François de Curel et la crise du drame : de la « pièce bien faite » à la « pièce bien défaite »
François de Curel and the crisis of drama: from the “well-made play” to the “well-unmade play”

Author(s): Tomasz Kaczmarek
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Drama
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: François de Curel; crisis of drama; well-made play; ontological drama; stage character
Summary/Abstract: Curel’s works give tangible proof of a “rupture”, and not of a crisis of the drama, allowing the advent of a more open and free form ― in a word, more rhapsodic. It constitutes a departure from the traditional dramatic structure which is based on an ever-increasing tension that goes from the exposition through a myriad of adventures to the culmination of the action. As we remove the dynamic and logical attribute from it, the characters will not have their active function supposed to push the plot forward, either. In this context, the French playwright breaks the unity of time for the “benefit of temporal gaps between past and present” while emphasizing the drama experienced by the characters to the detriment of the agonistic action. It is in this way that these witnesses rather than agents of action no longer resemble acting heroes, but the unfortunate figures who incessantly and in an almost absolute passivity ruminate on their existential distress. Thus, “diegesis” replaces “mimesis”; plot progression being replaced by soul evolution.

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