Il mulo di Lessing

In Hamburg Dramaturgy, the lengthy parallel analysis that Lessing devoted to the tragedies of Maffei and Voltaire about the figure of Merope, led him to an Enlightenment re-reading of Aristotle and to an hypothetical reconstruction of Euripides’ Cresphontes. In this way, the German critic was able t...

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Main Author: Franco Perrelli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2016-06-01
Series:Drammaturgia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/drammaturgia/article/view/8182
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author Franco Perrelli
author_facet Franco Perrelli
author_sort Franco Perrelli
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description In Hamburg Dramaturgy, the lengthy parallel analysis that Lessing devoted to the tragedies of Maffei and Voltaire about the figure of Merope, led him to an Enlightenment re-reading of Aristotle and to an hypothetical reconstruction of Euripides’ Cresphontes. In this way, the German critic was able to underline Euripides’ attitude to a technique of preliminary revelation of the characters and the nodal points of the plot: on one side, it can reduce the suspense; on the other, it avoids the most superficial coups de théâtre, shifting the tragic effect from ‘what’ to ‘how’ it occurs. Contesting the position of Abbé d’Aubignac and supporting Diderot, Lessing realized that a considerable part of this Euripidean technique is based on the remixing of diegesis and dramatic mimesis: it is an uncommon ‘hybrid’ of genres that appears efficacious and extremely useful (just like the intersection from which is generated a mule). Lessing’s analysis had an important and documented influence on the modern theatre: here, we can find a Sophoclean approach (Ibsen) and an Euripidean approach to the drama. In particular, the Euripidean line is developed in Strindberg’s epic dramaturgy and, in all its evidence, in Brecht.
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spelling doaj.art-f7560cb039694db4b10409d4fa1b977f2022-12-22T03:06:19ZengFirenze University PressDrammaturgia1122-93652283-56442016-06-01122Il mulo di LessingFranco PerrelliIn Hamburg Dramaturgy, the lengthy parallel analysis that Lessing devoted to the tragedies of Maffei and Voltaire about the figure of Merope, led him to an Enlightenment re-reading of Aristotle and to an hypothetical reconstruction of Euripides’ Cresphontes. In this way, the German critic was able to underline Euripides’ attitude to a technique of preliminary revelation of the characters and the nodal points of the plot: on one side, it can reduce the suspense; on the other, it avoids the most superficial coups de théâtre, shifting the tragic effect from ‘what’ to ‘how’ it occurs. Contesting the position of Abbé d’Aubignac and supporting Diderot, Lessing realized that a considerable part of this Euripidean technique is based on the remixing of diegesis and dramatic mimesis: it is an uncommon ‘hybrid’ of genres that appears efficacious and extremely useful (just like the intersection from which is generated a mule). Lessing’s analysis had an important and documented influence on the modern theatre: here, we can find a Sophoclean approach (Ibsen) and an Euripidean approach to the drama. In particular, the Euripidean line is developed in Strindberg’s epic dramaturgy and, in all its evidence, in Brecht.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/drammaturgia/article/view/8182DramaMimesis
spellingShingle Franco Perrelli
Il mulo di Lessing
Drammaturgia
Drama
Mimesis
title Il mulo di Lessing
title_full Il mulo di Lessing
title_fullStr Il mulo di Lessing
title_full_unstemmed Il mulo di Lessing
title_short Il mulo di Lessing
title_sort il mulo di lessing
topic Drama
Mimesis
url https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/drammaturgia/article/view/8182
work_keys_str_mv AT francoperrelli ilmulodilessing