European Lyric Folkdrama: A Definition

187 Pages·2001·0.89 MB·English

by  Robert M. Farrington

EUROPEAN LYRIC
FOLKDRAMA
American University Studies
Series XXVI
Theatre Arts
Vol. 30
PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt am Main (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Robert M. Farrington
EUROPEAN LYRIC
FOLKDRAMA
A Definition
PETER LANG
New York (cid:121) Washington, D.C./Baltimore (cid:121) Bern
Frankfurt am Main (cid:121) Berlin (cid:121) Brussels (cid:121) Vienna (cid:121) Oxford
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Farrington, Robert M.
European lyric folkdrama: a definition / Robert M. Farrington.
p. cm. — (American university studies. XXVI, Theatre arts; vol. 30)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. European drama—19th century—History and criticism. 2. European drama—20th
century—History and criticism. 3. Myth in literature.
I. American university studies. Series XXVI, Theatre arts; vol. 30.
PN1851.F37 809.2’915—dc21 00-041252
ISBN 0-8204-5146-0
ISSN 0899-9880
Die Deutsche Bibliothek-CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Farrington, Robert M.:
European lyric folkdrama: a definition / Robert M. Farrington.
−New York; Washington, D.C./Baltimore; Bern;
Frankfurt am Main; Berlin; Brussels; Vienna; Oxford: Lang.
(American university studies: Ser. 26, Theatre arts; Vol. 30)
ISBN 0-8204-5146-0
Cover design by Nona Reuter
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity
of the Council of Library Resources.
© 2001 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Printed in the United States of America
I dedicate this work to Merrel, whose faith in me has been unwavering
and who gave of her time and love, for which I am eternally grateful—and
to Jessica.

Contents
Introduction In Search of Folkdrama 1
1. The Aesthetics of Folkdrama 11
2. Mythic Thought and the Language of Folkdrama 19
3. The Language of Folkdrama 33
4. The Special Case of Hauptmann’s The Sunken Bell 79
5. Myth as Dramatic Setting in Lorca and Synge 99
6. Myth and Ritual in Riders to the Sea and Blood Wedding 129
Conclusion The Legacy of European Lyric Folkdrama 149
Appendix Richard Wagner’s Vision of Drama 155
Bibliography 159
Index 167
Nothing can compare with the tenderness and delicacy of these songs,
and I insist that it is infamy to forget them or to prostitute them with base,
sensual intention or gross caricature. But that only happens in cities.
Fortunately for the virgin Poetry and for all poets, there are still sailors
who sing at sea, women who rock their children to sleep in the shade of
grapevines, and rustic shepherds on mountain paths. The passionate wind
of poetry will blow on the dying fire, bring the embers to life, and these
people will continue to sing: the women in the shade of grapevines, the
shepherds on their bitter paths, the sailors on the rich rhythm of the sea.
Federico García Lorca “In Search of Duende”

Acknowledgments
I am grateful to my friends and colleagues who have given of their time,
expertise, and advice. They include Stephanie Achard, Conchita and
Maruchi Burman, Cecelia Cavanaugh, Lisa Dillon, Phyllis Korper, Will-
iam Peter Kosmas and his staff, Jane Amler Lewis, Kevin McMahon, and
John O’Brien.
I also dedicate this work to the memory of Anna Balakian, my mentor,
without whose guidance and support, the book would remain only a dream.
I thank the following for permission to reprint excerpts from their
copyrighted material:
Die versunkene Glocke by Gerhart Hauptmann. Used by permission
of Ullstein Verlag, Berlin und Munchen, copyright©1996. All rights re-
served.
In Search of Duende by Federico García Lorca©Herederos de Federico
García Lorca. Translation by Christopher Mauer©Christopher Mauer and
Herederos de Federico García Lorca. (New Directions, 1998 edition). All
rights reserved.
Deirdre and On Baile’s Strand. Reprinted with the permission of
Scribner, A Division of Simon & Schuster from The Collected Plays of
W.B. Yeats. Revised Edition Copyright 1934, 1952 by Macmillan Pub-
lishing Company; copyrights renewed ©1962 by Bertha Georgie Yeats,
and 1980 by Anne Yeats & by A. P. Watt Ltd. on behalf of Michael B.
Yeats. All rights reserved.
The Sunken Bell, from The Dramatic Works, VOL. 4, Symbolic and
Legendary Dramas by Gerhart Hauptmann, edited by Ludwig Lewisohn,
copyright 1994 by B.W. Hebsch. Copyright©1927 by The Viking Press,
Inc. Used by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam,
Inc. All rights reserved.
XII Acknowledgments

Deirdre of the Sorrows, The Tinker’s Wedding, and The Well of the
Saints. From The Complete Plays of John Millington Synge by John
Millington Synge. Copyright©by the Modern Library, Inc. Reprinted by
permission of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Obras completas by Federico García Lorca. Copyright©1971 by
Aguilar, Madrid. Reprinted by permission of the Federico García Lorca
Estate (Herederos de Federico García Lorca). All rights reserved.
Reproduction of set designs for the cover art created by Sigfredo Bur-
man (Boceto al oleo para el decorado de Bodas de Sangre - Fachada
interior de la casa and Boceto al oleo para el decorado de Bodas de
Sangre - Fachada exterior de la casa) from Los estrenos teatrales de
Federico García Lorca by María Francisca Vilches de Frutos and Dru
Dougherty. Copyright©1992 by Tabapress, Madrid. Artwork reproduced
by permission of the heirs, Conchita and Maruchi Burman. All rights
reserved.
Introduction

In Search of Folkdrama
While reading a group of European dramatic works, folk in nature, writ-
ten between 1885 and 1936, I was struck by a commonality in both their
form and their content. They possessed a linking thread, i.e., their lan-
guage was lyrical and poetic, and it reflected certain mythic and ritualistic
archetypal motifs. The playwrights whose folk dramas stood out in this
regard were Germany’s Gerhart Hauptmann, Federico García Lorca of
Spain, and the Anglo-Irish dramatist, John Millington Synge.
This study is the result of my investigation of the unique language
created by these dramatists and my effort to identify several of their dra-
mas within the context of a new classification—a sub-genre which I choose
to call European lyric folkdrama. As my search to identify this genre con-
tinued, I found it necessary to draw a major distinction between “lyric
folkdrama” and verse or poetic drama. To support this differentiation I
concluded that I would need to conduct a substantial analysis of the lan-
guage of folkdrama.
Major poetic and dramatic authors including T.S. Eliot, William Butler
Yeats, and the French poet, Stephane Mallarmé, have called for the cre-
ation of a drama (not necessarily folk) based on a renewed principle of the
centrality of language. In response to this call, they have created a body of
theoretical writing from which a structural unity may be discerned, this
despite their various national origins and the diversities of their aesthetic
concerns. Their theories do, however, possess a common preoccupation
with the function of language as the central mechanism of a revised no-
tion of the nature of drama.
Heretofore, critics have classified this folkdrama as “neo-romantic” or
“iconoclastic,” but it has been principally associated with the writings of
the Symbolist movement. I have chosen to draw a distinction between the
language of folkdrama and that signaled by the Symbolist poets. A major