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The Theatrical World of Michel de Ghelderode

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2022

Extract

The recent death of Ghelderode has awakened renewed interest in his drama. One of the most astounding figures in the contemporary theatre (a theatre full of astounding figures), his work is characterized by such bizarre aspects as fetishism, living dead men, leaps through time, devils, sorcerers, ghosts, grinning buffoons, legendary heroes stubbornly destroying their legend, historical characters denying the facts of their history, philosophical drunkards, and death as a character in farce.

Obsessed by a universe of dark forces in endless ferment, he saw evil and damnation everywhere. Plagued by them, it did not occur to him to attack them with righteous wrath, as did Calderón and Tirso de Molina, the priest-playwrights of the Golden Age of Spanish drama. In Ghelderode's works the devil is alive and active. Moreover, if one probes beneath his anxiety, one finds a certain satisfaction, a feeling of tenderness and amusement.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1963 The Tulane Drama Review

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