Thesis (M.F.A.)--Boston University

This thesis proposes that Sartre's plays are predominantly life-affirming, and their violence can be explained in terms of their central theme: conflict between life and death. Extensive reference is made throughout to Sartre's non-dramatic writings. This theme occurs on the literal and metaphorical planes: characters struggle for life, commit violent acts, and emerge 'existentially alive', or 'existentially dead'. Sartre's theories of life and death are summarised, and three examples of existential death considered. The theme is then analysed in each play under the headings 'Myth and Situation', 'Act and Agent'. Bariona's colonised people eventually escape from existential death, having contemplated martyrdom, when Bariona is influenced by the life-enhancing philosophy of Balthazar, and the experience of the Nativity. Argos, also, is suffused with death: 'Philèbe''s need to 'feel' his existence impels him to act definitively, punishing the regicides, and coming to existential life in his true identity as Oreste. In Huis clos, Sartre explores the deadness of lives led in moral cowardice, and the implicit message is, ironically, life-affirming. Morts sans sépulture propounds an argument for life which prevails, despite the hollow victory of the 'miliciens'. La Putain illustrates a triumph for the mortifying force of essentialist ethics. A seemingly comparable triumph of death in Les Mains sales is, in fact, a defeat for Hugo and an implicit victory for the life-advocate, Hoederer. Goetz exemplifies existential life perfectly, reaching it via every kind of moribund moral idealism. Kean burlesques Oreste's experience, escaping his vacuity through metaphorical suicide, and individualistically asserting his right to life. Nekrassov's hero parodies Goetz's odyssey, finally opting for life in the imaginary realm. Les Séquestrés depicts the triumph of death as man is crushed by the march of History. Les Troyennes, however, still advocates hope. Why did Sartre quit the theatre? Did the 'hero', through whom life is affirmed, become impossible?

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Boston University

This thesis is a study of Beckett's later plays (those written in English as a first language) beginning with All That Fall. There are three main areas of investigation. Part One considers the importance of structure in Beckett's writing and the extreme precision with which his plays are patterned. The circular movement found in most of the plays is seen to reflect Beckett's constant theme of the human life cycle, in a precise fusion of content with form. Part Two, the bulk of the study, considers the evolution of the plays through their various drafts. The exploration of a large body of draft material affords some insight into Beckett's characteristic approach to his writing, his working method and the craftsmanship with which the plays are shaped, both structurally and linguistically. A tendency for ambiguity to develop and increase as the drafts progress is discovered in the plays. Part Three considers the plays in performance and discusses the various aspects of Beckett's dramatic technique in the writing, acting and direction of the plays. The innovatory quality of Beckett's dramatic ideas is observed in his work for the different media of stage, radio, cinema and television. The discussion thus seeks to increase our understanding of Beckett's plays in English by studying not only the structures ultimately arrived at, but the process of gestation also and finally by observing their efficacy in production.

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Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

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Thesis (M.F.A)--Boston University

No description available.