Handlingarnas sken: om litterär slitning i det dramatiska

The subject of this thesis is what I call a literary friction in the dramatic. In my research project, my aim has been to deepen the understanding of this friction and to make it productive in transforming my own dramatic writing. This has resulted in two dramatic works, which are presented in the thesis.
I distinguish two different qualities in my writing – the dramatic and the literary – that I am trying to merge. A dilemma thus arises, which I contextualize against a historical background of drama in crisis (Szondi) and the new literary tendency of postdramatic theatre (Lehmann).
As a first step towards an understanding of the friction I take a point of departure in the question of narration, which I define mainly through Ricoeur’s temporal explorations of narration, and extend through Ryan’s concept of storyworlds.
Aiming at distinguishing the dramatic quality I go from a more general theory (Szondi, Ricoeur, Aristotle) to a personal understanding and use of ‘the dramatic’ as a concept. Making use of Malochevskaja’s action analysis, I then turn to a reading of Chekov’s The Seagull, and further into my own practice.
‘The literary’ I primarily specify through a reading of Jelinek’s Death and the Maiden I, and argue that Jelinek induces an organic breakdown of narrative structures. I connect this to the habit of reading and the experience of the text as speaking to an inner room within the reader – and I extend this experience to include the act of writing.
I deepen my understanding of the friction between ‘the dramatic’ and ‘the literary’ by connecting text to performativity, which I understand as different layers that are both housed in and surrounding a text, and ‘the dramatic’ and ‘the literary’ are then understood as different movements. I also identify the friction itself as performative, and specify my use of narrative games.
Going into an analysis of my work Sysslolösa unga män med tillgång till vapen (Idle Young Men with Access to Weapons) I focus on the way I transform what I call narrative fragments – understood as fragments of storyworlds – into dramatic action, dealing with the dilemma of a non-dramatic way of thinking, combined with the attempt to create a coherent, dramatic whole.
Discussing my monologue Jag är Jago (I am Iago) I focus on what I call a polyphonic tendency of the work, which I initiate by a collaborative working process and specific strategies of thought.