Dramaturgies de l'ombre (review)

Published under the direction of Françoise Lavocat and François Lecercle, Dramaturgies de l'ombre is an ambitious collection, grouping twenty-nine essays around the central theme of the ghost in occidental theater. As Lecercle's avant-propos records, the volume includes not only the proceedings of a colloquium organized by the Centre d'études et de recherches Comparatistes sur les Littératures Antiques et Modernes (clam) and by the Groupe de Recherches de l'Antiquité aux Lumières (gral) at Paris IV and Paris VII in March of 2002, but also some of the papers presented at an earlier clam colloquium in 1999 at Jussieu.

The return of the dead is, of course, a theme as old as theater itself. As Lecercle reminds us, the earliest extant play of the occidental theater (Aeschylus' Persians) already stages the return of a dead king. With ghosts and specters haunting the western stage ever since, it is not surprising that researchers from every area of literary and theater studies were willing and able to contribute to this volume. While Lecercle and Lavocat wisely disclaim any pretense at encyclopedic completeness (wisely, since even at just over 530 pages, the volume still shows some gaps in coverage), Dramaturgies de l'ombre displays stunning breadth, including essays on time periods from antiquity to the present and treating all the major European literatures. Thanks to this grand historical and geographical sweep, the essays taken together reveal the emergence of certain literary tropes and dramaturgical practices over the centuries, while at the same time shedding light on the evolving understanding of death and the afterlife in European culture.

More impressive than the project's scope is its inclusion of various approaches to the drama. Too often in theater studies, the play as literary document takes precedence, while the performative dimension of the work is elided or erased. Here, however, Lecercle and Lavocat have placed essays focusing on theatrical performance side by side with essays focusing on the play as text. This is perhaps the volume's greatest originality and its greatest strength, as it demonstrates how these approaches can and should inform one another. Even with occasional overlap among the essays (at least four treat Shakespeare, for example), the volume never becomes redundant; on the contrary, it demonstrates how a multifaceted and multidisciplinary approach to a hybrid genre such as the theater can be both enriching and challenging.

From Patricia Legagneux's essay tracing tragic ghosts in the ancient theater to their source in the epic, to Michèle Dancourt's treatment of the dead in Genet, Dramaturgies de l'ombre touches on so many areas that it will be a resource to which researchers in theater studies will return again and again. Written entirely in French, the volume will not necessarily be useful to our colleagues in North American classics or drama departments; on the other hand, even those in French who are not specialists of theater will find it a worthwhile and interesting read. In short, Lavocat and Lecercle have given us a thoughtful and thought-provoking volume that belongs in every university library.