The rebirth of Orestes' myth: aspects of Sartrian's philosophy and its importance to the drama The Flies

• Grant number: 14/02229-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Carla Cavalcanti e Silva
• Grantee: Ester da Silva Gomes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

On the twentieth century, the European continent was devastated for the Second World War (1939-1945), where the nazi ideology, as well as hegemony were spread worldwide. On this war period German forces invade and keep France while controlling, an episode known as "Vichy France". During that turmoil by which France passed and in which all the nationwide was subjected to the foreign government, a French citizen stands out by his literature deeply committed. It is about the writer and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), who interweaves his literature which his existentialist philosophical ideas, because to the writer, the literature should contain a social context, it means, be committed. Due this historical context, Sartre wrote novels and theater plays that reported the episode that the French experienced, one of these was Les Mouches, a theater play from 1943, acted out in the Paris taken. This theater play is a reinterpretation of Orestes myth from ancient Greece, wrote by the first tragedy writer Ésquilo and afterwards by his successors Sófocles and Eurípides, who adapted it to their way. Just like Ésquilo successors, Sartre returns the myth and turns it by his own way, having as elements: The Greece myth, the historical context and his philosophical ideas. The big change in this myth was turn into the fate's tragedy in freedom's tragedy. From this, focusing on all aspects, the study will analyze the existentialist philosophy aspects in the Les Mouches and the significance of this play in that historical context.