Canonical states, canonical stages : Oedipus, othering, and seventeenth-century drama

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Bibliographic Information

Canonical states, canonical stages : Oedipus, othering, and seventeenth-century drama

Mitchell Greenberg

University of Minnesota Press, c1994

  • : pbk

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-211) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780816624102

Description

In 17th-century Europe, a new kind of subjectivity formed. Perversely, the new private subject made its most spectacular appearance on the public stage; an appearance that also marked the emergence of absolutism in Europe. What these two phenomena had to do with one another, and how they were elaborated in the theatre of the 17th century, is the subject of this work. In particular, it shows how the Oedipus myth, reinterpreted on various stages at the end of the Renaissance, served the purposes of the emerging culture by replaying the founding moment of absolute rule. Working with models of genealogical criticism, psychoanalysis, and a certain continental feminism, Greenberg reads plays by Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Calderun, Corneille and Racine to show how, as symptomatic texts staged within the confines of familial scenarios, they combine the dynamics of politics with a conflicting private desire shown to be inimical to the dominant ideology. This analysis reveals how scenarios of sacrifice and transcendence are brought into play to normalize and naturalize inchoate and threatening forces of social change, by appealing to pre-existing cultural models such as the myth of Oedipus. An integration of texts from political theory, psychoanalysis, history and literature, this work offers a strong interpretation of the interrelated representation of subjectivity and absolutism on the 17th-century stage.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Shakespeare's "Othello" and the "problem" of anxiety
  • "Fuenteovejuna" - the ideology of loss and the myth of history
  • "La vida es sueno" - patriarchy's sacrifice
  • playing dead - Corneille's canon and absolute tragedy
  • Racine's "Berenice" and the allegory of absolutism.
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780816624119

Description

Canonical States, Canonical Stages was first published in 1994. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. In the crucible of seventeenth-century Europe, a new kind of subjectivity formed, private and interior. Perversely, the new private subject made its most spectacular appearance on the public stage-an appearance that, as Mitchell Greenberg amply demonstrates, also marked the emergence of absolutism in Europe. What these two phenomena had to do with one another, and how they were elaborated in the theater of the seventeenth century, is the subject of Greenberg's book, a masterful critical work that relates the dramatic construction of modern subjectivity and absolutist culture to the formation of the Western literary canon. In particular, Canonical States, Canonical Stages shows how the Oedipus myth, reinterpreted on various stages at the end of the Renaissance, served the purposes of the emerging culture by replaying the founding moment of absolute rule. Working with models of genealogical criticism, psychoanalysis, and a certain Continental feminism, Greenberg reads plays by Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Calderon, Corneille, and Racine to show how, as symptomatic texts staged within the confines of familial scenarios, they combine a dynamics of politics with a conflicting "private" desire shown to be inimical to the dominant ideology. This analysis reveals how scenarios of sacrifice and transcendence are brought into play to normalize and naturalize inchoate and threatening forces of social change by appealing to preexisting cultural models such as the myth of Oedipus. A fascinating integration of texts from political theory, psychoanalysis, history, and literature, Canonical States, Canonical Stages offers a powerful interpretation of the interrelated representation of subjectivity and absolutism on the seventeenth-century stage. Winner of the 1995 MLA Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies Mitchell Greenberg is chair of the Department of French and Italian at Miami University in Ohio. He is the author of, among other books, Subjectivity and Subjugation in Seventeenth-Century Drama and Prose: The Family Romance of French Classicism (1992).

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Shakespeare's "Othello" and the "problem" of anxiety
  • "Fuenteovejuna" - the ideology of loss and the myth of history
  • "La vida es sueno" - patriarchy's sacrifice
  • playing dead - Corneille's canon and absolute tragedy
  • Racine's "Berenice" and the allegory of absolutism.

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