Demistifikacija ideologije američkog sna u dramama Judžina O'Hila i Sema Šeparda

Abstract

U doktorskoj disertaciji Demistifikacija ideologije američkog sna u dramama Judžina O‟Nila i Sema Šeparda, autor obrađuje, kroz komparativnu analizu, dramsko stvaralaštvo dvojice dramskih pisaca, Judžina O‟Nila i Sema Šeparda, sa naglaskom na sedam dramā – četiri O‟Nilove i tri Šepardove – koje smatra naročito reprezentativnim u kontekstu analogije između destruktivnih društvenih i kulturnih principa i urušavanja porodice. Zadatak analize jeste da sociološke aspekte koje autor smatra naznakama implozije pojma “američkog sna”, primeni na tematske karakteristike dramā koje su u fokusu disertacije, kao i opusa navedenih autora u celini. U cilju dosledne obrade ideje simbolizma društveno-političkih maksimā u Sjedinjenim američkim državama unutar nefunkcionalnih i patoloških porodičnih obrazaca u opusu dvojice navedenih književnika, autor disertacije opredelio se za obradu sledećih dramā: Dugo putovanje u noć, Mesečina za nesrećne, Pesnička žica, i O, divljino, čiji je autor O‟Nil, i Prokletstvo izgladnele klase, Pokopano dete i Pravi zapad, čiji je autor Šepard. Disertacija se sastoji iz šest poglavlja. U uvodu je uokviren teorijskometodološki koncept rada i predstavljene su hipoteze, struktura disertacija kao i opšti osvrt na diskurse O‟Nila i Šeparda, sa naglaskom na njihova poimanja američkog sna. Drugo poglavlje se sastoji iz dva segmenta, od kojih prvi obrađuje antropološko-istorijske osobenosti američkog sna u svetlu transformacijā koje odlikuju istorijski period i književnost modernizma, dok drugi, u svetlu istih modusa, razmatra promene i konstante američkog sna u istorijskim i književnim okvirima perioda postmodernizma. U trećem poglavlju je obrađen, u kontekstu zasebnih istorijskih i biografskih motiva u vezi sa svakim od dvojice autora, razvoj njihovih diskursa, koji, kako ukazuje autor disertacije, ukazuje na njihov univerzalni prelazak sa eksperimentalizma i ideje fluidne stvarnosti na veru u izvesnost apstraktnih konstanti koje diferenciraju odrednice kako kolektiva u američkom društvu, tako i njegovog pojedinca.2 Četvrto poglavlje specifikuje književno-teorijsku podlogu prethodnog poglavlja time što ističe poziciju tragičkog diskursa u opusima O‟Nila i Šeparda, uz imanentnu pretpostavku tragedije kao centralnog modusa viđenja socioloških i ontoloških fenomena. Peto poglavlje razrađuje O‟Nilovo i Šepardovo poimanje tragedije u svetlu ideje porodice kao amblema odsustva društvene kohezivnosti u pretežno patrijarhatskom sistemu. U poglavlju je obrađeno sedam dramā navedenih u apstraktu disertacije, koje prema zaključku njenog autora najvernije odražavaju paralelnu imploziju porodice i američkog društva u celini pod datim zajedničkim poretkom. Šesto poglavlje usresređeno je na ustanovljavanje ključnih sličnosti i razlika u opisanim tragičkim modusima dvojice autora. Ujedno, u svetlu tradicionalnog obrasca tragedije kao žanra zaključenog pojmom katarze i razvoja ličnosti, ono ukazuje na pesimističnu perspektivu duhovnog osamostaljivanja ličnosti u društvu zasnovanom na američkom snu koju je O‟Nil utvrdio O‟Nil a Šepard kontinuirao i naknadno prilagodio popularnim kulturnim žanrovima.

In the doctoral dissertation The demystification of the ideology of the American Dream in the plays of Eugene O‟Neill and Sam Shepard, the author elaborates, through the comparative analysis, the dramatic work of two playwrights, Eugene O‟Neill and Sam Shepard, with an emphasis on the seven particular plays – four of O‟Neill and three of Shepard – which he considers to be distinctly representative in terms of the analogy between the destructive social and cultural principles and the implosion of the family. The aim of the analysis is to apply the sociological aspects considered by the author of the dissertation to be the signifiers of the erosion of the idea of “the American Dream”, onto the thematic characteristics of the plays upon which the dissertation is focused, as well as onto the work of the given authors in general. For the purpose of the adequate examination of the symbolism of social and political principles in the United States of America within the dysfunctional and pathological family patterns which the work of the two authors conveys, the author of the dissertation has decided to study the following plays: Long Day‟s Journey Into Night, A Moon for the Misbegotten, A Touch of the Poet, and Ah, Wilderness!, written by O‟Neill, and Curse of the Starving Class, Buried Child, and True West, written by Shepard. The study comprises six chapters. In the Introduction, the author establishes the theoretical and methodological concept, including the hypotheses, the structure of the dissertation and the general overview of O‟Neill‟s and Shepard‟s discourses, accentuating their respective views on the American Dream. The second chapter comprises two segments, the first of which focuses on the anthropological and historical aspects of the American Dream in the light of changes typical of Modernism as a period in history and literature, while the latter, in the same disciplinary contexts, delineates the changed and consistent aspects of the American society in terms of Postmodernism. The third chapter presents the development of the each author‟s discourse, in the light of the respective historical and biographical motives pertaining their work; the comparative analysis of the development of their discourses demonstrates, according to the author of the dissertation, their unique transition from ideas of experimentalism and uncertain foundations of reality to their later4 belief in the abstract truths which shape the society in the United States as a whole, as well as an individual being its part. The fourth chapter particularizes the theoretical substance of the third chapter by highlighting the significance of the tragic discourse in the works of O‟Neill and Shepard and presuming that the tragedy retains its central position in the authors‟ views on the sociological as well as ontological phenomena. The fifth chapter elaborates the authors‟ definition of tragedy in the context of family, on whose example the overall alienation under the rigorously patriarchal system is discerned. The chapter also presents the study on the seven plays given earlier in the abstract, which, as the author of the dissertation believes, most appropriately interpret the analogous implosions of family and society in the United States under the universal authority. The sixth chapter establishes the crucial similarities and differences in the described tragic discourses of the two authors. At the same time, in the context of traditional pattern of tragedy implying the act of catharsis and mental maturity in the end of the protagonist‟s adventure, the chapter underlines the pessimism regarding a person‟s inner development in the current society centred around the American Dream as expounded by O‟Neill and continued and culturally popularized by Shepard.