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THE SELF AS TEXT Uses of Autobiography in the Theatre (Animationsas Model) Bonnie Marranca Many artists draw all their resources from themselves and continually reflect only their own image. Breuer's use of autobiography, however, goes way beyond a purely narcissistic approach; he is self-projected, not selfcentered . By that I mean he situates himself in a social context, and what he writes in his plays relates to the world around him. It is the I in "the world," not the "I" in its own world. If the animations can be said to treat consciousness from three different perspectives, and I believe that they can, what Breuer develops throughout them is a highlyskillful thematics of consciousness. To the extent that the animations function on an autobiographical level, Breuer-as-writer reveals his personal relationship to his art, and his feelings about being an artist. He does this not through the projection of an omnipotent "I" but through the personalities of animals who, instead of people, are the principal "characters" in the plays. The notion of "animation" refers to the life spirit (the soul) he gives them. (Here it might be worth considering Roland Barthes ' distinction between "figuration" and "representation" of the author in the text, the former based on presence, the latter on description.) Drawing on the rich and popular historical tradition of the beast epic Breuer creates his own fables of contemporary life and manners, telling us in his own punning fashion how the individual functions as a social "animal." These fables operate on at least two levels: metaphorically, they function as art 85 about making art; mythically, they work to demystify stereotypical attitudes about malehood. Breuer's choice of animals is not arbitrary, but works as a kind of totemic classification. The natural activities of each animal's (horse,-beaver, dog) life are made to coincide with human modes of feeling and perception in the context of the plays. In this way, the horse evokes feelings of freedom and romance, the beaver creates defenses, and the dog is caught in a master/slave relationship. All of the latter are metaphors for certain intellectual and emotional positions, and are played with on several levels. And at the same time, from the mythic perspective Breuer debunks the male prerogative of knowing who you are. The metaphoric and mythic fuse and interact contrapuntally in the narrative line of the texts, with the metaphoric inviting a partly psychoanalytic approach, and the mythic the more structural . By using metaphors of animals instead of an identifiable self Breuer distances himself from his material, allowing him to take an ironic stance toward it which he does every chance he gets. The result is literally a cross between the irony of Kafka's fables and the hyperbole of the animated cartoon , by Breuer's own admission the two most influential sources of the animation concept. The literary-conciet of the fable gives-him complete freedom of expression while at the same time offering the protection of a mask. Breuer has devised his texts in such a way that they show the "eye" looking at the "I." It is from this perspective that the animations reveal, not facts of life, but aspects of existence. The use of autobiography, in the sense of the "self as text," is one of the characteristic features of current experimental theatre and performance art which in the seventies has been evolving new strategies for dealing with content. If theatre in the sixties was defined by the collaborative creation of the text, in recent years individual authorship has gained ascendancy; likewise, theatre in the sixties (and all offshoots of the Happenings, too) was outer-directed whereas now it (and performance art) is inner-directed: perhaps the shift can be said to be from the exploration of environmental space to the exploration of mental space, and from narration to documentation . Following the current interest in America in a highly refined spiritual life and the evolution of new shapes of consciousness, the performing arts are actively redefining their own spirit: in both cases, the emphasis is on the dialogue with the self. The animations, in particular, show a conscious development of personal mythology, a tendency...

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