Mihail Sebastian. Teatru. Dicţionar de personaje
(2007) In Centenarul unui scriitor actual (1907-2007)- Abstract
- The essay aims to identify the genesis of the first dramatic protagonists Mihail Sebastian imagined, both the autobiographical and the literary earlier experiences and expressions of his playwriting philosophy of the evasion, a philosophy that is to be regarded as a prototype for his future drama. For this a rather exhaustive synthesis of the critical references is required as well as a minute hermeneutic approach of the text itself.
Mihail Sebastian imagined and created Jocul de-a vacanţa (Holiday Games) (1936) in order to induce the fulfillment of his own dream of happiness, to draw the outline of his own image of the expected beloved woman, never met in real life. His refusal to accept the lamentable end of a ridiculous and... (More) - The essay aims to identify the genesis of the first dramatic protagonists Mihail Sebastian imagined, both the autobiographical and the literary earlier experiences and expressions of his playwriting philosophy of the evasion, a philosophy that is to be regarded as a prototype for his future drama. For this a rather exhaustive synthesis of the critical references is required as well as a minute hermeneutic approach of the text itself.
Mihail Sebastian imagined and created Jocul de-a vacanţa (Holiday Games) (1936) in order to induce the fulfillment of his own dream of happiness, to draw the outline of his own image of the expected beloved woman, never met in real life. His refusal to accept the lamentable end of a ridiculous and strange love affair unleashed the psychological outlet: fulfillment and requital through work of art. His own thoughts, never carried out by the actress Leni Caler through gestures, words and deeds, were about to be “endured” by her idealized – yet unreal – hypostasis, the literary character Corina. In this fabricated world the playwright’s intention is to bring into life the reverse situation of Odette and Swann, in a happiness game that is to evade the distress of the ordinary. To what extent the consummation is possible even in this ingenuous space of abeyance in the non-reality is yet again an argument for the author’s innermost adherence to the utopia: both in the ordinary figurative meaning of the expression, i.e. an ideal world (eu-topos) belonging however to fancy, chimera, and dream and in its literal etymological signification, i.e. ou-topos, no-place, place which does not exist. In Jocul de-a vacanţa (Holiday Games) the role conferred to the feminine character goes beyond the plain symbolical function of the assertion of love, thus giving consistency to man’s dream. In this case the woman institutes both the accomplishment and the deletion of the erotic game, for an elementary reason: suppressing the game for as long as it belonged to the evasion from reality the woman interferes at the proper time, before the reality would ruin the chimera. It is the woman’s ending, not man’s, as she is having the insight to make possible the permanence of love not through the perpetuation of the erotic affair, but through the acknowledgement of an Omni temporal virtuality. Corina abolishes the love in order to secure the idea of love. The soulful upbringing is possible only in the escapist, chimeric, fanciful world of the imaginary idealism.
The role the character Bogoiu plays in the history of the drama is in a class of its own. He develops into a main character, compared with Ştefan Valeriu and Corina, the legitimate protagonists. The original intention of the author may have been different, Bogoiu was likely planned as one of the secondary dramatis personage; however the personage asserted itself, un-designed, and thus it became the “keystone” that ensures equilibrium for the whole framework. In a much too daring headstrong psycho-analytical hypothesis one could say the three of them are complementary sides of a whole where the woman stands for the super-ego (consciousness), the man for the ego (sub consciousness) and Bogoiu for the id (unconsciousness).
Our brief foray into the analyses of a subordinate character of Mihail Sebastian’s first play aims to exceed the simple emphasize of his rather over-simplified comic role to the proposal of a myth-criticism approach. It suggests that the apparent merry Major could be considered as a literary manifestation of a European everlasting grievous archetype, that of the Fisher King, both in its old Arthurian noble symbolism and its late decaying significance from Eliot’s The Waste Land. Jeff has the role of the immature confused boy who is in love with a young woman. He experiences an attraction which is never-ending, paralyzing, swallowing-up and impossible either to repress or to express. He is an unfit and helpless mute witness of the love story that is unfolding between the two grownups and protagonists, Corina and Ştefan Valeriu. He may also be regarded as a variable face of the mature hero, not in opposition, but in an intricate comrade relation. His “coming into being” experience may or may not develop into the failure outcome of the grownup. Madame Vintilă, an honest human being in her own way, yet mediocre and ordinary, rather frivolous, is a deconstruction of the feminine ideal. A mature woman, loquacious and voluptuous, who is presumably living back home a drab, petty life is looking for a way to unleash her sexual bedevils and accomplish her turbid dreams during a month of holiday. Agneş is outlined by means of her continuous absence from the stage, thus the young Hungarian servant becomes “a false diminutive Godot” of the play. Mister and Misses is an intruding risible couple that stands for the “real world” outside, thus invading like a morbid plague the chimeric realm of the holiday play. Their appearance stands for the ultimate confrontation between the two incompatible worlds, i.e. the sterility of the bourgeois quotidian and the escape into the phantasm. From this point onward the doom of the holiday ship is decided: the distress in the melancholy harbor where it left from. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8310535
- author
- Bagiu, Lucian LU ; Cubleșan, Constantin ; Chiciudean, Gabriela and Ghemeș, Ileana
- organization
- alternative title
- Mihail Sebastian. Theater. Dictionary of characters
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Book/Report
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- imaginary, ideal, holiday, happiness, Fisher King, failure, evasion, chimera, dream, love, utopia
- in
- Centenarul unui scriitor actual (1907-2007)
- pages
- 306 pages
- publisher
- Hasefer
- ISBN
- 978-973-630-140-7
- language
- Romanian
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The coordinator of the Dictionary was Constantin Cubleşan, whereas Lucian Bâgiu was responsible for the characters of the play "Jocul de-a vacanţa". The volume analyzes (in alphabetical order) the characters from all the plays written by Mihail Sebastian, namely: Jocul de-a vacanţa(1938) / Holiday Games; Steaua fără nume (1944) / The Star Without a Name; Ultima oră (1945) / Breaking News; Insula (1947) / The Island.
- id
- 7d434425-b18a-45c7-b345-866983dc7741 (old id 8310535)
- alternative location
- https://www.worldcat.org/title/mihail-sebastian-teatru-dictionar-de-personaje/oclc/762262729&referer=brief_results
- http://www.hasefer.ro/index.php/catalog/2007
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 10:49:19
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 21:00:58
@book{7d434425-b18a-45c7-b345-866983dc7741,
abstract = {{The essay aims to identify the genesis of the first dramatic protagonists Mihail Sebastian imagined, both the autobiographical and the literary earlier experiences and expressions of his playwriting philosophy of the evasion, a philosophy that is to be regarded as a prototype for his future drama. For this a rather exhaustive synthesis of the critical references is required as well as a minute hermeneutic approach of the text itself.<br/><br>
Mihail Sebastian imagined and created Jocul de-a vacanţa (Holiday Games) (1936) in order to induce the fulfillment of his own dream of happiness, to draw the outline of his own image of the expected beloved woman, never met in real life. His refusal to accept the lamentable end of a ridiculous and strange love affair unleashed the psychological outlet: fulfillment and requital through work of art. His own thoughts, never carried out by the actress Leni Caler through gestures, words and deeds, were about to be “endured” by her idealized – yet unreal – hypostasis, the literary character Corina. In this fabricated world the playwright’s intention is to bring into life the reverse situation of Odette and Swann, in a happiness game that is to evade the distress of the ordinary. To what extent the consummation is possible even in this ingenuous space of abeyance in the non-reality is yet again an argument for the author’s innermost adherence to the utopia: both in the ordinary figurative meaning of the expression, i.e. an ideal world (eu-topos) belonging however to fancy, chimera, and dream and in its literal etymological signification, i.e. ou-topos, no-place, place which does not exist. In Jocul de-a vacanţa (Holiday Games) the role conferred to the feminine character goes beyond the plain symbolical function of the assertion of love, thus giving consistency to man’s dream. In this case the woman institutes both the accomplishment and the deletion of the erotic game, for an elementary reason: suppressing the game for as long as it belonged to the evasion from reality the woman interferes at the proper time, before the reality would ruin the chimera. It is the woman’s ending, not man’s, as she is having the insight to make possible the permanence of love not through the perpetuation of the erotic affair, but through the acknowledgement of an Omni temporal virtuality. Corina abolishes the love in order to secure the idea of love. The soulful upbringing is possible only in the escapist, chimeric, fanciful world of the imaginary idealism.<br/><br>
The role the character Bogoiu plays in the history of the drama is in a class of its own. He develops into a main character, compared with Ştefan Valeriu and Corina, the legitimate protagonists. The original intention of the author may have been different, Bogoiu was likely planned as one of the secondary dramatis personage; however the personage asserted itself, un-designed, and thus it became the “keystone” that ensures equilibrium for the whole framework. In a much too daring headstrong psycho-analytical hypothesis one could say the three of them are complementary sides of a whole where the woman stands for the super-ego (consciousness), the man for the ego (sub consciousness) and Bogoiu for the id (unconsciousness).<br/><br>
Our brief foray into the analyses of a subordinate character of Mihail Sebastian’s first play aims to exceed the simple emphasize of his rather over-simplified comic role to the proposal of a myth-criticism approach. It suggests that the apparent merry Major could be considered as a literary manifestation of a European everlasting grievous archetype, that of the Fisher King, both in its old Arthurian noble symbolism and its late decaying significance from Eliot’s The Waste Land. Jeff has the role of the immature confused boy who is in love with a young woman. He experiences an attraction which is never-ending, paralyzing, swallowing-up and impossible either to repress or to express. He is an unfit and helpless mute witness of the love story that is unfolding between the two grownups and protagonists, Corina and Ştefan Valeriu. He may also be regarded as a variable face of the mature hero, not in opposition, but in an intricate comrade relation. His “coming into being” experience may or may not develop into the failure outcome of the grownup. Madame Vintilă, an honest human being in her own way, yet mediocre and ordinary, rather frivolous, is a deconstruction of the feminine ideal. A mature woman, loquacious and voluptuous, who is presumably living back home a drab, petty life is looking for a way to unleash her sexual bedevils and accomplish her turbid dreams during a month of holiday. Agneş is outlined by means of her continuous absence from the stage, thus the young Hungarian servant becomes “a false diminutive Godot” of the play. Mister and Misses is an intruding risible couple that stands for the “real world” outside, thus invading like a morbid plague the chimeric realm of the holiday play. Their appearance stands for the ultimate confrontation between the two incompatible worlds, i.e. the sterility of the bourgeois quotidian and the escape into the phantasm. From this point onward the doom of the holiday ship is decided: the distress in the melancholy harbor where it left from.}},
author = {{Bagiu, Lucian and Cubleșan, Constantin and Chiciudean, Gabriela and Ghemeș, Ileana}},
isbn = {{978-973-630-140-7}},
keywords = {{imaginary; ideal; holiday; happiness; Fisher King; failure; evasion; chimera; dream; love; utopia}},
language = {{rum}},
publisher = {{Hasefer}},
series = {{Centenarul unui scriitor actual (1907-2007)}},
title = {{Mihail Sebastian. Teatru. Dicţionar de personaje}},
url = {{https://www.worldcat.org/title/mihail-sebastian-teatru-dictionar-de-personaje/oclc/762262729&referer=brief_results}},
year = {{2007}},
}