World Literature Course: 'The Blacks' by Jean Jenet - Essay Example

? World Literature 'The Blacks' by Jean Jenet Instead of Prelude: Jenet in the Middle of French Post-War Absurd Dramaturgy In this paper we will analyze (and provide a brief commentary) on Jean Jenet's fragment from the play 'The Blacks' (originally, 'Les Negres,' published in 1958) (Genet, 1958). This commentary, therefore, will be focused on a fragment which begins from 'VILLAGE, affole: Negres, le moment du recit declame...' to '...BOBO: Quelqu'un.' (pp. 37---39) Of course, to provide the analysis correctly it should be added some additional information from other plays, as well as from playwriter's personal backgrounds. So, let us start with this (I mean personal background); then, will go to few key emphases in a whole book 'The Blacks'; afterwards, we will make a truly conceptual job on the current fragment/episode. 1 In the initial sub-chapter we will only provide some key-points from Jenet's biography in order to understand the fragment properly. 1/ Since his unsuccessful childhood, Jean used to be a thief, like Vijon. 2/ He was extremely interested in politics, participated as a 'leftist.' 3/ Thus, he loved Soviet Union's regime. 4/ His plays were influenced by strict/strong racist views, but he was a true defender of the so called 'blacks' (viewed them as 'miserables'). 5/ Among his good friends were Alber Camus and Andre Jid, who like his homosexualistic intentions/implications. In short, he was really deviant as a French writer: homosexualist, leftist, thief in his childhood, humanist, and … absurdist. 2 Listen to his words --- please note, that this quotation was very popular in time of its creation --- about 'The Blacks' production, 1959 (Bradby, 1998): 'This play, written, I repeat, by a white man, is intended for a white audience, but if, which is unlikely, it is ever performed before a black audience, then a white person, male or female, should be invited every evening. The organizer of the show should welcome him formally, dress him in ceremonial costume and lead him to him seat, preferably in the first row of the orchestra. The actors will play for him. A spotlight should be focused upon this symbolic white throughout the performance. But what if no white person accepted? Then let white masks be distributed to the black spectators as they enter the theater. And if the blacks refuse the masks, then let a dummy be used.' What does it mean? Presumably, he expected to involve us, spectators, in his absurd Game of Racism. It could be perceived as an allegory to real politics (and social relations) of the time. Hostility is everywhere, and it immerses even innocent people, who become aware of such ugly tricks (or racism). Maybe, Jenet suggested (instead of his personal feeling of racism, which is so hard to be proven in his personal case) that society in its everyday life (and everyone of us, as its usual and ordinary members) needs Enemy (or, The Other One, i.e. 'Blacks' or 'Judes') --- Big Brother --- for staying alive, like for example Soviet Union's social industry. Thus, totalitarian society (Soviet, as well as democratic) needs to be pointed on an external, outer, enemy, and members of this society become united in front of Such Ugly Enemy (i.e. 'Blacks' or 'Judes'). Consequently, Jenet tries to prove a statement that politics is a game when some people are getting united to struggle with their Big Enemy, which in fact organizes the society (with an assistance of a feeling of hostility). 3 Our fragment is very small. But all these implications could be found in it without troubles. There are few key points concerning this episode. In short: 'big thoughts' expressed without meaning; gaps between scenes; absence of general meaning; 'chaosmos' of small meanings; variety of literature allusions; presence of 'Blacks' in society ('victimized' position) and in the play, where 'blacks' presented like a big mass without individual speakers, 'blacks' is rather a topic than a mass of living creatures, acting members of society/play. Firstly, play does not have its general and positive meaning, its absurd, meaningless in terms of its logic frame. But, nevertheless, it has only one instead. 'Blacks.' Big Enemy of the society in the play, big mass of living creatures (presumably!) without their individual personalities. Many polylogues in the play discussed them in terms of hostility: 'whites' are good. The only general truth: 'blacks' are bad (VILLAGE: '…Ah, le temps merveilleux ou l'on chassait le negre et l'antilope !' ('Ah, wonderful time when we hunted upon negro and antelope!')), but nobody were able to listen to their position, which was not even represented properly. Far from his personal racism, Jenet depicted his 'blacks' as Nazi's 'judes' in time of Second World War. Second, there is a 'chaosmos' (Jilles Deleuze's term) of small meanings, whereas 'big thoughts' expressed without meaning at all. For example: ARCHIBALD: 'Faites ce que vous pourrez;' ('Do what you can') and, later on, 'Ne dites que ce qu'il faut dire.' ('Say only what to say') These ideas were expressed in a big 'chaosmos' of meaningless, but operative and functional, thoughts: for example: ARCHIBALD: 'Votre pere ? N'utilisez plus ce mot;' ('Your father? Do not use this word') and, NEIGE: 'Mais je sais qu'il l'aimait.' ('But I know that he loved her') Third, 'gaps between scenes' element means Jenet's absurdist dramaturgy principle. He tries to produce totally unexpected performance with only one ('blacks' as massive and negative heroes/principle of theatrical action) logical frame. That is why scences in his actes are very numerous, but without linear or even polinuclear dramaturgy. Hovewer, his heroes ('Archibald,' 'Village,' 'Neige,' 'Vertu') speak only about one subject all the time: 'blacks,' 'love,' 'postility,' 'people,' etcetera. Four, 'variety of literature allusions' also exists. Along with phonologic (instead of semantic) level of meaning, this element sometimes creates very intersting meaning in an unexpected period of the play, bringing inner dramaturgy. Sometimes it is clear that words are useless and meaningless, but remarks are quite helpful in heroes' coordination within the play. Sometimes even heroes are not aware of his actions at all, and these remarks (which are in brackets, as usual) allow us to understand at least something. Meaningless Conclusion As a narrative, 'The Blacks' could be recognized as a very successful form in world literature to define an image of Big Enemy, which totalitarian society produces for its coordination/socialization. Jean Jenet, absurdist in theatre, provides his 'Blacks' to depict a collective image of negation in a modern society. Therefore, meaningless of the text and small presence of other meanings were created only to illustrate this Only Fact (from such perspective, 'Negros' is the only word of his masterpiece). Moreover, this 'negative' meaning is also meaningless. He proves: when 'whites' are 'whites' because they are simply not 'blacks,' they are 'blacks' in a broad perspective of political history and world literature. Hence, Jean Jenet became a leftist activist to defend western democracy from the total meaningless of blaming somebody as 'blacks' (only to be organized in terms of successful state, like Charles de Golles' France of the time). References Bradby, D., 1998. Genet, Jean, Cambridge: Cambridge UP. Genet, J., 1960. The Blacks: A Clown Show, New York: Grove P. Read More