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This thesis investigates the transatlantic manifestation of the debate regarding the aesthetics of commitment in the modernist literary and theatrical tradition. Within the debate theatre occupies a privileged position since (because of its two-fold roles both as theory and performance) it allows a critique both of performative conventions and methods and also a dialectical consideration of the audience’s socio-political consciousness. The debate, often referred to as form versus content – schematically re-written as ‘autonomy’ versus ‘commitment’ – and its transatlantic evaluation are central to modernist aesthetics, as they bring into question the established modes of perceiving and discussing the issue. A parallel close reading will reveal the closely related development of the European and the American traditions and evaluate their critical strengths and shortcomings. The first part of the thesis discusses the positions of Georg Lukács and Bertolt Brecht, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin in tandem with those of the New York Intellectuals, especially as expressed in the latters’ writings in the Partisan Review. The second part extends this transatlantic dialogue through a consideration of the theatrical works of the New York Living Newspaper unit of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) in the USA and Bertolt Brecht’s vision of and relationship with ‘Americana’ as revealed through such plays as In the Jungle of Cities, Man Equals Man, St Joan of the Stockyards and the 1947 version of Galileo. The Federal Theatre and Brecht’s respective dramaturgies demonstrate differences in the articulation and application of the aesthetics of commitment and politics of engagement. A close reading of four plays by the Living Newspaper unit will not only reveal the influence of the Russian Blue Blouse groups and Meyerhold’s theatrical experimentations, but also how the unit’s playwrights and administration attempted to re-write this aesthetic. Hallie Flanagan (the director of FTP), recognising the limitations of Broadway and having sensed the audience’s need for a new kind of theatre, realised early on the importance of ‘translating’ the European aesthetics of commitment to conform with the American New Deal discourse. Brecht’s plays manifest not only the differences with respect to the European aesthetics of commitment, but also its highly complicated development. His American experiences revealed that the failings of the FTP’s attempt to establish a viable national theatre with a social agenda prohibited a more powerfully theatrical connection (theoretical and performative) between the two traditions. Both the European and the American modernist aesthetics are informed by Marxist cultural and literary theory, particularly by the writings centred on the political efficacy of a work of art with respect to its reception and its modes of production. The politico-aesthetic encounter of the Marxist tradition of engagement with a commitment to aesthetic formalism (often associated with the autonomy position) led to a confrontational and polemical rather than dialectical argumentation. However, this thesis maintains that the arguments were not simply articulated by theorists at opposing ends of the political spectrum. At the same time, Brecht and the Federal Theatre Project’s interest in the advancements of the European avant-garde and fascination with the notion of ‘Americana’ demonstrate the necessity to examine the issue of commitment in a more dialectical manner. While their notion of the aesthetics of commitment differed, this thesis argues for the necessity, not only of revisiting some of the fundamental premises regarding the role and function of this aesthetics in modernist political theatre, but also of reading the two traditions in conjunction.

This thesis presents a comparative study of the aesthetics of three theatre initiatives from development settings: theatre company Nós do Morro in Brazil, multi-disciplinary arts centre Phare Ponleu Selpak in Cambodia, and non-profit organisation Movimiento Teatro Popular Sin Fronteras in Nicaragua. By focussing on how different judgements within the landscape of aesthetic and social worth meet, conflict or interact within the programmes, processes and outcomes of the three theatre organisations, this research articulates the different kinds of ‘values’ attached to the (at times) competing aesthetic criteria for practitioners, government bodies and national and international non-governmental organisations that have stakes in this work. The majority of the data in this research is qualitative, generated by interviews, stories about theatre practitioners’ experiences and my own observations of performances, workshops and rehearsals. After exploring the landscape of aesthetic and social worth across the three case studies, this research points out the many ways in which international economics and global governance – manifest in tax-reduced sponsorships by global corporations, funding decisions of international interveners and cultural policies of national governments – participate and intrude into both the aesthetic and social constructions of applied theatre’s artistic value, therefore framing its aesthetic sphere. The global pressure coming from the United Nations and the international humanitarian community seeking to shape applied theatre companies and make them respond to certain dynamics serves neither art nor community. This also makes it very difficult to locate an aesthetic of applied theatre in a way that is ‘traditional’ in discussions of aesthetics (through definition of the art ‘product’ alone, via reference to ideas of beauty, affect and the senses). This study therefore found a way of understanding the impact of economic and international actors on applied theatre using Appadurai’s concept of the ethnoscape (1991), which offers a theoretical and analytical framework for investigating the determining factors of the aesthetics of applied theatre, and the aesthetic discourses surrounding applied theatre in development settings. I argue that applied theatre practices globally are becoming too uniform: global forms taken by transnational institutions are starting to evolve in new directions. We need to attentively investigate what the level of resistance of applied theatre companies can be. Although each art organisation is trying to find a place for applied theatre in the ‘new’ world, the theatre companies can hopefully resist the pressure to become the same kind of company, living in a state partially organised according to international agendas. As a result, this research proposes a more politicised, historicised kind of practice, teaching and mentoring around these questions. This will support applied theatre practitioners in finding their way in the new global world.

Die Dissertation widmet sich den intertextuellen Schreibstrategien in Ingeborg Bachmanns (1926-1973) Todesarten-Romanen Malina und Das Buch Franza und Elfriede Jelineks (1946-) Roman Die Klavierspielerin und Dramolett Der Tod und das Mädchen V (Die Wand). In diesem Zusammenhang werden zum einen die Systemreferenzen der beiden Österreicherinnen auf die Psychoanalyse und zum anderen die Bezüge auf einzelne sowohl literarische als auch philosophische und mythologische Texte untersucht. Es wird gezeigt, inwiefern sich Bachmanns Inszenierung der Hysterie in Anlehnung an die Schriften Sigmund Freuds und Josef Breuers von Jelineks Inszenierung des psychoanalytischen Diskurses unterscheidet. Bei Bachmann, die sich auf psychoanalytische Schriften beruft bzw. diese zugunsten ihrer eigenen Krankheitskonzeption verwirft, stellt die Hysterie den literarischen Gegenstand dar. Jelinek hingegen erhebt die Hysterie zum Schreibprinzip, insofern sie die inkriminierten Strukturen durch eine Art hysterische Mimesis parodierend bloßzustellen versucht. Die Funktion der Einzeltextreferenzen wird im Kontext von Bachmanns utopischer und Jelineks satirischer Schreibweise erarbeitet. Während Bachmann durch Bezüge u.a. auf Virginia Woolf und Paul Celan Bedeutungszusammenhänge schafft, bringt Jelinek ihre Texte durch die Anhäufung intertextueller Verweise u.a. auf Heidegger, Platon, Hesiod, Homer und Christa Woolf sowie auf Leben und Schaffen Bachmanns, Sylvia Plaths und Marlen Haushofers an den Rand der Bedeutungsimplosion. Die intertextuellen Strategien der beiden Schriftstellerinnen werden zum Schluss im Licht der Moderne/Postmoderne-Diskussion betrachtet. ----------------------------------- La thèse est consacrée aux stratégies décriture intertextuelles dans les romans « Malina » et « Franza » du cycle « Manières de mourir » dIngeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) et au roman « La Pianiste » et au dramolet « La Jeune Fille et la Mort V (Le Mur) » dElfriede Jelinek (1946-). Sont examinés dans ce cadre dune part les références systémiques des deux Autrichiennes à la psychanalyse et dautre part les renvois à divers textes, tant littéraires que philosophiques ou mythologiques. Il est montré dans quelle mesure la mise en scène de lhystérie par Bachmann à lappui des écrits de Sigmund Freud et Joseph Breuer diffère de la mise en scène du discours psychanalytique par Jelinek. Chez Bachmann, qui se base dans sa nosographie sur des écrits psychanalytiques tout en rejetant ces derniers au profit de sa propre conception de la maladie, lhystérie constitue lobjet littéraire. Jelinek, par contre, élève lhystérie au rang de principe décriture dans la mesure où elle tente de ridiculiser de manière parodique les structures incriminées par une sorte de mimesis hystérique. La fonction des références intertextuelles est investiguée dans le contexte des procédés décriture utopique de Bachmann et satirique de Jelinek. Alors que Bachmann met en place des rapports de sens au moyen de références entre autres à Virginia Woolf et Paul Celan, Jelinek mène ses textes au bord de limplosion sémantique par la multiplication des références intertextuelles, entre autres à Martin Heidegger, Platon, Hésiode, Homère et Christa Wolf ainsi quà la vie et à luvre de Bachmann, Sylvia Plath et Marlene Haushofer. Pour terminer, les stratégies intertextuelles des deux auteurs sont étudiées à la lumière de la discussion moderne/postmoderne. ---------------------------------------- This thesis focuses on the intertextual writing strategies in Ingeborg Bachmanns (1926-1973) novels Malina and Franza (from her cycle of novels Ways of Dying) as well as in Elfriede Jelineks (1946-) novel The Piano Teacher and her drama Death and the Maiden V (The Wall). In this context the authors allusions to psychoanalysis and their references to various literary, philosophical and mythological texts are thoroughly investigated. The analysis reveals that Bachmanns staging of hysteria, in the way it recalls Sigmund Freuds and Josef Breuers writings, differs from the way Jelinek deals with psychoanalytical discourse. Bachmann who partly relies on psychoanalytical writings and partly rejects them in favour of her own concept of malady chooses hysteria as her literary topic. Jelinek, on the contrary, makes hysteria her writing principle in trying to uncover incriminated structures by parodying them in some sort of hysterical mimesis. This thesis also investigates the functioning of the authors intertextual links in the context of Bachmanns utopian, and Jelineks satirical, writing style. While Bachmann creates new meaning through references, among others, to Virginia Woolf and Paul Celan, Jelineks texts reach the point of semantic implosion - by the amassment of intertextual hints (for instance to Martin Heidegger, Plato, Hesiod, Homer and Christa Wolf) and references to the life and work of her fellow writers Bachmann, Sylvia Plath and Marlen Haushofer. Finally, both authors intertextual strategies are examined in the light of the Modernism versus Postmodernism discussion.