Fluid Space and Vanished Subjectivity: The Postmodernity of Space in Jean Genet's Plays
Date Issued
2011
Date
2011
Author(s)
Lin, Yueh-Te
Abstract
This thesis aims to discuss the postmodernity in the spatial structures of Jean Genet’s theatrical works. The postmodern fluidity of space finds its expression even in Genet’s early plays: Deathwatch, Splendid’s, The Maid, and The Balcony. In these works, there is no clear-cut boundary between private space and public space. The spatial structures in these plays seem to present a duality of power relation; yet in fact the power relation in Genet’s plays is quite fluid. Moreover, in the light of Lyotard’s and Baudrillard’s postmodern perspectives, the power relation in these plays can be well taken as a kind of Mise-en-Scène or entertainment. Power even does not really exist. For many of the dramatic characters, balcony appears like a Utopia for heroic performance. However, their heroic Utopia is nothing but an illusion. Hero never exists, either. Heroic death is a Simulacrum: it is only part of a game. In these plays, there seems a dialectic between internal space and external space as Bachelard comments -- internal space and external space may well reverse into each other. In Genet’s later plays, The Black and The Screens, such an illusion expands into the whole space of the theater, even outside the theater. Genet’s spatial structures, like the race and the color, are a kind of performance. In performance, no one is able to validate his/her authentic identity. One’s subjectivity is hidden behind Simulacrum. The Screen even removes the boundary between internal space and external space of the theater. It is hard to tell the realty from the illusion in The Screen.
Subjects
Genet
space
postmodern
power
fluidity
subjectivity
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