Demistifikacija ideologije američkog sna u dramama Judžina O'Hila i Sema Šeparda
The demystification of the ideology of the American Dream in the plays of Eugene O’Neill and Sam Shepard
Author
Đuran, Nikola M.Mentor
Nastić, RadmilaCommittee members
Vlašković Ilić, BiljanaPavlović, Tomislav
Bratić, Vesna
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
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‟N...il, 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.