This thesis deals with the representation of the body and space in the
theatre of Bernard-Marie Koltes and Helene Cixous. From the theoretical point of
view, it looks at transition in French theatre from a modern to a postmodern
predicament, from a discursive to a corporeal theatre. It then looks at the ways
postmodern culture maps, configures, disciplines, and violates the body,
particularly through the relationship of the new textuality to its stage
manifestations. Textually, it analizes three plays by each playwright. The
juxtaposition of the works of Koltes and Cixous allows for an in depth look at the
theatre of the 1970's and 80's in France, a period marked by theatrical
decentralisation and experimentation. Both favoured a strong tie to theatre
practice while developing a close relationship with a theatre director: Patrice
Chereau, in the case of Koltes, and Ariane Mnouchkine, in the case of Cixous.
Aside from looking at the relationship with theatre practitioners, this thesis
examines a number of aesthetic and political affinities which bring Koltes and
Cixous together, such as redefining a postmodern mythology and a political role
for theatre. Unlike many postmodernist theatre practices that try to evade political
commitment, both Cixous and Koltes are preoccupied with the resistance to a
nihilistic discourse, and propose an evolving and corporeal stage presence
inscribed in a pluralistic space of representation. For Koltes, the body on the stage
resists symbolic categorization in Combat de negre et de chiens (1979), it then
becomes related to spatial reality outside language in Quai ouest (1985), and
finally the corporeal body is culturally and ideologically mapped in Le Retour au
desert (1988). This triple dimension is also reflected in the work of Cixous, for
whom the theatre is a space of feminist praxis. First, the space of representation,
through the subversive performativity of the body, questions the premises of the
psychoanalytic gaze in Portrait de Dora (1976), then classical mythology is
rewritten to disrupt patriarcal discourse in Le Nom d'Oedipe: chant du corps
interdit (1978), and a post-colonial role for theatre is redefined in order to question
the historical subject in L'Indiade ou l'lnde de leurs reves (1987).
Finally, this thesis looks at the ways both Koltes and Cixous join in with
postmodernism in declaring the impossibility of grand-narrative, while trying to
show how identity cannot be based on essentialist categories of race, gender,
ethnicity, or sexual orientation, but on the performance of all these various
categories as they intersect in the performing body.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/11264 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Mounsef, Donia |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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