According to his theory of theatre in Some Thoughts on Playwriting, Thornton Wilder strongly believes that theatres in his days have been corrupted by a realistic trend. Instead, he praises the golden age of theatre such as the Greek and Shakespearean eras, when both goals of efficacy and entertainment were achieved. During these eras, theatre became a space for celebrating ritual or festival for all the people; therefore, Wilder wants to restore the spirit of ritual/festival in the theatre experience. Wilder’s theory of theatre is exemplified in Our Town written in 1938. In order to examine Wilder’s attempt to restore ritualistic spirit to the plays, I have applied well-known concepts of Victor Turner. Turner characterizes ritual and theatre as liminal phenomena(inbetween/threshold state) where participants experience communitas(“the modality of human being’s interrelatedness”). Furthermore, Turner considers that theatre and ritual share a common ground regarding their emphasis on repetition of human beings’ universal patterns. Our Town is a ritualistic play in that this play creates liminal phenomenon and communitas as well as it uses mime as symbol. Wilder removes realistic scenery and props; instead, actors in Our Town express situations through miming in almost empty space. Thus, actors’ mimed behaviors themselves become symbols of everyday life actions. Through Emily’s realization of life, which itself is a liminal phenomenon, the audience have an opportunity to deliberate on their lives with different and changed perspectives. Even though Emily cannot resurrect from death, the audience can “resurrect” from an ignorant stage like death, where they have not appreciated the significance of life.
목차
I. 들어가며 II. 제의와 연극과의 상관관계 1. 보편적인 패턴의 반복성 2. 기본적인 상징적 소품과 상징적 행위 3. 통과의례 경험 4. 관객들의 커뮤니타스 경험 III. 나가며 Works Cited Abstract
한국중앙영어영문학회 [The Jungang English Language And Literature Association Of Korea]
설립연도
1968
분야
인문학>영어와문학
소개
본 학회는 영미어문학의 학술연구와 이에 부합하는 아래의 사업을 기획 수행하며,
또한 회원 상호간의 친목을 도모함을 목적으로 한다.
1. 학회지 발간
2. 연구 발표회, 강연회, 공동연구
3. 영미어문학 관련 도서출판
4. 영미어문학 관계 도서 및 자료의 모집 및 비치
5. 기타 본회의 목적 달성에 필요한 사업
간행물
간행물명
영어영문학연구 [The Jungang Journal of English Language and Literature]