOZKRGH¿QHVWKHWHUP³UHSUHVHQWDWLRQ´DVIROORZV Representation connects meaning, language and culture .... Representation is an essential part of the process by which meaning is produced and exchanges between members of a culture. It does involve the use of language, of signs and images, which stand for or represent things. (1997, 7)

Therefore, Herheim’s stage is haunted by Wagner’s own image and different “selves”, which are the representations of German culture and KLVWRU\ ,Q WKDW YHLQ WKH SURGXFWLRQ LV SRSXODWHG E\ ZHOONQRZQ ¿JXUHV of different times and spaces—starting from Goethe and ending up with people who never met Wagner, but felt great admiration for his works, like Sigmund Freud, or who were even obsessed with him, as was the case with Adolf Hitler. $VIRURWKHUFKDUDFWHUVWKHUHLVD¿JXUHRIJRG:RWDQZKRLVGUHVVHG in a velvet mantle and a beret. This points to Wagner in his most famous SRUWUDLWV1H[WDPRQJWKH¿JXUHVWKDWDSSHDURQWKHVWDJHWKHUHLV:RWDQ¶V wife, Fricka, portrayed as Cosima Wagner. Apart from them the audience can

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see the references to Wagner also in the half-god, Loge. He is the trickster of the story who resembles Wagner. Interestingly enough, although Herheim’s “Pantheon of Gods” is not so small, it does not include any other wellknown German/Scandinavian gods, but shows Wotan-Wagner surrounded by characters resembling Luther, Nietzsche, Liszt, Beethoven, Bismarck, Freud, a few German emperors and politicians of the Nazi Germany, etc. For example, the thunder god, Donner, is represented as the minister of propaganda of the Nazi time, Joseph Goebbels, whereas the spring god, Froh is shown as Herman Goering, a burlesque of the minister of culture and the aviator. What is quite puzzling and ironic at the same time, Goering, apart form a Nazi uniform, is equipped with a helmet with swan wings of the Saint Grail’s knight, Lohengrin, and with Tannhäuser’s lyra (see Fig. 6-1). These are certainly quite obvious references to other operas by Richard Wagner.

Fig. 6-1. A scene from Das Rheingold (directed by Stefan Herheim), Latvian National Opera, 2006 (revived 2013); credited by LNOB.1

Among the characters that appear on the stage, dwarf Alberich is perhaps one of the most intriguing because, as the story develops, he starts to change. For it is only in the prologue that he wears Wagner’s mantle and 1

/12%±VLQFH-XO\WKHRI¿FLDOQDPHRIWKHIRUPHU/DWYLDQ1DWLRQDO2SHUD is Latvian National Opera and Ballet or LNOB. For the productions, however, that were staged between 2006-2013, the abbreviation LNO was used when referring to the institution.

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EHUHWWKHUHIRUHPDNLQJWKHDXGLHQFHWKLQNRIWKHFRPSRVHU/DWHULQWKH¿UVW act, he transforms into the visually recognizable Adolf Hitler, who reigns and commands in Niebelheim represented by the Bayreuth Festspielhaus (whose model in the prologue was the representation of the gold of Rhine that was stolen by Alberich). When it comes to social and national issues related to Germany of that time, there is of course the “Jewish question” . The Jews are represented by the enslaved Nibelungs, who forge and collect the gold for their master (see Fig. 6-2). Curiously enough, the giants building the Valhalla castle are easily recognizable as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. They use as tools a sickle and hammer: symbolic representations of the tragic future of Marxist ideology that was partly responsible for the tragic history of Europe in the 20th century.

Fig. 6-2. A scene from Das Rheingold (directed by Stefan Herheim), Latvian National Opera, 2006 (revived 2013); credited by LNOB.

Now what we see on the stage created by Herheim is a postmodern FROODJHRIGLIIHUHQW\HWYHU\VLJQL¿FDQWFRQWH[WVDQGLQWHUSUHWDWLRQVUHODWHG to Wagner’s personality and work. These contextual spaces and subjective interpretations belong to different times and histories. They are a curious mixture of associations and perceptions (and misperceptions) as well as varied references to social and historical issues that form our experience and memory today. Certainly, the accentuation of the Third Reich’s discourse is not a coincidence. It is a clear reminder of widespread stereotypes regarding Wagner’s music, the repeated pattern that actually has nothing to do with the

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music in question, except for the fact that it was successfully appropriated for propaganda purposes. Such postmodern interpretation of high, multi-layered semantic density is readable only for the spectator in the 21st century, since s/he is more open WRWDONDERXWWKHFROOHFWLYHSDVWWUDXPDVOHIWE\:RUOG:DU,,DQGWRUHÀHFW on them from today’s perspective through the contemporary production of Wagner’s opera. In the context of Stefan Herheim’s staging of Das Rheingold, we should look at the production as the combination of texts or languages that supplement each other, express the meanings which are impossible to express otherwise and are full of different representations. These representations, on the one hand, keep the reader-spectator alert, but on the other, they make him/her in a way lost. And this might be one of the central problems as far as the reception of this production is concerned. For one can say that, indeed, Wagner had nothing to do with Hitler and his regime in of the 1930s. However, as observed above, Hitler’s obsession with Wagner’s music and its subsequent appropriation for ideological and propaganda purposes have left a real stigma on it throughout the 20th century, therefore leaving notable footprints in the collective memory that have been transformed into permanent stereotypes. This is a typical example of Roland Barthes’s “death of the author”, when texts, in this case, all works of Wagner, keep living their own lives independently from their initial author. To that end, Stefan Herheim as a stage director is a new “author” who relocates, recreates and recontextualizes the text and creates a new layer to the old story, applying the symbols and artifacts that mean something for today’s audience and thus challenge their perception. This agrees with what Maruška Svašek, a culture anthropologist, says about such preserved/collected elements of the past: One of the most basic characteristics of all artifacts is their relative material permanency; the fact they can be moved from one place to another without changing their physical features. The question, however, is to what extent an object which moves through time and space, and appears in different locations, remains “the same thing”. As was argued earlier, from the processual relativist point of view, which takes a wide variety of changing contextual factors into account, the object will almost certainly be presented, SHUFHLYHGDQGLQÀXHQWLDOLQGLVWLQFWZD\VLQGLIIHUHQWHQYLURQPHQWV6YDãHN 2007, 123) In the production of Das Rheingold we deal with this idea in the UHÀHFWLRQRIDSSURSULDWLRQRIVZDVWLNDE\WKH1D]LVDQGWKHDSSOLFDWLRQRI WKH V\PEROLF PHDQLQJ RI VLFNOH DQG KDPPHU DV D UHIHUHQFH WR D VSHFL¿F era. The visual embeddedness changes the ways the artifact is perceived. In

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RWKHUZRUGVUHFRQWH[WXDOL]DWLRQRIREMHFWVE\DSSURSULDWLRQLQÀXHQFHVWKHLU reception, depending on the perceiver’s background. While the younger generation can perceive these artifacts as smart effects, the older generation will most probably still feel the terror embodied in these symbols. Such artifacts have a huge emotional impact on the old generation of viewers; they generate negative reactions in them. But the perception changes if the representation is not recognized by the perceiver or is misunderstood by him. According to Stuart Hall, representation is closely related to recognition. This means that the message loses the embedded meaning or causes inadequate reception. In terms of linguistic analysis conducted by Hall, the stage direction strategy of Stefan +HUKHLP FDQ EH FODVVL¿HG DV WKH UHÀHFWLYH DSSURDFK \HW KLVWRULFDOO\ oriented): ,QWKHUHÀHFWLYHDSSURDFKPHDQLQJLVWKRXJKWWROLHLQWKHREMHFWSHUVRQ idea or event in the real world, and language functions like a mirror, to UHÀHFWWKHWUXHPHDQLQJDVLWDOUHDG\H[LVWVLQWKHZRUOG

The representation of authoritarian regimes of the 20th century Europe is a fashionable trend on opera stage. It marks a topical mode of articulation of past traumas in performing arts in order to enable the emotions in today’s Western society addicted to indifference, ignorance and violence, which are commonly present in everyday life. As anthropologist Diana Taylor points out, “[b]y emphasizing the public, rather than private, repercussions of traumatic violence and loss, social actors turn personal pain into an engine for cultural change” (Taylor 2013, 154). The idea of playing with traumatic past symbols can, on the one hand, enable the active thinking and encourage the introduction of some change to our current lives. However, on the other hand, such a game probably H[SODLQV DQG HYHQ MXVWL¿HV WKH LPSHUIHFWLRQV RI WKH VRFLHW\ WRGD\ ,Q DQ\ case, the audience can hardly stay indifferent.

Wagner–an Unavoidable Interaction of Culture and Society 7KH¿QDORSHUDRIWKHRing cycle, i.e. The Twilight of Gods, was produced in Latvian National Opera in 2011 and staged by Latvian stage director Viesturs Kairišs. Kairišs was engaged to stage the whole of Wagner’s cycle, except the above discussed Das Rheingold. In The Twilight of Gods the stage director questions the meaning of the concept of the hero nowadays,

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claiming that what we need today is a dead hero, because the death of the hero consolidates the nation (Lusina 2011). Discovering different facets of Siegfried, a strong, yet slightly narrowminded and naive person who, as might be expected, at the end of the day EHFRPHVWKHYLFWLPRIWKHFXQQLQJSRZHULQWKH¿JXUHRILQWULJXHU+DJHQ the director shows timeless parallels. In the battles for power usually the strong and honest people lose to those cunning and interest-oriented. It is easy to associate this representation with almost any post-soviet country facing both opportunities and traps offered by another economical and political system. However, Kairišs goes further and, together with his set and costume designer Ieva Jurjane, ironically portrays Brunhilde and Siegfried as hippies. The protagonists wear jeans and are decorated with crochets; they live in their narrow but nice log building with a poster on the wall SURXGO\DQQRXQFLQJ³0DNHORYHQRWZDU´7KH\HYHQKDYHDÀRZHUEHGRI marijuana on the sill. But in act two, the palace of Gibichungs is full of references to the Soviet era and its aesthetic concepts regarding interiors and clothes. A Russian sauna becomes the focus of attention. It is presented as a kind of kitchen where dirty deals and ambiguous political agreements are carried out within the walls adorned with trophies. For example, Siegfried is stabbed with Hagen’s spear which is also used to barbecue sausagesand this takes place close to the sauna. Clearly, this is a representation of hunting, a favourite hobby in Soviet times, as well as the general Soviet settings. (See Fig. 6-3)

Fig. 6-3. A scene from the The Twilight of Gods, Latvian National Opera, 2011 (directed by Viesturs Kairišs); credited by LNOB.

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The death of the hero, which is the plot episode that goes along with Wagner’s chrestomathic “Siegfried’s Funeral March”, was inspired by the tragic event, namely the death of the famous Latvian ice hockey player, “Iron Man” Karlis Skrastinš. He died together with the whole team, “Lokomotiv Yaroslavl” (abroad known also as “Locomotive HC”) in the plane crash in Russia in July 2011. This dreadful time, according to Kairišs’ opinion, consolidated the Latvian nation. The funeral of Skrastinš was almost a national mourning, particularly due to the fact that this tragedy was in a ZD\LOORJLFDODQGGH¿QLWHO\HQWLUHO\XQH[SHFWHG7KHFHUHPRQ\ZDVRIWHQ compared to performance and was widely broadcast in mass media. This accidental death of the young man, the irony of fate, was used by Kairišs in his Wagnerian production. For the message of the stage director encompasses the ironic, but at the same time very emotional, aspect of the “embodied experience”, the term which was used by anthropologist Diana Taylor (2013, 155). The picture below (Fig. 6-4) shows the immolation of Brunhilde in the “pyre” of the killed Siegfried–one of the most spectacular scenes in The Twilight of Gods.

Fig. 6-4. A scene from the The Twilight of Gods, Latvian National Opera, 2011, (directed by Viesturs Kairišs); Gunars Janaitis, credited by LNOB.

When considering the scene closely, we can see that in this particular opera production the director’s strategy is based on the aesthetics of a typical, public funeral. Elements like candles, portraits of the diseased,

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ÀRZHUVDQGWUDGLWLRQDOIXQHUDOZUHDWKVTXLFNO\DVVRFLDWHLQWKHDXGLHQFHV mind with the ordinary and typical. But Siegfried’s body is covered with the sheet on which there is a following statement: “Make love not war”. This is the point when the viewers might start to wonder what this grotesque picture of today has to do with Wagner. Surprisingly, there are more things LQFRPPRQWKDWRQHPLJKWH[SHFWRUQRWLFHDW¿UVWVLJKW The 21st century is marked by liberalism which is arguably devoid of a ¿[HGDQGVHFXUHV\VWHPRIYDOXHVLQFOXGLQJWKHFXOWXUDORQHVZKHUHWKH routine tends to prevail over the ideals. Wagner longed for the art that would wake the emotional side of people and ecourage them to oppose the fully rationalized and technocratic life of the 19th century. However, in the present day the question related to the problem of responsibility emerges. Who is going to take the responsibility for the future? At the end of the Ring staged LQ5LJDWKHUHLVQRÀRRGQRÀDPHVQRDSRFDO\SVHV±RQO\DFKRLULVVWDQGLQJ around the dead hero and his friends and singing a mute anthem. In such a way Latvian stage director Viesturs Kairišs in his The Twilight of Gods introduces Wagner today. He shows new dimensions of his symbolic musical drama, widely dealing with collective past traumas and contemporariness, questioning the ability of society to bear the responsibility for their present situation and their future, respectively.

Conclusion To sum up, the contemporary stage direction of Wagner operas is a certain type of a “creative translation”. In other words, in today’s Wagner production we face the reinterpretation proposed by the stage director. S/he does it via the topical context of his/her times and through the culture s/he lives in and knows from experience. Curiously, many of the opera directors of today use the “translation” metaphor describing their function. Such translation provides the following results: 1. Through the postmodernist aesthetics and hermeneutical interpretation strategy stage directors try to reach the audience and translate the archetypical models of relationship and resolve, for instance, the perpetual contradiction between power and love using the symbols familiar to their contemporaries. 2 The stage director can be considered a “new author” of the artwork in the new paradigm—VSHFL¿FDOO\ IRU RSHUD JHQUH VKH LV WKH RQH ZKR GHDOV with the changeable part of it, i.e. production, thus ensuring the endurance of the genre often considered stiff or even dead among other performing arts.

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$UW RSHUD  VWLPXODWHV WKH UHÀHFWLRQ LQ WKH VRFLHW\ DQG LW PHDQV WKDW Wagner’s ideas are implemented within the framework of postmodern aesthetics and put into new contexts, familiar to the contemporary audiences. What seems probable is that the diversity of discourses and the openness to the interpretations is helpful in making opera comprehensible to the audience. And this can be done with implementing the idea of the director’s theatre when it comes to opera stage. Fortunately, negative statements such as “this is not Wagner”, heard among the viewers and critics, do not pass the threshold of objective critique any more. This is how Wagner talks to us today, and this is how we perceive the ideas symbolically expressed more than a hundred years ago. The stage directors make references to different layers of personal and collective memory in their strategy to address the DXGLHQFH DQG WR HQDEOH WKH UHÀHFWLRQ RQ ZKDW KDV PDGH XV ZKDW ZH DUH today, whether it means we have to challenge our perception or deal with historical traumas that continue to have a great impact on our lives.

Works Cited Bartlett, Rosamund. Wagner and Russia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995, re. 2007. Hall, Stuart, ed. The Work of Representation. London: Sage Publications, 1997. Klotinš, Arnolds. Muzika un idejas. Riga: Liesma, 1987. Lusina, Inese. “Wagner does not let you go.” Interview with Viesturs Kairišs. Diena 17 November 2011, http://www.diena.lv/sodien-laikraksta/vagners-tevineatlaiz-13914459. Muir, Stephen, Anastasia Belina-Johnson, eds.Wagner in Russia, Poland and Czech Lands. London and New York: Ashgate Publishing, 2013. Salmi, Hannu. :DJQHU DQG :DJQHULVP LQ 1LQHWHHQWK&HQWXU\ 6ZHGHQ )LQODQG and the Baltic Provinces. Reception. Enthusiasm. New York: University of Rochester Press, 2005. Svašek, Maruška. Anthropology, Art and Cultural Production. London: Pluto Press, 2007. Taylor, Diana “’You Are Here’: The DNA of Performance.” TDR/The Drama Review, Vol. 46, No 1, 2013, 149-169. Wagner, Richard. “Artwork of the Future.” 1849. Transl. William Ashton Ellis. In Richard Wagner’s Prose Works. Vol. 1, 1895, 69-213. The Wagner Library, Edition 1.0. Pdf. —. “Opera and Drama.” 1851. Transl. William Ashton Ellis. In Richard Wagner’s Prose Works. Vol. 2, 1893, 1-376. The Wagner Library, Edition 1.0. Pdf.

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CHAPTER SIX WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET,12ƹƦ(576 KRODERS’S STAGE INTERPRETATIONS 9Ɯ60$/Ɯ9$/'(

Personality. Text. Epoch The Article refers to two great theatre creators—English dramatist William 6KDNHVSHDUH   DQG /DWYLDQ GLUHFWRU 2ƺƧHUWV Kroders  ,WLVKDUGWR¿QGVRPHRQHZKRZRXOGQRWDJUHHWKDWShakespeare ZDVDPDVWHURIWKHJHQUHEXWZK\ZRXOGZHFDOOWKLVSDUWLFXODU/DWYLDQ theatre director a master? )LUVWRIDOODPRQJ/DWYLDQGLUHFWRUV2ƺƧHUWVKroders (see Fig. 6-1) can ERDVWWKHORQJHVWSURIHVVLRQDOFDUHHU±\HDUVVSHQWDWYDULRXVSURIHVVLRQDO theatres in Latvia. Second, Kroders’s approach to staging has become to be known as “the theatre of Kroders”. What follows is that the Kroders’s theatre and the followers of this idea operating in Valmiera in the 1960s and 1970s DUHLQFOXGHGLQWKH/DWYLDQ&XOWXUDO&DQRQ)XUWKHUPRUHKroders’s staging of Anton &KHNKRY¶VThe SeagullLQ/LHSƗMD7KHDWUH UHFHLYHGWKUHH SUL]HVGXULQJ³%DOWLF7KHDWUH6SULQJ´.DOLQLQJUDG DQGZDVVKRZQLQWKH 0RVFRZ$UW7KHDWUH0+$7 7KHGLUHFWRUUHFHLYHGDOVRYDULRXVQDWLRQDO SUL]HV LQ SHUIRUPLQJ DUWV LQFOXGLQJ RQH IRU WKH VWDJLQJ RI Shakespeare’s King Lear in Valmiera Drama Theater (2006). In 2001 Kroders was awarded the Order of the Three Stars—WKHPRVWSURPLQHQWDZDUGRIWKH5HSXEOLF RI /DWYLD IRU VSHFLDO PHULWV ,Q  KH EHFDPH WKH KRQRUDU\ PHPEHU LQ /DWYLDQ$FDGHP\RI6FLHQFHVDQGLQKHZDVLQFOXGHGLQWKH*ROGHQ )XQGRI7KHDWUHLQ/DWYLDIRUVSHFLDOPHULWV7KHPDLQOLQHLQKLVFUHDWLYH ELRJUDSK\ FRQVLVWV RI WKH VWDJLQJ RI FODVVLFDO GUDPD WH[WV DPRQJ ZKLFK WKHUHDUHVHYHUDOSURGXFWLRQVRI6KDNHVSHDUH¶VSOD\VVXFKDVRomeo and Juliet (1966), The Winter’s Tale (1980), Richard III (1990), Othello (1999) and King Lear 7KHUHLVRQHPRUHSOD\E\Shakespeare that was of interest to .URGHUVQDPHO\Hamlet. %XWWKLVZRUNRIWKH(QJOLVKSOD\ZULJKW ZDVRIDYHU\VSHFLDOLQWHUHVWWRWKHGLUHFWRUVLQFHKHVWDJHGLWIRXUWLPHV

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Another important information concerning Kroders is that he was an DXWRGLGDFW'XHWRWKHGHSRUWDWLRQWR6LEHULDZKHUHKHVSHQW¿IWHHQ\HDUV RIKLVOLIH KHPDQDJHGWRVWXG\WKHDWUHSURIHVVLRQDOO\IRURQO\ RQH\HDU$IWHUUHWXUQLQJWR/DWYLDIRUWZR\HDUVKHZDVDQDVVLVWDQWWRWKH JUHDW /DWYLDQ GLUHFWRU (GXDUGV 6PLƺƧLV DW$UWV 7KHDWUH LQ 5LJD /DWHU LQ 1963-1964, .URGHUVDWWHQGHGWKHFRXUVHVRIVWDJHGLUHFWLRQSURYLGHGE\WKH /XQDFKDUVN\6WDWH,QVWLWXWHRI7KHDWUH$UWV*,7,6 LQ0RVFRZ7KHUHKH EHFDPHDFTXDLQWHGZLWKWKH5XVVLDQWKHDWUHWKDWZDVEUHDNLQJWKURXJKWKH VWDJQDWLRQHVSHFLDOO\ZLWKWKHFRQFHSWXDOLVPRI*HRUJ\Tovstonogov and SV\FKRORJLFDOUHDOLVPRI$QDWRO\Efros. He also saw some of the foreign JXHVW SHUIRUPDQFHV LQFOXGLQJ Shakespeare’s King Lear VWDJHG E\ 3HWHU

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Brook. Brook, whose actors apply the ideas of Stanislavsky, Grotowski and $UWDXG ZDV WKH ¿UVW (XURSHDQ GLUHFWRU WDNLQJ WKH OLEHUW\ RI ORRNLQJ IRU similarities between the protagonists of Shakespearean tragedies and the VRFLHW\RIWKHSUHVHQWWLPH%URRN¶VLQWHUSUHWDWLRQOHIWDVLJQL¿FDQWLPSDFW on Kroders, encouraging more and more avant-garde elements in his later productions, despite the ruling canon of socialist realism. In his stagings of world classics, Kroders always aspired to talk indirectly about contemporary issues—through subtexts, metaphors and articulation of particular problems. Nevertheless, the different productions of Hamlet have become creative manifestos of Kroders’s, periodically functioning as the predicate of his sense of the moment—each new production of the play was staged with an interval of roughly twelve years. Conceptual contact points with the ideas of Hamlet can be traced in other productions of classical drama as well. This leads to the statement that in all periods of his life Kroders addressed society through Hamlet’s perspective.

Four Stagings of Hamlet The clash between Hamlet and Claudius or between the personality and power, is the leading motive of Hamlet’V PHVVDJH$QG WKLV FRQÀLFW is emphasized in all four productions of the play staged by Kroders. However, despite the fact the there is the same dominant motif throughout the productions, the interpretation of characters changes since it is rooted in the moods of the time in Latvia and in the psychophysics of the selected actors. The evidence in support of the conviction that these productions are about the present problems of Latvia can be found in the correction made by the director in the text. It obviously refers to the extratextual reality and, moreover, remains unchanged in all four productions of Kroders’s staging of Hamlet. This is the correction in question: when Hamlet (Act V) asks the clown (the grave-digger) upon what ground the young prince lost his wits, the answer is “Upon our own ground” (emphasis mine), which replaces the original “here in Denmark” (Shakespeare, 10). There are also some other changes introduced to Shakespeare’s text E\ .RUGHUV EXW DV VWDWHG E\ WKH GLUHFWRU KLPVHOI WKH\ DUH MXVWL¿HG ZLWK a quite pragmatic purpose—if the whole text of the play was kept in the performance, it would last for approximately six hours, and theatre praxis has shown that for the audience it is hard to endure more than three or four hours of watching. However, the places selected for crossing out or changing are generally based on the director’s ideological intent: “There

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are cases when the text somehow stimulates, but there are one or two or three, or four situations, when it somewhat diverts from the main idea. In such cases the directors often do like this—throw this text completely away or correct it” (Kroders 5). The argument on the excessive length of the play is also emphasised by the Polish Shakespearologist Jan Kott in his book Shakespeare, Our Contemporary, where he says that “Hamlet cannot be performed in its entirety, because the performance would last nearly six hours. ... It will always be a poorer Hamlet than Shakespeare’s Hamlet is, but it may also be a Hamlet enriched by being of our time. It may, but I would rather say–it must be so” (1974, 58). When comparing Kroders’s stagings with the respective text samples, it can be seen that the number of pages and acting persons differ. The ¿UVW VWDJLQJ LV WKH ORQJHVW RQH 7KH VXEVHTXHQW Hamlet productions are JUDGXDOO\ PRUH FRQFHQWUDWHG DQG FRQGHQVHG$W ¿UVW WKH GLUHFWRU GHFLGHG to do away only with those scenes which, according Kroders, repeat certain information and/or those that may bore the viewer. Next, the director PRGL¿HGKLVDSSURDFKDQGZLWKHYHU\IROORZLQJVWDJLQJKHZRXOGFURVVRXW particular words, terms or sentences, bearing in mind that the alterations suit the change in the emphasis of the message delivered. Finally, the director supplied his productions of Hamlet with different titles.

The Production of 1972: The Machinery of Power In 1972 Kroders staged the Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark in Valmiera Drama Theatre. This particular production is considered to be WKH¿UVWUHYROXWLRQDU\VWDJLQJRI6KDNHVSHDUHDQGTXLWHDVXFFHVVIXORQH WRR ,W ZDV WKH ¿UVW SHUIRUPDQFH LQ ZKLFK 6KDNHVSHDUH LV SHUFHLYHG DV D FRQWHPSRUDU\DXWKRU/HWXVQRZWXUQWRWKHPRGL¿HGSOD\DQGLWVVRFLR political background. The main theme of the production is the destiny of an intelligent individual living in the society dominated by a cruel machinery of power DQG¿JKWLQJIRUSRZHUE\DQ\PHDQV$QGWKLVSRZHUGULYHLVZKDWFRQQHFWV ancient Denmark, Shakespeare’s England and the 1970s in the USSR. After the so-called thaw, which started a few years after Stalin’s death, in the second half of 1960s, the censorship in Latvia again became aggressive. That marked the start of a long-lasting stagnation under the iron grasp of the Soviet authorities. The artists and directors were forced to have a close look at the texts again in order to suppress their ironic overtones and focus on the issues of morality and choices made by the individual characters.

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The engagement in the internal world of the character is the keyword of the Hamlet SURGXFWLRQ E\ .URGHUV LQ  7KH VWDJLQJ LV LQÀXHQFHG by the existentialist philosophy and expressionist aesthetics (see Fig. 6-2). The organization of PLVHHQVFqQH and lights manifest Hamlet’s absolute incompatibility with the rest of the world–he is the only human being in WKHKXPDQLW\ORVWFURZG7KHSURWDJRQLVWXQGHUVWDQGVWKDWKHVKRXOG¿JKW against the evil, but does not know how, since the power is unshakeable and cruel. And in such a way the director wanted to make references to the Soviet ruling: “Certainly, there we made an effort to interpret the Soviet Power” (Kroders 2008). In this production, the above-mentioned power is represented by two groups of characters—Claudius and Fortinbras, whose power is openly brutal, and the people who have at least some form of authority through their relations with the central power. As for the mood of the production, it matches the horror aesthetics and contains the elements of the theatre of cruelty. The predominant black colour only enhances the ambience which is further deepened by Claudius’s self-slashing in the prayer scene. Moreover, the most important scenes and locations are marked by the screeching of an owl.

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7KHFRQFHSWRIWKHSURGXFWLRQZDVGLVFORVHGE\VHYHUDOFRUUHFWLRQVLQ WKHWH[WPDGHE\WKHGLUHFWRUWKURXJKKLVLQWHUSUHWDWLRQRIWKHWUDQVODWLRQ 7KHFKDQJHVLQWKHWH[WRIHamletFDQEHYLHZHGDVWKHHQGHDYRXURIWKH GLUHFWRU WR H[SUHVV WKH H[LVWHQWLDO TXHVWLRQV ZKLFK ZHUH WRSLFDO IRU KLP SHUVRQDOO\DWWKHWLPH%HVLGHV.URGHUVRIWHQFDOOHGKLVH[LOHLQ6LEHULDDQ ³DEVXUGGUDPD´ DQGWKLVDEVXUGLW\WKHQRWLRQRIDEVXUGLVDOVR visible in the rehearsals of Hamlet. 7KH VKRZ VWDUWV ZLWK WKH VFHQH RI WKH ¿UVW FRQIURQWDWLRQ EHWZHHQ &ODXGLXVDQG+DPOHW7KHFRQÀLFWEHWZHHQWKHNLQJVWLFNLQJWRWKHSRZHU E\ DQ\ PHDQV DQG WKH SULQFH ZKR KDWHV WKH YLROHQFH LV DQQRXQFHG LPPHGLDWHO\+RZHYHUDVLJQL¿FDQWFKDQJHLQWKHWH[WZDVPDGHWRH[SUHVV WKH PDLQ LGHD LH WKDW WKH YLROHQFH FDQ QHYHU FRH[LVW ZLWK WKH LGHDV RI KXPDQLVP ,Q WKH IDPRXV “to be or not to be” VROLORTX\ of Hamlet (Act III), the phrase “whether ’tis nobler in the mind” (Shakespeare, 10) is WUDGLWLRQDOO\ WUDQVODWHG OLWHUDOO\ ZLWK WKH DFFHQW SXW RQ ³WKH PLQG´ %XW .URGHUV¶V+DPOHWSURQRXQFHV³:KDWLVQREOHUIRUa human?1 WH[WRI P\ HPSKDVLV  7KXV Ln this Hamlet’s VROLORTX\ the director stresses the H[LVWHQWLDO TXHVWLRQ RI WKH PLVVLRQ RI PDQ DV D KXPDQ EHLQJ SUHVXPLQJ WKDWWKHDQVZHUFDQQRWEHIRXQGLQRQH¶VPLQG+DPOHWGHVSLWHKLVGRXEWV LQWKLVSURGXFWLRQVLPLODUO\WRWKHRULJLQDOFKRRVHVWKHSDWKWKDWLVXVXDOO\ WDNHQXSE\WKHPHPEHUVRIVRFLHW\—DQH\HIRUDQH\HDWRRWKIRUDWRRWK .URGHUVKRZHYHUGDUHVWRVKRZWKDWWKLVSDWKLVKRSHOHVVO\GRRPHGERWK SK\VLFDOO\ DQG PHQWDOO\ 6XFK DQ LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ GLG QRW FRPSO\ ZLWK WKH 6RYLHWLGHRORJ\ZKLFKHDVLO\DFFHSWHGDFWVRIYLROHQFHDQGFULPHVRQEHKDOI RIMXVWLFH7KHFULWLFVUHSURDFKHGWKHGLUHFWRUIRUWKLVVWULIHIRUVHOIFHQWUHG RULJLQDOLW\:KDW Kroders wanted to reveal was that Shakespeare did not SRUWUD\HG WKH YHQJHDQFH DV +DPOHW¶V IDWDO PLVWDNH  EXW MXVW DV D KXPDQ WUDJHG\

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FRQWLQXHG0DQ\/DWYLDQVROGLHUVZHUHFRPSHOOHGWRJHWLQYROYHGLQWKLV PLOLWDU\FRQÀLFWDQGPDQ\RIWKHPSHULVKHG0RUHDQGPRUH\RXQJPHQ YROXQWDULO\DFFHSWHGWKHLUSODFHPHQWLQPHQWDOKRVSLWDOVLQRUGHUWRDYRLG WKH DUP\ ,Q WKH QHLJKERXULQJ 3RODQG WKH DXWKRULWLHV WULHG WR ¿JKW ZLWK DQGRSSUHVVWKHPHPEHUVRIWKHVRFLRSROLWLFDOPRYHPHQW³6ROLGDULW\´2 $OWKRXJK GXULQJ WKH ¿UVW KDOI RI WKH V QRERG\ GDUHG WR GRXEW WKH 6RYLHWSRZHUDQGWKHKHJHPRQ\RIWKH&RPPXQLVW3DUW\WKHZRUOGZDV FKDQJLQJUDSLGO\ 2QWKHWKRI)HEUXDU\Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkE\.URGHUV ZDVSUHPLHUHG,WZDVPDGHWRVKRZWKHGLVWRUWLRQRIWKHSRZHUPHFKDQLVP DQG WKH VRFLDO V\VWHP WKH GUDPDWLF FRPEDW RI PDQNLQG IRU PHDQLQJIXO H[LVWHQFHZLWKRXWDVHWJRDORUYLVLRQ7KHVHFRQGHamlet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¶V WH[W LV DOVR JLYHQ WR WKH -HVWHU$V D UHVXOW D GLDORJXH EHWZHHQ WKH WZR FKDUDFWHUVLVFUHDWHGDQGWKHDXGLHQFHLVLQDZD\SURWHFWHGIURPclichés LQSHUFHSWLRQRI+DPOHW¶VPRQRORJXHV7KLVDOVRIRUFHVWKHYLHZHUVWRSD\ PRUHDWWHQWLRQWRSDUWLFXODUSKUDVHV 0RUHRYHU LQ VRPH SODFHV WKH -HVWHU VSHDNV LQ WKH YRLFH RI +RUDWLR DJDLQ PDNLQJ D FRQYHUVDWLRQ RI D NLQG 7KH GLVSHUVHG WH[WV RI +DPOHW DQG +RUDWLR EHFRPH H[SUHVVLYHO\ ULFKHU DOVR WKURXJK WKH LURQ\ DQG WKH TXHVWLRQDQVZHU VXEWH[W 7KLV LQ WXUQ PDNHV WKH DXGLHQFH QRWLFH WKH SDUDOOHOV EHWZHHQ WKH H[LVWHQWLDO TXHVWLRQV RI 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V KHURHV DQG WKHPRRGLQWKHVRFLHW\RIWKHV/DWHUWKHLPSRUWDQFHRIWKH-HVWHU 2

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William Shakespeare’s Tragedy Hamlet

is decreased by the arrival of the strolling players–here the director shifts all attention to the “real” actors. The general principle of the director was to accentuate the mission of art as the only possibility of nonviolent resistance. Turning to yet another character, Claudius, the director’s approach and interpretation are innovative as well. Both Hamlet and Claudius are played by young actors, which means that the relationship of these two characters LQWKLVSURGXFWLRQGLIIHUVIURPWKH¿UVWSURGXFWLRQH[FOXGLQJWKHFRQÀLFW of generations as a representation of the clash between an individual and the system. A similar interpretation appears a few years later (1986) in the SURGXFWLRQE\*OHE3DQ¿ORYLQ0RVFRZ/HQLQ¶V.RPVRPRO7KHDWUHZLWK Oleg Yankovsky as Hamlet and Alexandre Zbruyev as Claudius. Through the relationship of Hamlet and Claudius we can see that the second production brings changes to the main protagonist. Hamlet has changed as the world has changed, and his adversary—the power— has changed. In the first production he is a sensitive and naive idealist who collects the proofs for the crime and betrayal. He opposes the natural resistance to violence until he crosses the boundary separating him from the social system he is forced to live in. It is the beginning of his personal degradation. In the second production the crossing of this boundary shows the unavoidable and, at the same time, the only possible path. It also means losing oneself and losing the fight as the destroyed evil is replaced by another. The accentuation of changes in Hamlet made the director take the risk of abridging the “to be or not to be” monologue. A considerable part of the soliloquy in question is omitted, including the text regarding suicide as the best possible solution. The director focuses on the feelings of Hamlet, analyzes his psychology and makes the audience realize that this person is not able to reconcile. In comparison to Kroders’s first production of Hamlet, Fortinbras has no nobility; he is a violent militarist instead. In the final scene Fortinbras is shown as a disabled person, a veteran of war without legs who is taken to the stage in a wooden wheelchair. The director thus demonstrates his attitude towards violence as the disability of the mankind. Fortinbras appears below the central arch and receives the regalia in silence, while the courtiers humbly bow before the disabled military leader. This interpretation has not been analyzed in the reviews of the eighties.

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The production of 1997: The Acceptance of Violence 7KH FUHDWLYH ZRUN RI 2ƺƧHUWV .URGHUV LQ WKH V LV PDUNHG E\ WKH IRFXVRQDQLQGLYLGXDO¶VLQWHUQDOIHHOLQJVHVWUDQJHPHQWDQGSUHGRPLQDQFH RI LQVWLQFWV RYHU WKH LQWHOOHFW 7KH ZRUOG LV SDLQWHG DV FUXHO DQG YLROHQW ZKHUH ELWWHU LURQ\ DQG F\QLFLVP VHUYH DV WKH EHVW VKLHOGV 7KH REMHFW RI LQYHVWLJDWLRQLVQRWDORQHO\KXPDQRULQWHOOHFWXDO¿JKWHUDJDLQVWWKHZRUOG EXWDQLQGLYLGXDOWRUQDSDUWE\FRQWUDGLFWLRQVZHDULQJWKHPDVNRIDF\QLF DQGEHLQJXQDEOHWRULVHVSLULWXDOO\DERYHWKHJRYHUQLQJV\VWHP3RVVLEO\ LWLVWKHZD\.URGHUVSHUFHLYHVWKHVZKLFKZDVDGLI¿FXOWSHULRGLQ WKHKLVWRU\RIWKHUHQHZHGFRXQWU\7KHFUHDWLYHLQWHOOLJHQWVLDLQYROYHGLQ WKH UHYLYDO RI LQGHSHQGHQW /DWYLD KDUGO\ KDG DQ\ H[SHULHQFH LQ SROLWLFV WKLVOHDGLQJWRDVLWXDWLRQZKHQWKHJRYHUQLQJHOLWHVLQFOXGHGSHRSOHZHUH XQDEOHDEOHWRHYDOXDWHWKHJOREDOSURFHVVHVDGHTXDWHO\5XLQHGHFRQRPLFV FRUUXSWLRQ DFWLYH FULPLQDO VWUXFWXUHV DQG WKH SUHGRPLQDQFH RI IRUPHU RI¿FLDOV RI WKH &RPPXQLVW 3DUW\ LQ EXVLQHVV WKLV LV ZKDW FKDUDFWHUL]HG /DWYLDGXULQJWKHQLQHWLHVIn 1997 .URGHUVVWDJHGKLVWKLUGSURGXFWLRQRI Shakespeare’s HamletDWWKH/DWYLDQ1DWLRQDO7KHDWUH7KHIRFXVIURPWKH former denial of the violence shifts to the general predominance of violence DVVXFK$V.URGHUVVD\V >L@Q WZR SUHYLRXV SURGXFWLRQV , WULHG WR ZRUQ WKH DXGLHQFH WKDW DFWLYH UHVLVWDQFHWRWKHHYLODQGWKHUHYHQJHOHDGVWRJHQHUDOFUXHOW\QRZ,ZDQWHG WRVWDWHWKDWZHKDYHWR¿JKWDJDLQVWWKHHYLOHYHQLILWPHDQVWKHVDFUL¿FHRI KHUR¶VOLIHDQGVRXO7KHUHLVWRRPXFKHYLOLQWKLVZRUOGDQGZHFDQQRWMXVW FRQWHPSODWHDQGOHWLWWULXPSK

8QIRUWXQDWHO\DVLJQL¿FDQWQXDQFHRIWKHWH[WLVORVWDOVRLQWKH³WREHRU QRWWREH´PRQRORJXH7KHUHLVQRPRUHRI³ZKDWFRXOGEHPRUHGLJQL¿HGIRU DPDQ´DVEHIRUH+HUH+DPOHWFDUHVRQO\DERXWKLPVHOIDQGDVNV7REHRU not to be—WKDWLVWKHTXHVWLRQ+RZWRNHHSWKHKRQRXU"WH[WRI  ,QWKLVLQWHUSUHWDWLRQWKHUHDUHQRPRUHFKDUDFWHUVWKDWZHUHSUHYLRXVO\YHU\ important—WKHGLUHFWRUH[FOXGHVWKH$FWRUVIURPWKHSURGXFWLRQ )XUWKHUPRUH WKH UHODWLRQVKLS EHWZHHQ +DPOHW DQG RWKHU FKDUDFWHUV LQFOXGLQJ &ODXGLXV *HUWUXGHDQG2SKHOLDZDVWXUQHGLQWRDFRPSHWLWLRQ,QWKH0RXVHWUDSVFHQH &ODXGLXVDQG*HUWUXGHSOD\WKHPVHOYHVZKLFKLQWHQVL¿HVWKHLURQ\WXUQLQJ LWLQWRVDUFDVP7KLVDOVRPHDQVWKDWWKHLGHDORIDUWGRHVQRWH[LVWDQ\PRUH The concept of the 1997 HamletUHÀHFWVWKHRYHUDOOSURFHVVHVLQWKH/DWYLDQ WKHDWUHLQWKHVHFRQGKDOIRIWKHQLQHWLHVFKDUDFWHUL]HGE\WKHHVWUDQJHPHQWRI SHUVRQDOLW\GLVDSSRLQWPHQWDQGORVWLGHDOV

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William 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V7UDJHG\Hamlet

The production of 2008: Irony with Regard to Power 7KHHFRQRPLFZHOIDUHLQ/DWYLDKDVEHHQJUDGXDOO\LQFUHDVLQJDQGDWWKH EHJLQQLQJRIWKHQHZPLOOHQQLXPRQO\DVPDOOSDUWRIWKHVRFLHW\ZDVZRUULHG DERXW WKH GLFWDWH RI JOREDOL]DWLRQ DQG JOREDO FDSLWDOV ERWK SROLWLFDOO\ DQG FXOWXUDOO\$WWKHEHJLQQLQJRI2ƺƧHUWVKroders staged his last Hamlet DW9DOPLHUD'UDPD7KHDWUH7KHSURGXFWLRQZDVQRPLQDWHGIRUWKH1DWLRQDO Theatre Award in Latvia in seven categories3. ,QWKLVSURGXFWLRQ+DPOHWLVD \RXQJPDQWU\LQJWR¿QGKLVSODFHLQWKHVRFLHW\UHLJQHGE\PRQH\DQGODFN of moral principles. The director admits that >W@KHLGHDIRUWKLVSURGXFWLRQFRPHVIURPWKHFXUUHQWVLWXDWLRQLQ/DWYLD It FRPHVIURPWKHIDFWWKDWIRU¿IWHHQ\HDUVZHDOOKDYHWROHUDWHGWKDWWKH\>WKH JRYHUQPHQW@WUHDWXVOLNHVKLWDQGZHMXVWNHHSPXUPXULQJLQWKHFRUQHUV WKDWZHVKRXOGGRVRPHWKLQJDERXWLW/LNH+DPOHWLQGHHG(2008)

As for other characters, the Jester is no more among them and Horatio LVIDUPRUHLQWULJXLQJLQFRPSDULVRQZLWKWKHSUHYLRXVYHUVLRQVRIHamlet. ,QGHHGWKH¿JXUHRI+RUDWLRLVWUXO\LQQRYDWLYH)LUVWDQGIRUPRVWKHLV SOD\HGE\DZRPDQDQGSURYLGHVDNLQGRIDQLQWHUQDOalter ego for Hamlet. 7KLV LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ LV DOO DERXW WKH ³WR EH RU QRW WR EH´ TXHVWLRQ +RUDWLR represents the positive part of the decision, i.e. “to be”. As .URGHUVH[SODLQV ³LI\RXDUHDEOHWRVWD\DV\RXDUHLWPHDQVµWREH¶,I\RXREH\WKHSUHVVXUH RIVRFLHW\DQGDGDSW\RXUVHOIWRWKHV\VWHP\RXORVH\RXUVHOI´  Another innovation was that tKHDXGLHQFHZHUHVLWWLQJRQWKHVWDJHDQG WKHVHWZDVWXUQHGLQWRDOLEUDU\ZLWKDOOZDOOVFRYHUHGZLWKERRNVKHOYHV VHH)LJ $FWXDOO\WZRFRQWUDGLFWRU\DSSURDFKHVFRH[LVWKHUHWKHZLVK WRLQYROYHWKHDXGLHQFHLQWKHHYHQWVRQWKHVWDJHDQGVLPXOWDQHRXVO\DQ DWWHPSWWRFUHDWHDQHIIHFWRIHVWUDQJHPHQWDVLIWKHVWRU\RI+DPOHWFRXOG RQO\EHUHDGRUUHWROGIURPDERRN7KHVKHOYHVRIWKHOLEUDU\UHPLQGXV DOVRRIWKHLQWHULRURI2ƺƧHUWVKroders’s own room—KHZRXOGOLYHDPRQJ ERRNVKHOYHVDQGZKHQIRUWKHODVW\HDUVRIKLVOLIHKHPRYHGLQWRWKHEXLOGLQJ RI9DOPLHUD'UDPD7KHDWUHKLVSHUVRQDOOLEUDU\ZDVDOVRWDNHQWKHUH7KLV 3

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motivates the spectators to notice parallels between the beliefs and the way of thinking of the director and the message of the production. A spiritual liberty is possible despite physical limits. It means addressing the society WKURXJK OLWHUDU\ WH[WV DQG WKHDWUH DQG WKXV PDNLQJ SHRSOH UHÀHFW RQ WKH meaning of existence and on the system of values through the perspective of morality, rather than philosophy.

Fig. 6-3. Hamlet (2008), Valmiera Drama Theatre. Hamlet: Ivo Martinsons.

In this production Claudius and Hamlet are peers like in the second staging. Claudius is a coward and he is rather stupid. He is not interested in the power as a tool; he just likes to demonstrate power and to enjoy the EHQH¿WVSURYLGHGE\LW/LWHUDOO\WKHNLQJLVDPDULRQHWWHLQWKHKDQGVRI others. The previous productions staged by Kroders already contained the idea of senselessness of the revenge against Claudius personally. The last Hamlet is no exception and clearly shows that as well. Claudius is neither a leader, nor a real governor of the state. His death would not change anything, since there is Polonius and other people who hold the power in their hands. The notion of humanism returns to the “to be or not to be” monologue, and the director again replaces the concept of “the mind” (text of 2008). Subsequently, Hamlet’s father is shown as a despot who puts him under direct and violent pressure, clamoring for revenge. It is visible on the stage when the Ghost puts the dagger into Hamlet’s hand. Moreover, the text of Fortinbras is rewritten. He says directly that he has the right to the country, and it means that from then on the power based on iron is established.

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Nothing is left from Shakespeare’s “with sorrow I embrace my fortune.” 7KHWH[WULQJVLQWKHHDUVRIWKHVSHFWDWRUVDVDZDUQLQJ±WKHLQWHUQDOFRQÀLFWV DQGVODXJKWHUVRIWKHNLQJGRPDUHEHQH¿FLDOIRUWKHWKLUGSDUW\,WLVDOVR interesting to observe that at some point the shelves of the library turn DURXQGDQGWKHDXGLHQFHQRWLFHVSDLQWHGPXJV¿OOHGZLWKUDWV$QGZKRLV in the mousetrap? The whole country! ,QKLVIRXUGLIIHUHQWSURGXFWLRQVRIWKHZRUOGIDPRXVWUDJHG\2ƺƧHUWV Kroders made a full circle, a dialectic spiral, and has come to the conclusion that an intuitive denial of violence derives from its senselessness. The world cannot be changed; one can only destroy his or her “self” senselessly. The last production revives the message about the art as the only acceptable “weapon” as well as “the mirror of the epoch”. This is probably is not enough to change the society in general, but it can impart some logic for human existence.

Works Cited Hamlet7UDQV.ƗUOLV(JOH.URGHUV¶VGLUHFWRU¶VFRSLHVWH[WVRIWKHVWDJLQJRI DQG $UFKLYHVRI/LHSƗMD7KHDWUH0DQXVFULSW Hamlet. Trans. Juris Birzvalks. Kroders’s director’s copy. Archives of Latvian National Theatre. Manuscript, 1997. Hamlet. Digital copy from the archives of Valmiera Drama Theatre, 2008. Transcription kept in the author’s personal archives. Kott, Jan. Shakespeare Our Contemporary. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1974. Kroders, 2ƺƧHUWV. Interview by Vesma Levalde. August 2011. Recording kept in the author’s personal archives. —. Interview by Vesma Levalde. December 2011. Recording kept in the author’s personal archives. —. “Absolutely Chrestomathic Premiere”. Interview by Andris Jansons. Rigas Balss. Web. 12 May 1997. http://news.lv/Rigas_Balss/1997/12/05/absolutihrestomatiska-hamleta-pirmizrade. ²³2ƺƧHUWV.URGHUV+DPOHWV´,QWHUYLHZE\8QGLQH$GDPDLWHDiena. Web. 3 April 2008. http://www.diena.lv/izklaide/skatuve/olgerts-kroders-hamlets-37352. —. I Try to be Revealed. Autobiographical story in two parts. Riga: Maksla, 1993. Shakespeare, William “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”. Web. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/full.html.

PART III Tales & Legends

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CHAPTER SEVEN W.B. YEATS–BETWEEN DRAMA AND RITUAL: THE TRADITION OF CELTIC LEGENDS JOANNA KOKOT

The ambitious goal that the artists and writers associated with the so called Celtic Revival set for themselves was to rebuild the Irish national and cultural consciousness, focusing their attention mainly on the old Celtic legends and myths. Numerous collections of Irish folk tales were publishedamong others, William Larmine’s :HOVK,ULVK)RON7DOHV (1893) Lady Augusta Gregory’s Cuchulain of Muirthemne (1902), Gods and Fighting Men (1904) or Poets and Dreamers (1903); the motifs, plots and characters from the old myths were deployed in poetry and dramas, as well as in visual arts. In 1897 the Irish National Theatre was founded, and seven years later—the Abbey Theatre. Numerous echoes of the Irish folklore can also be found in William Butler Yeats’s poems as well as in most of his one-act plays.1 Cathleen ni Houlihan deploys the personalization of Ireland as an old woman, well grounded in folklore; A Land of Heart’s Desire is a story of a girl taken to the fairyland; references to Irish mythology can be found in A Full Moon in March; while Deirdre presents a plot well known from the Irish legends about a girl forced to marry an old king, the murderer of her beloved. The protagonist of a number of plays (On Baile’s Strand, The Only Jealousy of Emer, At the Hawk’s Well, The Green Helmet, The Death of Cuchulain) is the Irish hero, Cuchulain. However, the plays do not merely “dramatize” the old myths and legends to present them on the stage. On the contrary. They propose Yeats’s own, often reworked versions of the traditional plots: the folklore and mythology function here as a frame of reference 1

It is worth mentioning that Yeats was one of the founders of the Irish National TheDWUHDQGWKHQWKH$EEH\7KHDWUHLQ'XEOLQ,QWKH¿UVWVLJQL¿FDQWGUDPDE\ Yeats, Countess Cathleen (1892) was staged by the Irish National Theatre, while two other one-act plays–On Baile’s Strand (1903) and Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902) RSHQHGWKH¿UVWVHDVRQRIWKH$EEH\7KHDWUH

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and not an object of reconstruction. It is customary to think of Yeats’s one-act plays as poetic dramas. The critics, starting with T.S. Eliot and his well known essay, foreground the IX]]\ ERUGHU EHWZHHQ WKH ZULWHU¶V SRHWU\ DQG KLV GUDPDV(OLRW GH¿QHV the plays as “dramatic poetry”, and Yeats himself as a “lyrical dramatist” (Eliot 60). Indeed, the language far from the common speech, the dialogues written in blank verse, the songs inserted in the plays and functioning as commentaries upon the presented events, the motifs referring to the national heritage, and at the same time the free use of that heritage, the amount of suggestions and understatements, the fragmentariness of actionall these point to the dominance of the lyrical mode. Hence one might expect that the key meanings communicated by the plays would result from their status as literary texts, rather than blueprints of theatrical performancesin other words, from their dominant function being that of a supercode and not that of a codex.2 The reconstruction of the unique model of the world of each text would then comprise for example deciphering the cultural allusions, investigating the semantic patterns of songs embedded in the dialogues, discovering analogies between the poetic intrusions and the course of events, decoding the network of signs and their relations. One might expect, too, that the performance designed by such a text would merely reproduce or enhance the poetic patterns, while the role ascribed to the implied audience would be merely to decode the intricate relations, generated primarily by the imposed patterns of the textual supercode. Yet, to assume this would be to draw conclusions too quickly. The style of reading encoded into the plays as supercodes does not entail their function as codices. It seems that in the case of Yeats’s one-act plays the implied spectator’s experience is modelled in a diametrically different way than that of the implied readers. This refers to those texts where the presented events are entirely set in the mythical past, ostensibly unrelated to the potential spectators’ here-and-now. Thus the key questions that we shall ask about the 2

The term “codex” is used here after Andrzej Zgorzelski. The scholar discusses the hybrid nature of a drama functioning at the same time as a literary fact and as a kind of a blueprint generating a number of theatre performances: “We understand dramaon the one handas a literary text, which, similarly to a story, a poem or a novel, manifests itself as a record of the unique utterance of the implied author. On the other hand, in opposition to its literary function and in the retrogressive perspective of a theatrical performance, drama reveals itself as a codex, a primary script generating subsequent cultural utterances (performances)” (Zgorzelski 79FIDOVR$EUDPRZVND6NZDUF]\ĔVND6áDZLĔVND 

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one-act plays concern the ways in which the theatrical reality is modelled during the performance3, the relations between the audience and the stage, as well as the model of the world communicated by the plays as codices of theatrical spectacles.

The mediating role of characters In some of Yeats’s one-act plays two types of characters are introduced. One group consists of those that belong to the mythical reality known from the old legends, such as Cuchulain and Emer, Deirdre and Naoise, Conchubar, Bricriu or the war goddess Morrigu. The other group comprises those characters who are not derived from the old myths and who remain, so to say, on the fringe of the performance. They are not even given names: on the list of the dramatis personaeWKH\DUHGH¿QHGDVW\SHVUDWKHUWKDQ individuals—the Fool and the Blind Man from At Baile’s Strand, the Musicians from The Only Jealousy of Emer and their female equivalents from Deirdre, the Old Man from The Death of Cuchulain, or the Attendants from A Full Moon in March. In some plays—especially the earlier onesthese characters constitute SDUWRIWKHSUHVHQWHG¿FWLWLRXVUHDOLW\,WZRXOGEHGLI¿FXOWWRGH¿QHWKHLU role as episodic—their parts are comparatively well developed; for example, the dialogue between the Fool and the Blind Man comprises almost half of At Baile’s Strand. Such a strategy might seem strange in a one-act play: introducing new characters unrelated to the main plot and enhancing their parts would be a violation of the principle of economy. However, the presence of the non-mythical characters appears to be essential in presenting the action proper: their conversation is a pretext to acquaint the audience with the events preceding those which would be presented on the stage. In RWKHUZRUGVWKHVHHPLQJO\VXSHUÀXRXVFKDUDFWHUVSURYLGHWKHVorgeshichte of the action proper that would take place before the audience’s eyes. The Blind Man tells his companion the story about the wild love affair of Cuchulain and Aoife, about the woman’s hatred for her former lover, and the intended revenge (At Baile’s Strand). The First Musician narrates the story of Deirdre, of her love for Naoise, and of the young couple’s elopement from king Conchubar’s hall (Deirdre). Within the drama proper there appears to be another “drama”, no more performed, but narrated. 3

It ought to be stressed that the object of our discussion is still the blueprint (codex) of the performance which is encoded in the text of the play itself, and not any particular realization of the blueprint.

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The well-informed characters not only are well acquainted with the past events but they also know enough to foresee the future course of action. When the First Musician closes her tale about Naoise and Deirdre’s love, she states that “I have more to say” (Yeats 50), revealing the fact that she has eavesdropped the conversation at Conchubar’s hall (one can surmise that the conversation concerned plans of murdering Naoise). When Conlaech is mentioned, the Blind Man announces: “I know who the young man is” (Yeats 23), thus he is conscious of the fact that challenging Cuchulain the \RXQJPDQZLOOKDYHWR¿JKWZLWKKLVRZQIDWKHU The other charactersthe two Musicians or the Foolnot only listen to their companions’ tales but they also expect a continuation, a climax that would close the course of events. The Fool criticizes the convoluted narrative of his companion: What a mix-up you make of everything, Blind Man! You were telling me one story, and you are telling me another story... How can I get the hang of it at the end if you mix everything at the beginning? (Yeats 23-24)

The analogy between the characters and the audience is obvious here. On the one hand, the plays refer to known myths, so the ending of the story is easy to predict. On the other hand, however, the spectators wait for the continuation of the plot, for the climax which will complete the story and impose an order on it. The analogy is all the more obvious since the “nonmythical” characters appear on the stage in a fashion similar to that of the spectators in a theatrethat is before the action proper is incitedand they remain there until the very end, more as spectators than participants in the HYHQWV2QHPD\GH¿QHVXFKFKDUDFWHUVDVUHSUHVHQWDWLYHVRIWKHDXGLHQFH whose existence is, however, on the other side of the footlights. Some similarity to the theatre-within-theatre convention can be noticed hereHYHQLIWKHUHLVQRVHFRQGOHYHORI¿FWLRQKHUHDVWKHREVHUYHUVDUH part of the same reality as the characters whose actions they watch. The echoes of the same device can be noticed in Yeats’s later plays, only there VRPHFKDUDFWHUVEHORQJWRWKHWKHDWULFDOUHDOLW\IXO¿OOLQJVRPHDX[LOLDU\ IXQFWLRQVLQWKHSHUIRUPDQFHDQGQRWLQWKH¿FWLRQDOXQLYHUVHSUHVHQWHG on the stage). The Musicians from The Only Jealousy of Emer function as stage assistants. At the beginning and at the end of the performance they unfold and fold back a black piece of fabric, a substitute of a curtain. Moreover, when the (empty) stage is revealed, the First Musician utters a monologue addressed to the audience, describing the non-existing scenery

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and introducing the characters of the play. His words function as stage directions in a dramatic text, or—perhaps—as a director’s commentary: A man lies dead or swooning; That amorous man That amorous, violent man, renowned Cuchulain, Queen Emer at his side. At her own bidding all the rest have gone; But now one comes on hesitating feet, Young Eithne Inguba, Cuchulain’s mistress (Yeats 123)

A more important role is assigned to the Old Man in The Death of Cuchulain, who introduces himself as a director or a producer. At the outset of the performance he addresses the spectators informing them that he has just been asked to stage a play about Cuchulain’s death. He also discusses YDULRXVDWWUDFWLRQVDZDLWLQJWKHVSHFWDWRUVGLI¿FXOWLHVLQ¿QGLQJWKHULJKW actors, or even the competence of the audience who ought to know both the old tales and the plays of a certain Mr Yeats referring to them. The Attendants in A Full Moon in March enjoy the same statusthe very word “attendant” set these characters in the reality before the footlights. Here we have a pair of actors whose initial dialogue takes place before the start of the performance proper, and whose task is evidently to appear as representatives of the audience selected almost by chance—an old woman and a young man, a soprano and a bass—in much the same ZD\ DV VXEQXPHQDULHV DUH SLFNHG XS QRZDGD\V RI D IHDWXUH ¿OP 7KHVH representatives performing several roles will participate on behalf of the audience in the action behind the inner curtain as servants, Captain of the Guard, and even as the main characters: the Queen (songs, laughter), the Swineheard (the head). (Zgorzelski 85-86) 4

Thus the actors on the stage do not merely play characters from the mythical reality - the intrinsic world of the drama. They play the stage director, the UHSUHVHQWDWLYHV RI WKH DXGLHQFH WKH VWDJHKDQGV DQG ¿QDOO\ WKHPVHOYHV Another level of stage reality is thus established, mediating between the intrinsic, mythical and ostensibly autonomous reality of the play and the reality of the theatre, including both the audience and the actors as well as 4

The inspiration for the observations proposed in this paper were to some extend Zgorzelski’s remarks concerning A Full Moon in March.

Joanna Kokot

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the theatre personnel. As in the case of the plays introducing charactersspectators, the barrier between world presented on the stage and the actual world of the spectators is blurred.

Metatheatrical issues The device of theatre-within-theatre introduces metatheatrical issues into the plays, concentrating the spectator’s attention on the theatrical reality DQGQRWRQWKH¿FWLWLRXVUHDOLW\RIWKHSOD\6LPLODULVVXHVDUHVXJJHVWHGE\ the arbitrariness of the performance—the organization of the stage space, the conventions of acting, the actors’ costumes and the props designed for the stage are not designed to produce the “reality effect”. In most of Yeats’s plays based on old myths at least some of the actors hide their faces. In A Full Moon in March the Swineheard wears “a halfsavage mask cobering the upper part of his face” (Yeats 175). The Blind Man and the Fool, the minor characters in At Baile’s Strand, have “their features made grotesque and extravagant by masks” (Yeats 19).5 Also the players from The Only Jealousy of Emer wear either masks or make-up stylized as masks. The masks—as their presence is not noticed in the presented world of the play—evidently belong to the theatre reality and are attributes of the actors and not of the characters. They separate the actor not only from “his natural, extra-theatrical appearance” (Lotman 43), but also from the character he plays, thus the conventionality of acting is foregrounded, the character being a type rather than a person. Because of the mask the actor becomes a non-transparent and unmotivated sign of the character. Conventionality of the performance is also foregrounded by the stage decoration. True, in Yeats’s earlier plays the stage space is organized according to the rules of the “realistic” drama, while the scenery usually copies the box-shape of the stage: the events take place in a close space—a hut in a forest, in a chamber of the king’s hall and the like. However, in WKHODWHUGUDPDVWKHVFHQHU\LVUHGXFHGWRDPLQLPXPRULWV³DUWL¿FLDOLW\´ is foregrounded, as for example in The Herne’s Egg, where “all should be suggested, not painted realistically” (Yeats 187). The Only Jealousy of Emer, The Death of Cuchulain or A Full Moon in March are to be performed on the VWDJHZKLFKLVSUDFWLFDOO\HPSW\LQWKH¿UVWRIWKHVHSOD\VWKHDUELWUDULQHVV of the stage space is underscored by the First Musician’s utterance, which 5

Ascribing masks to the actors suggests that in fact the given part may be played by anybodythe person of the player is not important. The fortuitousness still enhances the links of the players with the audience.

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functions as a substitute of both stage directions and material objects (props and elements of the scenery): I call before the eyes a roof With cross-beams darkened with smoke; $¿VKHU¶VQHWKDQJVIURPDEHDP A long oar lies against the wall. ,FDOOXSDSRRU¿VKHU¶VKRXVH$QQH@ ± 7HĪ VáDED QD]ZD 'OD PQLH WR EĊG]LH« QR SRZLHG]P\« -H]LRUR/ĞQLąF\FK:yG2,GHDOQLHSDVXMH3R]QDáDPSRGUHV]F]X=DZV]H NLHG\SU]\MG]LHPLGRJáRZ\WUD¿RQDQD]ZDF]XMĊWDNLUR]NRV]Q\GUHV]F]\N $SDQDF]DVHPSU]HFKRG]LRGF]HJRĞGUHV]F]\N" 0DWHXV]]DP\ĞOLáVLĊ  1R« WDN =DZV]H PQLH WURFKĊ MDNE\ WU]ĊVLH QD ZLGRN W\FK ZVWUĊWQ\FK ELDá\FKUREDOLQDJU]ąGFHRJyUNyZ1LH]QRV]ĊLFK0RQWJRPHU\ (b) I don’t like that name, either. I shall call it--let me see--The Lake of Shining Waters. Yes, that is the right name for it. I know because of the thrill. When I hit on a name that suits exactly it gives me a thrill. Do things ever give you a thrill?” Matthew ruminated. „Well now, yes. It always kind of gives me a thrill to see them ugly white grubs that spade up in the cucumber beds. I hate the look of them.” F  1D]ZĊ MH -H]LRUHP /XVWU]DQ\FK :yG 7DN WR GRSLHUR RGSRZLHGQLD QD]ZD :LHP ER F]XMĊ WDNL SU]\MHPQ\ GUHV]F]\N *G\ XGDMH PL VLĊ Z\P\ĞOLüRGSRZLHGQLąQD]ZĊ]DZV]HSU]HFKRG]LPQLHWDNLGUHV]F]&]\ SDQWHĪF]DVDPLF]XMHFRĞSRGREQHJR" 0DWHXV]]DVWDQRZLáVLĊ 1RFK\EDWDN=DZV]HSU]HFKRG]LPQLHGUHV]F]QDZLGRNWáXVW\FKELDá\FK ODUZNWyUHZ\áDĪąQDZLHU]FKJG\ZELMDPV]SDGHOZJU]ąGNĊ]RJyUNDPL 6ąREU]\GOLZH0RQWJRPHU\

Let us note that the 2003 version (7c) erases the difference between Anne’s and Matthew’s style, making Matthew much more eloquent than he ever is LQWKHRULJLQDO7KHQHZHUYHUVLRQD RQWKHRWKHUKDQGUHÀHFWVWKHIDFW WKDWKHLVWDFLWXUQDQGWKDWZKHQKH¿QDOO\GHFLGHVWRWDONKHXVHVYHU\VLPSOH language, sometimes non-standard (to see them ugly grubs), as opposed to

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Anne, who loves to talk and, moreover, to talk vividly and elaborately. Also, by introducing rather rough language (robale “bugs-augmentative”WU]ĊVLH mnie “I get shaken”) juxtaposed with the diminutive dreszczyk (thrill) the translator strengthens the humorous contrast between Anne’s romantic ideas and Matthew’s down-to-earth reaction. Another fragment illustrating the humorous quality of the translations is quoted in (8): (8) D  2 ZLHOH OHSLHM SU]\MĊW\ ]RVWDá U\VLN &KDUOLHJR 6ORDQH¶D SU]HVáDQ\ SR SU]HUZLHRELDGRZHM%\áWROXNVXVRZ\SU]HGPLRW±ERJDWR]GRELRQ\SDVNDPL F]HUZRQHJRLĪyáWHJRSDSLHUX.RV]WRZDáGZDFHQW\SRGF]DVJG\]Z\NáH U\VLNL PRĪQD E\áR NXSLü ]D MHGQHJR $QLD SU]\MĊáD GDU ] ZG]LĊF]QRĞFLą L REGDU]\áD R¿DURGDZFĊ XĞPLHFKHP NWyU\ ZSURZDG]Lá ]DXURF]RQHJR PáRG]LHĔFD Z VWDQ QLHRSLVDQHM V]F]ĊĞOLZRĞFL FR VNRĔF]\áR VLĊ WDNą VWUDV]OLZąOLF]EąE\NyZZG\NWDQG]LHĪHSDQ3KLOOLSVND]DáPXMHSRSUDZLDü po szkole. (Montgomery 2013, 164) (b) Charlie Sloane’s slate pencil, gorgeously bedizened with striped red and yellow paper, costing two cents where ordinary pencils cost only one, which he sent up to her after dinner hour, met with a more favorable reception. Anne was graciously pleased to accept it and rewarded the donor with a smile which exalted that infatuated youth straightway into the seventh heaven of delight and caused him to make such fearful errors in his dictation that Mr. Phillips kept him in after school to rewrite it.

The key decision in (8a) seems to be the introduction of the word byki (colloquial for “errors”), which contrasts sharply with the preceding fragment, infused with sophisticated vocabulary, making the style here HYHQ PRUH KXPRURXVO\ H[DJJHUDWHG DQG UHÀHFWLQJ WKH SDURGLF TXDOLW\ RI the original.7 The 2003 translation (8c) neutralizes the exaggerated effect, reducing the humour: (8) F  =H ]GHF\GRZDQLH OHSV]\P SU]\MĊFLHP VSRWNDá VLĊ U\VLN GR WDEOLF]NL SU]\VáDQ\ SU]H] &KDUOLHJR 6ORDQH¶D RZLQLĊW\ áDGQ\P SDSLHUHP Z ĪyáWH L F]HUZRQH SDVHF]NL 7HQ U\VLN ZDUW E\á DĪ GZD FHQW\ SRGF]DV JG\ 7

%HUĊVHZLF]¶V VW\OH LQ VXFK IUDJPHQWV LV JUHDWO\ UHPLQLVFHQW RI WKDW RI .RUQHO 0DNXV]\ĔVNL   DXWKRU RI FODVVLFDO 3ROLVK QRYHOV IRU \RXQJ UHDGHUV (e.g. $ZDQWXUDR%DVLĊ, 1937).

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]Z\NáHNRV]WRZDá\W\ONRMHGQHJR']LHZF]\QNDáDVNDZLHSU]\MĊáDSUH]HQW LQDJURG]LáDR¿DURGDZFĊXĞPLHFKHPNWyU\ZSURZDG]Lá]DXURF]RQHJRQLą FKáRSFD Z VWDQ WDNLHJR XQLHVLHQLD ĪH SLV]ąF G\NWDQGR QDURELá IDWDOQ\FK EáĊGyZDZUH]XOWDFLHSDQ3KLOOLSVND]DáPX]RVWDüSROHNFMDFKLZV]\VWNR SU]HSLVDü0RQWJRPHU\ G 3U]\FK\OQLHMV]HJRSU]\MĊFLDGR]QDáU\VLNSU]HVáDQ\$QLXNUDGNLHPSR SU]HUZLH SRáXGQLRZHM SU]H] .DUROND 6ORDQH &R SUDZGD E\á ZVSDQLDá\ SRZOHF]RQ\ ĪyáW\P L F]HUZRQ\P SDSLHUHP L NRV]WRZDá GZD FHQW\ JG\ ]D ]Z\NáH U\VLNL SáDFRQR W\ONR MHGQHJR FHQWD $QLD UDF]\áD JR áDVNDZLH SU]\Mąü L REGDU]\áD R¿DURGDZFĊ XĞPLHFKHP NWyU\ VSUDZLá ĪH ]DĞOHSLRQ\ PáRG]LHQLHF ] UDGRĞFL SRF]Xá VLĊ Z VLyGP\P QLHELH 1DVWĊSVWZHP WHJR ]DFKZ\WX E\áD QLH]OLF]RQD LORĞü RP\áHN Z MHJR G\NWDQG]LH L UR]ND] SDQD Phillipsa pozostania po lekcjach w szkole dla poprawienia zrobionych EáĊGyZ0RQWJRPHU\

This may be just an effect of the translator’s personal taste or literary skill, but LWPD\DOVREHDVXEFRQVFLRXVUHÀH[RIWKHWUDGLWLRQDODVVXPSWLRQHYLGHQW from distortions of humorous fragments in some Polish translations of children’s classics; cf. Adamczyk-Garbowska 1988, 48-51) that the style in children’s literature should be balanced and school-like, or that this sort of humour may be lost on young readers. Interestingly enough, Bernsteinowa’s YHUVLRQG UHÀHFWVWKLVKLQWRISDURG\PXFKEHWWHUWKDQWKHRQH Examples (7) and (8) point to the fact that the 2012 translation brings out the humour of the original, a feature that is not commonly associated with the image of Anne of Green Gables in Polish culture, as opposed to romanticism, love of nature, praise of imagination or celebration of family values. Since Anne, despite its possible initial wider address, is nowadays ¿UPO\HVWDEOLVKHGDVSDUWRIWKHFDQRQRIWH[WVIRU\RXQJUHDGHUVWKLVIHDWXUH RI%HUĊVHZLF]¶VWUDQVODWLRQVHHPVWRUHÀHFWWKHPRGHUQUHIRFXVLQJRQWKH entertaining function of children’s literature, in view of which humour is a particularly desired stylistic feature. The 2012 translation is also remarkable since, unlike the previous ones, it does not neutralize unconventional uses of language: (9) D  >$QQH@ ,QQH U]HF]\ WDN EDUG]R PL QLH SU]HV]NDG]DMą ± QDZHW SLHJL L]LHORQHRF]\LWRĪHMHVWHPWDNDFKXGD7RZV]\VWNRPRĪQDVRELHMDNRĞ RGZ\REUD]Lü 3RWUD¿Ċ VRELH Z\REUD]Lü ĪH PDP SLĊNQą UyĪDQą FHUĊ L FXGRZQH ¿RáNRZH RF]\ Z NWyU\FK SU]HJOąGD VLĊ QLHER DOH W\FK UXG\FK

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ZáRVyZ]DQLFQLHPRJĊVRELHRGZ\REUD]Lü0RQWJRPHU\ (b) I don’t mind the other things so much--the freckles and the green eyes and my skinniness. I can imagine them away. I can imagine that I have a beautiful rose-leaf complexion and lovely starry violet eyes. But I CANNOT imagine that red hair away. F  -HĪHOL FKRG]L R SR]RVWDáH U]HF]\ ± SLHJL ]LHORQH RF]\ L WĊ RNURSQą FKXGRĞü±]GąĪ\áDPVLĊMXĪGRQLHFKSU]\]Z\F]DLü0RJĊVRELHZPyZLüĪH LFKQLHPD3RWUD¿ĊVRELHZ\REUD]LüĪHZ\JOąGDPLQDF]HMPDPUyĪDQąFHUĊ L SURPLHQQH ¿RáNRZH RF]\$OH ZREHF UXG\FK ZáRVyZ PRMD Z\REUDĨQLD pozostaje jednak bezradna. (Montgomery 2003, 24)

In the original Anne coins the expression imagine away by analogy to more established uses of verbs like fade away, die away, throw away, waste away, melt away, run away, or blow away. In the 2003 translation (like in Bernsteinowa’s, which is not quoted since it does not add anything to the argument), Anne’s linguistic creativity seems to have fallen prey to the stylistic prejudice against repetition and to the tradition of using “correct” VWDQGDUGODQJXDJHLQFKLOGUHQ¶VOLWHUDWXUHF %HUĊVHZLF]D RQWKHRWKHU hand, used a parallel mechanism of analogy, extending the pattern known from the Polish verbs RGZRáDü (call off), RGSURVLü (cancel an invitation), RGMHFKDü (go away), and many others. Although this sort of creativity is not frequent in this novel, its rendition refreshes the Polish image of the heroine, showing that the power of her imagination also concerns language. It might also signal that the translators’ and publishers’ attitude to unconventional language in texts for young readers is changing. ([DPSOH VKRZVWKDW%HUĊVHZLF]FDQDOVRPDNHWKHWDUJHWWH[WPRUH creative than the original: (10) D 'OD$QLWRE\áRMDNNRQLHFĞZLDWD1LHGRĞüĪHVSRĞUyGFDáNLHPSRNDĨQHM JURPDGNL ZLQRZDMFyZ W\ONR MHM Z\PLHU]RQR NDUĊ QLH GRĞü QDZHW ĪH SRVDG]RQRMą]FKáRSDNLHPWRMHV]F]HFKáRSDNLHPW\PE\á*LOEHUW%O\WKH FRVWDQRZLáRREHOJĊSRPQRĪRQąSU]H]KDĔEĊLSRGQLHVLRQąGRSRWĊJLNWyUHM QLHVSRVyEE\áR]QLHĞü0RQWJRPHU\ (b) To Anne, this was as the end of all things. It was bad enough to be singled out for punishment from among a dozen equally guilty ones; it was worse still to be sent to sit with a boy, but that that boy should be Gilbert Blythe

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was heaping insult on injury to a degree utterly unbearable.

(10a) is especially appealing since it creates a very consistent metaphorical description drawing from the domain of mathematics (back translation: insult multiplied by dishonour and raised to a power completely unbearable), ZKLFK SHUIHFWO\ ¿WV WKH VFKRRO FRQWH[W RI WKH VFHQH ,QWURGXFLQJ VXFK D stylistic device might suggest that in modern literature for children, translated and original, exploring language in this way is considered increasingly important, probably because it is both entertaining and stimulating for the young reader’s linguistic sensitivity. It sharply contrasts with views expressed by some pedagogues at the beginning of the twentieth century, that it is the message, especially the educational message, not the form, that counts in children’s literature (Adamczyk-Garbowska 1988, 148-149), ZKLFK VRPHWLPHV OHG WR ¿OWHULQJ RXW RULJLQDO DQG VRSKLVWLFDWHG IHDWXUHV RI VW\OH LQ WUDQVODWLRQ FI 6]\PDĔVND    LQ WKH QDPH RI PDNLQJ the target text convergent with target culture linguistic and pedagogical conventions. Applying Bakhtin’s ideas, Riita Oittinen claims that children’s’ culture is carnivalist in nature (2000, 54-58): that it is a culture of laughter, and of deviating from the beaten track, among its other features. She assumes that this should be one of the factors guiding translators if they attempt to produce functional translations that are intended to be dialogic (2000, 161162) and “help children to enjoy their human potential to the fullest” (2006, 37). This seems to mark a shift from the predominance of the educational function of texts for young readers towards a more balanced inclusion of the entertaining function, and a refocusing on engaging the young recipient into dialogic interpretation through that as well as through making the language close to their experience. It seems that such an approach is nowadays becoming more recognized, also in the practice of translating for young audiences. The 2012 Polish translation of Anne of Green Gables, with its exploration of everyday language and of humour, seems to be an example of this trend. It also shows that Green Gables may be in fact considered ever-green, inviting and revealing new interpretations, as is predicted by the notion of a translation series. Given the current tendencies in the understanding of the functions of children’s literature and of communication with young readers, modernization in retranslations of classics can be expected to be applied in translating for children far more commonly than archaic stylization, since it better suits the values promoted by contemporary culture. Its occurrence is fully accounted for by the pragmatic model, which highlights that its

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aim is to approximate recreating the source text’s relation with its primary rather than secondary readers, and in this way make the text relevant, engaging, accessible and appealing for modern recipients, suggesting interpretations different from those known from earlier translations. Let us stress that modernization in translating for children consists not only in using contemporary vocabulary but also in introducing a range of stylistic traits, such as conciseness, linguistic constructions and uses of language characteristic of everyday speech, humour and linguistic creativity, which UHÀHFWV D PRGHUQ UHLQWHUSUHWDWLRQ RI WKH KLHUDUFK\ RI WKH IXQFWLRQV RI literature for the young and possibly the growing acknowledgement of its carnivalist nature.

Works Cited Adamczyk-Garbowska, Monika. 3ROVNLH WáXPDF]HQLD DQJLHOVNLHM OLWHUDWXU\ G]LHFLĊFHM 3UREOHP\ NU\W\NL SU]HNáDGX :URFáDZ =DNáDG 1DURGRZ\ LP 2VVROLĔVNLFK Balcerzan, Edward. 2SUyF] JáRVX. :DUV]DZD 3DĔVWZRZ\ ,QVW\WXW :\GDZQLF]\ 1971. —. /LWHUDWXUD]OLWHUDWXU\6WUDWHJLHWáXPDF]\. .DWRZLFHĝOąVN Berezowski, Leszek. “Pragmatyczne podstawy archaizacji.” In 3U]HNáDGDMąF QLHSU]HNáDGDOQH, YRO , HGLWHG E\ :RMFLHFK .XELĔVNL 2OJD .XELĔVND DQG 7DGHXV]=:RODĔVNL*GDĔVN:\GDZQLFWZR8QLZHUV\WHWX*GDĔVNLHJR 129-138. Du-Nour, Miryam. “Retranslation of Children’s Books as Evidence of Changes of Norms.” Target 7(2): 327-46. Grenby M. O. 2014. Children’s Literature. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995. .ĊF]NRZVND %HDWD ³5R]PRZD ] $JQLHV]Ną .XF WáXPDF]Ną Ani z Zielonego :]JyU]D”, 2003. Accessed Oct 19, 2004. www.czytanie.pl/index. php?strona=011/wywiad. Klingberg, Göte. “The different aspects of research into the translation of children’s books and its practical application.”In Children’s Books in Translation. The Situation and the Problems, edited by Göte Klingberg et al. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1978: 84-89. .ULVWHYD -XOLD ³6áRZR GLDORJ L SRZLHĞü´ ,Q %DFKWLQ 'LDORJMĊ]\NOLWHUDWXUD, HG (XJHQLXV] &]DSOHMHZLF] DQG (GZDUG .DVSHUVNL :DUV]DZD 3DĔVWZRZH Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 2009: 394-418. Lathey, Gillian. Invisible Storytellers. The Role of Translators in Children’s Literature. New York: Routledge, 2012.

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—. Translating Children’s Literature. London: Routledge, 2015. Lefevere, André. Translation, Rewriting, and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. London: Routledge, 2012. /HJHĪ\ĔVND $QQD 7áXPDF] L MHJR NRPSHWHQFMH DXWRUVNLH (2nd ed.). Warszawa: 3DĔVWZRZH:\GDZQLFWZR1DXNRZH Majkiewicz, Anna. ,QWHUWHNVWXDOQRĞü±LPSOLNDFMH GOD SU]HNáDGX Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 2008. McKenzie, Andrea. “Patterns, Power, and Paradox. International Book Covers of Anne of Green Gables across a Century.” In Textual Transformations in Children’s Literature. Adaptations, Translations, Reconsiderations, edited by Benjamin Lefebvre. New York: Routledge, 2013: 127-153. Montgomery, Lucy Maud. Anne of Green Gables. Accessed Oct 17, 2015. http:// www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45/pg45.txt —. $QLD ] =LHORQHJR :]JyU]D Transl. Rozalia Bernsteinowa. Warszawa: Nasza .VLĊJDUQLD —. $QLD ] =LHORQHJR :]JyU]D Transl. Agnieszka Kuc. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2003. —. $QLD]=LHORQHJR:]JyU]D7UDQVO3DZHá%HUĊVHZLF].UDNyZ6NU]DW 1RUG &KULVWLDQH ³:SURZDG]HQLH GR WáXPDF]HQLD IXQNFMRQDOQHJR´ 7UDQVO .DWDU]\QD-DĞWDO,Q:VSyáF]HVQHWHRULHSU]HNáDGX$QWRORJLD, edited by Piotr Bukowski, and Magda Heydel, 175-91. Kraków: Znak, 2009. Oittinen, Riitta. “No Innocent Act. On the Ethics of Translating for Children.” In Children’s Literature in Translation: Challenges and Strategies, edited by Jan Van Coillie, and Walter P. Verschueren. Manchester: St Jerome, 2006: 35-45. —. Translating for Children. New York: Garland, 2000. Shavit, Zohar. Poetics of Children’s Literature. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1986. 6]\PDĔVND ,]DEHOD ³3U]HNáDG\ SROHPLF]QH Z OLWHUDWXU]H G]LHFLĊFHM´ Rocznik SU]HNáDGR]QDZF]\ No. 9 (2014): 193-208. ²³6HULHWUDQVODWRUVNLHZSROVNLFKSU]HNáDGDFKDQJORMĊ]\F]QHMOLWHUDWXU\G]LHFLĊFHM 2EUD]DGUHVDWDMDNRPRW\ZáąF]ąF\VHULĊ´,QODWSROVNLHMWUDQVODWRU\NL, edited by Krzysztof Hejwowski et al. Warszawa: Instytut Lingwistyki Stosowanej Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 2009: 513-527. Toury, Gideon. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2012.

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CHAPTER NINE INSIDIOUS TALES AND GRIM(M) REALITIES IN ANITA BROOKNER’S BAY OF ANGELS (/,=$*à$'.2:6.$

7ZHQW\¿YH QRYHOV ZULWWHQ E\ $QLWD %URRNQHU DUH VWULNLQJO\ VLPLODU to one another as they have in common many motifs and characteristics, such as comparable sets of characters, the status of single woman in the contemporary society, homecoming (in the literal and metaphorical sense), maturing, loneliness or memory. Those repetitive themes are further united with conspicuous literary allusions on which they are often based. Consequently, their intertextuality could not escape the attention of researchers and Brookner’s references to Dickens, Shakespeare, James, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Flaubert, and others, as well as to fairy tales in general, already constituted the subject of academic investigations (see Skinner 1992, Sadler 1990, Williams-Wanquet 2004). The aim of this article is to examine the different ways in which Brookner employs such canonical texts as fairy tales in one of her novels, Bay of Angels (2001)1. The novel tells a retrospective story of Zoe Cunningham and her widowed mother, Anne, who live a quiet, solitary life in London in the 1950s. The main preoccupation in their structured, organized existence is reading,2 1

From now on the novel will be referred to with abbreviated form “BoA”. =RH¶VSUHRFFXSDWLRQZLWKUHDGLQJLV¿UVWRIDOOUHYHDOHGYLDERWKGLUHFWDQGLQGLUHFW literary references, but additionally we can infer her attitude between the lines, like in the following quotation: “No visit disturbed our evenings, nor did we wish for any. It w as only at the weekends, when my mother said, ‘Better put your books away. The girls are coming,’ that I resigned myself to a lesson in reality which would be instructive but largely unwelcome” (BoA 4). The protagonist is not eager to resign from her reading as “lessons in reality” only distract her from WKH¿FWLRQDOZRUOGZKLFKIRU=RHVHHPVWREHPRUHSHUPDQHQWDQGPRUHUHDO +HUPRWKHUFRQ¿UPVWKLVE\DQVZHULQJWKHTXHVWLRQRIRQHRIWKHJXHVWV>³¶:KDW eyes that child has,’ said Nancy. ‘Has she nothing to do?’”] as follows: “She reads

2

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which serves not only as entertainment but also as a “life guidebook”. Applying some lessons from Dickens, Zoe and her mother do not engage in any deliberate or purposeful activity to change their situation. Nevertheless, as a result of their relatives’ arrangement, her mother remarries an older man, Simon. He is believed to be a kind of protector, saviour of them both, and until that point his presence in their lives is perceived as a proof that virtue, patience, waiting and modest inactivity are rewarded at the end of the day. Subsequently, Zoe’s mother and Simon move to France, where Zoe visits them regularly. However, Simon dies suddenly. In the face of that, Zoe’s mother suffers a form of dementia. Now it is Zoe’s turn to act as the protector to her mother, as a parent to her ailing parent–the role that she is not prepared for. The protagonist spends time between London and Nice, where Anne, her mother, is located in a nursing home. Zoe spends the period between Simon’s death and that of her mother’s in a kind of suspended VWDWHZKHQVKHUHÀHFWVRQKHUSV\FKRORJLFDODQGVRFLDOVWDWXVOLIHFRQGLWLRQ and the future. Finally, after this transitional phase, when her mother dies and she assumes that she will stay single and solitary for the rest of her life, she starts a relationship with a Frenchman, Dr Balbi. Nevertheless, their alliance is far from a conventional romantic liaison; Zoe still travels between London and Nice and is acutely aware that she must share the affection of Dr Balbi’s with his possessive sister. 7KH YHU\ ¿UVW VHQWHQFH RI WKH DIRUHPHQWLRQHG QRYHO DQQRXQFHV LWV persistent theme: “I read the Blue Fairy Book, the Yellow Fairy Book, and the stories of Hans Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Charles Perrault” (BoA 1). It may be immediately inferred that fairy tales play an important role, and this is due to the fact that the most canonical authors of tales are mentioned at the very beginning of Bay of Angels. However, the statement about books alsoprovides oblique reference to another novel by Brookner. It is so since this utterance reminds the reader of another sentence from the beginning of A Start in Life  KHU¿UVWQRYHO³'U:HLVVDWIRUW\NQHZ that her life had been ruined by literature” (1991, 7).3 The hint that reading PD\H[HUWQHJDWLYHLQÀXHQFHRQRQH¶VOLIHLVIXUWKHUUHLQVWDWHGGLUHFWO\LQWKH second sentence of Bay of Angels: None of this was groundwork for success in worldly terms, for I was led to think and indeed was minded to think, of the redeeming situation or

3

a lot” (BoA). For the discussion focused on the comparison of parallel plot patterns and modes of narration referring to these two novels see Williams-Wanquet (2004 82-93).

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presence which would put to rights the hardships and dilemmas under which the characters, and I myself, had been labouring. (BoA 1)4

Lest us now consider the quotation below). It introduces, quite directly, another reoccurring issue, namely that of the lack of activity5 which should guarantee a positive outcome, but it does not. The phrases such as “more dangerously” or “extremely dangerous” clearly signal that minimum of action in life is not a proper way to accomplish it: More dangerously, it seemed to me that I need make no decisions in my own behalf, for destiny or fate would always have had the matter in hand. … but I was willing to believe in the redeeming feature, the redeeming presence that would justify all of one’s vain striving would dispel one’s disappointments, would in some mysterious way present one with a solution in which one would have no part, so that all one had to do was to wait, in a condition of sinless passivity, for the transformation that would surely take place. This strikes me now as extremely dangerous, yet parts of this doctrine seemed overwhelmingly persuasive, principally because there were no stratagems to be undertaken. One had simply to exist, in a state of dreamy indirection, for the plot to work itself out. (BoA 1-2, emphasis mine)

This quotation demonstrates the attitude which establishes passive waiting as the main principle which would organize one’s life. Such a principle enhances the inactivity of the protagonist and, additionally, lulls her into the false sense of security about the future. The presumption about WKH HI¿FDFLRXV QDWXUH RI SDVVLYLW\ DQG KXPLOLW\ WRZDUGV WKH PRQRWRQRXV HYHU\GD\FKRUHVDUHH[HPSOL¿HGLQDOOXGLQJWRWKH&LQGHUHOODVWRU\ Although I was too sensible, even as a child, to believe in a fairy godmother I accepted as part of nature’s plan that after a lifetime of sweeping the kitchen ÀRRU,ZRXOGJRWRWKHEDOOWKDWWKHVOLSSHUZRXOG¿WDQGWKDW,ZRXOGPDUU\ the prince. (BoA 1)

4

Later in the book there is also an ironic allusion to writers: “I even enjoy my work, which brings me into contact with writers, but not, fortunately, into close contact” (213). 5 )RU WKH GLVFXVVLRQ RI WKH FRQFHSW RI HPSWLQHVV LQ ODWH ¿FWLRQV RI %URRNQHU LQ relation to Michael Henry and Meister Eckhart as well as the works of painters such Wassily Kandinsky, see Björkblom.

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The story of Cinderella constitutes the most direct, reoccurring reference points in Bay ofAngels as far as fairy tales are concerned.6 Thus, WKH FKDUDFWHUV WKH HYHQWV DQG WHQWDWLYH IXWXUH DUH FRQVWDQWO\ UHÀHFWHG LQ the reference to this popular children story. Cinderella’s scenario seems to be so relentlessly ubiquitous that even an attempt to defy it involves further reference to this story or searching for another, equally dubious agent: And one’s powers are limited, for that is the unarguable truth of the matter. That was the whole point of the fairy godmother in the Cinderella story. That is why one longs to believe in some kind of intervention, divine or otherwise” (BoA 208).

Similarly, people in Zoe’s life are assigned their equivalents among fairy tales characters. For example, the only visitors in Zoe’s and her mother’s ÀDW LQ (GLWK *URYH DUH 0LOOLFHQW DQG 1DQF\ WKHLU GLVWDQW UHODWLYHV7KH\ represent the values and lifestyles which are completely different from those of the Cunningham ladies. Millicent and Nancy indulge in luxurious life and put pressure on Zoe’s mother to get married and lead a life similar to theirs. Zoe dislikes their visits since they divert her attention from reading and disturb the peaceful existence in Edith Grove. That is why she tries to ¿QGWKHMXVWL¿FDWLRQRIWKHLUDSSHDUDQFHV I was puzzled that their real kindness gave them no legitimization in my eyes. My favourite myths did not apply to them, for I could not in all conscience see them as Ugly Sisters. I simply perceived that they had not waited, and therefore had not been rewarded, as my mother would surely be rewarded. (BoA 5)

The easiest validation of Millicent and Nancy’s visits would be that they perform the role of the malicious sisters thereby constituting the crucial part in the course of achieving the ultimate goal of marrying the prince. However, Zoe is not able to truthfully assign them that part, so she, again, refers to the overused, even more-encompassing concept of virtue rewarded.7 The female visitors were not perceived as friends or relatives, their lives could not be observed free from comparison to some literary schemata. Moreover, Zoe’s reluctance to interact with them is based on the prejudice, as in the 6

For more information on fairy tale references in other works of Brookner see Skinner 1992. 7 In the case of Bay of AngelsLQDFWLYLW\VHHPVDMXVWL¿DEOHYLUWXHLWVHOI

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fairy tale world they would not be able to play the part of the patient and, thus, rewarded women: , UHÀHFW WKDW 1DQF\ DQG 0LOOLFHQW ZHUH FKDUDFWHUV QR OHVV DQG QR PRUH and that any confrontationbut none had taken place, nor would take place would be unequal. My mother was bound to succeed, for she was untainted E\ WKH ZRUOG¶V FRUUXSWLRQ DQG WKXV TXDOL¿HG IRU UHPLVVLRQ IURP IXUWKHU ordeals. (ibidem 9)

Another person in the protagonist’s life who is given a role borrowed directly from the Cinderella plot is her lover, Adam Crowhurst: I managed to win his [Adam’s] friendship, which presumably other women scorned as a consolation prize for the total possession which he withheld. Prince Charming must have had the same effect on those whom the slipper GLGQRW¿W:DVLVLWSRVVLEOHWKDWVRPHSDUWRIPHWKHPRVWDUFKDLFWKHPRVW unreconstructed part, still remained faithful to that schemata, to that belief? If so I am ashamed to this day of my touching credulity. The gods, with whom at that time I was barely acquainted, were ready with their punishing gifts of caprice, of unaccountability. (BoA 29-30)

Adam is compared here to Prince Charming and Zoe’s futile attempt to win KLVDIIHFWLRQLVGHVFULEHGLQWHUPVRIWU\LQJWR¿WWKHVOLSSHUORVWE\&LQGHUHOOD during the ball. Strikingly, she is poignantly aware that drawing such parallels is immature, as if such proceedings were permitted only in “the most archaic, the most unreconstructed part”. This stands in contrast to the construction RI WKH QRYHO DQG =RH¶V RQJRLQJ UHÀHFWLRQV XSRQ OLIH ZKLFK DUH FRQVWDQWO\ drawn directly in regard to fairy tale motifs. Such a discrepancy functions as the anticipation that the fairy tale scenario is not as reliable as she thought. However, in the face of this apprehension, Zoe does not become more actively involved in the course of her life but continues to be its passive observer, which is metaphorically described as caprices of the gods. Zoe is able to embrace Adam Crowhurst in her life only in reference to literary characters. Furthermore, drawing such references proves to be useful for Zoe in regard to other men in her life, such as her stepfather Simon or the aforementioned Dr Balbi. Zoe was traditionally instructed by her readings and the example of her mother that a man plays an essential role in the organization of woman’s existence: “I had been brought up to regard men as potential saviours, guardians, preservers, but this attitude was no longer viable” (BoA 131). She tried to challenge that mind-set when arguing

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with her mother: “’We’re free now,’ I went on. ‘We don’t have to respect men, be grateful to them. It’s their turn to respect women, to allow them some space…’” (BoA 50). However, it seems that while Zoe objects to her mother’s submissiveness, she in fact tries to convince herself that she has a right to her independence because her behaviour in the relationship with Adam does not attest to it. Zoe is extremely understanding toward her lover and complies to his rules in order to maintain their liaison. Therefore, at least in real life, her attitude does not differ from her mother’s. What follows 6LPRQ¶VGHDWKLV=RH¶VTXHVWWR¿QGDUHVSHFWDEOHSRVLWLRQIRUKHUVHOI7KLV includes meeting the demands of caring after her ill mother, providing the funding and nurturing the affection of a man. 7KH¿QDQFLDOVWDELOLW\UHSUHVHQWHGE\DPDQLVDFULWLFDOIDFWRUIRU$QQH and it explains her attachment and loyalty towards Simon. In this respect, Zoe adopts her mother’s point of view which is manifested recurrently in the initial parts of novel: As far as I was concerned he was a sort of Santa Claus, a provider to whom giving was a second nature. .... I never ceased to feel this with regard to Simon: he was a facilitator, an enabler, and the unlikely outcome of his attending a party, a tiresome social engagement to which he had not looked IRUZDUGDQGZKLFKKHLQWHQGHGWROHDYHHDUO\ZDV,WKRXJKWEHQH¿FLDOLQ WKHZD\WKDWRQO\XQH[SHFWHGUHZDUGVDUHEHQH¿FLDO+HZDVTXLWHOLWHUDOO\ our gift from the gods. (BoA 14-15)

The initially idealistic way in which Zoe refers to Simon alludes to the XQUHDOLVWLF FKDUDFWHUV LQ IDLU\ WDOHV$V LW LV GLI¿FXOW WR ¿QG VXFK SHRSOH LQUHDOOLIHVKHXVHVWKHLFRQLF¿JXUHRI6DQWD&ODXVWRGHVFULEHKHUVWHS IDWKHU RU WR HQGRZ KLP ZLWK GLYLQH RULJLQ DV H[HPSOL¿HG LQ WKH SKUDVH “gift from the gods”. The nouns used in reference to Simon: “a provider,” “a facilitator,” “an enabler” connote with some categories of fairy tales characters proposed by Vladimir Propp in 1928. Although Propp’s categories of individuals may sound too simplistic when applied to literary forms other than oral tradition of folk tales (the villain, the donor, the helper, the sought-for person and her father, the dispatcher, the hero and the false hero), John Skinner offers a detailed analysis Brookner’s three earlier novels according to this scheme (160-163). The rigid frames of Propp’s model applied to Start in Life, Providence, and Look at Me result in parentheses and question marks in Skinner’s diagram (ibidem 161):

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138

$6WDUWLQ/LIH

3URYLGHQFH

/RRNDW0H

hero(ine)

Ruth

Kitty

Frances

Donor

Parents

mother/Nancy

Helper

Anthea

Dispatcher sought-for-person (and father?) false hero

Headmistress

Louise/Vadime Caroline (the Bentleys?) clairvoyant

Richard

Maurice

James

(Richard)

(Maurice)

(James)

villain

(Mrs Cutler?)

Jane

Maria

Olivia Nick/Alix

Table 9-1. Skinner’s diagram

The degree of generality in Popp’s model enables applying it almost universally. Dubious as such an analysis may seem, in Bay of Angels and RWKHUQRYHOVE\%URRNQHUXVLQJWKLVVFKHPDWDLVMXVWL¿HGVLQFHLWKHOSVVHHLQJ clear references to the fairy tale model of the world. The characters assigned as sought-for-persons are also false heroes. If Simon from Bay of Angels LVWREHDQDO\]HGLQWKLVPDQQHUKHFRXOGSHUIHFWO\¿WVXFKDGRXEOHUROH Moreover, Skinner adds another, provisional label for a sought-for-person category, namely a father, which could additionally characterise Simon, who is a stepfather for Zoe. Taking all these features into consideration, WKH ¿QDO GLVLOOXVLRQPHQW LQ 6LPRQ ZKHQ =RH GLVFRYHUV KLV LQVXI¿FLHQW uncertain legacy or reveals his perverse weakness for spying on her intimate moments with Adam, does not contradict Simon’s fairy tale status but, on the contrary, fully re-states it. He is instrumental for the change in the mother and daughter’s lives; his behaviour and actions are presented as if planned by some higher force, for example, when Simon generously offers yet another gift: ‘We’ll get you something in France,’ he said, as he had said to my mother. ‘You can leave your ordinary clothes here.’ Thus once again, the transformation scene was being prepared. Truly those fairy stories had proved themselves to be prophetic. (BoA 18)

As seen above, Simon and Anne’s life after the marriage and their moving to France is subtly presented as a bright new future, a new beginning. Simon accentuates it on numerous occasions. His offer to buy new clothes in France shows his generosity and may also function as a metaphor of ordinary life,

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as ordinary clothes will remain in London. Consequently, life in France is associated with luxury and extraordinariness.8 Zoe sees it as an evidence of the fairy tale pattern which is just about to be completed. This expected, almost miraculous change in the fortune of Zoe and her mother, seems obvious and logical for the protagonist: “This philosophy, the philosophy of the fairy tale, had, I thought, created my mother, whose strange loneliness was surely only a prelude to some drastic change of fortune in which she need play no active part” (BoA 2). This quotation leaves no doubt that Zoe’s mother constitutes a critical element in the arrangement of fairy tale references, too. However, the descriptions of Anne Cunningham also exemplify less direct ways in which Bay of Angels alludes to traditional tales. First of all, she is presented as relatively young and good-looking, while her marriage with an older man evokes several fairy tale motifs. If we take into consideration the compliance with which she faces her widowed years, and ZKLFKLV¿QDOO\UHZDUGHGPDUULDJHZLWKDUHVSHFWHGFKDULWDEOHPDQ WKHQ Zoe’s mother is also an element of the Cinderella plot, although this fairy tale motif is usually mentioned in the novel directly in reference to Zoe. 1HYHUWKHOHVV$QQH¶VVDFUL¿FHDQGLVRODWLRQLQWKHKRXVHQHDU1LFHZKHUH VKH QHYHU ¿QGV KHUVHOI IXOO\ FRPIRUWDEOH UHFDOO WKH UHODWLRQVKLS IRXQG LQ Beauty and the Beast. Moreover, the prolonged state of sleep in the clinic after Simon’s death, brings to mind Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. Those inconsistent yet persuasive traces of various fairy tales in regard to Zoe’s mother contribute to the impression of her ephemeral nature. This effect is further enhanced when Zoe is not permitted to touch her mother in the clinic for many days. Furthermore, Zoe’s mother seems to be even more fragile after her awakening when placed in Résidence Sainte Thérèse. The atmosphere there seems enchanting, almost eerie: “They were cared for by a staff of lay sisters, who wore short blue uniforms, like celestial factory workers ….“ (ibidem 122). The adjective “celestial” draws attention to heaven, God and transcendentalism. These associations are, however, immediately contrasted with the phrase “factory workers”, which alludes to the automatic jobs performed by machines or robots. Similarly, Anne’s choices and priorities seem exalted and noble but at the same time her fate is poignant, especially because she spends her last days in the nursing house. She exists, but so passively that this existence is almost paradoxical. The 8

Simon will turn out to be a far less immaculate stepfather than it is portrayed at WKH EHJLQQLQJ RI WKH QRYHO 0RUHRYHU WKH ¿QDQFLDO VWDELOLW\ KH LV WKRXJKW WR EH SURYLGLQJZLOOEHLQVXI¿FLHQWWRFRYHUWKHH[SHQVHVRI=RHDQGKHUPRWKHU

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analogies to many fairy tales motifs make her even less tangible because it becomes impossible to identify her with one dominant fairy tale character DQGWKXVKHUQDWXUHDSSHDUVLQGH¿QLWHDQGYDJXH Like other women in the residence, Anne seems to live there according to a rigid pattern and function of a machine. During the rare visits paid by the family members, the ladies in the residence become more animated: “Then eyes would recover their sharpness, hands go up to touch the snow-white coiffures” (BoA 123). However, the sudden vitality provoked by the presence of the male family member is subtly undermined here by the appearance of the words “snow-white coiffures”, which emphasize the old age of the pensioners by drawing attention to their grey hair. Secondly, the phrase is reminiscent of the fairy tale protagonist Snow White. The many allusions generated by “snow-white coiffures” result in presenting the ailing women in the residence as victims of fairy tales miserably striving for male affection and unaware of their position like Snow White in her sleeping enchantment. 3DUDGR[LFDOO\LQDQDWWHPSWWR¿QGFRQVRODWLRQLQWKLVWUDJLFSRVLWLRQDQRWKHU plot is created and used in Anne and Zoe’s lives: “Thus my mother was permitted to be comfortable with the story that she had perfected for herself, or that I had perfected for her” (BoA 123). However, Anne is permitted to feel at ease, which brings associations to authority and orders. Thus, permission is a meagre advantage, often compelling for children and contradicting real comfort. Accordingly, Zoe’s mother is like a child nurtured throughout her life ZLWKIDLU\WDOHVDQGWKHRQO\VXSSRUWVKHFDQ¿QGLVWKURXJKH[SHULHQFLQJ\HW another perfect story. Most probably, the above quoted sentence gives a hint WKDW$QQHLVXQDEOHWR¿QGDXWKHQWLFFRQWHQWPHQW In retrospection, while pondering upon her mother’s course of life. Zoe grows to mistrust the fairy tale pattern and undermines its elements: ... yet when the rescuer appeared, when the providential arrangements were made, and all was changed, it did not occur to me that a certain settled sadness might be more rooted than the upheaval of new opportunities ... . (BoA 75)

7KHOLQHVDERYHFRQVWLWXWHRQHRIWKHHDUOLHVWUHDOL]DWLRQVRIWKHGH¿FLHQF\ stemming from the instructional power of Zoe’s reading. Although the fairy tale elements, like the appearance of a saviour, fortunate circumstances and transformation, are mentioned, Zoe gradually begins to experience the lack RIWKH¿QDOSDUWRIDIDLU\WDOHLQKHUOLIHDQGKHUPRWKHU¶VOLIHDVHQWLPHQW which could be reliably compared to her reading:

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7KHPLVHUDEOHRXWFRPHRIFRPSDULQJWKH¿FWLRQDOKDSS\HQGLQJZLWKWKH IDWHRI=RH¶VPRWKHUUHVXOWVLQDVRXUGLVLOOXVLRQPHQWZKLFKLVHPSKDVLVHG E\ WKH ZRUG ³FKLOGLVK´ VXJJHVWLQJ UHOHQWOHVVQHVV DQG DW WKH VDPH WLPH YXOQHUDELOLW\RIDFKLOG+HUHWKHGDQJHURIWUHDWLQJOLWHUDWXUHLQVWUXFWLRQDOO\ LVXOWLPDWHO\IXOO\H[SRVHG=RHIHHOVOLNHDFKLOGZLWKRXWVXSSRUW³REOLJHG WRVWUXJJOHRQZLWKRXWWKDWDVVXUDQFH´/LWHUDU\KDSS\HQGLQJLVRSSRVHGWR DKDSS\HQGLQJLQSHUVRQDOOLIH 7KHIUDJPHQWDERYHLVLQWHUHVWLQJIRUDQRWKHUUHDVRQDVZHOOWKHLQVLVWHQW UHSHWLWLRQRIWKHZRUG³¿FWLRQ´LQWKHLQLWLDOVHQWHQFHGUDZVDWWHQWLRQWRLWV GRXEOHPHDQLQJ)LFWLRQPD\GHQRWHVRPHWKLQJXQUHDODQGVXFKDPHDQLQJ LV HQKDQFHG D IHZ OLQHV ODWHU ZLWK WKH ZRUGV ³LOOXVLRQV´ DQG ³GHOXVLRQV´ +RZHYHU¿FWLRQLVDOVRXVHGDVDQDOWHUQDWLYHIRUDOLWHUDU\SLHFH,QWKLV ZD\LWPD\IXQFWLRQRQDPHWDOHYHOFRPPHQWLQJRQWKHUROHRIOLWHUDWXUH DQGFRQVHTXHQWO\WKHUROHRIBay of AngelsDVDQRYHO,QRWKHUZRUGVWKH DXWKRU PLJKW EH KLQWLQJ WKDW OLWHUDWXUH DV IDLU\ WDOHV OHDGV WR FRPIRUWLQJ LOOXVLRQVDQGWKRXJKLWLVPLVOHDGLQJGDQJHURXVZHDOOHQMR\LWVRPHWLPHV

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because it provides a kind of comfort. This comfort is metaphorically embraced as a “return home,” and thus draws allusion to safety traditionally associated with home. There are more lines attesting to the deliberate use of metaliterary commentaries: No doubt a marriage in which each partner respected the innocence of the other was a marriage of true minds, but in my view it did not amount to real thing. No fairy story would persuade me now. I required more in the way of artfulness, which is not a fairy attribute. And I would reject any pilgrimage which was content merely to anticipate a happy ending. (BoA 132)

Again, in this fragment two levels of argument may be detected. Seemingly, Zoe only expresses her mistrust towards the idealized view of marriage as a happy ending presented in fairy tales. On the other hand, a fairy story does not function merely as a literary device, a useful metaphor of simplistic, romanticized version of love. The sentence “I required more in the sense of artfulness” touches upon the artistic quality of literature and may partly explain the model of the world presented in Bay of Angels. :KHQ WUHDWHG DV D VHOIUHÀH[LYH UHPDUN LW MXVWL¿HV WKH LQGH¿QLWH HQGLQJ of the novel. Zoe does not present her situation as a direct resemblance of her mother’s; she strives not to comply to the rules that are not in line with her self-respect, but her relationship with Dr Balbi is far from a conventional one. She still lives in the liminal space between London and Nice and sharing her affection of Dr Balbi with his jealous sister Jeanne. In general, Zoe is grateful for this state of affairs but it could be inferred that she falls into another illusion because the satisfaction is always limited DQGH[WUHPHO\FDXWLRXVDVH[HPSOL¿HGLQWKHTXRWHV³(TXDOO\WKHUHDUHQR protestations of happiness” (ibidem 213), “For the moment I am content with the compromises I have made” (ibidem 216). Zoe’s contentment is undermined by her reluctance to display it and the way she speaks about it. Thus, what she calls “happiness” is the outcome of what Williams-Wanquet calls “compromises”.9 Moreover, although Zoe frequently emphasizes her gratitude, her relationships with Dr Balbi and his sister appear to be similar to her previous, unatisfactory personal bonds. As with her previous lover, Adam Crowhurst, Zoe spends a few days with 9

Williams-Wanquet also concludes that Zoe’s satisfaction is not genuine: “But the term is perhaps ‘resignation’ rather than ‘optimism’. This is not a true happy end to a series of novels, but a reasoned acceptance of what is in fact an unsatisfactory relationship made up of compromises … .” (102).

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Dr Balbi “[i]n those out-of-the-way hotels” (BoA 212). Adam demanded ultimate compliance with his rules and offered her only as much as he ZDQWHG=RHFRXOGQRW¿QGHQRXJKDIIHFWLRQVKHQHHGHGEXWZDVGHVSHUDWH not to lose her lover, who at the same time enjoyed meeting other girls. Correspondingly, Zoe accepts the envious, mistrustful Jeanne and agrees to share Dr. Balbi with her, just like she accepted Adam’s affairs in the past. The doubt about the relationship between Dr Balbi and Zoe is conveyed in the following sentences: “Our cover story is his interest in photographing architectural curiosities. I am the navigator on these occasions, a task I enjoy, for these excursions are real: it would offend him to tell a lie”. In those lines a play on words “cover,” “real,” “a lie” can be inferred. It is striking that the cover story of romance is about pictures of inanimate objects–“architectural curiosities”. This encourages looking at the word “cover” in its different context, when it denotes a disguise, coat, or mask. Such a meaning correlates with the phrase “to tell a lie”, which, in turn, could relate to the “real” quality of those trips, especially because it seems that a lie is a matter of convention here: it will not hurt Dr. Balbi but merely “offend him.” And although Zoe claims that she enjoys those trips, she is not necessarily earnest as the last pages of the novel offer a misleading declaration of her so timid contentment that it seems forced: “I am reminded once again that I have been fortunate, and that my continued good fortune depends on tact, on discretion, on clearsightedness” (BoA 216). Secondly, Zoe anticipates that in the future she may have to take care of Jeanne: when I am feeling very brave I face the possibility that she [Jeanne] may EHFRPHLOOPD\UHJUHVVGHPDQGSURWHFWLRQGHPDQGVDFUL¿FHVDVWKHVLFN so often do, extort promises, and even reveal antagonism which she does not acknowledge. Then, I know, it will be time for me to do one of two things: to stay behind and look after her, or to take my leave of Antoine and come home for ever. (BoA 215)

Taking into consideration nursing Jeanne, Zoe potentially puts herself in a similar position she was adopted in relation to her ailing mother. Thus, it might be inferred that the protagonist is not fully aware of the pattern she repeats and illusions she nurtures. This can be clearly observed in the sentences referring to Simon and Zoe’s mother: “I should never attempt to UHFUHDWHWKH¿FWLRQRIRXUOLYHVWKHUH,ZDVWKHRQO\RQHRIWKHWKUHHRIXV WRKDYHEHOLHYHGWKH¿FWLRQWREHIDFW´%R$ 1HYHUWKHOHVVWKHOLQHV TXRWHGKHUHPD\VXJJHVWWKDWHYHQWKRXJKVKHGH¿HVWKHLQVWUXFWLRQVIURP

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her early fairy tale reading, she cannot function outside these frames. For example, she perpetuates the toxic triangle pattern of relationships. Zoe’s connection with Dr Balbi, where his sister plays such an important role, may be treated as a repetition of the toxic pattern of Simon and Anne’s marriage, where Zoe played such a critical part. Moreover, Zoe seems to have lost sound judgment when, for example, she states, time and again, that her mother was a victim of fairy tales. Later on, she contradicts those statements claiming: “Although she had once been DQ DYLG UHDGHU VKH KDG QHYHU PDGH WKH PLVWDNH RI FRQIXVLQJ ¿FWLRQ ZLWK fact” (BoA 208). The irony lurks in the similarity of Zoe and her mother, the contradictory meaning of the words throughout the book, and the misleading concept of instructional literature. Taking those issues into consideration, one might argue that Zoe ceased to be a reliable narrator of the story. Numerous fragments of the novel prove WKH YDOLGLW\ RI WKLV DVVXPSWLRQ DQG SDUDGR[LFDOO\ LW LV FRQ¿UPHG PRVW conspicuously by the abundance of lines referring to stories, or employing the metaphor of life as a book. Even after confronting the literary illusions, Zoe still conceptualizes her life in terms of literature: “I would transform P\VHOILQWRWKHVRUWRIXVHIXO¿FWLRQWKDWEHJXLOHVRQHRQDGXOODIWHUQRRQ and is remembered faithfully, even when a harsher truth should prevail” (BoA 158). Furthermore, in a conversation with Dr. Balbi Zoe also makes use of stories: “One thinks of marriage as the end of the story”. “So that one day I shall leave empty-handed. With very few stories with which to entertain my friends”. “What stories would entertain them?” “Oh, love, of course. Women lose interest if you deprive them of this sort of exchange”. (BoA 165-166)

What is striking in this talk is the fact that when Zoe limits her life experience to the couple of stories she distances herself from her experience. Love is presented here not as a genuine feeling for another person, but merely as a romantic plot of the life stories meant to entertain friends. Correspondingly, OLIHPD\WXUQWREHXQIXO¿OOHGEHFDXVHRIWKHODFNRIVWRULHVWRGLVVHPLQDWH Quite possibly, the reading taught Zoe not to experience her life, which to her seemed less real than literature. Even the decision to continue her

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existence appears to be the result of the interest from a curious reader: “It would have been entirely possible for me to walk out into the sea. That I did not do so was the result of a sense of duty to myself. I wanted to know the rest of the story, however it might turn out” (BoA 176). At the very HQG RI WKH QRYHO D VLPLODU PHWDSKRU DSSHDUV FRQ¿UPLQJ =RH¶V UHOHQWOHVV dependence on the references to the act of reading: “In that sense our story will run its course, and I realize, with a lifting of the heart, that it is not yet time to close the book” (BoA 217). Accordingly, if the rest of life is “the rest of the story”, then the circumstances are described in terms of setting and the main events constitute “the main drama”: … I had felt so much and so deeply in Nice that it seemed to have witnessed my entire life, a life whose shadowy beginnings in London might have been a little more than a setting of the scene, after which the main drama could unfold. (BoA 200)

0RVWUHPDUNDEOHKRZHYHUVHHPVWREHRQHRI=RH¶V¿QDOUHDOL]DWLRQV which negates her conclusions about the misleading role of literature: I had not rid myself of my childish imaginings. I doubt if one ever does. There would be no happy ending. I should have to live without such FRQVROLQJ¿FWLRQVDVPRVWSHRSOHGR7KHGLVDGYDQWDJHZDVWKDWWKH¿FWLRQV exert such a power that one comes to accept them as revealed truth. But they DUHDOZD\V¿FWLRQVDQGPXVWUHPDLQVR´%R$

The quotation above ultimately proves the unstable nature of Zoe’s opinions. Firstly, after defying fairy tales several times earlier in the novel, she suggests that it is not possible to dismiss them (“I had not rid myself IURPP\FKLOGKRRGLPDJLQLQJV´ 7KHQVKHDI¿UPVWKDWSHRSOHPLVLQWHUSUHW literature although it constitutes unreliable solace. Strangely enough, those confusing lines logically illustrate the last sentence in the quotation. Once DJDLQWKHGRXEOHPHDQLQJRIWKHZRUG³¿FWLRQ´LVHPSKDVL]HGLQWKHSUHVHQW article to reveal the self-referential sense of this fragment. It is as if the implied author warned the implied reader against the danger of treating Bay of Angels DVDIDLWKIXOUHÀHFWLRQRIUHDOLW\/LWHUDU\SLHFHLV¿FWLRQWKDWLVWR say, it is a piece of art and a piece of fabrication. Consequently, the writer’s artistic imagination is an illusion and so it has the right to be misleading. Skinner describes the protagonist of Start in Life as someone who ³LGHQWL¿HVOLWHUDWXUHDVWKHµYLOODLQ¶RIKHUOLIH´ ,IWKHOHYHORIQDUUDWLRQ is taken into account, the description is also applicable to Zoe in Bay of

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Angels. Another Brookner scholar, Williams-Wanquet, makes a reference to Martha Nussbaum and argues that “Brookner’s texts dramatise the ethical relationship between the implied reader and the implied author” (132). However, Williams-Wanquet’s opinion emphasizes that the main purpose of Brookner’s autotextuality is to show the reason behind the mindset and choices of her heroines and the ideologies which conditioned their actions (or lack of them) (ibidem 134-135). Characteristically, such an interpretation overlooks the metaliterary function of the references to fairy tales. The analysis of the fragments of Bay of Angels clearly shows that fairy tales play a pivotal role in this novel. Among many fairy motifs, the Cinderella plot and characters seem to be the dominat reference points for the narration. However, Zoe’s confused attitude towards the instructional function of her early reading undermines the reliability of her narration and ultimately draws the reader’s attention to the level of the implied author. Moreover, the broader allusions to storytelling and the twofold concept of ¿FWLRQ DOVR GHPRQVWUDWH WKH DXWRUHIHUHQWLDO IXQFWLRQ RI WKH QRYHO :KLOH the text in question does not give a conclusive answer whether fairy tales should be perceived as instructional, it does, however, offer the metaliterary UHÀHFWLRQXSRQWKHLOOXVRU\QDWXUHRIOLWHUDWXUH)DUIURPEHLQJQRWDPHUH reinterpretation of the Cinderella plot, Bay of Angels creates a tension between the fairy tale pattern and the world model presented in the novel. This antagonism is even more striking insofar as the elements common to both world models, e.g., the similar set of characters or the order of the events, are emphasized. As the novel draws to a close, the discrepancies are revealed contributing to the surprising effect, as only the course of Zoe’s life, perpetually misguided by fairy tales, could fully demonstrate the FRQWUDVWEHWZHHQWKH³KDSSLO\HYHUDIWHU´DQGKHU¿QDOVLWXDWLRQ

Works Cited Björkblom, Inger. The Plane of Uncreatedness: A Phenomenological Study of Anita Brookner’s Late Fiction. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2001. Brookner, Anita. A Start in Life. London: Penguin Books, 1991. —. Bay of Angels. London: Penguin Books, 2001. Nussbaum, Martha. Love’s Knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. Propp, Vladimir. Morphology of the Folktale. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968. Skinner, John. The Fictions of Anita Brookner: Illusions of Romance. London: Macmillan, 1992.

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Sadler, Lynn Veach. Anita Brookner. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990. Williams-Wanquet, Eileen. Art and Life in the Novels of Anita Brookner: Reading IRU/LIH6XEYHUVLYH5H:ULWLQJWR/LYH. Bern: Peter Lang, 2004.

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CHAPTER TEN PRE-RAPHAELITE DAY OFF: “BANK HOLIDAY” BY KATHERINE MANSFIELD ANNA KWIATKOWSKA

Introduction Modernism, being shrouded in art, gave the writers of the epoch no choice but to surrender to the rich offer of artistic endeavours. Thus, when reading or analyzing the leading literary works of the early twentieth century RQH DOZD\V VWXPEOHV RYHU DUWLVWLF LQÀXHQFHV EH LW LQ WKH VWUXFWXUH RI WKH text, its theme (the role of an artist and art in society), language or all those elements combined. Furthermore, not only did most of the writers surrender quite willingly to the artistic ideas looming large, but they also decided to amplify them with an individual, often very modern, look. Putting it GLIIHUHQWO\ZKDWZH¿QGLQWKHVHWH[WVDUHUHIHUHQFHVWRWKHQHZHVWDUWLVWLF approaches and visions often repeatedly experimental in nature, such DV SRVWLPSUHVVLRQLVP H[SUHVVLRQLVP FXELVP DQG IDXYLVP \HW ¿OWHUHG through a personal prism. Therefore, the modern in literature, in order to stress the contemporaneity HYHQPRUHVHHNVWKHPDWFKLQJPRGHUQVSLULWLQDUW%XWIRU0DQV¿HOGWKLV arrangement does not seem to be so evident and straightforward. This is due to the fact that her literary texts show her fascination not merely with the contemporary, fresh artistic creative attempts, but above all with the aesthetic spirit of the epoch which was at a close when she came to London for the ¿UVWWLPHLQ6KHZDVWKHQDQGDERXWWRFRPSOHWHKHUHGXFDWLRQDW Queen’s College School. Her enthrallment with the aesthetic ideas of the WXUQRIWKHFHQWXU\DUHYHU\ZHOOH[HPSOL¿HGLQWKLVVKRUWIUDJPHQWIURPRQH of her letters, written after she went home for a brief stay at the age of 16: ,DPDVKDPHGRI\RXQJ1HZ=HDODQGEXWZKDWLVWREHGRQH$OOWKH¿UP fat framework of their brains must be demolished before they can begin to OHDUQ7KH\ZDQWDSXULI\LQJLQÀXHQFH±DPDGZDYHRISUH5DSKDHOLWLVPRI super-aestheticism, should intoxicate this country. (In Eastham 86)

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Later on in her literary career this youthful intoxication with Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire and the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (the PRB, in short) undergoes a personal transformation. It might be the LQÀXHQFH RI -RKQ 0LGGOHWRQ 0XUU\ KHU IXWXUH KXVEDQG DQG WKH Rhythm magazine she published in, which led her to be ashamed of the aesthetic concepts she had believed in. The magazine, as we read in Andrew Eastham’s Aesthetic Afterlives. Irony, Literary Modernity and the Ends of Beauty, … carried an explicit attack on Aestheticism in its editorial statements. These statements were frequently loose and untheorized, but Murry’s line of attack was certainly direct when he insisted that “a fantastic and reactionary aestheticism is art’s greatest enemy” (87).

Nonetheless, after the phase of modernist fascination, she seems to have come back to her adolescent ideals and successfully merges them with modernity. An example of such a merger, i.e. the 19th century artistic approach combined with 20th century Modernist literary ideas, is “Bank Holiday”, a short story from the collection The Garden Party and Other Stories (1922), and the aim of this article is to demonstrate the scope of the 35%¶VLQÀXHQFHRQWKLVVKRUWVWRU\:KDWLVDOVRVKRZQLVKRZ0DQV¿HOG translated the visual style of the Pre-Raphaelites into the verbal network, on WKHRQHKDQGDQGKRZVKHPRGL¿HGRUSHUVRQDOL]HGLWRQWKHRWKHU7KXV what she inherited from these sources will be sought on various levels such as construction of the text, descriptive mode or types of characters. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood For the sake of clarity, let us start with a brief recollection of the main characteristics of the pre-Raphaelite style. The Victorian avant-garde art movement in question, formed by three young men, namely Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais1, was easily recognized by a set of distinctive traits and components.

1

The three were later followed by the no-less known artists like Edward BurneJones, William Morris, Simeon Solomon or Evelyn de Morgan.

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Fig. 10-1 Lorenzo and Isabella (1849)2

Fig. 10-2 The Bridesmaid (1851) 2

All illustrations come from the so-called public domain and are low-resolution images of works of art (or of their reproductions) used in the article for educational purposes only. They are a part of the commentary on either the work in question, the artistic genre or technique of the work of art or the school to which the artist belongs. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pre-Raphaelite_paintings_by_author

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When considering such acclaimed paintings as John Everett Millais’ Lorenzo and Isabella (1849), The Bridesmaid (1851), Mariana (1851) and Christ in the House of His Parents (1849-50), William Holman Hunt’s Converted British Family sheltering a Christian Missionary (1849), and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Beata Beatrix (1870), it is their sharp focus that comes to the fore. The pictures of the Pre-Raphaelites instantly offer the viewer a “landing area” for the eye, a spot that attracts our attention and engages our interest. For instance, in Lorenzo and Isabella (Fig. 10-1) this is the straightened, kicking leg of the young man who is positioned on the left side of the canvas foreground. The leg visibly divides the space and points to the quietly talking couple opposite the young man. Whereas in The Bridesmaid (Fig. 10-2) it is the abundance of red, wavy hair, rather than the wedding ring the young woman is holding. This effect of an enchaining spot discernible in the PRBs’ art is obtained with the use of bright and sharp colours often “closed” within clear-cut contours which, in turn, make the colouring more striking and expressive. Consequently, pre-Raphaelite works offer the viewer a photographic representation that allows, in the majority of cases, for a clear enumeration of the elements appearing on the canvasses, including even the smallest ones. In addition to this “landing area”, there is the PRB’s love of nature and their dedication to working out doors. Therefore even if the depicted scene takes place inside, there is always a link with the outside, e.g., a large window, tapestry, clothing or wallpaper decorated with accurately presented botanical patterns. Such links with nature are never accidental and never serve merely as a decorous background. Quite remarkably, especially when read symbolically, they conclude the picture (characterization) of the SUHVHQWHG¿JXUHRUVFHQHWKXVH[SDQGLQJWKHVHOIHYLGHQWPHDQLQJV

Fig. 10-3 Mariana (1851)

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Furthermore, the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites epitomize highly symbolic as well as allegorical representations, frequently saturated with innuendoes.3 And although such portrayals are often rooted in Christian tradition, or allude to either the ancient or the medieval and are based on wellknown stories from literary texts, legends and folk stories, they nevertheless comment on the PRBs’ contemporary social matters and/or moral issues. For instance, Millais’ Marianna (Fig. 10-3), so overtly medieval in character, is actually inspired by the Romantic poem Mariana (1830) by Lord Tennyson (who, on his part, had been motivated by Shakespeare’s character Marianna from the play Measure for Measure), and can be read as a comment on the role of women in Victorian society.4

Fig. 10- 4 The Christ in the House of His Parents (1849-50)

Fig. 10- 5 Converted British Family sheltering a Christian Missionary (1849)

3

For a detailed discussion referring to sexual allusions in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites see Carol Jacobi, “Sugar, Salt and Curdled Milk: Millais and the Synthetic Subject”, web. 4 More about the painting can be found for example at: Khan Academy, “Victorian Art and Architecture. The Pre-Raphaelites and mid-Victorian art”, web.

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Fig. 10- 6 Beata Beatrix (1870)

Another pre-Raphaelite hallmark is related to the themes and REMHFWV¿JXUHVSUHVHQWHGE\WKHSDLQWHUVWKH\FHQWUHRQWKHKXPEOHDQGWKH ordinary; common, everyday objects are oftentimes placed in the immediate IRUHJURXQG 7KLV IXUWKHU DIIHFWV WKH GLVWDQFH EHWZHHQ WKH ¿JXUHV DQG WKH viewers. It is clear that the commonplace implies easy accessibility and, by extension, being close to the on-going, everyday events and their participants. It follows that the portrayed characters are spaced out on the canvas in such a way that they are very close to the picture plane, almost emerging from it. The application of this technique is most conspicuous in reference to WKH ¿JXUHV WKDW DUH FUXFLDO IRU D JLYHQ YLVXDO  QDUUDWLYH 7KHUHIRUH WKH viewer of PRB paintings is very close to the presented scenes. In turn, this closeness eventually results in a lack of clearly marked perspective. In pre5DSKDHOLWHSDLQWLQJVZHDUHIDFHGZLWKDQLPSUHVVLRQRIÀDWQHVVHYHQZKHQ dealing with compositions in which the background elements are also highly important since they are complementary to the foreground ones. Indeed, such an organization of space openly calls for the use of perspective. But the PRBs decided otherwise, causing uneasiness in academic artistic circles. As we can read, among others, in Dinah Roe’s article on Pre-Raphaelites, their ³ÀDWWHQHGSHUVSHFWLYHVKDUSRXWOLQHVEULJKWFRORXUVDQGFORVHDWWHQWLRQWR GHWDLOWKDWÀRXWHGFODVVLFDOFRQYHQWLRQVRIV\PPHWU\SURSRUWLRQDQGFDUHIXOO\ controlled chiaroscuro” shocked the Victorian critics (web). The type of framing indicated in the previous paragraph leads further

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to an isolation or separation of an image from any further context. What is quite peculiar, however, is the viewer’s strong conviction that the confronted close-up is but a fragment of a larger image or of a greater whole which can be merely guessed at and does not have to be necessarily true. Nonetheless, the completeness of single images does not have to discourage the onlookers from pursuing a common ground for them. Interestingly enough, many Pre-Raphaelites pictures can be linked into certain series or sets of paintings joined by a prevalent theme or a reoccurring object, for example, a silver vessel that becomes a linking element.5

Fig. 10- 7 The Awakening Conscience (1853)

The last feature characteristic of the PRBs’ pictures to be noted in this introductory outline, is related to ambience. In other words, the artistic texts in question are highly emotive and suggestive of mood. Apart from an evocative and expressive colour scheme and spatial elements alluding to certain stories, legends or poems, the pre-Raphaelite artists, in order to induce particular mood, made use of body language. Namely, the poses DQG JHVWXUHV RI WKH KXPDQ ¿JXUHV SUHVHQWHG E\ WKHP RQ WKH FDQYDVVHV distinctively denote particular emotions, such as joy, sadness, boredom or 5

To read more on the topic see Jacobi op. cit..

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anticipation. For instance, in The Awakening Conscience (1853) by William Holman Hunt, a young woman is portrayed in the very moment of getting up from the lap of a man. The feeling communicated by the manner she has folded her hands as well as by the expression of her eyes looking somewhere beyond, or rather through, the walls of the room she is in, is fear, uncertainty and lack of safety. These two people are complete strangers despite their physical closeness. After a brief presentation of the most important traits of the preRaphaelite Brotherhood’s artistic style, let us now delve into their respective PDQLIHVWDWLRQVLQ.DWKHULQH0DQV¿HOG¶V³%DQN+ROLGD\´

The Short Story The opening paragraph introduces the reader immediately to the vibrant, visual world of the Pre-Raphaelites by a multitude of colourrelated adjectives, descriptive adjectives, similes and metaphors. The focus LV WKXV LQVWDQWO\ HVWDEOLVKHG RQ WKH FRORXUDWLRQ RI YDULHJDWHG ¿JXUHV DQG objects. What is more, the colourful image rendered by the text is further emphasised by the appearance of non-abstract elements that are associated ZLWKVSHFL¿FFRORXUVIRUH[DPSOHEDQDQDVRUDQJHVDQGVWUDZEHUULHV7KLV on the other hand, supplies our imagination with contours and sharp lines thus enhancing the focus. What is more, the impression that the reader has a picture being unfolded before his eyes is additionally underscored by the meticulous, enumerative style of the text. We are fed with the information item by item in the form of a sequence which allows us to gradually create an image. In the examples below, the enumeration centres upon action (verbs) and upon particular features (nouns plus adjectives), respectively.6 A crowd collects, eating oranges and bananas, tearing off the skins, dividing, sharing. The young ones are larking, pushing each other on and off the pavement, dodging, nudging; the old ones are talking: ‘So I said to ‘im, if you wants the doctor to yourself, fetch ‘im, says I’. Old fat women in velvet bodices--old dusty pin-cushions--lean old hags like worn umbrellas with a quivering bonnet on top; young women, in 6

It very much reminds of the descriptions of paintings for the blind or visually impaired.

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muslins, with hats that might have grown on hedges, and high pointed shoes; men in khaki, sailors, shabby clerks, young Jews in ¿QH cloth suits with padded shoulders and wide trousers, “hospital boys” in blue--the sun discovers them--the loud, bold music holds them together in one big knot for a moment0DQV¿HOGHPSKDVLVPLQH

This itemising style is characterized by clusters of word classes and VWULQJVRIZRUGV7KHVH¿UVWWZRVKRUWGHVFULSWLYHXWWHUDQFHVDUHGRPLQDWHG E\YHUEV±WKHUHDUHDVPDQ\DV¿YHLQHDFKVHQWHQFH$VIRUWKHWKLUGTXRWDWLRQ this grammatical unit is much longer–the enumeration continues for a few lines, making our head spin. And this is not merely due to the accumulation of information but also, or above all, thanks to the constant change of objects we should “look at”. Our mind’s eye laboriously travels from one JURXSRI¿JXUHVWRWKHRWKHUKDYLQJMXVWHQRXJKWLPHWRVFDQWKHPTXLFNO\ Consequently, the respective horizontal and vertical mental movements the reader (the onlooker) is forced to perform, combined with a substantial number of adjectives and descriptive phrases, and the great variety of objects introduced (see the underlined items), result in the creation of a feeling of haste and plentifulness. What is more, this photographic closeness is also rendered by yet another language aspect, i.e. the grammatical tense. From the very beginning the addressee of the text realizes that the description refers to events that are happening at the very moment of referring to them. Consequently, in such a situation the reader would expect the standard use of the Present Continuous Tense, yet instead s/he is confronted with the Present Simple.7 Since the Present Simple is often employed when telling jokes or funny stories, it corresponds perfectly with the overall mood of the introductory paragraph. However, the Present Simple Tense is also used by the commentators of live events, such as sports, for the sheer economy of words and in order to communicate excitement and convey directness. Therefore, in the course of reading, the reader is presented with a series of colourful photographic images. As was mentioned before, the PRBs loved to work en plein air and made frequent use of botanical patterns. In “Bank Holiday” the references WRWKHQDWXUDOZRUOGDUHSOHQWLIXODQGHDVLO\QRWLFHDEOH¿UVWDQGIRUHPRVW the whole scene is set outdoors; second, this natural setting is additionally emphasised by recurrent references to weather throughout the whole text, ERWKGLUHFW³EURDGVXQOLJKW´³DÀ\LQJGD\KDOIVXQKDOIZLQG:KHQWKH 7

)RUDQLQWHUHVWLQJGLVFXVVLRQRQWKHXVHRIWHQVHVE\0DQV¿HOGVHH(ONH'¶KRNHU 149-165.

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VXQJRHVLQDVKDGRZÀLHVRYHUZKHQLWFRPHVRXWDJDLQLWLV¿HU\7KHPHQ and women feel it burning their backs, their breasts and their arms; ...”; “the sweat pours down his face into his paper collar”); and indirect (through the description of the clothes worn by the participants of the event as well as the objects they have: “white trousers”, “a straw hat”, “canvas shoes”, “a lace parasol”; or via the references to seasonal food and beverages associated with hot weather: “basket full of strawberries”, “ice-cream cart”, “Lemonade! A whole tank”); third, the nature does not serve merely as a background to the story but, similarly as in the paintings of the PRB painters, it is an essential interpretation enhancing element. For example, we may notice that the hot summer weather is referred to more frequently towards the end of the story. 7KHFKDQJHLQWKHQDWXUDOFRQGLWLRQVDVZHOODVWKHLULQWHQVL¿FDWLRQLWJHWV warmer and warmer, the wind starts blowing harder and harder, until it dies out as if defeated by the sun or tired of it) correlates with the change in KXPDQ FRQGLWLRQ ZKLFK JUDGXDOO\ ODQJXLVKHV$QG WKXV DW ¿UVW WKH FURZG seems to enjoy the hot weather (“the broad sunlight”) or at least the people do not seem to mind it:”… the crowd scatters, moving slowly up the hill”. With time, however, the sun rays become more onerous and deadening: The men and women feel it burning their backs, their breasts and their arms; they feel their bodies expanding, coming alive... …, [people] swoop down on a girl, blurt into laughter. … ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I am an auctioneer by profession, …’; the sweat pours down his face into his paper collar; his H\HVORRNJOD]HG0DQV¿HOG

6WHDGLO\ WKH VXQ LV YLVLEO\ WXUQLQJ LQWR DQ HQHP\±LW ¿HUFHO\ DWWDFNV WKH characters with the hellish heat burning every part of them. As a result, the people stop controlling their bodies which expand and come alive; their movements become languid and erratic–they “swoop down” and “blurt into laughter” as if drunk or not feeling well or both; some sweat enormously and look feverish (foggy eyes of the auctioneer). And when eventually the crowd reaches the destination, it looks as if they had arrived in hell: The top of the hill is reached. How hot it is! … The wind has dropped, DQGWKHVXQEXUQVPRUH¿HUFHO\WKDQHYHU«$QGXSXSWKHKLOOFRPHWKH people, …. Up, up they thrust into the light and heat, … far ahead of themGUDZQ XS LQWR WKH IXOO EULJKW GD]]OLQJ UDGLDQFH WR « ZKDW" 0DQV¿HOG 235-236)

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Now the sun is so bright and burning that the people can hardly see anything. What is more, they do not even seem to remember the cause of their journey. But it does not really matter now. It is too hot to think. The sun and all other elements belonging to the natural world, like the hill, the tree, the fruits, scattered throughout the story gain highly symbolic meanings and become commentaries on the characters and, by extension, of the human condition in general. In this way the hill in the text ultimately turns out to symbolize our “cheap” aspirations and moral degradation. For once the reader reaches the destination together with the crowd, s/he sees there neither the church nor the castle nor a splendid view, but a place of corruption, a public house reeking of beer and human sweating bodies, a noisy place: The public-house is open, and the crowd presses in. The mother sits on the pavement edge with her baby, and the father brings her out a glass of dark, brownish stuff, and then savagely elbows his way in again. A reek RIEHHUÀRDWVIURPWKHSXEOLFKRXVHDQGDORXGFODWWHUDQGUDWWOHRIYRLFHV 0DQV¿HOG

As for the tree, since there is a false professor standing under it, the reader is quickly assured that it is a tree of stupidity rather than of knowledge. The mendacious professor talks the gullible people into believing that he can read their futures from their (timid and frightened) faces. Under a tree, Professor Leonard, in cap and gown, stands beside his banner. He is here ‘for one day’, from the London, Paris and Brussels Exhibition, to tell your fortune from your face. And he stands, smiling encouragement, like a clumsy dentist. When the big men, romping and swearing a moment before, hand across their sixpence, and stand before him, they are suddenly serious, dumb, timid, almost blushing as the Professor’s quick hand notches WKHSULQWHGFDUG0DQV¿HOG

One more example of pre-Raphaelite-like symbolism embedded in the text under analysis can be added. It is related to strawberries, fruit generally associated with passion and love.8+RZHYHULQ0DQV¿HOG¶VWH[W they become symbols of lascivious thoughts and desire. Let us consider the following fragment:

8

See Jacobi op.cit..

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One young girl has even a basket of strawberries, but she does not eat them. ‘Aren’t they dear!’ She stares at the tiny pointed fruits as if she were afraid of them. The Australian soldier laughs. ‘Here, go on, there’s not more than a mouthful.’ But he doesn’t want her to eat them, either. He likes to watch her little frightened face, and her puzzled eyes lifted to his: ‘Aren’t WKH\DSULFH¶+HSXVKHVRXWKLVFKHVWDQGJULQV0DQV¿HOG

The above mentioned understated meaning of strawberries is built upon a couple of contrasts. First of all, the behaviour of the girl and the soldier should be considered. She looks at the strawberries as if she was seeing VXFKIUXLWIRUWKH¿UVWWLPH+RZHYHUKHUFRPPHQW³$UHQ¶WWKH\GHDU´GRHV not suggest that at all, but rather points to the fact that either never before had she seen such beautiful ones or that she had never before realized their beauty. As for the soldier, obviously he is not interested in the eulogised strawberries but in their owner, for he rather “likes to watch her” than the fruit. Also, his body language suggests something in the same vein, for his answer to the girl’s repeated praise of the strawberries makes him push out his chest and grin certainly not for the strawberries to see, but, again, to catch the girl’s attention. Furthermore, the “adult” thoughts of the grinning Australian soldier are sustained by the vocabulary used in the description of the strawberry scene. Words and phrases such as “pointed fruit”, “frightened face”, “puzzled eyes” or “pushing out his chest”, “grins”, do not match the description of the well-known, sweet and tasty fruit in question. If anything, they suggest the unknown and the mystery on the one hand (on the part of the girl), and the expectation and the pleasure on the other (on the part of the VROGLHU 7KLVJLYHVULVHWRVH[XDOFRQQRWDWLRQVZKLFKDUHDI¿UPHGQRWRQO\ by the (purposefully marked) shape of the strawberries and their (in-written) colour (red = passion, desire), but also by the eagerness of the soldier and his patronizing attitude towards the girl. When it comes to another feature attributed to the paintings of the PRBs, i.e. cherishing of the common and the everyday, it is introduced immediately with the title. A Bank holiday, being a public day off, allows everyone to enjoy some leisure time. It is associated with popular pastimes like meeting friends or going to a pub. Likewise, all the activities performed by the characters of the short story are quite simple, common and unsophisticated: they gather in a park, walk, talk, drink lemonade and beer, eat fruit and icecream, spend their hard-earned money on cheap, low quality, short-lasting souvenirs (“ticklers ... Little soft brooms on wire handles”, “a golliwog”, “a jumping donkey”, “chewing gum”, “a rose”, “a three-cornered paper hat” or “feathers” of “emerald green, scarlet, bright blue, canary yellow”) or

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on a sly piece of advice from a fortune teller. What is more, the reader FOHDUO\GLVWLQJXLVKHVFHUWDLQ¿JXUHVLQWKHFURZGZKRREYLRXVO\VWDQGIRU society and its representatives (the Australian soldier, girls, boys, ragged children, old fat women, babies, amateur musicians, peddlers, and many more). Additionally, in the same manner as it is with examining painting, we are offered a certain perspective. The reader hovers as if above the scene–a congested (framed) space which embraces a mass of swarming people and ostentatious objects they are either buying or selling; interestingly enough, again similarly to the PRBs’ canvases, we are very close to the on-going events due to the narrator’s tendency to focus on the details such as the hands of the musicians (“the pink spider of a hand beats the guitar”, “the little squat hand, with a brass-and-turquoise ring”), a fragment of “a pink handkerchief showing” from a coat, the type and condition of shoes (“bursting over-ripe button boots”, “high pointed shoes” of the young women), big eyes of the children, the body language of the people from the crowd (”occasionally a leg hops, an arm wags”, “the young ones … are dodging, nudging”), the spilt lemonade, the “paper collar” of the auctioneer, facial expressions of people (the “frightened face” and “puzzled eyes” of the girl with the strawberries, the grin of the Australian soldier, “a deep SXFNHURIDQJU\ÀHVK´RQWKHDXFWLRQHHU¶VIRUHKHDG DQGPDQ\PRUH7KLV proximity and intimacy is further highlighted by the fact that we are also able to distinguish the words uttered (shouted, spoken or even whispered) by the characters. As a result, we start to feel as if we were one of the crowd. Moreover, the merger of the bird’s eye view and the closeness (reminiscent RID¿OPFORVHXSWHFKQLTXH ZKLFKDOORZVXVWRGLVWLQJXLVKWKHGHWDLOVPRUH FOHDUO\¿QDOO\OHDGVXVWRWKHODFN of broader perspective. We cannot see far EH\RQGWKHFURZGIRUZHDUHÀRDWLQJZLWKLW Turning to yet another feature of the Pre-Raphaelites, “Bank Holiday” is very suggestive of mood and atmosphere. Let us consider the opening of the story: $VWRXWPDQZLWKDSLQNIDFHZHDUVGLQJ\ZKLWHÀDQQHOWURXVHUVDEOXH coat with a pink handkerchief showing, and a straw hat much too small for him, perched at the back of his head. He plays the guitar. A little chap in white canvas shoes, his face hidden under a felt hat like a broken wing, EUHDWKHVLQWRDÀXWHDQGDWDOOWKLQIHOORZZLWKEXUVWLQJRYHUULSHEXWWRQ boots, draws ribbons--long, twisted, streaming ribbons--of tune out of a ¿GGOH7KH\VWDQGXQVPLOLQJEXWQRWVHULRXVLQWKHEURDGVXQOLJKWRSSRVLWH the fruit-shop; the pink spider of a hand beats the guitar, the little squat hand, ZLWKDEUDVVDQGWXUTXRLVHULQJIRUFHVWKHUHOXFWDQWÀXWHDQGWKH¿GGOHU¶V DUPWULHVWRVDZWKH¿GGOHLQWZR0DQV¿HOG

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First of all, the repetition of the pink colour imposes a light-hearted, funny, easygoing, lenient ambience but with a childish rather than childlike tint: the pink face of the stout man reminds us of a balloon, whereas the hand compared to a pink spider creates an attitude towards the owner of WKHKDQGZKLFKLVTXLWHÀLSSDQW1H[WWKHFKHHUIXOFRORXUDWLRQDQGWRQHLV HQKDQFHGE\PXVLFPDGHZLWKWKHXVHRIWKHJXLWDUWKH¿GGOHDQGWKHÀXWH –the instruments commonly associated with folk and popular music, with RXWGRRUHQWHUWDLQPHQW)ROORZLQJWKLVOLQHRILQWHUSUHWDWLRQWKHÀXWHLWVHOI is a symbol of Dionysus, the god of festivity. In other words, from the very beginning the text induces the reader to believe that the ambience of the story corresponds with the title–the title itself overtly suggesting a colourful setting permeated with a joyous and carefree atmosphere. But the narrator is playing with our emotions. While the observer of the scene introduces the reader to this unworried mood, he, at the same time, sows the seeds RIGRXEWDVWRWKLVOLYHO\DQGLQQRFHQWWLPH7KLVVWHPVLQWKH¿UVWSODFH from the reversed (stereotypical) roles and features associated with adults and children respectively. The discrepancies between the expectations (responsible, well-behaved and well-mannered, laughing and talking adults, and happy, irresponsible, noisy and nosy children) and the images offered in the story (irresponsible, bad-mannered, misbehaving, naive and gullible adults versus quiet, patient, children showing interest and respect), usher the reader, despite the laughter and music resounding among the characters, to a serious, consequential and thereby bizarre, quaint and anxious world. The further we go into the short story, the less we smile. The colourful picture gradually becomes smeared with dirt. The dirt, both physical and spiritual, starts to lurk from behind “[l]ovely, streaming feathers, emerald green, scarlet, bright blue, canary yellow.” And so we are confronted with a sweating, smelly and noisy group of people drinking unsavoury lemonade LQ ZKLFK ³OHPRQV OLNH EOXQWHG ¿VKHV EORE LQ WKH \HOORZ ZDWHU ,W ORRNV solid, like a jelly, in the thick glasses”), look at “a trail of manure” left by a horse, hear the men swearing and drinking “dark, brownish stuff”, we FDQDOPRVWVPHOO³>D@UHHNRIEHHU´ÀRDWLQJ³IURPWKHSXEOLFKRXVH´DQG DUHGLVJXVWHGUHDGLQJDERXWWKHFKLOGUHQEHLQJFRPSDUHGWRÀLHV³DWKLFN PDVV RI FKLOGUHQ OLNH ÀLHV´  6XFK D YLYLG HPRWLRQDOO\ HQJDJLQJ VW\OH LV employed throughout the whole of the short-story. And at length we are left with the singularity of images and the linking element uniting them. Each paragraph of the short story presents the reader with a different scene as if s/he were in a different place or looking in a different direction. What we have is a set of images, a collection of VHHPLQJO\ VHSDUDWHSLFWXUHV)RULQVWDQFHLQWKH¿UVWSDUDJUDSKWKHUHDGHU

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is presented with a group of musicians and then the view shifts to the crowd gathered around. Next, the narrator focuses for a while on different people in the crowd. And so he notices, as mentioned above, the young girl with the basket full of strawberries, the soldier standing next to her, a group of fashionably dressed young women, a couple of boys and old ladies, pedlars, children and fortune tellers. This constant change of focus is one of the most visible features in the construction of the story. It results in fragmentation and separation of images. Yet this might be a false conclusion. For just as in the case of the Pre-Raphaelites, each paragraph, although in itself being D¿QLVKHG³SLFWXUH´LVOLQNHGZLWKRWKHU³SLFWXUHV´HLWKHUE\DPRWLIRUE\ the reoccurrence of a certain element or elements that allow the topos to be brought into the foreground. One such motif is the crowd composed of people of different ages and walks of life and their unceasing movement up the hill. Another motif is the already mentioned (hot) weather. It unites not only the paragraphs (element of the text structure), but also the travelling characters (element of the plot). Therefore, eventually, the juxtaposed scenes (pictures) become a metaphor of life. They illustrate the circle of life: the reader is fed with references to all life stages throughout the story. And these are not only in reference to the age of the presented characters, but also with regard to the constant, never-ending passing of time. Life and death are walking hand in hand: the old and the young, the dying and the newly ERUQDSSHDUEHIRUHWKHUHDGHUVLPXOWDQHRXVO\0DQV¿HOGPDQDJHVWRGRWKLV by exchanging the roles–the children act like adults and adults behave and look like children. The comparison is either direct (see the phrase in bold) When the big men, romping and swearing a moment before, hand across their sixpence, and stand before him, they are suddenly serious, dumb, timid, almost blushing as the Professor’s quick hand notches the printed card. They are like little children caught playing in a forbidden garden by WKHRZQHU«0DQV¿HOGHPSKDVLVPLQH

or indirect, indicated by the adult-like behaviour of children: They stand, as close up to the musicians as they can get, their hands behind their backs, their eyes big. Occasionally a leg hops, an arm wags. A tiny staggerer, overcome, turns round twice, sits down solemn, and then gets up again. ‘Ain’t it lovely?’ whispersDVPDOOJLUOEHKLQGKHUKDQG0DQV¿HOG 231, emphasis mine)

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The merging and mixing of the adult and child spheres are also shown on the lexical level. Let us consider the following example: A huge barouche comes swinging down the hill with two old, old babies inside. She holds up a lace parasol; he sucks the knob of his cane, and the fat old bodies roll together as the cradle rocks, and the steaming horse leaves a trail of manure as it ambles down the hill 0DQV¿HOG  emphasis mine)

The words in bold are used to describe two elderly characters, a man and a woman. Yet they can be easily re-used for a description of two little children. A rocking barouche, also referred to in the text as a cradle, may very well stand for a perambulator, a lace parasol, which is more of a fashionable item for a woman, becomes an indispensible sun parasol protecting the babies. Next, the old man sucking the knob reminds us of a toothless infant playing with a teether. What is more, little babies are expected to be fat and lacking FRRUGLQDWLRQDVLIGRPLQDWHGE\LQHUWLD³ERGLHVUROOWRJHWKHU´ $QG¿QDOO\ WKH¿UVWPHDQLQJRIWKHZRUG³EDE\´LV³LQIDQW´7KHRQO\SKUDVHVWKDWPDNH the reader think of the old and the deteriorated are those underlined. Also, it is worth noting that the direction in which the barouche goes (down) is adverse to the one taken by the crowd (up) composed of childish adults and serious children. This is but one more illustration of the constant permeation and thus inseparability of the two worlds. But the rounding off comes at the end when the surprised reader stumbles on a question which closes the story. To complicate it further, the question mark, rather than closing the issue, serves as the opening of a new one. It LQYLWHVXVWRSRQGHURYHUDQDQVZHULQWKH¿UVWSODFH+RZHYHUZKHUHDUH ZHWRORRNIRULW"'RHVWKH¿QDOTXHVWLRQQRWLQGXFHWKHUHDGHUWRUHDGWKH story again? Perhaps the answer to the posed question is within the text, or maybe the whole text as such is the answer? All in all, the end of the narrative seems to be the beginning of something, of something elusive and hard to name. And when we go to the beginning of the text, we are plunged into the middle of action (of life?)—we see the bored musicians playing and children listening with awe as if the sounds were new to them. The clash of the old and the new, the elderly and the young is introduced immediately. And so the story goes—round and round—like the music: “ribbons--long, WZLVWHGVWUHDPLQJULEERQVRIWXQH´/LNHOLIHWKHPXVLF¿QLVKHVDEUXSWO\ and starts again: “And the music breaks into bright pieces, and joins together again, and again breaks, and is dissolved, and the crowd scatters, moving slowly up the hill”. In turn, the hill suggests the end–for reaching

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the hill means reaching the destination. But then we see the old couple in the barouche heading down the hill, towards some other destination, some other HQGGHDWK" $QGRQFHWKHFKDUDFWHUVLQWKHFRPSDQ\RIUHDGHUV¿QLVKWKHLU journey, a question mark awaits them, an icon of a vicious circle.

Conclusion $VZDVGHPRQVWUDWHGDERYH.DWKHULQH0DQV¿HOG¶VV\PEROLFDVZHOODV constructional complexity, the employment of innuendos and artful, subtle networks of visual descriptions in “Bank Holiday” place her writing close to the works of the pre-Raphaelite artists. Meticulous descriptions enveloped in vivid colours, together with the suggestive glimpses of the moments of lives of the characters presented within the short story, are explicitly reminiscent of the aesthetic ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites. A close reading of the text unveils the most distinctive qualities of the PRBs’ artistic output cleverly embedded in a modernist text. The twentieth century narrative technique smoothly merges with the nineteenth century aesthetic ideas, creating a rich visual substance composed of interlaced layers of meanings. However, it is worth noting that “Bank Holiday” is not a case of mere translation of a set of particular art trend characteristics into a verbal QDUUDWLYH $OWKRXJK 0DQV¿HOG YLVLEO\ SD\V WULEXWH WR KHU RQFH IDYRXULWH DQGDGPLUHGDUWLVWVVKHQHYHUWKHOHVV¿OWHUVWKHLULGHDVWKURXJKKHUPRGHUQ FRQVFLHQFHDQGVXEMHFWLYHSHUVSHFWLYH,QRWKHUZRUGVVKHPRGL¿HVRULQD PDQQHURIVSHDNLQJÀLUWVZLWKWKHSUH5DSKDHOLWHIHDWXUHV$W¿UVWJODQFH nothing seems to point to it, but eventually it turns out that the contours RI WKH LPDJHV YHUEDOO\ SDLQWHG E\ 0DQV¿HOG DUH VWURQJHU DQG WKHUHIRUH overdrawn, and her characters are larger than life. In this way her text takes RQDVDWLULFDOWLQJH7RFRQFOXGH.DWKHULQH0DQV¿HOG¶VSUH5DSKDHOLWLVPLQ “Bank Holiday” is peppered with Modernist irony, her youthful idols thus being referred to with a wink.

Works Cited '¶KRNHU(ONH³7KH'HYHORSPHQWRI.DWKHULQH0DQV¿HOG¶V)LUVW3HUVRQ Narratives.” In Journal of Narrative Technique 42, No. 2 (Summer 2012): 149165. DOI: 10.1353/jnt.2012.0003. Eastham, Andrew. Aesthetic Afterlives: Irony, Literary Modernity and the Ends of Beauty. 2011. Reprint, London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

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Jacobi, Carol. “Sugar, Salt and Curdled Milk: Millais and the Synthetic Subject”, http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/18/ sugar-salt-andcurdled-milk-millais-and-the-synthetic-subject, accessed 13 Oct. 2015. Khan Academy, “Victorian Art and Architecture. The Pre-Raphaelites and mid-Victorian art,” https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/becomingmodern/ Victorian-art-architecture/pre-raphaelites/v/sir-john-everett-millaismariana-1851, accessed 13 Oct. 2015. 0DQV¿HOG.DWKHULQH³%DQN+ROLGD\´The Garden Party and Other Stories, 231236. 1922. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1983. “Pre-Raphaelites.” Boundless Art History. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. https://www. boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history-textbook/europeand-america-in-the-1800s-ce-35/realism-217/pre-raphaelites-772-7697/, accessed 2 Oct. 2015. Roe, Dinah. “The Pre-Raphaelites”. British Library. http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-pre-raphaelites#sthash. DOY3kOPH.dpuf. accessed 2 Oct. 2015 Wikimedia. 3UH5DSKDHOLWHV3DLQWLQJV. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pre-Raphaelite_paintings_by_ author.

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CHAPTER ELEVEN BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA: THE MASTER OF TERROR AND HIS IMPACT ON POPULAR CULTURE OLIVIER HARENDA Introduction There are various noticeable connotations which come to people’s minds after hearing the word Gothic. Some associate the term with today’s pulp literature for youngsters, whereas others often think of old, black and white movies about all those ridiculously looking monsters who constantly attack poor and frightened damsels-in-distress. Taking into account such perceptions, it is not surprising that the meaning of Gothic, carried and sustained through the centuries by countless works of literature, has decayed UHFHQWO\GXHWRWKHGHJUDGLQJLQÀXHQFHRISRSXODUFXOWXUH+RZHYHUWKHUH LVRQHVLJQL¿FDQWSKHQRPHQRQRUPRUHDSSURSULDWHO\DVLQJOH¿JXUHWKDW can be held accountable for the conventionalisation of Gothicism in both OLWHUDWXUHDQGFXOWXUH7KLV¿JXUHLVQRRQHEXW&RXQW'UDFXODKLPVHOI 7KH DLP RI WKLV DUWLFOH LV WR GHPRQVWUDWH KRZ WKH IDPRXV ¿JXUH RI a vampire created by Bram Stoker in 1897 became, in fact, the main cause of changes within the Gothic conventions and what impact these transformations have had on the present culture. In order to conduct this analysis, we shall endeavour to focus on the origins of Dracula (1897) and LWVWLWXODUDQWLKHURE\SUHVHQWLQJVHYHUDOLQÀXHQFHVZKLFKOHG%UDPStoker WR FUHDWH KLV VWRU\ 1H[W WKH FKDUDFWHU RI WKH &RXQW VKDOO EH MX[WDSRVHG with the imaginings of vampires in local folklore beliefs as well as with his Gothic predecessors such as John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819), James Malcolm Rymer’s Varney The Vampire (1845-1847), and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1871-1872) so as to indicate the sources of the character in the classic Gothic canon. Finally, the article will characterize 'UDFXOD¶VLQÀXHQFHRQPRGHUQSRSXODUFXOWXUHRQWKHEDVLVRIVHYHUDOWUHQGV FRQFHUQLQJDGDSWLQJWKHYDPSLUH¿JXUHIRUWKHVLOYHUVFUHHQ

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The Creation of the Dracula Novel (1897) First of all, let us focus our attention on the literary work itself. It is commonly known that the book was published in 1897 and almost immediately gained widespread acclaim among the reading public. In addition to that, Dracula is cited by many literary scholars as one of the central works responsible for the re-emergence of the Gothic genre at the end of the 19th century (Botting 1996, 88). The plot of the story must surely be known to anyone interested in the subject of Gothicism, however, in order to maintain the logical structure of this article, a brief synopsis is presented hereunder. The book tells the story of Jonathan Harker, who arrives at the castle of Count Dracula. The Count called for him because he is keen on buying an estate in England. However, Jonathan grows suspicious of Dracula’s true intentions and he eventually becomes imprisoned in the castle. Dracula travels to England on his own and, soon after that, begins his devilish plan of consuming the blood of young and innocent victims of the distant country. He attacks one of Harker’s acquaintances, Lucy Westenra, and her friends, unable to help her, call for Dr. Van Helsing. In spite of numerous blood transfusions, Lucy dies, but afterwards, she returns as a vampire. Dr. Van Helsing’s team, consisting of Jonathan, his wife Mina Harker, Dr. John Seward, Arthur Holmwood, and Quincey P. Morris, quickly realise that Dracula has to be destroyed, but then the Count manages to attack Harker’s beloved wife. Being desperately pursued back to Transylvania, the vicious vampire is ultimately annihilated. (Stoker 2008) Bram Stoker spent seven years of his life doing research on Eastern European folklore, before setting out to draft his novel. Although he never visited Romania himself, it is claimed that he was inspired by an essay from 1885 entitled “Transylvanian Superstitions” by Emily de Laszowska Gerard (Snodgrass 2005, 345). Additionally, he closely studied the contents of William Wilkinson’s Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia along with The Historie and Superstitions of Romantic Romania. Needless to say, Stoker’s original idea for the character’s name was not initially Dracula. Its protagonist was to be called simply Count Wampyr, whereas the novel’s title was meant to be 7KH8Q'HDG. Nevertheless, the names were changed at the last moment when the novelist stumbled upon an account in Wilkinson’s work about the Romanian Impaler known as Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia. The name itself, Dracula, was a family name which was inherited by each descendant of the royal lineage. Vlad’s father, allegedly adopted it in order to be accepted as a member into the Chivalric

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Order of the Dragon in the 15th century, thus the name Dracul means dragon RUVRQRIWKHGHYLO,QIDFWLWLVVWLOODUJXHGE\KLVWRULDQVZKHWKHUWKH¿JXUHRI the ruthless and merciless ruler of Wallachia was indeed an inspiration for Stoker, due to the overwhelming number of differences between him and WKH¿FWLRQDOFKDUDFWHU9ODGKDGDUDWKHUVDGLVWLFDSSURDFKWRKLVHQHPLHV ZKHUHDV'UDFXODZDVPRUHRIDIUHHGRP¿JKWHULQWKHQRYHO \HWZLWKRXW DGRXEWWKHQDPHLWVHOIVHUYHGDVDGULYLQJLQÀXHQFHIRUWKHGUDIWLQJRIWKH villain due its negative associations (Shepard 2014).

Folklore Imaginings and Symbolism of Vampires +RZHYHUDSDUWIURPWKHWDOHVRI9ODG7HSHVWKHUHZDVDOVRDVLJQL¿FDQW factor of folklore beliefs which proved essential for the process of creating the Count, along with all of his attributes and magical powers. Vampires had been present in European fables and legends since the Middle Ages and they served to explain various phenomena related to the taboo topics of death and the afterlife, but it was in the 18th century that the fear of vampires reached its peak. In the 1720s, in East Prussia, there were reported two cases of people who had risen from the grave and started murdering people. The frenzy due to these alleged incidents grew so high that even the authorities became involved in the crusade of hunting down and staking the living dead. According to the superstitions, vampires were described as mythological beings; most possibly demons which had a habit of possessing innocent people’s corpses. In this way, many pre-industrial societies struggled to unravel the process of death and the subsequent bodily decomposition. Many legends were simply the result of a very poor, medical knowledge. In most cases, the un-dead were buried alive due to illnesses such as bubonic plague, porphyria and, above all, rabies. The latter was characterized by the disturbance of sleep patterns, fear of light, aggression, hyper-sexuality, and a strong urge to bite others. In addition to this, the supposed victims of spiritual possession were not pale in appearance, but purple or black, often with a left eye open and having no fangs or anything that would resemble WKHPàRW\V]RZD  Moreover, apart from such cultural perceptions of Dracula’s possible predecessors, researcher Andrew Smith also points to the fact that there are many features of symbolism apparent in the Gothic convention itself. Firstly, literature of the Gothic illustrates humanity’s fears of ancient superstitions which people passed on orally from generation to generation. Horror monsters, such as vampires, ghosts, zombies, and werewolves, are modelled on old superstitions and tales that were present in the archaic

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cultures of antiquity. The creatures personify these superstitions and hence cast doubt on the reliability of human reason. Secondly, in biological terms, people tend to believe that they dominate the environmental food chain. Gothic horror beasts are the negation of such assumptions. In the stories they try to devour people, both physically and psychologically. For that UHDVRQWKH\FDQEHYLHZHGDVDQRSSRVLWLRQDJDLQVWKXPDQRYHUFRQ¿GHQFH with regard to the people’s supremacy over animals. Next, monsters can embody our anxiety of inexplicable phenomena. For instance, vampires may be perceived as representing the danger of succumbing to sexual GHVLUHVZKHUHDVZHUHZROYHVFDQGHQRWHWKHLQ¿QLWHGHSWKVRIKXPDQUDJH and ghosts can mean the absence of heaven. (Smith 2007, 6) Furthermore, the symbolism of the monsters can in general illustrate the all-present viciousness of the world. That is to say, the everyday activities during which we developed with time an awareness of the possible awaiting dangers. The example of that may be an ordinary walk in the forest. In such a case, the tales about monsters lurking in a secluded area were meant to scare children from wandering around the woods on their own, because otherwise, they could be attacked by dangerous strangers. Additionally, the monsters might also epitomise house burglars or mass murderers, who go from place to place and prey upon people’s unawareness of the threat. Moreover, there is also a factor of our inner feelings. An individual may struggle with repressing the noxious urges like lust, anger, greed, envy, or revenge. The creatures show the fall of a human being when s/he gives in to those impulses. (Snodgrass 2005, 330-331) The prominent instances of such folklore and symbolic visualizations FDQ EH H[HPSOL¿HG LQ WKH *HUPDQLF DQG 5RPDQLDQ EHOLHIV DERXW WKH following two monster progenitors: 1. Nachzehrer, native of the Northern Germany regions, whose name can be translated as “devourer of energy”; however, he is not considered an ordinary blood consumer. Rather, Nachzehrer tends to eat dead bodies whole in order to maintain health. In addition, an ordinary person cannot become Nachzehrer due to getting bitten or scratched. Most commonly, an individual could change into Nachzehrer after dying from plague or by committing suicide. (Snodgrass 330)1 2. Strigoi, a demonic creature from Romania that is a tormented soul coming back from the afterlife. He or she can assume animal forms or even become invisible. Frequently, such a demonic entity derives from a long lineage of other blood-sucking beings. To date, allegedly, greatly 1

See also Revenant Facts (web).

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feared by the local frontiersmen. (ibidem 345)2 Therefore, it seems obvious that Count Dracula was not only a mere reproduction of an ancient ruler, but also an embodiment of traditional myths. Similarly to the above mentioned examples, Dracula is capable of turning into a bat, a dog, or mist, has exceptional strength and can control inanimate phenomena (the weather) and animate creatures (wolves and humans). Nonetheless, Dracula’s remarkable powers become useless in GD\OLJKW7KHUHIRUHKHKDVWRZDLWWKURXJKWKDWWLPHLQDFRI¿Q$GGLWLRQDOO\ VXFKWUDGLWLRQDODQGUHOLJLRXVV\PEROVDVJDUOLFRUWKHFUXFL¿[SRVHDWKUHDW to him and the only way he can be destroyed is to pierce his chest with a wooden stake.

Recurring Elements of Gothic Convention When discussing typical attributes, abilities, and features of vampires, it is also worth outlining the most common motifs and elements of the Gothic convention that were frequently utilised in classic horror literature of the 18th and the 19th centuries. )LUVWRIDOOWKH¿JXUHRID*RWKLFVWRU\¶VSURWDJRQLVWRIWHQDSSHDUVDOVR as a villain. That is the case when he or she is cheated by evil demons or Satan himself. The individual becomes the so-called “Satanic hero,” who, similarly to the Devil, has challenged the rules of God and has stylised himself into a god-like image (Thomson 2008, 37). The most vivid SHUVRQL¿FDWLRQVRIVXFKD¿JXUHDUHWKHSHUVRQDVRI)DWKHU6FKHGRQLDQG Ambrosio from The Italian (1797) by Ann Radcliffe and The Monk (1796) by Matthew Gregory Lewis, respectively. Moreover, the image of a mad scientist trying to overcome obstacles of nature by using science brings associations with a Satanic hero (Snodgrass 188). The hero’s destruction is sometimes accomplished through a toxic relationship with a demon lover, who acts as a seductress to the leading character. She lures him into taboo experiences that are rejected and unaccepted by society. The demon lover is a femme fatale who tempts and HYHQWXDOO\ DOOXUHV WKH KHUR WR KLV GRZQIDOO7KH ¿JXUH LV RIWHQ SHUFHLYHG as an embodiment of female empowerment, which leads venerable and naive men to their miserable end (Snodgrass 131). Matilda from The Monk, Carmillathe eponymous character from Le Fanu’s novella (1872), or the brides from Dracula (1897) can all be considered as Gothic examples of femme fatales. 2

See also Strigoi, Animal Planet (web).

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Next, dreams often symbolise horrible and repressed truths or memories. Since the superego does not exercise total authority over the human psychic apparatus, the supernatural can manifest itself in our minds. Dreams in Gothic literature express the dark, unconscious depths of the psyche that are repressed by reason; they are related to the truths that are too terrible to be understood by the consciousness (Snodgrass 91). In Carmilla or Dracula, both the anti-heroine and the anti-hero visit their victims in their sleep, causing them to experience uncomfortable visions and nightmares, which is regarded, in accordance with Freud’s psychoanalysis, as the release of repressed sexual desires. Furthermore, there are haunted places which denote the images of dark places, unknown stores, the attics, or isolated cemeteries which all serve as the residence of the spirits of the dead. They often manifest their presence WKURXJKXQLGHQWL¿HGVRXQGVYLVXDOWULFNVRUVLJQVRQZDOOV7KRPVRQ 14). The action of Gothic narratives often takes place within the area of an old castle which is evidently abandoned, or unknowingly occupied by someone. In the castle there are often secret passages, trap doors, hidden levers, or additional rooms and inaccessible sections. (Snodgrass 51). The building may also contain a system of underground caves, which also adds the element of suspense and the unexpected. The dark and mysterious setting aims at creating a feeling of uneasiness and agitation. The most recognizable instances of the literary Gothic castles are Dracula’s castle in Transylvania and the titular Castle of Otranto of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764). There is also the motif of mystery which is responsible for the creation of secrecy within the works belonging to the subcategory of the Gothic, i.e. the mystery story. Mystery in terms of ambience is something which needs to be discovered gradually by the main protagonist. Exemplary standard Gothic mysteries can be dark family pasts, unknown parentage, missing siblings, regained memory of previously forgotten events, etc. Thus, mystery, as a genre, strongly correlates with the horror narratives and psychological QRYHOV:LWKUHIHUHQFHWRWKHP\VWHU\SORWWKHPRWLIZDVKLJKO\LQÀXHQWLDO in the formation of the Gothic Bluebook subgenre, a series of short stories made especially for working class readers (Snodgrass 245). Last but not least, blood equals the personality of a character and his or her desires. It can mean life (innocent, uncontaminated blood) or death (the act of murder). Also, blood usually is the equivalent of bloodlust in Vampire tales. It is viewed as a symbol of sexual urges, eroticism, and GHVLUHIRUVHPHQ,QDGGLWLRQWKHYLWDOÀXLGPD\EHDPHWDSKRUIRUUDFLDO fear, as theorised in post-colonialism. It is related to the anxiety about

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the invasion of foreigners, who are ready to take away the citizens of one country and transform them into their own people through inter-racial intercourse. Nowadays, it is regarded as one of the most popular Gothic motifs incorporated into the works. (Smith 116) On the account of the above mentioned elements, one can make some LQIHUHQFH DV WR WKH HVVHQFH RI *RWKLF ¿FWLRQ ,W LV WKH FRPELQDWLRQ RI positive and negative forces that cannot be comprehended by reason. Those QHJDWLYH IRUFHV DUH SHUVRQL¿HG E\ GLDEROLFDO PRQVWHUV DQG UHJDUGOHVV RI how fascinating they may seem to the reading public, they eventually fail in WKH¿QDOFODVKZLWKPRUDOO\SXUHSURWDJRQLVWV

Dracula’s Predecessors-First Appearances of Vampires in Literature In view of the aforementioned issues, it seems quite obvious that, apart from folklore beliefs and symbolic tales, the vicious vampire was also modelled on the basis of other bloodthirsty beings which entered the literary realm long before Dracula. Since the 18th century, vampires were present in European poetry with the works of Gottfried August Bürger and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and eventually marked their place in literature with the publication of John Polidori’s The Vampyre (Snodgrass 345). In his work, Polidori introduced the character of Lord Ruthven, a mysterious and manipulative aristocrat who turns out to be a bloodsucker. The antagonist is described in the short story as an enigmatic nobleman who is a frequent guest of many parties of the upper class society. He is able to attract the establishment’s attention due to his uncanny character which FDQ EH DWWULEXWHG WR WKH ³GHDG JUH\ H\H ZKLFK ¿[LQJ XSRQ WKH REMHFW¶V face, did not seem to penetrate, and at one glance to pierce through to the inward workings of the heart; but fell upon a cheek with a leaden ray that weighed upon the skin it could not pass” (Polidori 287). The story is about a young man called Aubrey who encounters a mysterious lord. While travelling through Europe, they are all of a sudden assaulted by criminals and Ruthven is mortally wounded. On the verge of dying, Ruthven urges Aubrey to promise him not to speak about his death with anyone for a year and a day. However, soon afterwards, Aubrey is surprised to discover his dead companion in London. Lord Ruthven proceeds to seduce Aubrey’s sister and eventually persuades her to marry him. The Englishman, unable to stop his sister, writes her a letter on the day of the oath’s expiration and reveals in it Ruthven’s true nature. Unfortunately, the letter arrives too late and, on the wedding night, the sister is found drained of blood,

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ZKHUHDVWKH/RUGKLPVHOIKDVGLVDSSHDUHG)RUWKH¿UVWWLPHWKH¿JXUHRI the vampire was presented as an aristocrat, a person of elegance, emotional reserve, and cynicism. This kind of unique representation served at that time as a bourgeois critique of aristocracy (Punter 1996, 18). Like Dracula, Ruthven feels superior over others, his power is mostly of an erotic force and he employs it in order to seduce young and innocent women. He also has a hypnotic gaze, expressionless face, and, apart from drinking blood, exposure to the moonlight has healing effects on him. This eminent character of the vicious lord was taken one stage further with Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood by James Malcolm Rymer— however the authorship is also alternatively attributed to Thomas Peckett Prest. The story appeared in a serialised form known as a penny dreadful; a series of inexpensive, sensational narratives written especially for the working class. However, in this instance, the main anti-hero was turned into an object of sympathy. Varney stands out in terms of other early stories of horror, because he has a strikingly compassionate personality, even though he is presented initially as a villain. He is also on the search for wealth and women; Varney seems to be a pitiful victim of circumstances. Vampirism is depicted here as a sort of punishment for crimes against fatherhood, where the protagonist is condemned to live an eternal existence and this state eventually leads the protagonist to suicide. Before his death, Varney leaves a written account of how he became a vampire, claiming in it that he was punished for killing his son in an outburst of rage (Snodgrass 347-348). $OWKRXJKLWKDVQHYHUEHHQFRQ¿UPHGWKDW%UDP6WRNHUUHDGWKHZRUN 9DUQH\LVDFOHDUSURWRW\SHIRU'UDFXODGXHWRKLVVOHHSLQJLQDFRI¿QVKDSH shifting abilities, and a tendency to wear a long, dark coat. Moreover, Varney has a mesmerising gaze which, in combination with tusk-like fangs, obviously enables him to seduce his innocent victims and to suck blood out of them, leaving only two puncture wounds in the neck afterwards (ibidem 348). 7KH¿QDOFKDQJHWKDWRFFXUUHGLQWKHIRUPDWLRQRIWKHYDPSLUHFKDUDFWHU prior to Dracula coincided with the release of the already mentioned Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla. In the story the main anti-heroine’s sexuality was broadened to the attributes of lesbianism and the aristocratic RULJLQVZHUHUHLQIRUFHG7KHQRYHOODZDVSXEOLVKHGIRUWKH¿UVWWLPHLQWKH magazine called “The Dark Blue” in 1871 and a year later it was included in the collection of short stories In a Glass Darkly (Smith 95). The story is narrated by Laura, a young teenage girl who lives in a remote castle in Styria along with her father and governess. One day, however, their homestead is visited by mysterious travellers, among whom ther is Carmilla. As time progresses, Laura befriends the newcomer and the girl falls under the dominative

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LQÀXHQFHRIWKHHQLJPDWLF&DUPLOOD+RZHYHUWKHTXLHWOLIHVW\OHLQVHFOXVLRQ is suddenly interrupted by a series of morbid deaths in the countryside and Laura herself falls terribly ill after experiencing haunting dreams. The father calls for the immediate assistance of a doctor who recognizes the handiwork of a vampire. Eventually, when the truth about Carmilla is discovered, the devilish vampire is ultimately defeated. Carmilla is a perfect example of a literary Gothic femme fatale. She is a sophisticated, seductive, and attractive woman who has all of the common vampire traits. She uses dreams in order to haunt and possess her victims, has exceptional physical strength, transforms into animal forms XQGHUFRYHURIGDUNQHVVVOHHSVLQDFRI¿QDQGDYRLGVUHOLJLRXVV\PEROV Furthermore, Carmilla, similarly to Dracula, is able to stay active during the day; however, she is greatly weakened by sunlight and therefore unable to use her demonic powers. Apart from the similarities between the characters, connections can also be made between the plot structures of the respective stories. Whereas it is the central issue in Carmilla, Dracula also features instances of female vampires who are on the lookout for human blood, in the examples of the Count’s brides and Lucy Westenra. Additionally, in both narratives, there are sequences of hunts after the villainous vampires to their resting places in order to destroy them once and for all and to save the innocent souls of Laura in Carmilla and Mina in Dracula$OVRWKH¿JXUHVRIYDPSLUHNLOOHUV are present who know all the ins and outs on the subject of vampirism and they are Baron Vordenburg and Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. 1HHGOHVVWRVD\WKH¿JXUHRI'UDFXODLVWKHXOWLPDWHHPERGLPHQWRIWKH above mentioned literary anti-heroes as well as the folklore imaginings that preceded him. Dracula is not a repulsive, corpse-like creature; rather, he stylises himself as a man of aristocratic heritage. As the novel progresses, he seems to be profoundly proud of his blue-blooded legacy and somewhat nostalgic about the past times, which he perceives as a reminiscence of gallantry, respect and valour. Dracula ceases to be a revolting, physical being and starts the trend of the aristocratic villain. He therefore becomes an anti-hero, whose wit and hypnotic powers are more dangerous than strong, malformed body parts. In spite of average appearance, his outlook changes several times throughout the novel. Wherever he goes, he wreaks havoc and causes terror and fright among the people he encounters. Therefore, Count Dracula is indeed the ultimate Gothic vampire (Smith 112).

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Dracula and Popular Culture It seems that if it had not been for Dracula, we would not witness a ZLGHUDQJHRIOLWHUDU\DQG¿OPYDPSLUHVQRZDGD\V$VWKH&RXQWHQWHUHG WKHFXOWXUDOGLPHQVLRQZLWKQXPHURXVDGDSWDWLRQVKHLQÀXHQFHGWKHFRGHV of the whole Gothic convention and, most importantly, the perceptions of vampires nowadays. Let us look for the answer to the question of how exactly this change has taken place. At the close of the 19th century, many of the famous Gothic works, often shortly after their publication, would be initially adapted for the theatrical stage. Accordingly, due to numerous performances, the image of a monster became widely popularised among the contemporary audience and eventually became a part of the cultural realm. With each new adaptation trying to surpass the success of the preceding ones, the Gothic monsters’ personage on stage would alter. That is to say, with each consecutive play, the playwrights would, for example, condense the span of the story, limit the number of characters, change the setting, and, most importantly, meddle with the personality and appearance of the leading monster. All of that was additionally triggered off E\EXGJHWUHVWULFWLRQVODFNRIQHFHVVDU\SURSVLQVXI¿FLHQWFDVWRUDVLPSOH ambition to improve the original story. Therefore, audiences unfamiliar with the original book would be introduced to a completely altered image of the creature (Spooner and McEvoy 2007, 214-215). Moreover, with the development of technology, this troublesome trend ÀRXULVKHG DJDLQ DW WKH WXUQ RI WKH FHQWXU\ 7KH PRVW QRWDEOH H[DPSOH LQ the case of Dracula LV LWV ¿UVW XQDXWKRULVHG DGDSWDWLRQ UHOHDVHG LQ  and entitled Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (Michalik 1995, 47). Due to the copyright infringement, Dracula underwent a complete change. From an elegant aristocrat, he became a gruesome looking creature called Count Orlok. Despite many deviations from the original novel, Stoker’s estate ZRQ WKH ODZVXLW IRU SODJLDULVP DQG RUGHUHG WKH ¿OP WR EH GHVWUR\HG EXW upon its initial release, it became a massive hit among the audiences and increased the popularity of the novel itself. This happened at a time when the motion picture industry became interested in adapting for the screen various Gothic stories and, similarly to Nosferatu WKH ÀDZHG LPDJHV RI the literary anti-heroes were outrageously reinforced—interestingly, many years later director Werner Herzog brought the distorted character back to its source material with a playful reinvention, Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). During the age of silent movies, there was a tendency to present the monsters as more appalling in appearance than they were in the respective RULJLQDOV 7KH FRPSDQ\ ZKLFK VSHFLDOLVHG LQ PDNLQJ VXFK W\SHV RI ¿OPV

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was Universal Studios. This Hollywood enterprise created the most popular DQGUHFRJQLVDEOH*RWKLFKRUURU¿OPVWKURXJKRXWWKHVFRQWDLQLQJWKH images of monsters that, with time, became stereotypical, both in terms of external and internal attributes (Botting 1996, 108). Nowadays, these features are perceived as iconic and are excessively employed in marketing, like Bela Lugosi’s dark cape with red lining, Jack Pierce’s makeup design of the original Frankenstein, or the animalistic appearance of the Werewolf of London (Michalik 90-91). With such movies as Dracula and Frankenstein (both released in 1931), the studio found a target audience for monster horror movies and thus started off a long-lasting series of low-budget pictures focused on the two characters as well as other lesser known creatures. Apart from the fact that Universal’s production of Dracula ZDV DQ RI¿FLDO DGDSWDWLRQ RI 6WRNHU¶V novel, it was very loosely based on the original source material, distorting the plotline and the character of Dracula himself. Nevertheless, Bela Lugosi’s performance as the Count became regarded as a classic representation of the titular antagonist. To date, Lugosi’s image or silhouette can be found on the majority of posters and covers that feature Dracula. However, after World War II, people were no longer so deeply interested in watching the same horror stories reinvented over and over again—with movies like Dracula’s Daughter (1936), Son of Dracula (1943), House of Dracula (1945),, the recipe for cinematic monsters eventually wore off. The genre shifted from serious undertones into totally surrealist and comic ones—for example, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Consequently, in view of those issues, Gothic monsters were abandoned by the movie industry for the EHQH¿WRIWKHPRUHSUR¿WDEOHJHQUHRIKaiju¿OPV.RáRG\ĔVNL  Nevertheless, as it is rightly observed by Andrew Smith in his Gothic Literature, in the 1960s, the nearly bankrupt British company called Hammer Film Productions conquered the cinemas with its morbid horror movie productions made in colour and initiated a renaissance period for the Gothic adaptations in cinema, especially for Dracula. In the movies from Hammer studio, Christopher Lee mainly starred as Count Dracula. In fact, he portrayed the character in an overwhelming number of ten motion pictures. His Dracula was neither a deformed freak nor a Hungarian immigrant, but a tall, handsome, well-built Brit with a melodious, yet commanding voice who would turn into a gruesome looking bloodsucker with red eyes, lips dripping with blood and his overall whole being charged with forbidden sexuality. Christopher Lee was Dracula and he had taken over the character for himself for nearly two decades, in this way making an enormous contribution to the creation of the lucrative Hammer

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horror brand, with such frightening movie titles as Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (19680, Taste the Blood of Dracula (19700, Scars of Dracula (1970) or Dracula is Dead...and Well and Living in London (1973)also known as The Satanic Rites of Dracula. ,QKHUDUWLFOHRQ+DPPHU¿OPV(ZD3DUW\NDHQXPHUDWHVWKHPRVWFUXFLDO factors that that were responsible for that unexpected commercial success, i.e. appropriate Gothic-like setting, time frames corresponding to the original stories, stereotypical heroes and heroines, costumes enhancing women’s sexuality, accurate props for the rituals of staking or decapitation, supernatural elements, explicit sexual as well as visual (gore) content, and, last but not least, kitsch, giving the motion pictures an additional feeling of classic entertainment due to the necessary cuts in budget and production (2014). Unfortunately, as much as the Gothic monsters came back into fashion, their true image was even more radically distorted than before the war. The monsters were not only altered in their appearances and behaviour, but the contexts of their stories underwent major transformations as well. As a result of that, today we can watch a string of monster movies such as: 'UDFXOD $'  (1972), The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (1971), The Plague of the Zombies (1966), The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), The Evil of Frankenstein (1964), and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969). These titles represent only a IUDFWLRQRIDZKROHVOHZRI+DPPHU¿OPVUHOHDVHGEHWZHHQWKHVDQG WKHV:KHUHDVRQWKHRQHKDQGWKHVH¿OPVFHUWDLQO\IDOVL¿HGWKHWUXH nature of the monsters, on the other, they undoubtedly contributed directly WRWKHFUHDWLRQRIDQHZJHQHUDWLRQRIPRQVWHUVLQ0RGHUQ*RWKLF¿FWLRQ (Smith 135). Additionally, in view of so many adaptations and reinventions of Dracula, we should also ask ourselves if there was at least one faithful adaptation of Stoker’s original classic. Indeed, there was one, made in 1970 E\ ¿OP GLUHFWRU -HV~V )UDQFR7KH SURGXFWLRQ ZDV VLPSO\ HQWLWOHG Count Dracula, and, although not being a Hammer production, it advertised itself ZLWKWKHIROORZLQJGHVFULSWLRQ³2YHU¿IW\\HDUVDJR%UDP6WRNHUZURWH WKHJUHDWHVWRIDOOKRUURUVWRULHV1RZIRUWKH¿UVWWLPHZHUHWHOOH[DFWO\DV KHZURWHRQHRIWKH¿UVW—and still the besttales of the macabre” (Waller 2010, 134). This particular motion picture was faithful to such an extent that it even recreated Dracula’s original visual appearance (strong, aquiline face; thin nose; lofty domed forehead; massive eyebrows; cruel-looking mouth; sharp white teeth; pointed, pale ears; broad chin; white backs of hands; squat ¿QJHUVORQJDQG¿QHQDLOV 6WRNHU +RZHYHUWKLVDGDSWDWLRQIRUVRPH unknown reasons, never gained public recognition. One can only suspect

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that it may have been due to its overly strong faithfulness to the novel. Nevertheless, it has to be mentioned that in 1977, BBC made a positively received mini-series also entitled Count Dracula, which stayed true to the novel, too. Simultaneously with the success of Hammer adaptations, attempts were PDGH LQ +ROO\ZRRG WR DFWXDOO\ WUDQVIRUP WKH HPLQHQW ¿JXUH RI 'UDFXOD for screen, so as to once more reproduce the already overused Dracula material without the necessity of bringing back the original character again. As a result, Dracula was turned into a woman in Countess Dracula (1971), a black prince from Africa in Blacula (1972), and Dracula-wannabe Count von Krolock in The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967). Needless to say, those “reinventions” gained only moderate success due to their playing with convention. However, the vampire convention itself started again wearing off at that time (Botting 109). The popularity of the previously mentioned motion pictures of Hammer Films Studios throughout the 20th century, with their constant re-adaptation of the Gothic stories on screen, UHVXOWHG LQ FLQHPDWLF VWHUHRW\SHV 6PLWK   1DPHO\ WKRVH ¿OPV ZHUH intended to be set in contemporary times but frequently lacked any signs of modernity (for example, planes, cars, trains, or even the modern-like appearance of a cast) (Spooner and McEvoy 233). Generally, the setting was represented in the form of an undetermined Europe, a sort of alternate XQLYHUVH ¿OOHG ZLWK KRUVHGUDZQ FDUULDJHV FXW RII DUFKDLF YLOODJHV ZLWK god-fearing inhabitants; gypsy gangs; as well as demonic aristocrats with their dreary castles. Die-hard fans of this on-screen visualisation called the style “Hammerland”. Perhaps it may have been a faithful projection of SURSHU *RWKLF IHDWXUHV QHYHUWKHOHVV LWV DEXVLYH XVDJH LQ FRXQWOHVV ¿OPV caused widespread discontent among the viewers (ibidem). This vivid dissatisfaction caused the demise of the studio in the late VDQG+ROO\ZRRGLWVHOI¿QDOO\EURNHDZD\IURPWKHKDELWRIFRQVWDQW WUDQVSRVLWLRQ RI 'UDFXOD RQ WKH VFUHHQ LQVWHDG WKH ¿OPPDNHUV IRFXVHG on presenting general stereotypes of Gothicism without actually naming the antagonists behind them (ibidem 246-247). This trend is greatly H[HPSOL¿HG LQ WKH 79 VKRZ FDOOHG Kolchak: The Night Stalker (19741975). Its protagonist, Carl Kolchak is an everyday journalist working in an HGLWRULDORI¿FHDQGFRQVWDQWO\GUHDPLQJRIPDNLQJDQDPHIRUKLPVHOIE\ unravelling the dirty political and economic scandals. However, he always ends up investigating some paranormal, Gothic cases, and in the climax of each episode he is forced to have a confrontation with either a vampire, a zombie, a serial killer, a werewolf, or a demon. We can surely think of some proper anti-heroes to exemplify each kind of monster, but they remain

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unnamed in the show because the viewers already know that this vampire is supposed to be Dracula, this zombie should be Frankenstein, this killer is Jack the Ripper, and so on. 1HYHUWKHOHVVLQWKHVWKH¿OPLQGXVWU\PDGHDQDWWHPSWWRDJDLQUH imagine Dracula for modern audiences; the result of this was Bram Stoker’s Dracula from 1992, directed by Francis Ford Coppola (Michalik 581). This SLFWXUH LV WKH ¿QDO QDLO LQ 'UDFXOD¶V FRI¿Q IRU LW UHSUHVHQWV WKH &RXQW DV neither an antagonist nor an anti-hero, but strictly a romantic protagonist. It distorts Stoker’s original material by making some loose allusions to the real Vlad Tepes. Also, it tries to justify or even purify the viciousness and malevolence of Dracula by employing the love subplot, thus making him a tragic, misunderstood hero. Unfortunately, this movie and this particular Dracula’s reinvention marks the fall of Gothic adaptations in favour of PRGHUQKRUURU¿OPV

Perception of Vampirism Nowadays It has to be pointed out that if it had not been for the creation of Dracula on the basis of other eminent Gothic villains before him and later transposition of his image on the screen, we, perhaps, would never have such movie genres as suspense horrors, psychological thrillers, slashers, DQG JRUH PRYLHV QRW PHQWLRQLQJ VSHFL¿F PRWLRQ SLFWXUHV VXFK DV Halloween (1978), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), or John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998); and TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) or Angel (1999-2004). Consequently, WKH¿JXUHZKLFKKDGEHHQWKHHVVHQFHRIWKH*RWKLFFRQYHQWLRQEHFDPH responsible for its descent into the realm of the so-called lower culture. Nowadays, we are also presented with some of Dracula’s less famous children of the night who, in fact, have very little in common with their literary father. We are given such visualisations of questionable value as True Blood (2008-2014), The Vampire Diaries (2009), Blade (1998), Demons (2009), or, the disgraceful Twilight saga (2008-2012). The literary dimension suffered as well with countless Gothic pulp stories aimed-atteens about highly eroticised female vampires and male vampire hunters. Even Dracula himself is to this day re-adapted, reinterpreted, and thus deprived of his originality. He is either an up-to-date swaggerer (Dracula ), a part of an intertextual play on stereotypes (Van Helsing), again a romantic hero (NBC’s Dracula, 2013 TV show), or a hero who fell from grace (Universal’s Dracula Untold from 2014).

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+RZHYHUZLWKUHODWLRQWRWKHDIRUHPHQWLRQHGJHQUHVDQGWLWOHVWKHUHDUH many claims that, indeed, these are considered to be positive phenomena and results of a steadyand also departing from the original convention HYROXWLRQRIWKHPRQVWHU¿JXUHRYHUWKHGHFDGHV:KHWKHUWKLVPD\EHWUXH to some extent, it does not change the fact that classic vampires are no longer what they used to be. From bloodthirsty, vicious monsters they were transformed into new, frail, highly feminised, kind, and emphatic vampire protagonists that we can see today. Therefore, it should now be visible that the widespread success of the most recognisable Gothic story and its anti-hero on the silver screen has actually led to the downfall of classic associations of the Gothic. The only question left is how much further the UHLQYHQWLRQRI'UDFXOD¶VLPDJHVKDOOSURJUHVVIURPQRZRQDQGZKDWQHZ vampires pop-culture will come up with next.

Works Cited Botting, Fred. Gothic. London: Routledge, 1996. Bram Stoker’s Dracula'LUHFWHGE\)UDQFLV)RUG&RSSROD&ROXPELD3LFWXUHV 6RQ\3LFWXUHV+RPH(QWHUWDLQPHQW'9' Count Dracula'LUHFWHGE\-HV~V)UDQFR'DUN6N\)LOPV6HYHULQ)LOPV '9' Dracula'LUHFWHGE\7RG%URZQLQJ8QLYHUVDO3LFWXUHV8QLYHUVDO3LFWXUHV +RPH(QWHUWDLQPHQW'9' Horror of Dracula'LUHFWHGE\7HUHQFH)LVKHU+DPPHU)LOP3URGXFWLRQV :DUQHU+RPH9LGHR'9' Kolchak: The Night Stalker&UHDWHGE\-HII5LFH8QLYHUVDO3LFWXUHV 8QLYHUVDO3LFWXUHV+RPH(QWHUWDLQPHQW'9' .RáRG\ĔVNL$QGU]HM']LHG]LFWZR:\REUDĨQL:DUV]DZD$OID àRW\V]RZD 0DULD HG L’Atlas de la Mythologie >0LW\ ĝZLDWD@ 7UDQV %DUEDUD 'XUEDMáR$QQD.RZDOZHVND(ZD:RODĔVND:DUV]DZD%HUWHOVPDQQ0HGLD  Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. Carmilla. $FFHVVHG'HFHPEHU KWWSZZZJXWHQEHUJRUJHERRNV àRZF]DQLQ $JQLHV]ND DQG 'RURWD :LĞQLHZVND HGV All that Gothic. Frankfurt: 3HWHU/DQJ Michalik, Marian B., ed. Kronika Filmu. 7UDQV $QGU]HM *ZRĨGĨ 0DáJRU]DWD +HQGU\NRZVND:DUV]DZD.URQLND Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'LUHFWHGE\)ULHGULFK:LOKHOPMurnau. 1922. -RID$WHOLHU%HUOLQ-RKDQQLVWKDO3UDQD)LOP*PE+7KH&ODVVLF7KHDWHU

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3DUW\ND(ZD³*RWKLF(OHPHQWVLQ9DPSLUH)LOPVE\+DPPHU)LOP3URGXFWLRQV´ All that Gothic,HGV$JQLHV]NDàRZF]DQLQDQG'RURWD:LĞQLHZVND )UDQNIXUW3HWHU/DQJ(GLWLRQ Polidori, John. The Vampyre. In Great British Tales of Terror. 1819. London: 3HQJXLQ%RRNV 3XQWHU'DYLGA Companion to the Gothic,2[IRUG%ODFNZHOO3XEOLVKLQJ —. The Literature of Terror Volume 2: The Modern Gothic, London: Longman, 1996. Revenant Facts.$FFHVVHG'HFHPEHUKWWSUHYHQDQWIDFWVZHHEO\FRP nachzehrer---germany.html. Rymer, James Malcolm. Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood.  $FFHVVHG'HFHPEHUKWWSZZZJXWHQEHUJRUJHERRNV 6KHSDUG/HVOLH³:DV'UDFXODDQ,ULVKPDQ"´$FFHVVHG'HFHPEHUKWWS ZZZLQVLGHLUHODQGFRPVDPSOHKWP 6PLWK $QGUHZ Gothic Literature (GLQEXUJK (GLQEXUJK 8QLYHUVLW\ 3UHVV /WG  6QRGJUDVV(OOHQ0DU\Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature,. New York: Facts on File ,QF 6SRRQHU &DWKHULQH (PPD 0F(YR\ HGV The Routledge Companion to Gothic. 86$±&DQDGD5RXWOHGJH Stoker, Bram. Dracula/RQGRQ3HQJXLQ%RRNV Strigoi, Animal Planet$FFHVVHG'HFHPEHUKWWSZZZDQLPDOSODQHW com/tv-shows/lost-tapes/creatures/strigoi. 7KRPVRQ 'RXJODV + A Glossary of Literary Gothic Terms $WODQWD *HRUJLD 6RXWKHUQ8QLYHUVLW\ :DOOHU*UHJRU\$The Living and the Undead: Slaying Vampires, Exterminating Zombies.&KLFDJR8QLYHUVLW\RI,OOLQRLV3UHVV :LVNHU *LQD ³/RYH %LWHV &RQWHPSRUDU\:RPHQ¶V9DPSLUH )LFWLRQV´  A Companion to the Gothic,HG'DYLGPunter. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 

184

CHAPTER TWELVE WRITING A PICTURE ZBIGNIEW URBALEWICZ

A writing system, as a peculiar signum of man, a notation of thoughts, a record of words and of the surrounding reality, is a phenomenon unique to humans. It is an ingenious “invention” which was bound to appear sooner or later as a result of the development of communication, but also as self-expression. Consequently, writing is a picture of man and a simulation of being in another, more intimate space. Last, but not least, ZULWLQJLVDYHVWLJHLQRXUPHPRU\DVSHFL¿FWRROIRUUHFUHDWLQJWKHPDQ artist-surroundings picture. But writing systems have been continuously evolving. A variety of methods employed for utilizing them resulted in constant changes. Nowadays KDQGZULWLQJH[LVWVEXWLQVFDUFLW\7KHLQYHQWLRQRISULQWOLPLWHGDW¿UVWDQG then terminated entirely the need for producing and copying of manuscripts and incunabula. It seems that everything has its time. The newest technologies are gradually eliminating the traditional, printed books and hand-written OHWWHUV,KDYHDQLPSUHVVLRQWKDWVRPHWKLQJWKDWLVGLI¿FXOWWRQDPHVRPHWKLQJ elusive, is slowly sinking into oblivion, surrounded by indifference. But the Artist leaves a trace, and becomes one at the same time. Later, VRPHRQH HOVH ¿QGV WKLV WUDFH DQG SRQGHUV RYHU WKH TXHVWLRQ ZKHWKHU s/he reads the “tropes” correctly. Then, looking through lapidariums, this researcher of the past tries to recreate the pictures of the things long gone; makes an attempt at reconstruction.

Zbigniew Urbalewicz

Fig. 12-1. Memory and Distance I 70 x 100 cm, mixed media (2014)

Fig. 12-2. Memory and Distance II 70 x 100 cm, mixed media (2014)

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186

Wrinting a Picture

Fig. 12-3. “Door” (a poem by Mirolsav Holub) 3 panels 105 x 41 cm, mixed media (2014)

Zbigniew Urbalewicz

Fig. 12-4. Reconstruction of Prospero’s Adventures 130 x100 cm, mixed media (2014-2015)

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188

Wrinting a Picture

Fig. 12-5. Under Ice 70 x 50, ink on Japanese paper and glass (2015)

Zbigniew Urbalewicz

189

Fig. 12-6. What is reprehensible about war? 70 x 100 cm , mixed media (2014)

Sources of Inspiration Bush, Kate. “Under Ice”. Album Hounds of Love, 1985 Edson, Russel. Of Memory and Distance. 2005 https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/ poem/memory-and-distance Greeneway, Peter, dir. Prospero’s Books, 1991 Holub, Miroslav, “Door”. Poems Before & After: Collected English translations. Bloodaxe Books, 2006 http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/door Shakespeare, William. The Tempest (1610-1611).

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CONTRIBUTORS /DXPD 0HOOƝQD%DUWNHYLþD, postgraduate student at the University of Latvia. At present she is participating in the “Theatre and Film Theory and History” programme held at the University. Her main academic interests center around opera theatre (stage directing) and music. She is particularly interested in the modern productions of Richard Wagner’s operas staged in WKH /DWYLDQ 1DWLRQDO 2SHUD EHWZHHQ  0HOOƝQD%DUWNHYLþD KDV participated in conferences in Latvia and abroad. Her main publications include the following articles: “Richard Wagner’s operas in the 21st century Baltics: the same Wagner or another?” (2013), “ Re-extending Wagner’s Universe: the 21st century Ring in Latvian National Opera.” (2015). 'RURWD*áDGNRZVND, PhD, lecturer at the Department of English Philology of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland. Her academic LQWHUHVW IRFXVHV RQ (QJOLVK OLWHUDWXUH DQG KHU PDLQ UHVHDUFK ¿HOG LV WKH metaphysical poetry of the 16/17th century. Her main publications include: [articles in Polish] “’The Flea”–Hidden Message of John Donne” (2013), “The Metaphysical Picture of Love in ‘The Good-Morrow’ by J. Donne” (2013), [in Polish] “The Motif of Crime, Guilt and Punishment in Great Expectations (2014), “Should One Be Afraid of Death? John Donne and the poetic mystery of immortality” (2014). (OL]D *áDGNRZVND, postgraduate student at the Department of English Philology of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland. Her PDLQUHVHDUFK¿HOGVLQFOXGHLQWHUWH[WXDOLW\OLPLQDOLW\DQGWKHUHODWLRQVKLS between literature and visual arts in modernist and contemporary British literature. She is also interested in the role of the language in the process of recovering from trauma and minority exclusion. She is a member of the .DWKHULQH 0DQV¿HOG 6RFLHW\ (OL]D *áDGNRZVND KDV DFWLYHO\ SDUWLFLSDWHG in many interdisciplinary conferences devoted to the notion of memory, liminality, and citizenship. Currently, she is researching the liminal condition in the novels of Anita Brookner. Agata G. Handley, PhD, lecturer and researcher at the Department RI *HUPDQ 3KLORORJ\ RI WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI àyGĨ 7KH PDLQ DUHDV RI KHU academic interest encompass contemporary culture, German and British literature. She is a member of the editorial team of Text Matters: A Journal

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of Literature, Theory and Culture. Agata Handly has participated in national and international conferences devoted to literature and culture. Her book on Tony Harrison’s verse is to be published this year. Olivier Harenda, postgraduate student at the Nicolaus Copernicus 8QLYHUVLW\LQ7RUXĔ3RODQG+LVUHVHDUFKLQWHUHVWVIRFXVRQ*RWKLFHOHPHQWV in modern popular culture as well as on the issues related to postcolonialism LQ KLVWRULFDO GLVFRXUVH SRVWFRORQLDO OLWHUDWXUH DQG ¿OP +LV PDLQ publications include the following articles: “King Lear vs. Lord Ichimonji– Deconstructing Akira Kurosawa’s Ran (1985)”, “Apart yet together: The Partition of India as the catalyst for nationalism in post-colonial times”. His other interests include literary adaptation, media and intertextuality. Joanna Kokot, Associate Professor at the Dapartement of English Philology of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. Her main academic interests include English literature of the turn of the 19th century, Victorian QRYHO0RGHUQLVP*RWKLF¿FWLRQDQGWKHZRUNVRI-557RONLHQ6KHLVWKH author of several articles and monographs, both in English and in Polish. Her main publications include: This Rough Magic. Studies in Popular /LWHUDWXUH , “Manipulating the Reader: The Strategies of Telling the story in ‘The Lost World’ by Arthur Conan Doyle” (2012), “Legend into Fact-Fact into Legend. H. Rider Haggard’s Early Quest Romances” (2014), “Between Harmony and Chaos. Poetry and Music in Ann Radcliffe’s ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’” (2015). 'RPLQLND.RWXáD, postgraduate student at the Institute of Polish Studies DWWKH8QLYHUVLW\RI:DUPLDDQG0D]XU\LQ2OV]W\Q3RODQG+HUVFLHQWL¿F research centers on Andrzej Sosnowski, one of the Polish contemporary SRHWV DQG KLV UHGH¿QLWLRQV RI VXFK FDWHJRULHV DV DYDQWJDUGH VHQVLWLYLW\ and experience. Her academic interests include poetry, literary theory and popular culture. She has participated in both national and international conferences devoted to contemporary literature, philosophy and popculture. 'RPLQLND.RWXáDLVDOVRWKHDXWKRURIUHYLHZVDQGVFLHQWL¿FDUWLFOHVDQGWKH editor of Narracje postkryzysowe w humanistyce (2014). Anna Kwiatkowska, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Department of English Philology of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. Her main academic interests center around Modernist literature and its links with broadly understood art. She specializes in the works of E. M. Forster DQG.DWKHULQH0DQV¿HOGDQGLVDPHPEHURI7KH,QWHUQDWLRQDO(0)RUVWHU

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“Translators’ Adventures in Aliceland. Intercultural Communication in Translating for Children” (2015),. “The Vision of Scotland in the 1978 TV Serial Based on Kidnapped and Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson” (2016). Zbigniew Urbalewicz, artist and lecturer at the Institute of Art of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. He is a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts of the Warmia and Mazury UHJLRQ+LVDUWLVWLFDQGVFLHQWL¿FLQWHUHVWVIRFXVRQJUDSKLFDUWDQGGHVLJQ drawing, illustration and photography. His art works and projects are inspired by calligraphy, both Oriental and Western. He has participated in over forty national and international art shows and is the author of over twenty individual exhibitions. Urbalewicz is a laureate of many national and international art competitions. He is also is a juror of art competitions and the author of several artistic events and workshops.

194

Index A Abramowska, Jadwiga 101, 111 Adamczyk-Garbowska, Monika 114, 127, 129‐130 Andersen, Hans 133 Appia, Adolphe 77 Artaud, Antonin 89 Ashbery, John 11-16, 21 Augustine, St. 53-4

B Baker, Mona 49, 60 Bakhtin, Mihail 113, 129 Balcerzan, Edward 6, 113-14, 130 Bartczak, Kacper 13, 21 Barthes, Roland 81 Bartlett, Rosamund 76, 86 Bassnett, Susan 49, 50, 60, 73-4 Baudelaire, Charles 61, 151 Belli, Emilly 11-12, 21 Bellini, Vincenzo 67 Benjamin, Walter 11, 16, 22, 131 Berezowski, Leszek 6, 115, 130 Beręsewicz, Pawel 119, 123, 126, 127-8, 131 Berger, John 1 Bernsteinowa, Rozalia 118, 121, 122, 127-8, 131 Bishop, Elizabeth 11, 17 Björkblom, Inger 134, 146 Blanchot, Maurice 18-19, 20, 22 Bloom, Harold 3, 19 Boczkowski, Krzysztof 48, 60, 62 Borowy, Wacław 47-8 Botting, Fred 169, 178, 180, 182 Boulez, Pierre 77 Bowie, David 18

Brook, Peter 75, 89 Brookner, Anita VI, 6, 132-5, 1378, 146-7, 190 Brooks, Cleanth 51, 60 Budziak, Anna 45-7, 61 Bürger, Gottfried August 174 Burne-Jones, Edward 151 Burton, Jonathan 69, 73-4 Bush, Kate 189 Bushrui, Suheil B. 109, 111

C Castorf, Frank 76 Celan, Paul 18 Chekhov, Anton 87, 132 Chéreau, Patricia 77 Cintas, Jorge Diaz 65, 74 Conrad, Joseph 1, 57 Coppola, Francis Ford 181-2

D Dante, Alighieri VII, 53-4, 151, 153 Decker, Willy 66, 70 Denham, John 49 Derrida, Jacques 18, 20-21 Desblache, Lucile 65, 67-8, 73-4 D’hoker, Elke 158, 166 Dickens, Charles 132-3 Donizetti, Gaetano 69 Donne, John V, 3, 23-7, 29, 30-41, 190 Donoghue, Denis 111 Drabble, Margaret 45, 61 Duchamp, Marcel 3, 16, 18, 22 Du-Nour, Miryam 114, 130

Old Masters in New Interpretations

E Eagleton, Terry 46 Eastham, Andrew 150-151, 166 Eckhart, Meister 134 Edson, Russel 189 Efros, Anatoly 88 Eliade, Mircea 110-111 Eliot, T.S. 1, 3-4, 23, 40-41, 43-8, 50-62, 101, 111 Epstein, Andrew 14, 21

F Flaubert, Gustave 132 Foster, Jeanne 44 Franco, Jesús 75, 179, 182 Frawley, William 49, 61 Frye, Northrop 53-4, 61

G Gallagher, T. 49, 61 Gasset, Ortega y 1 Gąsowski, Jerzy 109, 111 Gluck, Willibald 69 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang 71, 78, 174 Gontard, Susette 20 Greeneway, Peter 189 Gregory, Augusta 100 Grenby, M.O. 116, 130 Grimm, Brothers 6, 133 Grotowski, Jerzy 89

H Hall, Stewart 78, 82, 86, 111 Henry, Michael 32, 134 Herheim, Stefan VII, 76, 78-9, 80-82 Herzog, Werner 177 Heydel, Magdalena 47, 61, 131 Holub, Miroslav VII, 186, 189

195

Horace 1 Hunt, William Holman VII, 151, 153, 157

J Jacobi, Carl 154, 156, 160, 167 James, Henry 132 James, William 13 Jankowicz, Grzegorz 12, 22 Jarniewicz, Jerzy 57, 61 Johnson, Mark 58, 61, 86 Joyce, James 1, 57 Jurjane, Ieva 83

K Kairišs, Viesturs VII, 78, 82-6 Kandinsky, Wassily 134 Karasek, Krzysztof 48, 61 Kermode, Frank 46, 61 Kęczkowska, Beata 118, 130 Klingberg, GÖte 116, 130 Klotinš, Arnolds 78, 86 Kołodyński, Andrzej 178, 182 Kott, Jan 90, 98 Kristeva, Julia 113, 130 Kroders, Oļģerts VI, VII, 5, 87-98, 192 Kuc, Agnieszka 118, 130-31

L Lakoff, George 58, 61 Larmine, William 100 Laszowska‐Gerard, Emily de 169 Lathey, Gillian 115-16, 119, 130 Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan 7, 168, 172, 175, 182 Lefevere, André 49, 61, 115, 131 Legeżyńska, Anna 6, 113-14, 131 Lessing, Gotthold Ephrain 1 Lewis, Mathew Gregory 172

196

Index

Lotman, Yuri 105, 111 Lusina, Inese 83, 86

Ł Łotyszowa, Maria 170, 182

M Majkiewicz, Anna 114, 131 Mallarmé, Stèphane 11, 16, 19 Mansfield, Katherine VI, 6, 7, 15051, 157-62, 164-7, 190-92 Markowski, Andrzej 56, 62 Mayewski, Paweł 47 McAnuff, Des 71 McEvoy, Emma 177, 180, 183 McKenzie, Andrea 117-18, 131 Michalak, Marian B. 177-8, 181-3, 196 Michalik, Marian 177-8, 181, 183 Millais, John Everett VII, 151, 1534, 167 Miłosz, Czesław 43, 47-8, 61-2 Montgomery, Lucy Maud 113, 119128, 131 Morgan, Evelyn de 151 Morris, William 151, 169 Mościcki, Paweł 20, 22 Mozart, Volfgang Amadeus 67 Muir, Stephen 41, 76, 86, 192 Murnau, Friedrich Wilhelm 182 Murray, Caitlin 16, 22 Murry, John Middleton 151

N Niemojowski, Jerzy 43, 48, 50, 55, 56-8, 60-62 Nord, Christiane 114, 117, 131 Nussbaum, Martha 146

O Oittinen, Ritta 116-17, 129, 131 Ostrowski, Witold 47

P Paloff, Benjamin 11, 17, 18, 22 Panfilov, Gleb 94 Parmigianino, James William 12, 13 Partyka, Ewa 179, 183 Paszek, Jerzy 43, 48, 56-7, 62 Pater, Walter 151 Pearce, T.S. 56, 59, 62 Pearsal, Robert Lucas 56 Perloff, Majorie 12, 14, 22 Perrault, Charles 133 Piotrowski, Andrzej 43, 47, 50, 523, 58-9, 62 Polidori, John 7, 168, 174, 183 Pomorski, Adam 48, 62 Poulet, Georges 45 Pound, Ezra 1, 43-4, 61 Praz, Mario 1 Prest, Thomas Peckett 175 Propp, Vladimir 137, 146 Punter, David 175, 183

Q Quinn, John 44

R Radcliffe, Ann 172, 191 Richards, I.A. 46, 62 Roe, Dinah 155, 167 Rossetti, Dante Gabriel VII, 151, 153 Rossini, Gioachimo 69 Różewicz, Tadeusz 19 Rulewicz, Wanda 48, 62 Russell, Bertrand 11

Old Masters in New Interpretations

Rymer, James Malcolm 7, 168, 175, 183

S Sadler, Lynn Veach 132, 147 Salmi, Hannu 76, 86 Savage, Roger 65, 74 Schuyler, James 11 Shakespeare, William VI, VIII, 5, 18, 22, 36, 87-90, 92-3, 95, 98, 132, 154, 189, 192 Shapiro, David 15, 22 Shavit, Zohar 115-16, 131 Shepard, Leslie 170, 183 Skene, Reg 109, 112 Skinner, John VIII, 132, 135, 137-8, 145-6 Skrastinš, Karlis 84 Skwarczyńska, Stefania 101, 112 Sławińska, Irena 101, 111 Smiļģis, Eduards VIII, 88 Smith, Grover 53, 62, 170-71, 1746, 178-9, 180, 183 Snodgrass, Ellen Mary 169, 171-5, 183 Socrates 49 Solomon, Simeon 151 Sommer, Piotr 10 Sosnowski, Andrzej V, 3, 10-22, 191 Southam, B.S. 44, 50, 53, 56, 62 Spooner, Catherine 177, 180, 183 Sprusiński, Michał 48, 62 Stanislavsky, Konstantin 89 Sterne, Laurence 2 Stoker, Bram VI, 7, 168-70, 175, 177-9, 181-3 Svašek, Maruška 81, 86 Szymańska, Izabela VI, 6, 113-14, 118, 129, 131, 192

197

T Taylor, Diana 82, 84, 86 Thomson, Douglas H. 172-3, 183 Tolstoy, Lev 132 Tommasini, Anthony 66, 71, 74 Toury, Gideon 114, 131 Tovstonogov, Georgy 88 Twain, Mark 117

V Verdi, Giuseppe 66, 75 Virgil 49 Visconti, Luchino 75

W Wagner, Richard V, 4-5, 65, 67, 69, 75-82, 84-6, 190 Wakin, Daniel J. 67, 74 Waller, Gregory 179, 183 Wallis, Mieczysław 41, 57, 60 Walpole, Horace 173 Warrack, John 65, 74 Wellek, René 1 Weston, Jessie L. 50, 52-3, 55, 57, 59, 62 Wilde, Oscar 151 Williams-Wanquet, Eileen 132, 133, 142, 146-7 Wilson, Robert 75 Wisker, Gina 183 Woodward, Daniel H. 43-5, 62 Woolf, Virginia 1, 45

Y Yeats, W.B. VI, 1, 5, 100-12

Z Zeffirelli, Franco 75 Zgorzelski, Andrzej 31, 42, 101, 104, 112