Antonin Artaud and the Modern Theater ed. by Gene A. Plunka (review)

Book Reviews 355 GENE A. PLUNKA, ed. Antonin Artaud and the Modern Theater. Madison: -Fairleigh Dickinson University Press 1994. pp. 285. $42.5°. The legacy of Antonin Artaud endures in the gap between theory and practice, between the lasting challenge of his theoretical writings and his failed career as actor, playwright , and director. Hence, recent studies in English tend to portray Anaud as a cultural hero and to consider his writing in light of his entire life, including his life-long madness. Gene Plunka's anthology adds a comparative dimension to this approach, whereby Artaud's ideas are reconsidered through the practice of various theatrical endeavors. In his introduction Plunka divides the fifteen articles of the book into two sections: the ftrst part "clarifies Artaud's theories and provides insight about his life and ideology " (30), and the second section "establishes Artaud's influence on, and relationship to, several significant twentieth-century dramatists, innovative performance artists, and seminal theater movements" (3 1). Among the first seven essays. two articles deal with Artaud's notion of cruelty. Leonard Koos's "Comic Cruelty: Artaud and Jarry" establishes the continuity between early and late phases in Artaud's writing by tracing the relations between violence and the comic to Artaud's idea of dissonance as an antecedent of cruelty. In "Cruelty and Cure" Jane Goodall further interrogates "the afflJlT1ative end of the metaphor of the plague as one of Artaud's synonyms for theater of cruelty. The rest of the articles in this section explore the origins of Artaud's ideas. Dominique Duvert's study of Artaud's dispute with his contemporaries Jacques Copeau, Charles Dul1in, and Gaston Baty over the question of the text is an'important contribution to Artaud research, especially when she goes beyond the common method of analysis based on Artaud's own statements and introduces the positions of his adversaries . Luis Arata explores the innuence of two Mayan books, the Papal Yuh and the Chi/am Balam on Artaud's Mexican adventure. Bettina Knapp goes beyond Artaud's (mis)understanding of Balinese theater by reading two of its sacred works, the Ramayana and Mahabharara. and two of its rituals, the Barong Dance Drama and the Kecak dance. William Baker applies Victor Turner's anthropological theories on ritual and perfonnative behavior to descril?e the transformations that empower and define the theater of cruelty. Baker's article thus closes the first section by linking the intercultural approach with aesthetic analysis as two important aspects of the anthology. This link, which sustains the structure of Artaud's Theater and it's Double, is apparent in three more articles from the second edition: Daniel A. Kister finds Artaudian aspects in Korean drama. Marion Peter Hold discusses "Artaudian Affinities in the Theater of Antonio Buero-Vallejo".and Christine Kiebuzinska offers a deconstructive reading of memory and nostalgia by comparing Arlaud with the Polish artist Witkacy as "A Relationship Based on the Mystery of Existence." Naomi Greene's study of "Artaud and Fascism" precedes Baker's article, but it would better belong in the second edition. Her main contribution lies in situating Artaud in the contemporary critical debate regarding the dialogue between "the critical 356 Book Reviews discourse and the clinical discourse" (104). Indeed, Greene's article calls attention to the fact that many anicles give little consideration to contemporary theory and ignore important Anaud critics such as Jacques Derrida. Julia Kristeva, Leo Bersani, Felix Guattari, Gilles Deleuze, and Susan Sontag. Robert Baker-White's study of community,and representation outlines the pivotal theoretical interest in Artaud today. Baker-White locates the ethical paradox inherent in Artaud's desire for community by applying Derrida's critique of representation to his analysis of Anaud's legacy in experimental theater of the collectivist avant-garde. While focusing on the seminal works of Grotowski. Chaikin, and Schechner, his assessment comes close to Greene's, for he too is challenging the very modernist fascination with Artaud's notion of cruelty. However, other articles in the second section suggest a different view of Artaud's influence, which can be discerned from an astute reading of Derrida. Thomas Akstens writes in this vein about "Representation and De-realization: Artaud...