29.08.24. Worldas a theatre...
"Let's imagine the planet as a theatre." With this invitation 1 of the sketches in the book opens Hope in the Dark her author – Rebecca Solnit, American essayist, historian and feminist activist (for example Anna Dziierzgowska and Sławomir Królak, Karakter Publishing House, Kraków 2019). Solnit thus encourages reflection on the modern world, its rules, and the reflection on "what we are, what powers we have and what we can do with them" (p. 257).
In the introduction the author informs that the first version of this book was created between 2003 and 2004 and is in a sense “the kid of his time”. 10 years later, however, in the next issue, it was expanded accordingly. News hasn't lost it yet, and it's improbable to lose it soon, if at all. Heroes, places, events, the language of their description changes, but with problems it is known that it is different.
Solnit illustrates his thoughts and remarks with examples relating mainly to America, but we besides know the same from our own and close courtyards. This book was published 5 years ago, but not without reason, I guess, as a subject starting in a fewer days in Żory Literary Festival “A Food of Literature” organizers – in mention to the title of Solnit's work just – chose the problem defined by the motto Hope in the dark. Literature for Anxiety (Duration: 19-22.09.2024, program and list of invited excellent guests available on click).
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On the another hand, by the way, and even for taste only, it may be worth pointing out that the book's "exercise for imagination" Hope in the Dark It has a long tradition. Although Solnit is not afraid about this, it is not hard to mention that “the planet as a theatre” in which “a man like an actor plays a function written by individual else and gets off the stage” is simply a topos known by lawmakers. A literary historian, prof. Jerzy Ziomek, pointed out that he had already known him, for example, Lucretia (99-55 B.C.E.), a Roman poet and philosopher before our Common Era, as well as a certain Plotin (204/205-270 C.E.), ancient creator of a philosophical strategy called neoplatonism, that he wrote about him Erasmus of Rotterdam (1467-1536), or that our Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584) repeatedly utilized this motif in his fracks (Jerzy Dudek, Renaissance, PWN technological Publishing House, Warsaw 1995, p. 288).
The issue typical of this topos in Poland is mostly identified with a reasonably well-known part of comedyWhatever. William Shakespeare (1564-1616). In the second act of this work from the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 1 of the protagonists – according to the 19th century translation of Leon Ulrich – says: “The planet is simply a theatre, actors people.” Each actor plays a role.” In later translations – Maciej Słomczyński and Stanisław Barańczak – the issue sounds a small different. In Słomczyński, “The planet is simply a scene: / All men and all women / They are only actors and have / Entrances and exits. Each of the people must / Play many roles in due time, / To present 7 varieties of age.” In Barańczak, he said: “The full planet is simply a scene. And the people on it are just actors. And erstwhile it is on it, it plays different roles in the seven-act drama of life." The differences in translations do not, of course, change the fact that the planet is perceived as theatre in them. These 7 acting roles that a man has before him, Shakespeare characterized:
First a baby drooling with a scream
In the arms of a babysitter. Then a student with a bag.
For books, with a mouth like that.
The morning sky, wriggling with groan
Unliked school. In the 3rd act –
A lover who sighs
How to bake and fold sad serenades
It's about Bogdanka's eyebrows. Even later, a soldier,
With a mouth full of curses and a mustache
Sharp as a panther.
Bitter skin, with irritant honor,
Chasing a soap bubble of fame
Right in the cannon throat.
Then the judge,
With a belly fattened with capons that
They bear him in the gift of the defendant, with the natural
An eye and a beard under the cord,
With quotes and life examples,
He plays his part. After that, function six:
Skinny, weak old man in slippers,
With glasses, a purse at the side,
Of which they hang besides loose
Stockings, preserved from the years of youth.
And a voice that—formerly male, fat—
He's squeaking thin again like a child's nut.
And finally, the last act that ends
Strange and eventful art action:
A fresh childhood erstwhile you lose your memory,
Teeth, taste, hair, eyesight – and yet everything.
(trans. S. Barańczak)
One must add that not only comedy Whatever. realizes in Shakespeare's work the thought of seeing “the theatre as a world” and “the planet as a theatre”. specified an thought is inscribed in all his dramatic creativity. According to the password Totus mundus agit histrionem (The full planet plays comedy) which was the motto of the most celebrated London theatre – Under the Earth Ball (The Globe).
The presence of this thought in culture confirms, for example, a fragment from the fresh Miguela deCervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) A thoughtful noblemanDon Quixote of Mancha published in 1605. At 1 point in this story, Cervantes placed this conversation between Don Quixote and Sancho Pansy:
Don Quixote: “No comparison so vividly shows us what we are and what we should be, like comedy and actors. Isn't it? Tell me, have you not seen a comedy that introduces kings, emperors, popes, knights, ladies, and others? 1 pretends to be a hultaj, another cheater, this merchant, that soldier, that wise simpleton, another naive lover again, and after the finished comedy and after the costumes are dropped, everyone becomes equal.
– Of course I saw it," said Sancho.
– The same is true," said Don Quixote, in comedy and in the life of this world, where any emperors, another popes, yet all the roles that comets can perform; but erstwhile we come to an end, that is, erstwhile life ends, death will deprive them of all the garments that differed, and they will become equal in the grave.
– The front comparison – said Sancho – although not so new, due to the fact that I heard them not erstwhile and not twice. It's like playing chess: as long as the game lasts, each pawn has his own peculiar task erstwhile the game is over, everything mixes, equals, loses value, and becomes a squad into a bag folded, like life to a grave (Don Quixote, superior to Anna Louisa Czerny and Zygmunt Czerny, PIW, Warsaw 1983, T. II, pp. 76-77).
Other crucial examples of the recognition of the planet with the theatre are included in the works of the genre car sacramental, which is teaching-philosophy-religious dramas exhibiting Eucharistic themes. They were exhibited in the public squares of Spain in time to celebrate God’s Body. These include The large Theatre of the World Calderóna de la Barca (1600-1681).
In this drama God himself plays the function of the Author, who is organizing the festival. The planet is calling for it. This one, on His – Author – is to make the phase available, select, distribute and later receive costumes and props, arrange decorations and lighting. Actors indicate Author. He besides assigns them roles. Here's a fragment. Prologue Calderón pieces:
AUTHOR
You who are inactive changing, all these years
Happy are the workshop of the universe,
First of miracles and unsurpassed;
You, like Phoenix into ashes,
You give birth to yourself like your own child,
Let me say your name at last: Shine!
WORLD
From the hard core of the ball that hides me,
Who's telling me to leave? Who calls me here?
Why are the wings so tight,
You want me to stand here, out of myself?
AUTHOR
It's me, your Author, master over all great.
It's my breath, the ray of my hand.
It enlightens you and your dark body
In the form of an attire.
WORLD
What happened?
What are you ordering me to do? What do you want, Lord?
AUTHOR
I have an thought – its implementation
I'll trust you. I want to celebrate.
[...]
Let him see Heaven on your phase present
Some kind of comedy. - We'll give the show.
About human life. I am the Author,
And besides, this vacation is mine,
So I'll see the actors for the play myself,
I'll hand out the roles myself. World Theatre
Each of them will play as well as they can –
But in the decorations, by the light, in the costume!
You're free to go: work from now on,
Until the fact turns to appearances.
You're gonna be a theater, I'm the Author,
Man is about to become an actor.
WORLD
My Generous Creator, whose Power
And all that lives is subject to the word;
Me, The large Theatre of the World, human scene,
Where is the prophecy for everyone
That which must of thy highest will
A mandatory part of the role,
I will do what you say – for though you ask for trouble,
You gave more by doing the miracle.
First, before the actors are ready,
Black substance in front of the phase I'll wear;
Behind her, hidden, things confused
It will be chaos, but soon, Lord,
The black fog – as shortly as it has fallen –
It'll emergence up and shine.
It must be clear, due to the fact that where there's no light,
There's no Christmas or show either.
Brightness, become! – Let both lamps
They'll light up the scene, the scenes and ramps!
(Pedro Calderón de la Barca, The large Theatre of the World, in: Autos SacramentesLeszek Biały, Ossolineum, Wrocław – Warsaw – Kraków 1997, p. 7-8).
Among the heroes of Calderón large planet Theatre The King, Reasonability, Law of Grace, Beauty, Richman, Villager, Poorer, kid (died before birth) and Voice who will declare their death to the heroes. The assigned roles are unalterable. You gotta play them without trying. It will be the subject of the final judgement that the hero has done his part. This raises the question of the dimension of free will... (Definite explanations of the essence of auto-sacractic dramas, the context of their formation and public presentation can be found in the extended introduction of the translator to the aforementioned edition of Calderón's works).
In Poland, this drama was not performed until 1986. directed by Andrzej Dziuk at the Witkacy Theatre in Zakopane. rather recently, in 2022, a loud premiere of this work took place in Łódź. Zakopane performance resembles prof. Ewa Lubieniewska, describing its origin – a solution that helps to realize what it actually means to see the planet as a theatre for a man discovering abruptly that he is acting as an actor:
The area we entered is completely empty. Each of the 4 walls is covered by black coats, so it is hard to guess where the scene is. There are no chairs for the public either. However, not very bright light allows visitors to see 1 another; they look around confused, uncertain about what to do with 1 another in a vast space.
Suddenly individual sits in front of 1 of the cataracts, saying, “Sir, the scene is here.” Spectators row behind him on the floor. After a while, the same man stands up and points out the other wall, saying, “Sir, the scene is here.” Audiences decision obediently after the leader. This doesn't take long, due to the fact that the joker has already set the scene before another side wall.
But now we realize that the “scenes” – “is here”. We're standing on it right now. On an empty phase Great planet TheatreWhere each of us comes to play a role. [...] We come from non-existence; entering an unknown, we begin action, or action. The 1 who works is actor placed in a certain space. erstwhile I say ‘I’, I see in the thought of myself, acting in the world. So I'm here. a spectator their own actions, and if so, their place is scene. In my interior space there is simply a “presentation” – as it happens in the theatre, where the actor in front of the viewer creates a certain reality (see besides Theater Phenomenon in: In the planet of literature and theatre. Art of Co-Participation, ed. Ewa Łubienewska, Universitas, Kraków 2006, pp. 9-10).
I think it is adequate to make it clear that, although the figure of the “theatrum mundi” in the word “the theatre is the planet and the planet is the theatre” suggests the equivalence of the concepts utilized in it, it besides requires at least any effort to specify each of them individually. Especially erstwhile it comes to theatre understood as an institution of culture or as art. The curious people will find aid in specified inquiries in the above mentioned extraordinary guide under the editorial board of Ewa Lubieniewska. We will read in it, among another things:
Theatre – this is simply a separate reality, created from the imitation of reality, which truly is not a copy... The everyday planet stays here processed, and the fresh – called for existence. This is done during game, i.e. in an act of “fun” on which Agreement All participants agree. The “fun” is treated with all seriousness, the “contract” assumes that During the performance each of its ingredients becomes a sign of something another than what it was before the game began. A military match or parade (although very “visible”) is not a theatre, therefore, due to the fact that it is not their goal of akin transformation (pp. 10-11; distinctions according to the quoted edition).
The identity of the theatre phenomenon as an art that provides a mirror for the planet and requires interpretation, and the theatre identified with the planet is not, as you can see, rather unambiguous. Apart from that, as if from the passages of theatrical works cited above, it means a expression matching the planet with the theatre for Cervantes, something different for Shakespeare, and another for Calderón. The "long lasting" in the culture of the topos discussed here so involves a reflection modifying the meaning given to it. This depends primarily and most most likely on the cultural context in which this topos is exposed and to which it refers, as well as on what individual who uses specified a metaphor, focuses attention, determining the relationships between the planet and people in terms of theatre.
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Let's get back to work, Solnit. erstwhile in a sketch The past of Darkness (pp. 68-82) from the book Hope in the Dark The author invites you to imagine the planet as a theatre, then focuses mainly on politics. It distinguishes the scene from the audience, thus pointing to the division of the world. any of them are actors acting in theatrical glow or as hidden in hiding. Others, those representing the audience, are seen by the main actors in fact as a collection of puppets dependent on what on stage. Both the audience and the scenes cover the darkness. We read:
In the mediate of the phase are dramas of the most powerful and most prominent personalities. conventional versions of history, popular sources of information encourage us to keep our eyes on this scene. The spotlights so bright that they make us blind to the darkness surrounding us and make it hard to reciprocate the eyes of the fellows sitting next to us, to see the exit from the audience by passing between rows, behind the scenes, outside, in the darkness that is the field of action of another powers. Most of the world's destiny is prejudged on stage, in the light of the spotlights, and the actors playing on it convince that there is nothing more too this place, but them.
Regardless of the peripety shown on the phase and the result, before our eyes there is invariably a tragedy – an unfair division of power and besides widespread silence of those who agreed to the function of the audience. And they pay the price for the drama. typical democracy is based on the thought that the audience is to choose actors, and these – rather virtually – are to talk on our behalf. In practice, various reasons prevent many from participating in this choice, another forces, specified as money, distorting our decisions, while on phase besides many actors find different motivations – lobbyists, self-interest, conformism – not to represent those who chose them any longer (Hope...(p. 68).
The actual political authors of the spectacles, those hidden in the darkness of the scenes, Solnit identifies as elites and corporations – they decide how the show is expected to go. But nothing is as simple as it may seem to some. So we will find further encouragement to think about the power that the audience actually has:
Let us look at [...] factors that exert thoughtful political force outside the scene and change the action of the drama on it. From a place that has been taught to ignore and ignore, there are stories changing the world, and it is here that culture has the power to form politics, and average people have the power to change the world. It is easy to see the amazed, worried faces of actors on phase erstwhile streets become a phase or erstwhile unauthorized people appear to disturb the planned performance (Hope..., p. 69).
The subject of the author's attention is so the problems concerning actions for human rights, acts of civilian disobedience, as well as the reflection on the importance of stories that form our ideas about the planet and the past we tell, as well as questions about what stems from the collision of civilization and our actual nature. In her book, we will besides find suggestions that indicate the request for opposition and activity and an incentive to make the essential conditions to change our reasoning about the planet scene. Solnit writes about the title hope:
We request to be clear here what hope is not: believing that everything was, is whether it will be good. We see countless evidences of immense suffering and large demolition around us. The hope that I am curious in is linked to a broad position and clearly defined possibilities that encourage or even request action [...] It could be called a communicative of confusion and uncertainty, from which the anticipation of a fresh beginning grows (Hope..., pp. 9-10). [...] Hope lies in the darkness, hiding somewhere on the runts, not in the center, on the stage's illuminated headlights (cf., p. 13). Hope is not a gate, but a belief that the gate exists somewhere, that there is simply a way out of the present problems, a belief that is fed before the right way is found and followed (cf.
The book's editors Solnit assure in a cover sheet that this reading “will encourage many who have lost hope for a better world.” It can besides be rather an impulse – I will add – to the reflection on various phenomena and events from both past and modern times. Above all, to reflect on education, which would make conditions for exercises in independent and independent thinking.
By the way, there utilized to be specified textbooks for Polish in our educational circulation, which, like the book Solnit, did not lose the news (it is evidently about the series That's what I like! for primary school, mediate school and advanced school). They were swept from the stage, which illustrates a situation in which everything depends mainly on those who work in the spotlight or in the scenes, while the remaining in the dark audience in this case is trapped in patterns and stereotypes even erstwhile it takes any action to improve the quality of education. And it is unusual that the textbooks in question usage both the texts quoted in today's textbooks as the formulas for the proposed reading and discussion Records words from Shakespearean comedy as well as the slogan “Theatrum mundi”. With an attitude to creating conditions for self-knowledge, both reading and reading were offered to the learner Great planet Theatre, and for example Kochanowski's frack Man of God the Olympics. There could be no shortage of the text I callback closing today. Entries, this is unsurpassed poesy Wisława Szymborska:
Life on hold
Life on hold.
No rehearsal.
Body without fitting.
No thought.
I don't know the part I play.
All I know is she's my non-replaceable.
What's the play about,
I gotta guess right on stage.
Poorly Prepared for the Honor of Life
I can't stand the pace of my action.
I'm improvising, though I resent improvisation.
I stumble all step about the ignorance of things.
My way of life is in the back yard.
My instincts are amateur.
Trema, explaining to me, is more humiliating.
I feel extenuating circumstances as cruel.
Unrepeatable word and reflex,
uncounted stars,
the character of the mantle in the trim –
Here's the pathetic effects of this suddenness.
If only 1 Wednesday had rehearsed in advance
Or just 1 more Thursday!
And here comes Friday with a script unknown to me.
Is that okay – I ask
(with a hoarse voice,
because I wasn't even allowed to grunt behind the scenes).
The illusion is that it's just a fast test.
folded in a makeshift room. Nope.
I stand among the decorations and see how solid they are.
I'm struck by the precision of all props.
Rotating apparatus has been operating for a long time.
Even the furthest nebulas were burned.
Oh, I have no uncertainty it's the premiere.
And whatever I do,
It'll turn forever into what I've done.
(A poem from a volume Large Number, in: Rows All, Wydawnictwo Znak, Kraków 2023, pp. 396-397, first print "Odra" 1974, nr 9, p. 91).
