8/17/2019 Adaptações Em Teatro Em França
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From Novel to Theatre: Contemporary Adaptations of Narrative to the French StageAuthor(s): Judith Graves MillerSource: Theatre Journal, Vol. 33, No. 4 (Dec., 1981), pp. 431-452Published by: Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3206769Accessed: 18-12-2015 15:30 UTC
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8/17/2019 Adaptações Em Teatro Em França
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JUDITH
GRAVES
MILLER
From
Novel
to
Theatre:
ontemporary
Adaptations
f Narrative
o
the
French tage
The kind f
explosion
reated
y Godard's]
ongpoem,
ierrote
fou
1965]
lasted
complete
nd
terrifying
hasm
etween
he
theatre
hat
was still
eing roduced
nd
whatwashappeningn iteraturetheNewNovel,TelQuell, npainting,n azz,and n
the
eginnings
f new
kind f
popular
music.
here
was
gap
n
ensitivity
etween
he
theatres
it was
then
nd
what
really
iked
n
the
rts nd
n
ife.
hat's
why
said
to
myself:
We're
oing
o do theatre
ut
we
won't
do
theatre-theatre,
e
won't
tage
classical
plays:
we'll
try
o write
our own
texts."
Jo
Lavaudant,
irectorf the
National
ramatic
Center
f the
Alps,
Grenoble,
rance1
Jo
Lavaudant,
a
contemporary
avorite
with French
heatregoers
nd
critics,
x-
uberantly
nvisions
theatre
more
ilm
r literature"
han
theatre nd
a theatre r-
tist at least
as much creator
as
interpreter.
his
conception
pervades
current
theatrical
ractice
n
France.
The lone dramatic
uthor
writing
n
total
or semiisola-
tion,
playing
theplay only in his or herhead, has practically ecome obsolete.
Plays
like
novels,
essays, poems,
and
film
cripts
now
partake
of the notion
of
"text,"
ometimes
enefitting
nd sometimes
uffering
rom he
nterpenetration
f
genres.
The
most
imaginative
heatre
people
had
already
stopped
doing
traditional
theatre
good
fifteen
ears
before
he vents
f
May
1968 made
talkof
revolutioniz-
ing
the heatre e
rigueur.
n the ate 1960s nd
early
1970s
nnovation ook the
form
of
collective
endeavor,
particularly
with
the
goal
of
creating
political
piece.
Recently
and
markedly
ince
1975
French heatre
as
been characterized
f
not to
say
overwhelmed
y adaptations
of nondramatic
exts.
Computations
based
on
Pariscope,
weekly ntertainmentuide, how that daptationshave accountedfor
one
out of
every
five
Parisian
productions
n
the ast three
years.
Judith
raves
Miller
s Associate
Professor f
French t the
University
f
Wisconsin-Madison
nd
the
author
of
Theatre nd
Revolution
n France ince
1968.
1
Jacques
Poulet,
"Chapitre
uivant: Revoltes:
J.
Poulet
s'entretient
vec
Georges
Lavaudant,"
France
Nouvelle,
5
March
1979,
p.
44
(emphasis
dded).
All
quotations
n
this
rticle,
xcept
from he novels
Martin
Eden,
David
Copperfield,
nd
The Sea
Wall
Herma
Briffault's
nglish
ersion
f
Un
Barrage
on-
tre e Pacifique)aremyown translations rom heoriginal rench.
431
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432
/
TI,
December
981
Attempting
o
bridge
he
sensitivity
ap"
mentioned
y
Lavaudant,
hese
dapta-
tionshave resulted n some of the most
startling
heatricalizations
f the
past
few
seasons.InJune 979alone,nineofthe hirtyhows isted nPariscopewere dapta-
tions,
mong
hem
sobering
Get drunkwith
Baudelaire,
dapted
from is
poems;
a
baroque
and
sentimentalized
ephisto,
from he
Klaus
Mann
novel;
a
successful
theatrical
romp
through
Voltaire's
philosophical
essay
Zadig;
and a
merciless
telescoping
f
Roger
Martin
du Gard's
eight-volume
he Thibaults
nto
forty-five
minutes
with
their oldier-son
Jacques.
The
plethora
of
adaptations
caused
Eric
Westphal,
bona fide
playwright,
o
remark,
I'm
stupified
.
.
.
In the
suburbs
director ad someone
adapt
Balzac's
Les
Paysans
[The
Peasantry].
What does that
do
for
Balzac and
the
theatre.
An
adaptation
s
an admission
f
mpotency
r
at the
very
east,
a lack
of
confidence."2
The brio ofthe daptorsbeliesWestphal's udgment. ikeLavaudant,they lign
themselves
ehinddirector ntoineVitez's edefinition
f
the
heatre:
The
theatre
s
someone
who
takes
his
materialwherever
e
finds
t
even
things
ot made
for
he
stage
and
puts
them
n
stage.
Or,
rather,
tages
hem."3
itez's lever ormulation
speaks
to
the
ongoing
volution
n
therole of the
director. ince
the
beginning
f
the
twentieth
entury,
e
or
she
has
emerged
s
mainstay
nd
primary
reator
f
the
theatrical
enture
which now
includes
nitiating
dapting
projects
r
even
doing
the
daptations.
What matterss not what the uthormeant hetext
o
say
but
how
the
director
eads it.
As critic
Raymonde
Tempkine
notes,
the texthas
an
equal
but not
greater
alue
thanthedecor, music,and lighting.4 n adaptorsuch as Genevieve Serreaucan
therefore
ustify
her 1977
adaptation
of Balzac's
La
Vie
privie
et
publique
des
animaux
The
Privateand Public
Life
of
Animals)
by explaining
hather director
wanted
to
see Grandville's
ineteenth-century
llustrations
or the novella come
to
lifeon
stage.
And
Jean-Louis
arrault,
daptor-director
f some eleven
plays,
in-
cluding
modernizedRabelais
which touredAmerica
n
1969-1970,
confesses hat
he
plunges
nto
a
new
adapting
project
very
imehe
needs
to
revitalize
is
theatre
practice.
Barrault
easons
that
because
great
exts,
specially
novels,
permit
im
to
visualize
their
niverse,
is
own
creativeness
oars
when
he
stages
them.-
Novels have
indeed
nspired
he
most
bundant
nd
original daptations.
At
least
a dozen of these nlivened he 1977-1978 season: the bestbeingtheSalamandre's
adaptation
of
Jack
London's
Martin
Eden,
Marguerite
uras's
1'Eden
inema
Eden
Cinema),
a
reworking
f
her
novel
Un
Barrage
ontre e
Pacifique
The
Sea
Wall),
and the
Thieatre
u
Campagnol
and
Theatre
du
Soleil's
dramatization
f
Dickens's
David
Copperfield.
n most
instances
daptors
or an
adaptor-director,
uch
as
2
Michel
Grey,
Dialogue
avec trois uteurs
ramatiques:
ntretien
vec
Jean-Claude
rumberg,
ean-
nine
Worms,
t
Eric
Westphal,"
e Mensuel
de
la
Comedie
Francaise,
May-June
979),
p.
25.
3
Danielle
Sallenave,
"Entretienvec
AntoineVitez: Faire
theitre
e
tout,"
Digraphe
April
1976),
p.
117.
Throughout
his
rticle,
will
use
"narrative"
s
synonymous
ith
prose
text.
Narration"
illrefer
to
spoken
narrative.
4
RaymondeTempkine,
Theitre
t
roman,"
Europe April
1978),
pp.
212-19.
5
Jean-Louis
arrault,
Le Roman
adapte
au
theitre .,"
Cahiers
Renaud-Barrault
October
1976),
pp.
27-58.
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8/17/2019 Adaptações Em Teatro Em França
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433
/
FROM NOVEL
TO THEATRE
Simone
Benmussa,
worked
lone,
creating,
n
Benmussa's ase
a
theatre
iece
from
George
Moore's
Albert Nobbs.
Other
adaptations-Eden
Cinema,
for one-were
done bynovelistswho redesignedheir wnnovels for thestage.Stillothers, ike
MartinEden
and
David
Copperfield,
esulted
rom
ollective
mprovisations
ased
on
literary
lassics.
While the
phenomenon
f
adapting
novels
forthetheatre ates back
in
France
o
the mid-nineteenth
entury
when dramatists
ontinually
borrowed
plots
and
characters
fromother
writers'
exts,
these new
adaptations
bear
witness
to
the
growth
of
structural
xperimentation
n
the
arts.
At
the
end
of the
century,
he
naturalists urned heir
wn
novelistic
lices of life nto well-made
dramatic
nes;
and
by
borrowing
he
tructure
f the
bourgeois
rama,
hey
orsook he
possibility
of
real theatrical
xperimentation.
Contemporarydaptations fnovels re nterestingrecisely ecauseadaptors t-
tempt
o
pursue
narrative
echniques
n
the
stage.
Rather
han
turning
ovels nto
theatre
ieces
according
o
a dramatic
ormula,
hey
oftenmaintain he narrative
voice,
substituting
torytellers
or
haracters.
n
some cases
adaptations
ven seem
to
objectify
he
act of
reading:
n
Remegen,
1979
adaptation
of Anna
Segher's
novel of
the ame
name,
the
ction
begins
t one side
of
the
tage,glides
o the
ther,
then
recommenceslike the
turning ages
of
a novel.
Responsible
or
aunching
henew
vogue
of
adaptations
withhis
1972
production
of MichelTournier'sVendredi u
la vie
sauvage
Friday
r
Life
n the
Wilds),
tself
rereading
f Robinson
Crusoe,
AntoineVitez also first ormulated
new
theory
n
how to treat novel'stext: ifone wantsto stagea novel,one must lso stagethe
novel's
flesh,
ts narrative
hickness.
es,
I mean
houses
and streets."6
Descriptions
cannot be omitted
rom
the
stage
presentation,
ut
must be included
n
what
is
spoken.
Thus
in
Catherine,
his 1975
adaptation
of
Aragon's
Les
Cloches
de
Bifle
(The
Bells
of
Basel)
and the
production
whichhas
provided
model fornumerous
adaptations,
Vitez
uses entire ections
of
narrative.
ometimes
he actors
simply
give
voice
to both
descriptions
nd
conversations,
ncluding
he
designations:
he
said" "she
said." At other
times,
n
a
more traditional
ein,
the
actors
give
life
to
defined
haracters.
Of
all
the
recent
daptations,
three
lready
cited
from
he
prolific
977-1978
season standoutas thosewhich omeclosest orealizingVitez's dea ofbringinghe
novel's
flesh
o
the
stage. They
also
successfully
emonstrate
avaudant's
desire
o
explode
the notionof
theatre.
Martin
Eden,
Eden
Cinema,
and David
Copperfield
blend narrative
echniques
with
dramatic
nes.
They
attest
o
the
nterchangeability
of
genres
while stillnot
denying
ertain ramatic onfines.
hey
work
as theatre
pieces
but
they
lso
challenge
heir
ublic
to
accept
a kind
of
theatrewhichmirrors
the ifeof themind.
In the
following
tudy
f
these hree
daptations,
henovel
and the
playscript
will
be
compared
o
determineow the ext as
been transformed.n nstances
where
he
narrative therthan
dialogue
that
s,
descriptions,ommentary,
nteriormono-
6
Sallenave,
p.
120.
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/
TI,
December
981
logue,
or
ourneys
nto he
haracters'
minds has been
maintained
s
in
the
novel,
discussion
f the
cenic
writing
will
show
how the
narrative as become dramatic.
Finally, conclusionbased on all three heatre ieceswillsuggest ow thecurrent
practice
of
adaptation places contemporary
rench heatre
n
the mainstream
f
twentieth-centuryxperimentations
n
narrative tructure.7
Americans now
Jack
ondon as
the uthor
f
adventure tories uch as The
Call
of
theWild
nd White
ang.
The
French,
iven
heir
pecial
nterestn
writers hose
workhas a definite
ociological
nd
political
ontent
r
a
subject
matterwhich
an
be analyzed n thoseterms, refer o all hiswork MartinEden,thesemiautobio-
graphical
ccount
of
a California ailor
who
through
he
ove
of a
high ociety
ol-
lege girl,
native
ability,
nd intense etermination ecomes an
intellectual nd an
artist.Once he has
"arrived"
he
hypocrisy
nd
emptiness
f his
situation,
hefalse
rapports
t
sets
up
between
him
and
his
beneficiaries
nd
admirers,
he
questionable
motives
hat
ead
his beloved to consent o
marriage rovoke
his suicide
a
suicide
which
foreshadowed ondon's own
in
1916,
ten
years
after
he
publication
f
the
novel).
Whereas
heAmerican
eading
ublic,
specially
n
London's
ifetime,
nterpreted
Martin
Eden
as
a
success
tory
urned
our
by
unrequited
ove,
theFrench oncen-
trate n thenovel's ndirect ttack n individualismnd direct ondemnation f the
bourgeoisie.
or
them,
Martin's
ack
of
class consciousness
nd
not his
hapless
taste
in women s the real cause
of his downfall.
In
fact,
he novel
has
three
major
but
poorly
ntegrated
oci. t can be read as
a
love
story,
s
a
political
tatement,
nd
as a handbook
for
spiring
writers.
s Lon-
don
does
indeed seem
most interested
n
putting
down
the insensitive
ich,
he
transforms
hat
begins
as
a
convincing
omance
nto a melodramatic
onfronta-
tion.
n thecourse
of the
novel,
Ruth,
he
poiled
but
charming
ianc&e
nd
symbol
of the
bourgeoisie, rows
more nd
more
wooden and
predictable
ntil,
eprived
f
life,
he
makes
Martin's
teadfast ttachment
ppear
udicrous.
Givenhis
passion
for
writing,hesubjectofan abundanceofchapters,t is hard to believethatMartin
cannot
survive without
her. His
fury
with
critics
nd
college English
professors
ought
by
itself o have
kept
him alive.
Perhaps
t
s best to understand
Martin
Eden
as a
tragic
bildungsroman
n which
the
twenty-year-old
ero seeks
both
to define imself
ccording
o what he was
-
a
hearty,
unanalyticalproduct
of the
American
working
class-and
to recreate
himself
ccording
o what
he
can
be
-
a
self-aware,
ighly
ndividualistic
riter. is
dilemma,
fwhichhe becomes
conscious
only
at
the end
of the
novel,
is thatthe
7
My analyses
f
these hree
roductions
rebasedbothon the exts nd on the
tagings
which saw in
France
n thewinter f
1978.
am
gratefulspecially
o
the alamandre
nd the
Campagnol
who
provided
me
with ccess to
their
rchives
nd
copies
of
their
npublished
daptations.
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435
/ FROM NOVEL TO
THEATRE
bourgeois
ociety
n which
he lives
and
loves
does
not allow him to
integrate
hese
two selves.
In one ofthemanydiscussions fMartin'spoetics,London defineswhatcan be
consideredthe
style
of his own
novel:
"His work was
realism,
though
he
had
endeavored o
fuse t with he
fancies nd beauties
of
magination.
What
he
sought
was
an
impassioned
realism,
shot
through
with
human
aspiration
and
faith."8
Subscribing
o the
epithet
realistic,"
Martin Eden
proceeds
chronologically
rom
episode
to
episode,
each
begunby
a
significant
vent nd each concluded
y
another
significant
vent r incident. hese
episodes
eventually
ulminate
n
a climacticmo-
ment romwhichthenovel'send
inevitably
nfolds.
What
propels
he reader s the
desire o know what will
happen
to Martin
when
Ruth bandons him
s,
it
s
clear,
she will.
The
"realistic"
tory
that
s
contemporary
o
the writer
nd
anchored
n
social
documentation)
an
be divided
n two
parts;
thefirst
twenty-one
hapters)
ncludes
Martin's ncounterwith Ruth
Morse,
his
education,
his
discovery
f
writing
s
a
vocation,
his
work
in
a
laundry,
his
embracing
f Herbert
pencer's
ocial dar-
winism,
nd his
winning
f Ruth.
The
second
part
twenty-five
hapters),
not as
clearly rganized
n
episodes,
deals
especially
withhis
growing
wareness f
upper-
class
hypocrisy.
t
can
be divided nto a
period
of
unsuccessful
riting
n
his
Grub
St.
digs,
his
encounterwith
lter-ego
Brissenden ho
introduces im to
socialism,
his
expounding
f his own
individualism,
nd his
betrayal
y
Ruth.
The
novel's nd-
ing,
a
parody
of
a success
tory, rings
ack all the haracters nd
resolves
heir e-
lationship o Martin n a chronicle fhisdecline.
Several differentinds f
chapters
ontribute
he
passion"
o
the
realism."
hese
range
from he
didactic
Martin's
houghts
n
writing, pencer,
nd
politics)
o the
psychological analyses
of Martin
and Ruth's
ncompatibility)
o the
sociological
(commentaries
n the ife
tyle
of the
Morses)
to the
adventurous
descriptions
f
Martin's outs
with
recalcitrant
ditors).
A
third-person
arrator
ells he
tory
s
it
happened,beginning y
qualifying
he
emotional
otherness"
f
the
protagonist.
Martin's
ifferences
also communicated
through
what Martin ees and thinks
bout himself.
rom
the
outset,
he narrator
enters ntoMartin'smind to let the reader know what he is experiencing. hus,
although
he
"I"
is not
used,
it
is
in
factMartin's
I"
which
focuses
the
novel.
His
point
of view s so
potent
hat
by
theend of thefirst
hapter,
he
reader
ompletely
empathizes
with his
situation.
London
also
frequently
mploys
a narrative
echnique
which
takes the reader
from
Martin's
perceptions
f
the exteriorworld to his interior
ision. Words
and
sense
impressions
onstantly ransport
Martin to
his
past
to
create the
feeling
f
schizophrenia
hich
stablisheshenovel'smood:
Yes,
Martin oves ife.
Yes,
life s
good.
No,
he does not understand he
world.
No,
he will
never"make it." On
meeting
uth's
ovely
mother or hefirst
ime,
or
xample,
Martin
uddenly
inds
himself
lunging
ackwards n time to
otherencounterswith
beautiful but un-
touchable-ladies.
8
Jack
London,
MartinEden
New
York:
Airmont,
970),
p.
180.
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7/23
436 /
TI,
December
981
Although
the narrator
occasionally
enters
nto the minds of
the other main
characters,
e
rarely
llows
them
ny
complexity.
he
"villains,"
uch
as Martin's
brother-in-law, iggenbotham, ondemnthemselves hrough heir own coarse
dialogue.
The narrator lso
profers
his own
opinions
with
increasing
requency
towards
the
end of the novel.
Ruth
especially
bears
the brunt of his
negative
judgments.
Primarily
ecause of the
reader's
ympathy
with
Martin,
he
novel succeeds. In
the
ast few
chapters,
ondon's skill
n
depicting
Martin's
lienation,
his
loss of
a
sense
of
self,
nd his decision o
seek
peace
in
the ocean whichfor o
long
had nur-
tured
his soul
and formed is
spirit
ompensates
or
he muddleof the middle ec-
tion.
In
addition,
the
arresting
descriptions
f
hard,
physical
labor
impose
themselveswith
enough
force
o
alter the reader's
understanding
f the world of
work.
The
story
f
the
working-class
oy succeeding
s
an artist
losely
paralleled
he
professional istory
f the
Salamandre,
theatre
roupe
born
of theevents
f
May
1968.9The
troupe's
sthetic,
o
challenge
he
notionof
artistic
ierarchy
nd
com-
placent
drama,
underlay
heir ecision
o
adapt
Martin
Eden
for he
tage.
Martin's
stubborn
efusal
f
community rovided
he
ctors
negative
model.
n their
dap-
tation
hey
ould
suggest
n
opposite
mode
of
action.
The
troupe
btained he
rights
o the
project
n
the
pring
f
1976.
A
four-person
crew,
ncluding
hedirector ildas
Bourdet,
dramaturg,
cenographer,
nd one ac-
tor
mmediately egandesigning performancepace
which
would
help
recreate
he
atmosphere f thenovel.10The 350-seatenclosedplayingarea theyconstructed
resembled
ship's
deck. Made
of
wood
with
raps
nd doors
for
toring rops,
and
graced
by multiperformance
evels,
the
space
could also take
on the contours f
whatever he action
suggested.
Six
more
actors
oined
the
original
roup
n
the fall
to
begindeveloping
he
text
scenically.
The
director
ad thembase
their
mprovisations
irectly
n
passages
from
he
novel."
After hree
months f
rehearsal,
he
Salamandre
erformed
Mar-
tinEden
unanimously
raised
for ts faithfulnesso
London'sown words.12
The text
s, indeed,
quite
faithful.
espite
extensive
paraphrasing,
he
actors
added almostnothing. heparaphrasingtself sually mooths ransitions etween
parts
of a
chapter
r different
hapters
hat
have been condensed
nto one scene.
A
few
changes
n
the
textmake
it more
contemporary.
When
Brissenden escribes
9
The
Salamandre,
ike
everal
f thebest
young roupes
n
contemporary
rance,
had
ts
origins
n
the
"active
strikes" f
May
1968 when
the
director
f
Le
Havre's
maison de
la culture
sked a
group
of
neophyte
ctors
o
help
the
revolution"
y performinggit-prop ieces
n
ocal
factories.
rom hat ime
the
troupe,
now
animating
he
Dramatic
Center
f theNorth
n
Tourcoing
near
Lille),
has
practiced
style
of
corrosive
omedy
nd a method
f collective reation.
10
My
information
n
the
genesis
f the
daptation
omes
from
nterviews
n
Tourcoing
withGildas
Bourdet,
Alain
Milianti,
nd
Jean-Loup erry
f
the
Salamandre,
June
979.
11
The
troupe
sed Claude
Cendr&e's
ranslation
f
MartinEden
Paris:
Hachette,
973)
for ts
dapta-
tion.
12
Franqois
halet
n
France
oir
10
November
977) remarked,
or
xample,
hat onehas the
mpres-
sion
of
reading
he
novel
while
watching
he
performance."
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8/17/2019 Adaptações Em Teatro Em França
8/23
437
/
FROM NOVEL TO
THEATRE
3011,
A\,:
M~k
?S
Martin den:
Martin ncountersuth
symbolizedy
her
dress).
hotography
Nicholas
Treatt.
what
kind of
woman Martin
really
needs,
for
example,
his
choice of
adjectives
reflects
he frankness
f the 1970s.
The
Salamandre
uses
all
of London'snarrative
trategies
objective
description,
third-person
ommentary,
nterior
isions,
descriptions
iased
by
Martin's
oint
of
view.
In fact
more than
half
of the
play
is narrated
description
nd
commentary)
rather
han
cted
out
n
dialogue
form.
he
troupe mploys
numerous
echniques
o
make this
narration
ramatic.
One of
the
best nvolves
turning
he
narrative
nto
dialogue,
s,
for
xample,
whennumerous nemies
nd Martin ssemble
n
a televi-
sion
talk how
format. s each
character
arrateswhathas
become of
Martin,
he or
she
stops
s
though osing
question.
Martin inishes
he
thought
s
though iving
an
answer,
which
nother
haracter
hen
picks up:
THE INTERVIEWER:
He readmagazinesn which ewas mentioned?
MARTIN:
He couldn't
ecognize
imself;
he uthor
f
o
many
est ellers as
only
..
THE INTERVIEWER:
A
wisp
of
smoke,
n llusion.
.
13
Many
of the cenes
ransform
arrative
nto
ong
dramatic
monologues.
Each has
a distinct
tyle.
n
one,
n whichMartin
escribes hehours
he
spends
writing,
n ac-
tor
ings
he
ines
to an
accompaniment
f rockmusic.
n
another,
n
whichMartin
discovers
Herbert
pencer's
nifying rinciple,
n actor
spews
out all of ife's nter-
connected
aspects-"love,
poetry,
earthquakes,
fire
...],
beauty,
murder, lovers,
greyhounds
n
general,
obacco"
p.
29)-
in
a
standup
omic's
routine.
13The Salamandre,MartinEden,unpublishedmanuscript, . 65. Additional eferences ill be in the
text.
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8/17/2019 Adaptações Em Teatro Em França
9/23
438 /
T],
December
981
Martin's nterior
houghts
re
dramatized
n
scenes
uch
s one
n
which
wo Mar-
tins
the
"old"
and
the
"new")
face each
other,
ne
shaving
he
other's
ace:
MARTIN
NO.
1: After
eafinghrough
book n
the
tiquette
f
personal
leanliness
..
MARTIN: NO. 2:
he
decided
he
needed
a cold
bath . .
MARTIN
No.
1
&
2:e
ve
ry ay.
[p.
13]
This dualismnot
only
gives
ife o the
narrative
ut
also
indicates nterior onflict:
WhenRuth
breaks
her
ngagement
o
Martin,
wo actresses
ead
the
Dear
John"
et-
ter he sends him.
One
cries;
the other
aughs.
Othervisualmetaphors f a more violentphysicalnature lso theatricalize he
narrative.
WhenMartin
ecounts
he
many
hourshe
spends
t the
Oakland
library,
the other
ctors
throw olume after
olume
at
him.
He is
literally
uriedunder he
weight
f
knowledge.
These
techniques
f
"performed
arration"
nsure
lively
production.They
also
allow the ctors
o
comment n the extwithout
hanging
t.
This atter
spectgreat-
ly
undercuts
he
ritics'
laimsoffaithfulness.
n
fact he
roupe's
cenic
writing
om-
pletely einterprets
he
text.The
constant
tylistic
ariations,
he
hanges
n
rhythm
and
mood,
the
lternation
rom
ialogue
to
narration
eplace
he
multiplicity
f
foci
in
thenovel with
he
ingle
urpose
of
thwarting
sentimental
eception
f
Martin's
story. In its choice of passages to include, its orderingof the play, and its
establishing
f
a
different
oint
ofview from he
novel's,
heSalamandre
resents
ts
own
reading
f MartinEden.
First
f
all,
the choice
of
episodes
reorients hefocus
of the work.
By
eaving
out
lengthy
onsiderations
f the
econdary
haracters,
ncluding
he
cenesofdomestic
chaos at
the
Higgenbothams'
r
in
Martin's
Grub
St.
digs
and
the
concluding
chapters
n which
Martin
ettles
hefuture
fhis
dependents,
heSalamandre
reates
a
tighter
ork
han
henovel
with
ll
attention
entered
n Martin.
Omitting
Mar-
tin's
many
discourses
n "how
to
write"
nd
all
of the details bout
publishing
nd
payments
ontributes
o the
play'sunity.
However,
by
also
leaving
ut
all butone of
Martin's nterior
ourneys,
he Salamandreeliminates hecrisisof
identity
which
holds
the novel
together.
n
its
version,
the
relationship
etween
Martin and
Ruth
with Ruth's
family
merely
visual
extensions f
herself
is the
only
focus.
Since
from he
beginning
f the
play
the
group
designates
uth
s
a class
enemy,
he
political
heme
rom he
novel becomes
the exclusive
oncern f
the
play.
A
major
change
n
ordering
lso
permits
he
Salamandre
o
impose
ts own inter-
pretation
f thetext.The
play
presents
irst,
nd
in a
blatantly
melodramatic
orm,
the
last
chapters
of the novel. In this
opening
cene,
a
parody
of a
Hollywood
classic,
a
highly
olored and
tearful uth
ttempts
o
woo Martinback to
her.
He,
lost and
distracted,
hoots
himself
when she leaves.
The
actors
mouth he
English
wordswhile voice n French dubs" hetext.The addition fMax Steiner's oman-
ticcinema
music nd
flickeringights,
eminiscentf a bad
projection,
omplete
he
allusion.
Thus
the
Salamandre
n one "cut" liminates he kind of
suspense
what
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10/23
439 / FROM NOVEL
TO THEATRE
?iio~~~6i-
" "
:r~?
~?~
.h~lr~xQ
r~*
r~~
rr^
4lrr
F.
Two
actresses
lay
Ruth's
ejection
f
Martin.
hotograph
y
Sabine
trosser.
happens
next?)
nd
condemns he sort of sentimental
tyle
which would
keep
the
public
from
udging
Martin.
The
troupe's
undamental
method f
imposing
ts
point
of view is
by
fracturing
Martin's onsciousness.All sevenactors, ncludinghewomen,playMartin t dif-
ferentmoments f the
play.
The
passage
from cene to scene
transpires
y
passing
therole
of Martin rom
ctorto actor.
Transferring
inesor articles
f
clothing
om-
pletes
hetransition. he
audience
s,
therefore,
revented
rom
dentifying
irectly
withhim. t mustfirst
egister
he
actors'
pinion.
n
most
cenes,
he
performance
satirizes
Martin
by
showing
him
as a
silly
dupe.
In the
scene called "A
Grammar
Lesson,"
or
xample,
Martin o
exaggerates
is
working-class
ccent
hathe
appears
not
only
lliterate ut
hopelessly
tupid.
Not
just
the "hero" ut all
the
characters re satirized
n
performance.
ometimes
the actors
objectify psychological
tateto ridicule
hem.
For
example,
fterRuth
confesses erpenchant orMartin ohermother,hetwo actresses xchange lothes
and
roles,
ndicating
hat
hey eally
re cut from he ame
upper
middle-class
loth.
Gertrude
iggenbotham's
ubservience
o her
husband s
lampooned
when the ac-
tress
erforming
he role
repeats
he ast word of each of the husband's
ines.
Stage
action
often ontradicts
he
eriousness
f thetext
nd thereforelso
serves
to
criticize he characters.
n
a farcical
ight
gag
Mr.
Morse's disembodiedhand
reaches
from
under a
very
ong
table
to
fondleMrs. Morse's breast while he
in-
dignantly
arries n about
Martin's
ulgarity.
n another
cene,
a
pseudo-Brechtian
chorus makes
off-colormusical
commentaries
bout
Ruth's
pious praises
of
Mr.
Butler,
he
poor
boy
who
made
good
by
sacrificing
is health
n
his
way
to the
op.
In
still nother
cene,
one
which
also illustrates
he effect f Ruth's
harping
bout
Butler's ard
work,
Ruth
pushes
Martin
tage
center ntilhe falls nto n
open trap.
She
then lams
the door shut.
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/
TI,
December
981
The
abundance
of
scenic
nvention,
which
ommunicates oth
London's
text nd
the
troupe's
articular eading
f
it,
presents
series
of
dramaticmoments.These
proceedmuch ikethediscretemagesthat omposea film,witheach scenefixing
itself n
thebrain
before henext
ne is
established. he
cinematic
uality
f
Martin
Eden
s
further
nhanced
by
the
use of musical
ommentary.
he
guitar
icking
f
Leo
Kottke ecomes
Martin's
heme,
ecurring
hroughout
he
play
as a
consistently
sympathetic
oice. Other
musical
accompaniments,
uch
as
the Texas
Mexican
Boys'
songs,
give
local color to
various
episodes.
Still
others,
notably
Schubert's
"Death
and the
Maiden,"
reinforce he
motional
ontent. he
sound
system
athes
the
public
in
the
pathos
of
Schubertwhile
Martin,
n
the
final
eight-minute
e-
quence,
wraps
himselfn
a
huge
white
heet
nd "descends
nto
the
sea."
Martin
Eden,
despite
the use of
these
cinematic
ffects,
s
before ll else
an
ex-
travagantlyheatrical iece, depending n thecontact etween udience nd actors
to
make
t
work. The
enclosed et
establishes n
immediate
hysical
onnection
e-
tween
public
and
players. They
inhabit
the
same
space.
If
distanced fromthe
characters
by
the
satire,
the
spectators
kinetically
participate
n
the
actors'
movements.
he
public
thus identifies"
ith
the
actors.
This
dentification
ives
n
entirely
ifferentimension
o
the heatre
iece;
for
y
adhering
o the
ctors
ather
han
he
haracters,
he
udience
hares
heir
eading
f
the
novel.
The
space
then,
articularly
n its
bstract
uality,
an be considered
he
space
of the
reading
nd
the
production
n
exploration
f
the
process
f
reading.
By
deconstructing
nd
reconstructing
he
novel,
the
Salamandre
shows the
in-
terdependency
f
the maintenance
f
cultural
myths
nd
how one reads. Each
in-
fluences he other.Whenthe
spectators
ee whatthe Salamandresees in Martin
Eden,
especially
ince the
scenic
action
usually
contradicts
he
text,
hey
are
en-
couraged
to considerhow
they
tructure hat
they
hemselves ead.
The
Sea
Wall
counts
among Marguerite
uras's
most
overtly utobiographical
works.14
Written
n
1950,
thenovel fictionalizes
uras's
memories
f
growing
p
in
French ndochina
n
the
1920s.
The
story
s based on her mother's
eingduped
by
colonialist ropaganda nto eavingFrance ndspendingll her avings n a worth-
less
rice
plantation.
Her
resulting
bsession
with
damming p
the ea
to
keep
t from
destroying
er
crops gives
both the
title
nd
major
theme
o
the
novel.
Duras's narrative
epicts
n
a
time
ontinuum he
low deathof
themother
never
named)
and the
corresponding
iberation
f her
children,
uzanne
and
Joseph.
The
first alf hronicles
ne of the
ast
mainevents
n
their
ives,
the ncounter
ithMr.
Jo,
vapid
son
of a rich
colonial
planter.
His
pursuit
f
sixteen-year-old
uzanne
preoccupies
heentire
amily
virilebrother
oseph
corning
Mr.
Jo's
imidity,
he
mother orn
between
disgust
withher own
desireto
exchange
Suzanne
for
money
for hedams and
real concern verher
daughter's
uture,
ndSuzanne
herself
osing
hernaivetywhile earning ow to survive. n theend,Mr. Jo'sdesperate ift fa
14
Marguerite
uras,
Un
Barrage
ontre e
Pacifique
Paris:
Gallimard,
950).
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/
FROM
NOVEL TO THEATRE
diamond
"no
strings
ttached"
aves
his
face and rekindles he
family's
hopes
of
escaping
their
overty.
The secondhalfof thenovel concentrates ore pecificallyn the hildren'som-
ing
of
age.
It
commences
y
a sketch
f
Saigon
where
he
family oes
to sell Mr.
Jo's
tokenof self-esteem.
When
Joseph
isappears
nto the
city
with
platinum
londe
protectress,
he mother
collapses.
The
family
finally
returns o its
provincial
bungalow;
but
Joseph
eaves
again.
Suzanne
chooses to
give away
her
virginity
o a
local
farmer;
nd
the
mother ies.
Although
he
tory
f the
family
tructureshe
narrative,
xtensive
nd
horrifying
descriptions
f
peasant
ife,
particularly
f the
ndigent
hildren,
omplete
he
por-
trait of colonized Indochina.
Duras
also
includes several
fine-honed,
atirical
characterizationsf
colonial
types;
for
xample,
Pa
Bart,
n alcoholic
pernod mug-
gler nd recipientftheFrench overnment'segiond'Honneur oryearsof faithful
service
n
the
colonies;
or the
Corporal, Malaysian
deafman nd former olunteer
to a chain
gang
whose
guards
kept
his wife
clothed,fed,
nd
pregnant. xcept
for
the
hopeless
Mr.
Jo,
Duras
shelters
ther
xorbitantly ealthy
whites rom
irect
x-
posure by
sarcastically
eeping
hem
n
"the
upper
district"
f
Saigon, enjoying
in
undiluted
eace,
the sacred
spectacle
of
[their]
wn
existence."15
Rather ike a well-made
lay,
The Sea
Wall
sets
up
its conclusion n
the
opening
chapter;
n introduction
hich
also
immediately
stablishes he
point
of
view,
the
metaphor
or he
unfolding
f the
tory,
nd the
major
themes.
he first
ine
posits
the
family
nit s the collective
onsciousness
f the
novel:
"All
three f themhad
thought
twas a
good
idea to
buy
thathorse ..
."16
Thus the novel evolves as a
function f their
xperience,
ot
focusing
n
any
one member
n
particular.
Most
of
the time their
xperience"
s
seen
from
hedetached
position
f the
narrator,
whose
cynicalunderstanding
f the
xploitation
f the
poor
by
the
rich
gives
the
narration
an
ironical ast.
The
family's
ictimization
y
the colonial
land
developers
nd their
resulting
frustrationnd
anger
which most
often ause them o
lash
out
at
each
other
n
mean
exchanges
create a tensionwhich
underlies he novel from ts
beginning
o
the
mother'sdeath. The
love-hate bond
between
the
children nd
theirmother
originally
eveals tself
n
their eaction o
the
moribund
orse,
her
analogue. Theybothwant the animal to
go
on
living
nd
hope
hewillend their
ong
wait and die.
Suzanne and
Joseph
ntertain
many explicit
reamsof
escape
-
in
particular
i-
sions of
miraculous
rrivals
of
latter-day rinces
or
princesses
who
sweep
them
away
in
shining
lack cars.
Music,
hunting,
movies
represent
kind of
freedom.
Through
them,
he
children
rasp
at a life
beyond
the barren
plains
of
Kam. The
mother
scapes only
ntoherobsession. t s the
driving
orce
which
keeps
her
live.
Straightforward,
hronologically
rdered,
nd
easy
to
read,
The Sea Wall fits
within he
conventions f the
nineteenth-century
ovel.
Indeed,
of Duras's
eighteen
15
Marguerite
uras,
The Sea
Wall,
trans.Herma
Briffault
New
York:
Farrar,
trauss
nd
Giroux,
1952),
p.
137.
16
The ea
Wall,
.
1.
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novels,
t s
themost
raditional,
making
se of
nonfloating
ialogue
nd
witty
om-
mentary
ituatedwithin
plot,
and
presenting
ane,
or
at
least
understandably
disturbed characters. Humorous in its sarcasm, painful in its knowledge,a
bildungsroman
f a
family,
nd
portrait
f a
people,
The Sea Wall
grabs
ts
readers
not
by teasing
hem
o
understanding,
ut
by
piquing
heir
uriosity
bout how
the
author
will
complete
good story.
Twenty-seven
years separate
the
publications
of
The Sea Wall and
Eden
Cinema,17
uras's
adaptation.
n
between,
he has written
ome
forty
ther
works,
including
dozen
film
cenarios. To do
justice
to
her recent
narratives,
critic
would not
spend
much time
describing
hat
the
characters o
or what
happens
to
them.
The
interest
f
these texts ies
not in
the events
but
in
the
unresolved nd
unresolvable
tension which is
communicated a
straining
which
radically
transforms
onhappenings
nto
experience.
With
such a
change
n
style,
t is not
surprising
hat Duras's
reworking
f
her
traditionalnovel results
n
a
highly xperimental lay.
Eden
Cinema,
narrated
rather han
performed,
etsbefore he
pectators
hiddenbut
potentway
of struc-
turing
xistence.
A
resume f the
events"
f the
play
would
read almost ike
a
resume
f the
novel;
even
the
two-part
ivisionremains.
Duras
has
selected
ertain
assages
to use
in-
tact such
as
Joseph's ecounting
f the initial
meeting
with
his new mistress.
Others,
such
as Mr.
Jo's
wooing
of
Suzanne,
have
been condensed sometimes
mime
replacing
he
narration.
As in
the
novel,
the
mbiguous
relationship
etween
themembers fthefamily nderpinshenarrative. hesesimilarities,owever, re
only
superficial;
or
he
ubtle
hanges
n
focus
nd
less subtle
hanges
n
form
ield
an
entirely
ifferent
ork,
particularly
rom he
point
of view of the
public
who ex-
periences
it.
First,
uras
has
altered
hefocus.
Eden Cinematells
he
mother's,
ot the
family's,
story.
he
is
the
central
ivot
around
which
verything
lse revolves.
n
fact
nthe
stage
directions
uras
calls her
"the
object
of the
narration"
p.
12).
The
play
thus
commences
y
Suzanne and
Joseph
arrating
he vents
f
her
ife.
Certain
hanges
in their ccount
gives
her
haracter
more
trength
nd
interesthan
n
the
novel;
for
example,
according
o the
play,
the mother
went to Indochina
alone,
before
he
married.
Duras also
adds
another
dimension
o the
portrayal
f the
mother.
n
the novel
she does
not nsist
n
theelemental
onnection
etween he
mother
mere)
nd
the
sea
(mer).
n
the
play
this
quation
becomes
mmediately
lear
both
physically
nd
verbally.
As
object
of
the
narration,
he
mother
oes
not
move,
but
is,
rather,
monolithic
resence
round
whom Suzanne
and
Joseph
urn,
unable
to
separate
themselves.
hey
are as obsessed
by
her as she s
by
the ea.
The children's hanted
presentation
ftheir
mother itualizes
er,
reating
n
other-worldly
mbiance nd
establishing
er as
a
force
reater
han
single
ndividual. n one of their
omments
on her
emotional
trength,hey
otally
ssimilateher
to othernatural
forces:
17
Marguerite
uras,
I'Eden
Cinema
Paris:
Mercure
e
France,
977).
Additional eferences
ill
be in
the
text.
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FROM NOVEL TO THEATRE
Without
od,
themother.
Without
aster.
Without
easure.
Withoutimits
. ..)
Theforest,hemother,he cean.
[p.
17]
The
play,
then,
has a
mythic
imension
henovel
does not. Not
merely
statement
about Suzanne
and
Joseph's
mother,
t s
about
"Mother,"
s
she
forms, ontrols,
nd
hauntsherchildren.
This
idea
of
"Mother,"
begun
in
Suzanne
and
Joseph's
narration,
ultimately
becomes
Suzanne's
perception.
Her
consciousness tructures
he
play
in
the
"past
made
present"
f her
memory.
n
fact,
he
space
of the
representation
s
essentially
that
of
Suzanne's
remembering.
er
effort,
nd to a certain xtent
Joseph's,
s
to
resuscitate he
mother,
ead when the
play
begins.
This makes
the
relationship
etween uzanne and the
mother
n extension f
the
centralfocus. As the
play
progresses,
uzanne and
an
additionalnarrator
alled
"The Voice of
Suzanne"
attempt
o
assert the
independence
f her
consciousness
from
he
mother's
till
powerful
omination.
Only by
metaphorically
ecreating
he
mother nd
burying
er
again
can
Suzanne
finally
chieve
selfhood.
For
her
play
of
Suzanne's
memory,
uras has
chosen
a formwhich
takes ts n-
spiration
rom
ilm;
he
flashes,
he
mprinting,
he
haziness,
he
sensuality
f
the
movies lso
beingqualities
of the
remembering
ind.Duras has even
given
he
title
of a
cinemahouse to her
play.
The
spectators,
hen,
xperience
den Cinema as
a
series
f
evolving mages.
There s
first
a long
shot"
f the
tage tself,
with ts
con-
centric
quares
defined
y
the
ighting. lthough
ne
square represents
he
family's
bungalow
nd
the
other
he
plains
of
Kam,
the ffects of
vast
nothingness, spatial
metaphor
orthe
family's
misery,
nd
perhaps
for
Suzanne's
memory
t the
begin-
ning
of the
play.
Suzanne,
the
mother,
oseph,
nd laterMr.
Jo
nter nd
take
their
places
stage
front.
wo
specially esignated
arrators ho read
parts
f
the
ext,
re
seated
downstage.
Despite
occasional
breaks
n
theflat
quality
of
the
performance,
most of
the
"action"
ccurs
on the
apron
where
heactors tand
n
a
row
facing
he
audience.
Sometimes
hey
narrate
nd mime he
ction.
Sometimes
hey
merely
ar-
rate. Sometimes
heir oices
are
replacedby
thoseof
the
seated
narrators;
nd
they
perform
n
slow
stylized
motions
what s
described.Most of
the ime
hey
issociate
what s said from ow theymove,creatinghefeelingf a dream, nhallucination,
a
memory
or a
faulty rojection.
Indeed,
Carol
Murphy
notes hat he ombination
nd often issociation
f
mime,
off-stage
oice,
and
piano
music
resemble he silent
movie world of
the
Eden
Cinema where heMother
layed
accompaniments uring
er
young
womanhood.'18
Life and the movies
passed
her
by
there,
where he
could not even see
the
screen
positioned
oo
high
bove herhead.
Only
themusicwas
hers,
musicwhich n
the
stage
version
replaces
her
voice,
speaking
n
her
place, defining
er as does
her
silence.
As
fascinating
s
are
the
visual
images,
the
haunting
efrain,
nd the
hypnotic
rhythm,heydo notalonecarry hepiece.EdenCinemarelies inally nwhatonly
18
Carol
Murphy,
I'Eden
Cinema,"
Creative
Works,
reviews)
rench eview
December
978),
p.
381.
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981
live theatre
ossesses
the
physical resence
f
the ctors.With o
little
ction
very
gesture
as an
extraordinary
esonance
thus
n a
mimed
equence
whenthe
family
"walksto thevillage," hey eem to burstforth rom hestage.And although he
cataloguing
f thehorrors
f
themother'sife
artially
ustains he
dramatic
ension,
the
trained,
arely
mobilebodies of the ctors re what
keep
the udience
on
edge.
Emotional
ambiguity
eflected
orporally
replaces
the
ideological
conflictwhich
propels
otherdramas.
In
the second
part
of
the
play
(a
narrativeduet
between
Suzanne and
her
voice)
a
single
raised
eyebrow
r
a
quarter
urn
f thehead elec-
trifies
he
pace
between
he
actors,
making
t
almosttactile.
By
functioning
n this
ensory
evel,
Eden Cinema
s both
ess
engage
nd
harsher,
more
provocative
han
thenovel. The recreation f themother
nd
the
xploration
of
Suzanne's
relationship
ith
her xclude
or subordinatemostof the
political
atire
and social
commentary.
o detached
author's
voice ironizes
over
the fate of
In-
dochina. nfact he
only
colonial
type
ncluded nthe
play,
other hanMr.
Jo,
s the
Corporal
who sits
silently
n
stage,
n
lovinghomage
to
the
mother.
The
play's
anguage,
tripped
f
emotionalism,
ever
disguises
he
ove-hate ela-
tionship
etween
he mother
nd her children.
Remembering
he
past,
Suzanne
s
more ucid and
uncompromising
hanwhen he ived t. She
now knows
how much
she
neededhermother
o
die;
but
also how
much
he
oved her. The materialization
of
this
mbiguity culpted
before
he
pectators'
yes
recalls
their
wn
paradoxical
longings
for
absorption
nd
separation,
ongings
which characterize he mother-
child
ink. n its
mythical
imension den Cinema llustrates
hereal
cost
of
an
in-
dividual's
psychological
reedom.
Whether he udience
dheres
o the
llustration
epends
n
part
on its
willingness
to allow
itself o enter
nto
the world
of
the
play. Despite
the
suggestive
orceof
Suzanne's
descriptions,
he
spectators
have
to work
hard to create
out of the
unblinking
ld
lady
on
stage
the
stubborn nd
dynamic
woman fromSuzanne's
past.
The
play
calls
upon
them
ndirectly
ut
calls
upon
them,
evertheless,
o
make
analogies
from heir
wn
experience.
den Cinema
s therefore
o
paradoxical
diver-
tissement
ut rather n
invitation o
a
voyage through
he
mind of a
complex
character.
t resolves
nothing
ut eaves the
pectators
n the
threshold
f
their
wn
remembrances.
Read
in
adolescence,
reread
n
adulthood,
Charles
Dickens'sDavid
Copperfield
(1850)
changes
n
meaning
ut
not
n
impact.
Multileveled,
antasmagoric,
his
fic-
tionalized
utobiography peaks
through
avid's (and
Dickens's)
ntimate ecollec-
tions
o
thechild
n thereader bothas
the hildwas and
still s and as the hild
has
grown
up
to
be.
The
density
f the
reading xperience
tems
n
part
from his
om-
plex
relationship
o the
reader,
ut
also from he
density
f David's own
adventures,
thenuances
n the
point
of
view,
and the
everal
nterpretations
o whichthenovel
lends tself.
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NOVEL TO THEATRE
From his
portentous
birthto his second but at last mature
marriage,
David-
Dickens reconstructs is
passions,
his
travails,
his
good
luck,
his
stupidity,
is
wisdom na 1,000-page hronicle hat akeshimfrom lunderstoneo Yarmouth o
London
to
Canterbury
o the continent nd back
to
London
again.
These
stops
on
David's
way
to
manhood
come alive because of
his
nteraction
ith
the characters
who both
lived
in
his
past
and who live
on in
the
present
f his
rememberings:
Clara,
his
doll-like
mother;
Peggotty,
is
salt-of-thearth
nurse;
the
Murdstones,
horrific
xemplars
f
Victorian
bsurdities;
he
Micawbers,
mock-heroes
f
their
own
absurdities;
James teerforth,
troubling
allen
ngel;
Little
Emily,
fallen
angel
of
another
kind;
Aunt
Betsey
rotwood,
David's hard-on-the-outside-soft-on-
the nside
avior;
Mr.
Dick,
her
other
but
brilliantly
imple-minded
rotege;
Uriah
Heep,
the
most
reptilian
f
all
the
novel's
villains;
and
Agnes
Wickfield,
he most
saintlike
f ts
heroines.A
thorough
iscussion
f all the
characters nd all the
ex-
ploitswould entailpages ofanalysis o fullofextraordinaryersonalities,eminal
moments,
ortunate
oincidences,
momentous
ncounters,
nd evil
nfluences
hat
t
might
eem a
fairy
ale rather hanthe
haunting
nd
profound
ethinking
nd
reliv-
ing
of
David-Dickens'sown
lifethat
t
is.
Rethinking
nd
reliving
t
s,
ndeed,
s
David-Dickens,
he dult
storyteller,
akes
his
distance
rom
r
identifies
ith
the child
n
his
story.
ometimes e
interjects
note
of
rony
s when
he talks bout his
early
ove affairs. ometimes
e
satirizes
is
own
presumptuousness
s a
young
dandy.
Often
he
reexperiences
ompletely
he
terrors nd
abjection
f a childforced
oo
early
o fend
or
himself nd to
cope
with
others'
adism
and
instability.
At all timesDickens,as author and
controlling
oice, infuseshis
story
with a
great
weetness the weetness f thewriter ho likes
his
characters
nd
appreciates
his
created
world,
howeverharsh.
By
the
nd
of the
novel,
the
good
have
won,
the
bad have
experienced
heir
ust
deserts.
very
haracter
as a
place
in
the difficult
but
nonalienating
cheme
of
things
which
nforms he
novel's
world
view.
Beyond
the
mythic
uality
of this estoration f
order,
Dickensalso
establishes
subterranean
evel of
family elationships.
murky ensuality
ermeates
his
uper-
ficially
sexless novel. The
myriad
emotional
couplings-those
of
fathers nd
daughters
nd
mothers
nd sons
taking
recedence
ver
husbands nd
wives-
hints
at the subconscious
desires nd
psychologicalwarping
ife
within
he
family,
nd
particularlyhe Victorian amily.David sees but does notunderstand; is almost
unrelieved
hildlike
naivety
masks
but
cannot
hide
the relentless
ibidinaldrive.
Whether ead as
a
simple
dventure
tory
et
n
Victorian
England,
bildungs-
roman
culminating
n
self
wareness,
r a
mythic
econstructionf archaic
ttach-
ments nd unsuccessful
ublimations,
avid
Copperfield
orks
on
thereader's wn
perceptions
f
his or
her
past
and
present
ife.
A
formative
ovel,
t
nfluences
ith-
out
simplifying
he reader's
nderstanding
f childhood
experience.
It took
many
ndividual alents o recreate hevital
world
of
David
Copperfield
for he
contemporary
rench
tage.
However,
the
two
troupes
which
ook this ask
upon
themselves
rought
o
bear both
longexperience
f
collective ndeavor nda
personal
nvestment
n
portraying
ickens's world.
Their effortsed at
least one
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TI,
December
981
critic
o comment hat the theatrical
avid
Copperfield
enthim
marvelling
ack
not
only
nto Dickens'sbut also
his
own childhood.19
The Theatre u Campagnol nd theThe~tredu Soleilbegantheir ollaborationn
the
ummer
f 1976 when
Ariane
Mnouchkine,
irector f the
Soleil,
ent
her
heatre
to
Jean-Claude
enchenat,
former
member
f
her
troupe
nd
founder
f
theCam-
pagnol.
While Mnouchkine
continued
to work on her
film
Molilre,
Penchenat
directed
wenty-four
ctors
from
both
troupes
n
improvisations
f
thirty-six
f
Dickens's
haracters.
ickens's wn
highly
heatrical
haracterizations,
rawn
with
broad
strokes
nd
replete
with
private
tics
and
speech patterns, elped
orient he
improvising.20
Unlike
the
Salamandre,
which imited tself
o London's
text,
he
Campagnol-
Soleil fabricated
ts own out
of
the
mprovisations.
While
the actors'masterful
m-
personations reserve hefeeling f Dickens,their extrarelyduplicatesor even
paraphrases
is words.
To
present
he
youthfulness
nd
vigor
of
Dr.
Strong,
or x-
ample,
the haracter
nters
ogging,
ollowed
y
his tudents
hothen
isten,
nrap-
tured,
o
a discourse
n
tropes,
discourse
Dr.
Strong
never
makes
n
the novel.
With an
eye
for
the
perfect
ejoinder,
he
company
does
keep
such
ines as Mr.
Dick's
advice
to Aunt
Betsey
bout what to do
withDavid:
"Why
f
was
you
...
I
should
..
wash
him;"2'
nd
Agnes's
vowal
to David
at
the
play's
nd:
"I
have
oved
you
all
my
ife "22
owever,
most
of the
dialogue,
and the occasional
narrated
n-
troduction
o a new
movement,
s
invented.
Additions
uch as
Miss Murdstone's
cruel
drilling
f David
on
the
mperfect
ubjunctive
f the
verb
astreindre"
urns is
plightnto a distinctivelyallicone.
The
company
lso
develops
metaphors
uggested y
Dickens and
uses them
n
stage
to
link discrete
pisodes
of the novel.
For
example,
a series
of
comparisons
with
flowers
elps
situate he other haracters
n
relation
o David
and establishes
transitions
etween
uccessive
equences.
As
in
the
novel,
Steerforth
alls
David
"Daisy";
but
Rosa
Dartle
adds that he
is a
venomous
flower.
This
foreshadows
David's
unwitting
rchestration
f
the seduction
f Little
mily.
While
the
organization
f
the
play
roughly
ollows he
novel's,
he
play
condenses
the
final
wo-thirds
f the narrative
nto ts
second
half. The
first
oncentrates
n
David's
childhood,
ncluding
is
birth nd
joyous
infancy,
he terrors
f
the Salem
House boarding chool,his ntroductiono theMicawbers, nd his rescuebyAunt
Betsey.
The second
half,
whichfocuses
n his
adolescence,
begins
withDavid's en-
trance
o
Dr.
Strong's
chool and continues
withhis encounter
withthe
Heeps,
his
reunion
with
Steerforth,
teerforth's
capturing"
f Little
Emily,
David's
marriage
with
Dora,
and
his confession
f love
to
Agnes.
The
play
ends
with
David,
the
19
Mattieu
Galey
n
Le
Quotidien
de Paris
November
977),
as cited
n
the
unpublished
ress
dossier
f
David
Copperfield.
20
Information
n the
improvisations
f
David
Copperfield
re
from
a
personal
interview
with
Christine
oucher
f the
Campagnol,
June
979
in Paris.
21
Charles
Dickens,
David
Copperfield
London:
Penguin,
966),
p.
249.
The
Campagnol-Soleil
sed
thePliade edition fDavid
Copperfield
Trans.Pierre eyris,MadeleineRossel,AndreParreaux tal.,
Editions
Gallimard,
954)
as well
as the
English
riginal
or
their
daptation.
22
Dickens,
p.
937.
This content downloaded from 194.117.18.100 on Fri, 18 Dec 2015 15:30:19 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
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8/17/2019 Adaptações Em Teatro Em França
18/23
447
/ FROM
NOVEL
TO
THEATRE
writer,
aking
p
thenarrative
rom he
beginning
f thenovel:
"Whethershall
turn
out to be thehero
of
my
own
life,
r whetherhat tation
will be held
by
anybody
else, thesepagesmust how."23
The
play
both excludes
the
novel's social
satire
of
solicitors,
arristers,
nd
the
English
ourt
ystem
nd its
oncluding
pisodes
of the
major
ubplots
f
Little mi-
ly
and the
Peggottys,
he
Micawbers,
nd
Uriah
Heep.
It also
omits
he
omplexities
of the
Steerforth-David
elationship
nd never
posits
the
dichotomy
f
Steerforth-
Agnes.
The
adaptation,
however,
particularly
n
the scenic
writing,
oes
reinforce
the
novel's
uggestion
f
thedubious
quality
f
the
parent-child
elationship.
riah,
for
example,
never
appears
on
stage
without
his mother.
Agnes sings
a
Victorian
song
called
"Daddy"
whose
words
promise:
I will
be
your
ittle
wife
n
Earth
while
Mommy's
n
the
sky."
The same
actress
performs
oth the roles of
Clara,
David's
child-mothernd Dora, David's child-bride.
These
changes,
specially
given
the
theatrical
otential
f
the
tying-up"
pisodes
at the
end
of the
novel,
would seem
arbitrary
fthe
goal
of
the
daptation
had
been
to
tellthe
story
f
David
Copperfield.
However,
theactors
never
ntended
o
tell
story
ut
rather
o
reconstruct
series
f
memories,
oth
as
David
experienced
hem
and
as
they xperienced
avid
experiencing
hem. ndeed
during
he entire
ear
of
rehearsals,
the actors
infused
their
improvisations
with their
own childhood
memories nd
private
eminiscences.
he
resultwas
a
recreation
ot
only
of
David's
past
but
also,
to a
certain
xtent,
heir wn.
The
many spects
of
memory
nform
he
conception
f the
playing
rea
as
well as
influencinghe lighting, ostumes,movement, nd music. Throughthephysical
elements
f
the
performance,
he
domainof
memory
ecomes
palpable.
The
playing
area,
cavernous and
dusty,
resembles
grandparent's
ttic
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