HAROLD PINTER’S AESTHETICS IN THE MAKING: FROM HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPTS TO DRAFTS  MOONLIGHT AND ASHES TO ASHES

Nesrin Degirmencioglu

Article Details

HAROLD PINTER’S AESTHETICS IN THE MAKING: FROM HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPTS TO DRAFTS MOONLIGHT AND ASHES TO ASHES

Authors:

Nesrin Degirmencioglu

Publisher:

Ankara University

Main Topics:

Sanat ve Edebiyat

Journal:

Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.63 Issue 2, pp.900-935

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

12/2023

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001305659

pISSN:

2459-0150

Keywords:

Abstract:

 Martin Esslin emphasizes that instead of being in suspense as to what will happen next, the spectators are, in the Theatre of the Absurd, put into suspense as to what the play may mean. This suspense continues even after the curtain has come down 1960, p. 14. In accordance with Bertolt Brechts Verfremdung effects, alienating the audience from the characters and urging himher to think, question and respond to the events or the dialogues taking place on stage, Pinters plays  with all the obscurity and uncertainty the characters are caught in  endow their audiences with more than enough tools to become subjects in the meaning-making process of his plays. No matter whether Pinters works are categorized as modernist through his transformation of the audience into subjects or just like more recently categorized as postmodernist in the works of Austin Quigley and Mireia Aragay 2009, what enables Pinter to be categorized as both is the obscurity of the language that he uses, and particularly in case of postmodernism, just like Fredric Jamesons assertion of the breakdown in the signifying chain 1984, p.71, the broken correlation between the signified and signifiers in the dialogues that Pinter uses, creates the effect of ambiguity in his works. Pinter, in parallel to these definitions, states that If Im being explicit, Im failing qtd in Knowles, 2009, p. 75. Considering how important the creation of ambiguity and uncertainty in Pinters plays is, this essay focuses on the creation process of the Theatre of the Absurd in Pinters Moonlight and Ashes to Ashes by examining the handwritten and type scripted manuscripts available in the Harold Pinter Archive at the British Library UK.

 Martin Esslin emphasizes that instead of being in suspense as to what will happen next, the spectators are, in the Theatre of the Absurd, put into suspense as to what the play may mean. This suspense continues even after the curtain has come down 1960, p. 14. In accordance with Bertolt Brechts Verfremdung effects, alienating the audience from the characters and urging himher to think, question and respond to the events or the dialogues taking place on stage, Pinters plays  with all the obscurity and uncertainty the characters are caught in  endow their audiences with more than enough tools to become subjects in the meaning-making process of his plays. No matter whether Pinters works are categorized as modernist through his transformation of the audience into subjects or just like more recently categorized as postmodernist in the works of Austin Quigley and Mireia Aragay 2009, what enables Pinter to be categorized as both is the obscurity of the language that he uses, and particularly in case of postmodernism, just like Fredric Jamesons assertion of the breakdown in the signifying chain 1984, p.71, the broken correlation between the signified and signifiers in the dialogues that Pinter uses, creates the effect of ambiguity in his works. Pinter, in parallel to these definitions, states that If Im being explicit, Im failing qtd in Knowles, 2009, p. 75. Considering how important the creation of ambiguity and uncertainty in Pinters plays is, this essay focuses on the creation process of the Theatre of the Absurd in Pinters Moonlight and Ashes to Ashes by examining the handwritten and type scripted manuscripts available in the Harold Pinter Archive at the British Library UK.

 Martin Esslin emphasizes that instead of being in suspense as to what will happen next, the spectators are, in the Theatre of the Absurd, put into suspense as to what the play may mean. This suspense continues even after the curtain has come down 1960, p. 14. In accordance with Bertolt Brechts Verfremdung effects, alienating the audience from the characters and urging himher to think, question and respond to the events or the dialogues taking place on stage, Pinters plays  with all the obscurity and uncertainty the characters are caught in  endow their audiences with more than enough tools to become subjects in the meaning-making process of his plays. No matter whether Pinters works are categorized as modernist through his transformation of the audience into subjects or just like more recently categorized as postmodernist in the works of Austin Quigley and Mireia Aragay 2009, what enables Pinter to be categorized as both is the obscurity of the language that he uses, and particularly in case of postmodernism, just like Fredric Jamesons assertion of the breakdown in the signifying chain 1984, p.71, the broken correlation between the signified and signifiers in the dialogues that Pinter uses, creates the effect of ambiguity in his works. Pinter, in parallel to these definitions, states that If Im being explicit, Im failing qtd in Knowles, 2009, p. 75. Considering how important the creation of ambiguity and uncertainty in Pinters plays is, this essay focuses on the creation process of the Theatre of the Absurd in Pinters Moonlight and Ashes to Ashes by examining the handwritten and type scripted manuscripts available in the Harold Pinter Archive at the British Library UK.

 Martin Esslin Absürt Tiyatronun izleyicisinin, bir sonraki adımda ne olacağını merak etmek yerine, oyunun ne anlama gelebileceği konusunda bir merak içinde bırakıldıklarını vurgular 1960, p. 14. Bertolt Brecht Verfremdung etkisi tekniğini kullanarak tiyatro izleyicisini sahnedeki karakterlere yabancılaştırıp, izleyicinin düşünmesi, sorgulaması ve sahnedeki diyalog ve olaylara tepki vermesi konusunda onları cesaretlendirir. Harold Pinter de oyunlarında, Brechtin tekniği ile uyum içinde, karakterin içinde bulunduğu bilinmezlik ve belirsizlikler aracılığı ile izleyicisini oyuna anlam verme süreçlerinde özne kılar. Pinter ister izleyicisini anlam vermede özneye dönüştüren bir modernist olarak görülsün, isterse de son yıllarda Austin Quigley ve Mireia Aragayin 2009 eserlerinde olduğu gibi bir postmodernist olarak sınıflandırılsın, Pinterin her iki sınıfa girmesini sağlayan esas faktör, kullandığı dilde bilinmezlik unsurunu öne çıkarmasıdır. Özellikle postmodernizm alanında, Fredric Jamesonın ileri sürdüğü işaret zincirinde yaşanan kırılma 1984, p.71 ile paralel olarak, Pinterin yarattığı diyaloglarda işaret eden ile işaret edilen arasındaki ilişkinin yıkılması, oyunlarındaki belirsizlik etkisini artırır. Pinterin Eğer açık bir şekilde anlatıyorsam, başarısızımdır Knowlesda alıntılandı, 2009, p. 75 ifadesi de bu belirsizlik unsurunun bilinçli şekilde yaratıldığını destekler. Belirsizlik ve bilinmezlik unsurlarının Pinterin oyunlarındaki önemi göz önüne alınarak, bu makale Londradaki İngiliz Kütüphanesinin Pinter Arşivindeki Ayışığı ve Küller Küllere oyunlarının el yazması ve müsveddelerini inceleyip Pinterin eserlerinin yaratılış süreçlerinde Absürt Tiyatroyu nasil oluşturduğuna ışık tutmayı amaçlar.

Article Details

HAROLD PINTER’S AESTHETICS IN THE MAKING: FROM HANDWRITTEN MANUSCRIPTS TO DRAFTS MOONLIGHT AND ASHES TO ASHES

Authors:

Nesrin Degirmencioglu

Publisher:

Ankara University

Main Topics:

Sanat ve Edebiyat

Journal:

Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.63 Issue 2, pp.900-935

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

12/2023

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001305659

pISSN:

2459-0150

Harold Pinter

Theatre of the Absurd

Moonlight

Ashes to Ashes

Pinter Archieve

ManuscriptsHarold Pinter

Absürt Tiyatro

Ayışığı

Küller Küllere

Pinter Arşivi

El Yazmaları.

Issues

Article Details

Authors: Nesrin Degirmencioglu

Publisher: Ankara University

Main Topics: Sanat ve Edebiyat

Journal: Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.63 Issue 2, pp.900-935

Document Type: Article

Publication Date: 12/2023

Document Language: English

Document ID (Org No.): 2001305659

pISSN: 2459-0150

Issues

Authors:

Nesrin Degirmencioglu

Publisher:

Ankara University

Main Topics:

Sanat ve Edebiyat

Journal:

Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.63 Issue 2, pp.900-935

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

12/2023

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

2001305659

pISSN:

2459-0150