Sumários

Yourcenar/2

13 Outubro 2023, 14:00 • Chiara Nifosi

In this second session of the week, we discussed the first part of Yourcenar’s play. We performed the close reading of the first two pages of the play in order to gather information on the following points: setting, state of the art concerning Electra and Theodore’ humble life, their characterization and relationship, and the characterization of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. After 15-20 minutes of groupwork, we discussed our findings and fixed the following points: the importance of the setting to suggest the characters’ oppressed condition, the imbalance of Electra and Theodore’s relationship (noble vs humble lineage, Theodore’s excessive servility, Electra’s awareness of her condition, etc.), the characterization of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus as oppressors. Moreover, we reflected on the role of Pylades as a mirror revealing Electra to herself (as Yourcenar herself writes in her preface): the increased importance of this character, who is hardly uttering any word in Aeschylus’ and Euripides’ tragedies, serves the author’s goal, which is giving Orestes and Electra an external referent that breaks the exclusivity of their relationship.

Yourcenar/1

11 Outubro 2023, 14:00 • Chiara Nifosi

Today I introduced a further reflection on the rewriting of myths in 20th-century France, particularly the shift from political or philosophical adaptations to a more specifically psychological focus, such as the one attested by Yourcenar's interest in ancient mythology (see the quotes from the intro of Feux and the play included in the program). As a frame, we also referred to Roland Barthes' reflections on modern mythology as a system of communication aimed at creating quick identifications between stories / objects / images and ideological content. At the roots of Yourcenar's work, there is precisely the attempt to question and deconstruct well-known myths in order to restore their original degree of complexity. 

After that, we discussed Yourcenar's preface to Électre ou La Chute des masques, where she offers an overview of all the Electras and adaptations of the myth since antiquity (including Sartre's rewriting of the Oresteia) in order to highlight the originality and value of her own version, which is conceived as the slow unmasking of the characters' real selves. 

Sartre, Les Mouches /3

6 Outubro 2023, 14:00 • Chiara Nifosi

Today we commented the third and final act of Sartre's play. 


Particularly, we looked at the the tension between the Nietzschean ideal of the Overman's absolute freedom, which certainly inspires Sartre's construction of his Orestes, and the restraints that freedom encounters once it is applied to reality. We discussed the finale of the play and its ambiguity: while Orestes certainly frees the people of Argos from their destiny of never-ending repentance, he also appears as a self-centered character in search, first and foremost, of his own freedom through a deliberate act of violence. Such interpretation also complicates the common reading of Orestes as a resistant in Nazi-occupied France, setting the example for the people of Argos and the people of France at once. While the political background is definitely present in Sartre's conceptualization of existentialist freedom, it is nonetheless true that the author also highlights some contradictions that problematize the ethical implications of individual will to power.
We also mentioned the importance of a consistent system of oppositions - darkness/light, night/day, black/white - that marks and illustrates the most important shifts in the play (Electra's breaking of the law, the passage from sun as a sign of decay to sun as the herald of rebirth, etc.). 

Sartre, Les Mouches /2

4 Outubro 2023, 14:00 • Chiara Nifosi

Today we analyzed three main topics connected with the first two acts of the play:

1) The development of the character of Orestes, who goes through some changes throughout the story: a feeling of alienation and estrangement that progressively turns into a need for action and acceptance within the social community of Argos; the conflict between the idea of absolute freedom learnt from the Tutor and reality, which calls for his actual engagement; his coming to terms with the decision of opposing the will of Jupiter by acting according to his own will, after several moments of hesitation - especially in his exchanges with Electra. Sartre stages all the possible outcomes of the situation (escaping, letting a nihilistic stance prevail, bending to Jupiter's will) to underline the fact that Orestes is making an independent decision.
2) The example set by Electra, who breaks the laws of Argos by showing her disrespect for the dead during the ceremony held by Aegysthus. We also mentioned the fact that she nonetheless depends on the ancient law of lineage that acts upon her through the figure of Clytemnestra. 
3) Sartre's reflection on power through the figures of Aegysthus and Jupiter, who are aware of the fact that Orestes represents a danger to authority - this because Orestes knows that human beings are free and can choose for themselves. 

Sartre, Les Mouches /1

29 Setembro 2023, 14:00 • Chiara Nifosi

Today we commented on the first act of Sartre's play Les Mouches. Before commenting on the text, I provided a short intro to some key concepts of Sartre's philosophical approach, which is widely reflected in the play. His existentialism is directly connected with the historical contingencies (Nazi occupation of France) and is in dialogue with Nietzsche's theory of the Overman, as it is founded on the idea of absolute freedom. According to Sartre, it is by the direct engagement with reality that the individual defines their own essence (essence is not predetermined, then, but follows action). We also commented a quote from "Existentialism is a humanism", where Sartre refers to human being's condemnation to freedom.

After that, we talked about the ancient sources of Les Mouches (the Oresteia) and we commented on the first pages of the play, where Sartre introduces Orestes, the Tutor, Jupiter, and some old women, as well as the symbolic presence of the flies, a punishment that reinforces the state of repentance of the people of Argos since Agamemnon's murder.