Cassandra: logos and katastrophé on the Greek contemporary stage
Abstract
In Greece, contemporary literature and theatre often resort to myth, above all to the Atrides, when they reflect on their recent history. In the last few years the theatre has been interested in Cassandra, the enigmatic prophetess who is the last witness of the collapse of civilization and visits our present on the weak raft of Memory and Tradition. Ancient Greeks killed her but modern Greeks still need her: in a country severely affected by the crisis, they are unable to describe the catastrophe. The authors focus on the problem of the logos: which language will Cassandra use to talk to XXI century? They also wonder which is her home in the post-mythical and post-modern era. The aim of this paper is to underline the original Greek approach to this mythical character: three paradigmatic plays (Flourakis’ Kassy, 2006; Pontikas’ Neighing, 2009; Dimitriadis’ Annunciation of Cassandra, 2009) employ a frantic, anti-conventional narration in the attempt to find the logos that conveys what can hardly be disclosed.
Downloads
References
Aeschimann, Eric, “Socrate a le blues: les intellectuels grecs face à la crise”, Le Nouvel Observateur, 22.03.2012, goo.gl/GshxhW, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Anghelikòpoulos, Vanghelis, “Μάριος Ποντίκας: δεν πιστεύω στον άνθρωπο” (“Marios Pontikas: non credo all’uomo”), I Kathimerinì, 29.03.2007, goo.gl/GBPahC, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Blumenberg, Hans, Arbeit am Mythos (1979), trad.it. Elaborazione del mito, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1991.
Bruera, Franca, “Pour un nouveau paradigme de réception du mythe littéraire au fil du XXe siècle”, Interférences littéraires/Literaire interferenties, 17 (2015): 37-47.
Campbell, Peter A., “Postdramatic Greek Tragedy”, Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, 25.1 (2010): 55-74.
Chassapi, Eusevia, Η ελληνική μυθολογία στο νεοελληνικό δράμα (La mitologia greca nel dramma neogreco), voll.I-II, Thessaloniki, University Studio Press, 2002.
Crippa, Sabina, “Glossolalia. Il linguaggio di Cassandra”, Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica e Applicata, 19.3 (1990): 487-508.
Darge, Fabienne, “Dimitris Dimitriadis: la Grèce est morte”, Le Monde, 07.06.2012, goo.gl/YRSCGZ, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Diamantakou, Kaiti, “Le voyage de Dionysos dans la Grèce après 1975 ou Les épigones modernes de la dramaturgie grecque ancienne”, L’Annuaire théâtral, 48 (2010): 45-55.
Ead., “Ancient and Modern Greek Heroes talking alone on Stage: Towards the Autonomy of Monologicity”, Hellenic Dimensions, Eds. Aleksejeva Brigita – Lāms Ojārs, Riga, University of Latvia, 2012: 226-34 (Atti online), https://www.lu.lv/fileadmin/user_upload/lu_portal/apgads/PDF/Hellenic-Dimension.pdf (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Ead., “Πρόλογος” (“Prefazione”), Marios Pontikas, Xλιμίν-τρισμα (Nitrito), Athina, Mov Skiouros, 2015: 11-15.
Ead., “Les Cassandres de la crise. Le paradigme de l’œuvre dramatique de Dimitris Dimitriadis”, Les mots en spectacle. Mélanges en l’honneur d’Aphrodite Sivetidou, Eds. Maria Litsardaki – Marie Makropoulou, Paris, Garnier, 2016: 45-62.
Dimitriadis, Dimitris, “Εμείς και οι Έλληνες” (“Noi e i Greci”), Ta Nea, 20.05.2000 (poi come fascicoletto allegato a: Id., Tο πέρασμα στην άλλη όχθη, Il passaggio all’altra riva, Athina, Agra, 2005: 3-13).
Id., H εμπράγματη φαντασία (L’immaginazione effettiva), Athina, Indiktos, 2007.
Id., Ο Ευαγγελισμός της Κασσάνδρας (Annunciazione di Cassandra), Athina, Shakespearikòn, 2012.
Dragasakis, Yannis, “All we ask is that Europe give Greece a Chance”, Financial Times, 17.03.2015.
Eagleton, Terry, Sweet Violence: the Idea of the Tragic, Oxford, Blackwell, 2003.
Eco, Umberto, “Innovation and Repetition: Between Modern and Postmodern Aesthetics”, Daedalus 114.4 (1985): 161-84.
Elliott, Larry, “Tsipras rattled his Sabre until it was blunt – and for what?”, The Guardian, 10.07.2015, goo.gl/bsTxSE, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Flourakis, Andreas, Kassy, Athina, Aigokeros, 2010.
Fulleda, Clémence, “Quel sort pour la Grèce: Iphigénie? Ulysse? Sisyphe? Ou les fils de Cronos?”, Le Nouvel Observateur, 04.09.2012.
Grammatas, Theodoros, “The Voyage of Dionysus. Past and Future of the theatrical Myth”, (Dis)Placing Classical Greek Theatre, Eds. Savvas Patsalidis – Elizabeth Sakellaridou, Thessaloniki, University Studio Press, 1999: 43-51.
Id., Το ελληνικό θέατρο στον 20ό αιώνα, (Il teatro greco nel XX secolo), voll.I-II, Athina, Exandas, 2002.
Id., (ed.), Διαχρονικότητα και επικαιρότητα του μύθου (Diacronia e attualità del mito), Athina, Taxideftìs, 2013.
Id., – Tentorio Gilda (eds.), “Sguardi sul teatro greco contemporaneo”, dossier di Culture Teatrali 23 (2014): 91-153.
Hall Edith - Macintosh Fiona (eds.), Dionysus since 69. Greek Tragedy at the Dawn of the Third Millennium, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Heirman, Leo Johannes, “Kassandra’s Glossolalia”, Mnemosyne 28 (1975): 257-67.
Ioannidou, Eleftheria, “Toward a National Heterotopia: Ancient Theaters and the Cultural Politics of Performing Ancient Drama in Modern Greece”, Comparative Drama, 44-45 (2010-2011): 385-403.
Ead., Greek Fragments in Postmodern Frames: Rewriting Tragedy 1970-2005, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2017.
King, Jeanette, “Women and the Word: Christa Wolf’s Cassandra”, Journal of Gender Studies, 3 (1994): 333-42.
Kondylaki, Dimitra, Ο θεατρικός Δημητριάδης. Eξερευνώντας τη δυνατότητα του αναπάντεχου (Dimitriadis scrittore di teatro: indagare la potenzialità dell’inatteso), Athina, Nefeli, 2015.
Ead., “Le théâtre du désillusionnement. La redécouverte scénique de Dimitris Dimitriadis durant les années de la crise”, Théâtre et Public, 222 (2016): 102-8.
Konstandaras, Nikos, “Crisi del debito: Ifigenia, Giona e il sacrificio della Grecia”, I Kathimerinì, 21.08.2012, (trad. it. Anna Bissanti), goo.gl/iJOvCv, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Kuhn, Anna, Christa Wolf’s Utopian Vision: from Marxism to Feminism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Kyriakos, Konstantinos (ed.), Tο αρχαίο ελληνικό θέατρο και η πρόσληψή του (Il teatro greco antico e la sua ricezione), Patrasso, Dip.to Studi Teatrali Università di Patrasso, 2015 (Atti online: http://www.theaterst.upatras.gr/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΟ-ΤΕΛΙΚΟ.pdf, ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Leghissa, Giovanni – Manera, Enrico (Eds.), Filosofie del mito del Novecento, Roma, Carocci, 2015.
Lehmann, Hans-Thies, “La presenza del teatro”, Culture Teatrali, 21 (2011): 17-30.
Id., Postdramatisches Theater, (1999), trad. it. Il teatro postdrammatico, Imola-Bologna, Cuepress, 2017.
Léonard-Roques, Véronique – Mesnard, Philippe, Cassandre. Figure du témoignage et de transmission mémorielle, Paris, Kimé, 2015.
Léonard-Roques, Véronique, “Essai d’approche sociopoétique de la figure de Cassandre”, Sociopoétique, 10.02.2016, goo.gl/V38xZ0, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Liapis, Vayos, “Η λογοτεχνική πρόσληψη της αρχαίας ελληνικής τραγωδίας στον εικοστό και εικοστό πρώτο αιώνα” (“La ricezione letteraria della tragedia antica nel XX e XXI secolo”), Αρχαία Ελληνική Τραγωδία (Tragedia greca antica), Ed. Andreas Markantonatos, Athina, Gutenberg, 2008: 265-447.
Id., “Eπίμετρο” (“Postfazione”), Marios Pontikas, Xλιμίν-τρισμα (Nitrito), Athina, Mov Skiouros, 2015: 77-93.
Maffesoli, Michel, Le retour du tragic dans les sociétés postmodernes (2000), trad. it. L’istante eterno. Ritorno del tragico nel postmoderno, Roma, Luca Sossella, 2003.
Mazzoldi, Sabina, Cassandra, la vergine e l’indovina: identità di un personaggio da Omero all’Ellenismo, Pisa-Roma, Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali, 2001.
Montanari, Tomaso, Cassandra muta. Intellettuali e potere nell’Italia senza verità, Milano, Giunti, 2017.
Moussaoui, Rosa, “Le Sisyphe grec, mauvaise conscience de l’Europe libérale”, L’Humanité, 25.01.2016, goo.gl/HPKIzO, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Novelli, Massimo, “Saramago: nessuno crede a Cassandra”, la Repubblica, 19.09.2006, goo.gl/I6vzbL, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Papandreou, Nikiforos, “Ο μύθος των Ατρειδών στο νεότερο θέατρο” (“Il mito degli Atridi nel teatro moderno”), Iάκωβος Καμπανέλλης. Θέατρο (Iàkovos Kambanellis: il teatro), vol.VI, Athina, Kedros, 1994: 11-18.
Patsalidis, Savvas, “From Historical Realism to Ahistorical Postmodernism: The Desemiotization of Contemporary Greek Theatre”, European Journal for Semiotic Studies, 8.4 (1996): 667-88.
Id., “Ο θεατρικός μονόλογος της εποχή του ναρκισσισμού” (“Il monologo teatrale nell’epoca del narcisismo”), Παράβασις/Parabasis, 8 (2008): 227-42.
Patsalidis, Savvas – Stavrakopoulou, Anna (Eds.), The Geographies of Contemporary Greek Theatre: About Utopias, Dystopias and Heterotopias, numero monografico di Gramma/ΓΡΑΜΜΑ, 22.2 (2014): 1-250.
Pefanis, Ghiorgos, “Sur la presence du mythe grec ancien dans la dramaturgie grecque moderne”, Revue des Etudes Néo-Helléniques, n.s. 6 (2010): 121-33.
Polenakis, Alexandros, “Παρατηρώντας το γίγνεσθαι” (“Osservando il divenire”), Avghì, 29.11.1990.
Pontikas, Marios, Άπαντα τα θεατρικά III (Teatro. Tutte le opere, III), Athina, Aigokeros, 2007.
Id., conferenza per il ciclo Δραματική γραφή: παρόν, παρελθόν και μέλλον του ελληνικού θεάτρου (Scrittura drammatica: presente, passato e futuro del teatro greco), Teatro Nazionale di Atene, 07.12.2011.
Id., Χλιμίντρισμα (Nitrito), Athina, Mov Skiouros, 2015.
Racine, Romain, “Cassandre”, Dictionnaire des mythes féminins, Ed. Pierre Brunel, Monaco, Éditions du Rocher, 2002: 336-343.
Id., Le Mythe littéraire de Cassandre. Vingt apparitions de la prophétesse troyenne: entre perte et recherche d'identité, tesi di dottorato, Paris-Sorbonne, 2003.
Schelbitzki Pickle, Linda, “Christa Wolf’s Cassandra: Parallels to Feminism in the West”, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 28.3 (1987): 149-57.
Sidiropoulou, Avra, “Greek contemporary approaches to tragedy: Terzopoulos’ revisions of Aeschylus”, Contemporary Adaptations of Greek Tragedy. Auteurship and Directorial Visions, Ed. George Rodosthenous, London, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2017: 53-72.
Steiner, George, Death of Tragedy (1961), trad. it. Morte della tragedia, Milano, Garzanti 1995.
Tagliapietra, Andrea (ed.), Sulla catastrofe, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2004.
Tentorio Gilda, “Riscrivere il mito: Kassandra (2008) di Sergio Blanco, un personaggio in-between”, Stratagemmi. Prospettive teatrali, 23 (2012): 101-132.
Ead., “Atene e Acropoli. Proiezioni mentali e inquietudini nell’immaginario greco contemporaneo”, The mediterranean city between myth and reality, Ed. Federica Frediani, Lugano, Nerbini International-Inscripta Sagl, 2014: 221-250.
Ead., Cassandra: il futuro non esiste, recensione allo spettacolo Cassandra o del tempo divorato, (di e con Elisabetta Pozzi, Teatro Franco Parenti 1-13 marzo 2016), goo.gl/ajGQ13, 13.03.2016 (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Theodoropoulou, Vanessa, “Δεν είμαι ενταγμένος σε καμία ομάδα” (“Mi colloco fuori corrente”), I Kathimerinì, 17.01.2010, goo.gl/1HU6jr, online (ultimo accesso 16/05/2017).
Tsatsoulis, Dimitris, “Το τέλος του λόγου. Ο θρίαμβος της γραφής” (“La fine del logos. Il trionfo della scrittura”), Nea Estia, 1805 (2007): 1018-21.
Tzogòpoulos, George, The Greek Crisis in the Media: Stereotyping in the International Press, Farnham, Ashgate Publishing, 2013.
Wolf, Christa, Kassandra (1983), trad.it. Cassandra, Roma, e/o, 1984.
Ead., Voraussetzungen einer Erzählung: Kassandra (1983), trad. it. Premesse a Cassandra. Quattro lezioni su come nasce un racconto, Roma, e/o, 1984.
Copyright Notice
You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to adapt the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
