Między dramatem a widowiskiem
Between Drama and Spectacle

Julian Lewański’s, and Not only His, Struggles with Theatricality

Summary/Abstract: The text constitutes an attempt at looking at Julian Lewański’s “Dramat i teatr średniowiecza i renesansu w Polsce” from the perspective of historiography’s entanglement in categories contemporary to the historian. Thus, it addresses the question of whether it is justified to apply terms like “theatre” or “drama,” as well as the criteria of artistry or work of art, to Renaissance and especially medieval culture. I try toshow that there is, indeed, some correlation between what Lewański was writing about and what theatre he had been watching and that it coloured the glasses through which he viewed the reality of spectacles in medieval and Renaissance Poland. I also try to show how the conceptual framework of literary criticism determined the image of theatricality emerging from the book. Finally, I try to put Julian Lewański’s research practice in a broader perspective of twentieth-century medieval theatre studies. As it happens, the history of research on spectacles of medieval Europe is a history of struggles with the theatre contemporary to the researchers, a history of how modern categories, e.g. drama or theatre, have been projected onto a completely different cultural formation.

• Details
• Contents