Yeats’s Dreaming Back, "Purgatory", and Trauma
As few plays can compare with Yeats’s late play Purgatory with its probe into the tormented human psyche, this play can be viewed as a precursor to trauma plays we see later in modern Irish theatre. Yeats’s Purgatory not only deals with a subject of generational trauma accompanied by grinding guilt,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Firenze University Press
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Studi Irlandesi |
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| Online Access: | https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-sijis/article/view/12891 |
| _version_ | 1818112284372762624 |
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| author | Chu He |
| author_facet | Chu He |
| author_sort | Chu He |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As few plays can compare with Yeats’s late play Purgatory with its probe into the tormented human psyche, this play can be viewed as a precursor to trauma plays we see later in modern Irish theatre. Yeats’s Purgatory not only deals with a subject of generational trauma accompanied by grinding guilt, shame, anger, and despair but also establishes many of the defining features of later trauma plays through its hybrid form of realism, symbolism, Japanese Noh, minimalist setting, linear-cyclical structure, etc. Yeats’s interest in spiritualism and occultism also allows him a few profound glimpses into psychological studies: Yeats’s A Vision, though viewed by many as his philosophical writings on mystic spirituality, contains some pioneering insights into trauma. By placing Purgatory in dialogue with A Vison, I want to acknowledge A Vision as the theoretical framework for the play, which, however, does not reduce the play to a mere illustration of the theory Yeats outlines in his A Vision, but rather, enables us to understand the complicated process of working through trauma. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T03:16:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a93a168fd4e7419392f1beae62a382c1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2239-3978 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T03:16:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | Firenze University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Studi Irlandesi |
| spelling | doaj.art-a93a168fd4e7419392f1beae62a382c12022-12-22T01:22:44ZengFirenze University PressStudi Irlandesi2239-39782021-06-011110.13128/SIJIS-2239-3978-12891Yeats’s Dreaming Back, "Purgatory", and TraumaChu He0Indiana University South BendAs few plays can compare with Yeats’s late play Purgatory with its probe into the tormented human psyche, this play can be viewed as a precursor to trauma plays we see later in modern Irish theatre. Yeats’s Purgatory not only deals with a subject of generational trauma accompanied by grinding guilt, shame, anger, and despair but also establishes many of the defining features of later trauma plays through its hybrid form of realism, symbolism, Japanese Noh, minimalist setting, linear-cyclical structure, etc. Yeats’s interest in spiritualism and occultism also allows him a few profound glimpses into psychological studies: Yeats’s A Vision, though viewed by many as his philosophical writings on mystic spirituality, contains some pioneering insights into trauma. By placing Purgatory in dialogue with A Vison, I want to acknowledge A Vision as the theoretical framework for the play, which, however, does not reduce the play to a mere illustration of the theory Yeats outlines in his A Vision, but rather, enables us to understand the complicated process of working through trauma.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-sijis/article/view/12891A Visiondreaming backPurgatorytraumaYeats |
| spellingShingle | Chu He Yeats’s Dreaming Back, "Purgatory", and Trauma Studi Irlandesi A Vision dreaming back Purgatory trauma Yeats |
| title | Yeats’s Dreaming Back, "Purgatory", and Trauma |
| title_full | Yeats’s Dreaming Back, "Purgatory", and Trauma |
| title_fullStr | Yeats’s Dreaming Back, "Purgatory", and Trauma |
| title_full_unstemmed | Yeats’s Dreaming Back, "Purgatory", and Trauma |
| title_short | Yeats’s Dreaming Back, "Purgatory", and Trauma |
| title_sort | yeats s dreaming back purgatory and trauma |
| topic | A Vision dreaming back Purgatory trauma Yeats |
| url | https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-sijis/article/view/12891 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chuhe yeatssdreamingbackpurgatoryandtrauma |