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Ütopya ve Distopyanın Diyalektik Anlayışı Perspektifinden Edward Bond’un Diyalektik Tiyatrosu

Year 2023, Volume: 17 Issue: 1, 30 - 42, 30.06.2023
https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1255066

Abstract

Edward Bond, sanatın önemli olduğunu çünkü her fikrin eleştiriye tabi olduğu sürekli bir varyasyon diyalektiğinden oluştuğunu ileri sürer. Bond, ütopik bir sanat eserinin kurmaca bir ortamda gerçek çatışmaları çözdüğünü iddia etmez; daha ziyade bu konuları kendi iç yapısında somut bir şekilde ortaya koyduğunu, yeni ve farklı bir varoluş ihtiyacını yansıttığını vurgular. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Marksist-diyalektik tiyatronun en önemli temsilcilerinden biri olan Bond'un The Bundle (1978) ve Summer (1982) oyunlarında nasıl bir ütopya (özgün)/distopya (özgün olmayan/bağımlı) ve umut/umutsuzluk dramaturjisi yarattığını açıklamaktır. Bond, sosyalist bir ütopya arzusunu teşvik etmek için sanatın, özellikle tiyatronun kullanılması gerektiğine inanmaktadır. Bond, hayatın (kapitalizm içindeki) çelişkilerini ütopik bir kurguyla çözmez; daha ziyade, kapitalist sömürünün bireyleri umutsuzluğa sürükleyen sorunlarının oyunlarının iç yapısında görünür kılınması gerektiğini savunur. Bunu, kapitalizmin çelişkilerinin ön plana çıktığı bir tür Brechtyen tiyatro aracılığıyla yapıyor. Brecht gibi Bond da toplumsal değişikliği gerçekleştirmek için tiyatroyu kullanmaya çalışır-her ikisi de seyircileri toplumsal değişimin gerekli ve mümkün olduğuna ikna etmek için toplumun temel sorunlarını yansıtırlar. Bond, yeni ve farklı bir varoluş için kasıtlı olarak bir siyasi propaganda ve ütopik umut karışımı kullanır. Oyunları, politik olarak uyanık bir toplum ve eşitlik ve özgürlüğü ön planda tutan barışçıl bir dünya arzusunu sergiler.

References

  • Adiseshiah, S. (2011). ‘We Said We Wouldn’t Look Back’: Utopia and the backward glance in Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade’s Salad Days. Studies in Musical Theatre, 5(2), 149-161.
  • Adiseshiah, S. (2019). The Utopian Potential of Aging and Longevity in Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah (1921), Age, Culture, Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1-30.
  • Adiseshiah, S. (2020), Drama and Utopian Forms of Relationality, mediAzioni 27, D33-D38. http://mediazioni.sitlec.unibo.it.
  • Adiseshiah, S. (2022). Utopian Drama in Search of a Genre. Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury.
  • Anderson, W. (2020). Revolutionary Artistry-- Brecht, Marx, and the Evolution of Epic Theatre. Honors Capstone Projects. 15.
  • Berti, E. (1978). Ancient Greek Dialectic as Expression of Freedom of Thought and Speech. Journal of the History of Ideas. 39(3), 347-370.
  • Biçer, A. G. (2008a). Edward Bond’un Tarihsel Oyunlarinda Diyalektik Yaklaşım, Atatürk Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Yayınlanmış Doktora Tezi.
  • Biçer, A. G. (2008b). Edward Bond’un Diyalektik Tiyatrosu, Kafkas Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitü Dergisi, 59-72.
  • Bond, E. (1978). On Brecht. Theatre Quarterly, 8(30), 34-35.
  • Bond, E. (1995). Letters, Volume II. Ed. Ian Stuart. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers.
  • Bond, E. (2013a). The Bundle; Human Cannon; Jackets; In the Company of Men. Methuen Drama.
  • Bond, E. (2013b). Bond Plays: 4: Worlds with Activists; Restoration; Summer. Methuen Drama.
  • Coult, T. (1977). Edward Bond. London: Eyre Methuen.
  • Dolan, J. (2005). Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theater. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
  • Gartman, D. (1991). Culture as Class Symbolization or Mass Reification? A Critique of Bourdieu's Distinction. American Journal of Sociology, 97(2), 421-447.
  • Gourg, C. (2008). The “Bundle” in Edward Bond’s Plays, an Avatar of the Unspeakable “Thing” », Études britanniques contemporaines [En ligne], 35.
  • Griffin, M. J. and Tom M. (2007). Introduction: Exploring Utopia, in Michael J. Griin and Tom Moylan (Eds.), Exploring the Utopian Impulse: Essays on Utopian thought and Practice (pp. 11–18). Oxford: Peter Lang.
  • Habib, M. A. R (2005). A History of Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present. Blackwell Publishing, UK.
  • Hamlyn, W. D. (1990). Aristotle on Dialectic. Philosophy. 65(254), 465-476.
  • Hay, M., Roberts, P. (1978). Edward Bond: A Companion to the Plays, Theatre Quarterly Publications: London. Hegel’s Science of Logic [Wissenschaft der Logik], translated by A.V. Miller, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.
  • Jones, R. D. (1980). Edward Bond’s Rational Theatre. Theatre Journal, 32(4), 505-517. https://doi.org/10.2307/3207412.
  • Klaić, D. (1995). Utopia Sustained. Theater, 26(1-2), 60–9.
  • Kumar, K. (1991). Utopianism. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
  • Lepore, J. (2017). ‘A Golden Age for Dystopian Fiction: What to make of our new literature of radical pessimism’, www.newyorker.com/magazine/ 2017/06/05/a-golden-age-fordystopian-fiction 29 March 2017.
  • Levitas, R. (2011). ‘Preface to the Student Edition’. In The Concept of Utopia, 7. Oxford: Peter Lang.
  • Maybee E. J. (2016). Hegel’s dialectics. The Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel-dialectics
  • Macdonald, C. (2015). Utopia: Three Plays of Postdramatic Theatre. Bristol, UK.
  • Marowitz, C. (1972). If a House is on Fire and I Cry for Fire, The New York Times, Sec.2, 2.
  • Marowitz, C. (1973). Confessions of a Counterfeit Critic. London: Methuen.
  • Pinkard, T. (2008). Hegelianism in the Twentieth Century In Dermot Moran (Ed.) The Routledge Companion to Twentieth Century Philosophy. (pp.118-148). Routledge.
  • Reid, T. (2019) The Dystopian Near-Future in Contemporary British Drama. Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, 7 (1). 72-88.
  • Reinelt J. 1991. Theorising Utopia Edward Bond’s War Plays, in Sue-Ellen Case and Janelle Reinelt (Eds.), The Performance of Power: Theatrical Discourse and Politics (pp. 221-232). University of Iowa Press.
  • The Encyclopedia Logic: Part 1 of the Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences [Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften I], translated by T.F. Geraets, W.A. Suchting, and H.S. Harris, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1991.
  • Tully, M. B. (1979). Edward Bond’s Theatre for Social Change. MA Thesis, The University of British Columbia.
  • Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and Literature. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
  • Xia, Y. 2014. Edward Bond’s Call for Justice in Summer. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(6). 1188-1192.

Edward Bond’s Dialectical Theatre from the Perspective of a Dialectical Understanding of Utopia and Dystopia

Year 2023, Volume: 17 Issue: 1, 30 - 42, 30.06.2023
https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1255066

Abstract

Edward Bond asserts that art is significant because it is made up of a constant dialectic of variation in which every idea is subject to criticism. Bond does not argue that a utopian work of art resolves actual conflicts in a fictitious setting; rather, he emphasises that it exposes these issues in a concrete way in its internal structure and reflects the need for a new and different existence. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how Bond, one of the most prominent representatives of Marxist-dialectical theatre, creates a dramaturgy of utopia (individual)/dystopia (dividual) and hope/hopelessness in his plays The Bundle (1978) and Summer (1982). Bond believes that art, particularly theatre, should be employed to encourage the desire for a socialist utopia. Bond does not resolve the contradictions of life (within capitalism) in a utopian fiction; rather, he contends that the problems of capitalist exploitation that drive individuals to hopelessness should be made visible in his plays’ internal structure. He does this through a kind of Brechtian theatre where the contradictions of capitalism are foregrounded. Like Brecht, Bond attempts to use theatre to promote change in society - both represent the fundamental problems of society to convince spectators that social change is necessary and possible. Bond purposefully employs a mix of political propaganda and a utopian hope for a new and different existence. His plays exhibit a desire for a politically awake society, and a peaceful world that prioritises equality and freedom.

References

  • Adiseshiah, S. (2011). ‘We Said We Wouldn’t Look Back’: Utopia and the backward glance in Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade’s Salad Days. Studies in Musical Theatre, 5(2), 149-161.
  • Adiseshiah, S. (2019). The Utopian Potential of Aging and Longevity in Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah (1921), Age, Culture, Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 1-30.
  • Adiseshiah, S. (2020), Drama and Utopian Forms of Relationality, mediAzioni 27, D33-D38. http://mediazioni.sitlec.unibo.it.
  • Adiseshiah, S. (2022). Utopian Drama in Search of a Genre. Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury.
  • Anderson, W. (2020). Revolutionary Artistry-- Brecht, Marx, and the Evolution of Epic Theatre. Honors Capstone Projects. 15.
  • Berti, E. (1978). Ancient Greek Dialectic as Expression of Freedom of Thought and Speech. Journal of the History of Ideas. 39(3), 347-370.
  • Biçer, A. G. (2008a). Edward Bond’un Tarihsel Oyunlarinda Diyalektik Yaklaşım, Atatürk Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Yayınlanmış Doktora Tezi.
  • Biçer, A. G. (2008b). Edward Bond’un Diyalektik Tiyatrosu, Kafkas Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitü Dergisi, 59-72.
  • Bond, E. (1978). On Brecht. Theatre Quarterly, 8(30), 34-35.
  • Bond, E. (1995). Letters, Volume II. Ed. Ian Stuart. Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers.
  • Bond, E. (2013a). The Bundle; Human Cannon; Jackets; In the Company of Men. Methuen Drama.
  • Bond, E. (2013b). Bond Plays: 4: Worlds with Activists; Restoration; Summer. Methuen Drama.
  • Coult, T. (1977). Edward Bond. London: Eyre Methuen.
  • Dolan, J. (2005). Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theater. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
  • Gartman, D. (1991). Culture as Class Symbolization or Mass Reification? A Critique of Bourdieu's Distinction. American Journal of Sociology, 97(2), 421-447.
  • Gourg, C. (2008). The “Bundle” in Edward Bond’s Plays, an Avatar of the Unspeakable “Thing” », Études britanniques contemporaines [En ligne], 35.
  • Griffin, M. J. and Tom M. (2007). Introduction: Exploring Utopia, in Michael J. Griin and Tom Moylan (Eds.), Exploring the Utopian Impulse: Essays on Utopian thought and Practice (pp. 11–18). Oxford: Peter Lang.
  • Habib, M. A. R (2005). A History of Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present. Blackwell Publishing, UK.
  • Hamlyn, W. D. (1990). Aristotle on Dialectic. Philosophy. 65(254), 465-476.
  • Hay, M., Roberts, P. (1978). Edward Bond: A Companion to the Plays, Theatre Quarterly Publications: London. Hegel’s Science of Logic [Wissenschaft der Logik], translated by A.V. Miller, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.
  • Jones, R. D. (1980). Edward Bond’s Rational Theatre. Theatre Journal, 32(4), 505-517. https://doi.org/10.2307/3207412.
  • Klaić, D. (1995). Utopia Sustained. Theater, 26(1-2), 60–9.
  • Kumar, K. (1991). Utopianism. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
  • Lepore, J. (2017). ‘A Golden Age for Dystopian Fiction: What to make of our new literature of radical pessimism’, www.newyorker.com/magazine/ 2017/06/05/a-golden-age-fordystopian-fiction 29 March 2017.
  • Levitas, R. (2011). ‘Preface to the Student Edition’. In The Concept of Utopia, 7. Oxford: Peter Lang.
  • Maybee E. J. (2016). Hegel’s dialectics. The Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy. Available at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel-dialectics
  • Macdonald, C. (2015). Utopia: Three Plays of Postdramatic Theatre. Bristol, UK.
  • Marowitz, C. (1972). If a House is on Fire and I Cry for Fire, The New York Times, Sec.2, 2.
  • Marowitz, C. (1973). Confessions of a Counterfeit Critic. London: Methuen.
  • Pinkard, T. (2008). Hegelianism in the Twentieth Century In Dermot Moran (Ed.) The Routledge Companion to Twentieth Century Philosophy. (pp.118-148). Routledge.
  • Reid, T. (2019) The Dystopian Near-Future in Contemporary British Drama. Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, 7 (1). 72-88.
  • Reinelt J. 1991. Theorising Utopia Edward Bond’s War Plays, in Sue-Ellen Case and Janelle Reinelt (Eds.), The Performance of Power: Theatrical Discourse and Politics (pp. 221-232). University of Iowa Press.
  • The Encyclopedia Logic: Part 1 of the Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences [Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften I], translated by T.F. Geraets, W.A. Suchting, and H.S. Harris, Indianapolis: Hackett, 1991.
  • Tully, M. B. (1979). Edward Bond’s Theatre for Social Change. MA Thesis, The University of British Columbia.
  • Williams, R. (1977). Marxism and Literature. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
  • Xia, Y. 2014. Edward Bond’s Call for Justice in Summer. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(6). 1188-1192.
There are 36 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Literary Theory
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Mesut Günenç 0000-0002-7077-1914

Publication Date June 30, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 17 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Günenç, M. (2023). Edward Bond’s Dialectical Theatre from the Perspective of a Dialectical Understanding of Utopia and Dystopia. Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 17(1), 30-42. https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1255066

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