Chekhov\'s dramatic poetics: a view on the communication problems

Author(s)

Priscilla Herrerias

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2011-03-29

Examining board members

Elena Nikolaevna Vassina; Jorge Mattos Brito de Almeida; Antônio Carlos de Araújo Silva

• Advisor: Elena Nikolaevna Vassina

Abstract

The gaps in the communication processes between the dramatic characters of Anton Chekhov (1869-1904) consist on a basic and definite trait of the author\'s dramatic poetics. The analysis of the communication processes of four of Chekhov\'s major plays - The seagull (1896), Uncle Vanya (1897), Three sisters (1900) and The cherry orchard (1904) - elucidate the creation of a new artistic paradigm in the author\'s dramatic system, the innovations of which deeply affected the twentieth century theatre and have exerted a major influence until today. The study approaches the selected plays firstly considering the Russian context of the period, highlighting historical transformations that were already on course. Secondly, it examines the literary genres theory, as well as the most important criticism it suffered. The concepts developed by the Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975), which took into account the relationship between the literary genres and the historical moments when they were being shaped, acquire great importance in our analysis. Specially the notion of the novel as a contemporary genre, which embraces and affects all the other genres. After clarifying this influence by identifying the presence of epic and lyric elements in Chekhov\'s plays, we observe how the dialogue, the traditional form of the dramatic genre, motor of the actions that push the plot forward, has its unit weakened. As a consequence, chekhovian drama needs staging to be fully achieved: what is not visible and cannot be reduced to words, what is latent in the gaps of communication, underlying the characters\' speeches, become vital to this new theatre, which welcomes and counts on the imagination of its audience. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/02117-4 - Chekhov's dramatic poetics: a view on the communication problems
• Grantee: Priscilla Herrerias
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master