Los Hermanos de Vondel y el poder de la imaginación

This article discusses the first series of performances of Joost van den Vondel’s Brothers in Amsterdam in 1641. The drama focuses on the heart-rending decision king David has to take to follow God’s will to ratify the executions of Saul’s sons and grandsons. With the staging of Brothers Vondel made...

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Main Author: Stijn Bussels
Format: Article
Language:Spanish
Published: Presses universitaires du Mirail 2020-12-01
Series:Criticón
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/criticon/17481
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author Stijn Bussels
author_facet Stijn Bussels
author_sort Stijn Bussels
collection DOAJ
description This article discusses the first series of performances of Joost van den Vondel’s Brothers in Amsterdam in 1641. The drama focuses on the heart-rending decision king David has to take to follow God’s will to ratify the executions of Saul’s sons and grandsons. With the staging of Brothers Vondel made an experiment in spreading the Word of God as profoundly, but also as respectfully as possible. He avoids showing the executions explicitly. Instead he uses diverse dramatic and visual means and most prominently a tableau vivant to urge the theatre-goers to create strong mental images and thus to empathize maximally with David. Vondel’s experiment in theatre practice has striking parallels with theatre theory of the same period. In his poetics Vondel’s close friend Gerardus Vossius initiates modern discussion on the overwhelming effect of dramatic performances. With the help of Longinus’s On the Sublime Vossius makes a distinction between the ‘cheap’ momentary effect of staging explicit cruelties and the long-lasting effect of our imagination. By placing a tableau vivant in the performance of Brothers at the center of attention we get a privileged view on theatre practice and related theoretical discussion on the effect of the dramatic performance in the Dutch Golden Age.
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spelling doaj.art-cdf388e3d31e4bb3bb18b18fb530e0632022-12-21T19:46:55ZspaPresses universitaires du MirailCriticón0247-381X2272-98522020-12-011409911610.4000/criticon.17481Los Hermanos de Vondel y el poder de la imaginaciónStijn BusselsThis article discusses the first series of performances of Joost van den Vondel’s Brothers in Amsterdam in 1641. The drama focuses on the heart-rending decision king David has to take to follow God’s will to ratify the executions of Saul’s sons and grandsons. With the staging of Brothers Vondel made an experiment in spreading the Word of God as profoundly, but also as respectfully as possible. He avoids showing the executions explicitly. Instead he uses diverse dramatic and visual means and most prominently a tableau vivant to urge the theatre-goers to create strong mental images and thus to empathize maximally with David. Vondel’s experiment in theatre practice has striking parallels with theatre theory of the same period. In his poetics Vondel’s close friend Gerardus Vossius initiates modern discussion on the overwhelming effect of dramatic performances. With the help of Longinus’s On the Sublime Vossius makes a distinction between the ‘cheap’ momentary effect of staging explicit cruelties and the long-lasting effect of our imagination. By placing a tableau vivant in the performance of Brothers at the center of attention we get a privileged view on theatre practice and related theoretical discussion on the effect of the dramatic performance in the Dutch Golden Age.http://journals.openedition.org/criticon/17481poeticssublime / theDutch Golden AgeAmsterdambiblical tragedyVondel Joost van den
spellingShingle Stijn Bussels
Los Hermanos de Vondel y el poder de la imaginación
Criticón
poetics
sublime / the
Dutch Golden Age
Amsterdam
biblical tragedy
Vondel Joost van den
title Los Hermanos de Vondel y el poder de la imaginación
title_full Los Hermanos de Vondel y el poder de la imaginación
title_fullStr Los Hermanos de Vondel y el poder de la imaginación
title_full_unstemmed Los Hermanos de Vondel y el poder de la imaginación
title_short Los Hermanos de Vondel y el poder de la imaginación
title_sort los hermanos de vondel y el poder de la imaginacion
topic poetics
sublime / the
Dutch Golden Age
Amsterdam
biblical tragedy
Vondel Joost van den
url http://journals.openedition.org/criticon/17481
work_keys_str_mv AT stijnbussels loshermanosdevondelyelpoderdelaimaginacion