Politica E Commedia Al Femminile

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Politica E Commedia Al Femminile UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PISA Dipartimento di Filologia, Letteratura e Linguistica Dottorato di Ricerca in Discipline Umanistiche Tesi di dottorato POLITICA E COMMEDIA AL FEMMINILE IN INGHILTERRA TRA IMPERO E RIVOLUZIONE FRANCESE TRA 1780 E 1800 Relatrici: Chiar.ma Prof.ssa Carla Dente Chiar.ma Prof.ssa Roberta Ferrari Dottoranda: Laura Russo 0 INDICE Introduzione……………………………………………………………………p. 4 Parte I: METODI E CONTESTI 1. Coordinate Teoriche…………………………………………………..…p.14 2. Teatro, Politica e Società………………………………………………………p. 27 2.1. I luoghi del teatro e il pubblico… ……………………….……..p. 27 2.2. Rapporti col potere e con la legge: la Censura………………..p. 40 2.3. Il teatro e la Rivoluzione francese…………………….………...p. 48 2.4. Teatro e Impero……………………………………………………p. 59 Appendice I……………………………………………………………….p. 73 Appendice II………………………………………………………………p. 75 Appendice III………………………………………………………...……p. 77 3. Metodologie di Analisi…………………………………………………..p. 78 3.1. L’Oggetto di studio: la commedia tardo georgiana al femminile……………………………………………………….p. 78 3.1.1. La Commedia………………………………………p. 78 3.1.2. Le Commediografe…………………………….…...p. 86 3.2. Il momento analitico: scelte, metodi e fonti…………….……p. 91 Parte II: LE COMMEDIE 4. Le cose stanno così……………………………………………………p.102 4.1. Il testo…………………………………………………………….p.104 4.1.1. Il tema e le fonti dell’opera………………………...p.104 4.1.2. Gli spazi………………………………………..…p.112 1 4.1.3. Correzioni e revisioni del testo…………………..…p.119 4.2. Immagine pubblica e giudizio a posteriori……………p.131 5. La Russia in Turchia: politica e poetica di una signora perbene…………………………………………………….…p.137 5.1. Il contesto storico: la crisi di Oczakow………………p.139 5.2. Il testo………………………………………………….…p.148 5.2.1. Le fonti………………………………………….…p.148 5.2.2. Versioni del testo……………………………..……p.159 5.3. Il personaggio dell’autrice: posizioni politiche e questioni di genere………………………………………………p.168 6. La censura del capriccio……………………………….…p.173 6.1. Il testo………………………………………………….…p.175 6.1.1. Il tema e le fonti dell’opera…………………………p.175 6.1.2. Correzioni e revisioni………………………...……p.184 6.1.2.1. La mano del censore…..……………………p.184 6.1.2.2. Revisioni dell’autrice……..…………………p.189 6.1.3. La prefazione………………………………………p.193 6.2. La fortuna dell’opera……………………………………p.196 6.3. L’immagine pubblica……………………….……..….…p.202 Riflessioni orientate a una possibile conclusione………….…p. 214 Bibliografia…………………………………………………………..….p.219 2 What hitherto has been dramatic, may become historical. (R. B. Sheridan, In Support of the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, June 6, 1788) 3 Introduzione Oggetto di questa ricerca è lo studio della rappresentazione della politica nel teatro inglese di fine XVIII secolo. In questo ambito, ci si concentrerà specificamente sulla produzione drammaturgica femminile, solo di recente riportata all’attenzione degli studiosi; si procederà in questo gruppo a un’ulteriore selezione del campo di ricerca, scegliendo come oggetto dell’analisi la commedia, ritenuta dalla critica del tempo – e in verità anche da quella successiva, fin quasi ai tempi nostri – un genere in fase discendente, attraversato da una crisi creativa e d’identità, ridotto a mera occasione d’intrattenimento disimpegnato, libero da ogni riferimento politico. Un primo obiettivo di questo lavoro sarà proprio quello di contribuire al ribaltamento di tale ingeneroso e miope giudizio, fornendo una serie di dati analitici e un tentativo d’interpretazione generale. Ci si porrà in tal senso nella scia di una serie di studi – che avrò più volte modo di citare – comparsi a partire dagli anni Novanta del secolo scorso: riaffermando nella società inglese di fine Settecento la centralità del teatro, inteso sia come spazio pubblico sia come forma espressiva, si riporterà sotto le luci della ribalta l’esperienza drammaturgica femminile mostrando la particolare pregnanza politico-culturale che attraverso di essa assume in questo periodo proprio il genere commedia. In primo luogo, si mostrerà dunque come alla fine del XVIII secolo il teatro inglese si configuri in maniera evidente come un mezzo di espressione privilegiato dei tempi, atto a veicolare in maniera efficace messaggi culturali e politici d’interesse pubblico generale. Diretta conseguenza di tale efficacia comunicativa detenuta dal medium teatrale (e migliore prova possibile di quanto il pericolo insito in esso fosse stato percepito a livello politico centrale) è l’affermarsi in quest’epoca di una pratica istituzionalizzata di censura teatrale, a partire dallo Stage Licensing Act emanato nella prima metà del secolo. Anche all’analisi del ruolo che la censura assume in questo periodo è stato dunque dato un posto di rilievo nel corso della trattazione. Altro nodo centrale di questo lavoro è, come si è detto, l’attenzione specifica che si è deciso di dare alla scrittura teatrale femminile. Tale scelta non è dovuta soltanto all’implicita volontà di rivalorizzare il ruolo centrale che alcune interpreti di essa assunsero in quest’epoca, sia per il numero di drammi rappresentati con successo di pubblico sia per il livello qualitativo raggiunto dalla loro opera; nel contesto di questa ricerca, l’interesse per la drammaturgia femminile deriva in primo luogo dalla 4 constatazione dell’esistenza di una serie di dati peculiari che rendono tale oggetto di studio decisamente interessante. Come avremo modo di vedere, infatti, le drammaturghe vivono in maniera particolare il rapporto con i diversi attori – pubblico, manager teatrali, editori, stampa, istituzioni politiche – che insieme costituiscono il polo della ricezione della loro opera. Concentrare l’analisi sulla scrittura teatrale femminile ci permetterà pertanto di porre l’attenzione su alcune peculiarità che caratterizzano tale galassia e le spinte gravitazionali che l’attraversano, interagendo in maniera decisiva con il momento della produzione del testo teatrale e con quello – solitamente meno considerato, ma altrettanto decisivo ai fini dell’analisi globale dell’opera – della costruzione della loro immagine pubblica. È evidente, d’altronde, come queste stesse peculiarità possano fungere nel contempo da spunto per riflettere su alcuni meccanismi relazionali che caratterizzano in generale il rapporto tra produzione e ricezione di un oggetto culturale. Un discorso analogo si può fare sulla scelta di concentrare lo sguardo sul genere- commedia; essa è funzionale non solo a un tentativo, come si è detto, di “riabilitazione” della stessa: l’intento di confutare l’assunto di un’inferiorità della commedia di fine Settecento va di pari passo con quello di dimostrare come rappresenti una sorta di canale privilegiato per la partecipazione delle scrittrici al dibattito pubblico e, soprattutto, per mostrare come proprio l’attenzione al contributo delle commediografe permetta di riconoscere il vivace affermarsi di nuove modulazioni all’interno del genere drammatico, sistematicamente sottovalutate nelle trattazioni tradizionali. Tutte queste ragioni sono alla base della scelta dei testi atti a esemplificare il panorama del rapporto tra teatro, politica e società nell’Inghilterra di fine XVIII secolo: si tratta di tre commedie scritte da tre diverse autrici, che coprono un lasso temporale di soli otto anni a cavallo tra gli anni Ottanta e Novanta del secolo (dal 1787 al 1795). La prima opera, Such Things Are (1787) di Elizabeth Inchbald, presenta numerosi riferimenti alla questione coloniale, fornendo una sottile rappresentazione della gestione dispotica e corrotta delle colonie da parte della classe dirigente britannica. La seconda commedia, A Day in Turkey (1791) di Hannah Cowley, coniuga il tema orientalistico in maniera diversa dalla precedente e ha in comune con la terza opera presa in considerazione, The Whim (1795) di Lady Eglantine Wallace, la presenza nel testo di una serie sistematica di richiami alla 5 Rivoluzione francese. Si comprende facilmente come tali testi siano stati scelti perché presentano riferimenti a questioni di politica internazionale che ebbero massima rilevanza anche per l’Inghilterra della fine del Settecento. Teatro, politica, società, censura, scrittura femminile, commedia: ecco le parole- chiave di questo lavoro, com’è d’altronde evidente anche dai titoli dei capitoli e dei paragrafi che lo compongono. Una delle difficoltà maggiori nella presentazione dell’argomento è stata quella di trovare il modo più efficace per organizzare l’ampiezza e la complessità di tale materia di studio, attraversata da una tale molteplicità di poli d’interesse, ciascuno strettamente interconnesso agli altri, in un’esposizione – inevitabilmente – lineare. L’ideale che si è cercato di realizzare è stato quello di rendere l’idea dell’intreccio e dell’interdipendenza di tutte queste tematiche attraverso una struttura espositiva che fosse il più possibile chiara ed esaustiva e che evitasse di cadere in ripetitività o eccessive tortuosità. Ed è stata anche quest’esigenza concreta a decidere dell’organizzazione dell’opera, delle sue parti e dei suoi capitoli, nel modo che qui di seguito verrà esposto sinteticamente. Lo studio si divide in due parti, la prima di carattere introduttivo-metodologico e la seconda dedicata all’analisi dettagliata delle tre opere scelte per esemplificare l’oggetto dello studio. Ci tengo comunque a precisare chr la scelta di tale struttura non intende né rispecchiare il modo in cui il lavoro di ricerca si è concretamente svolto né tantomeno affermare un primato cronologico o epistemologico della “teoria” sulla “pratica”. In realtà, nel corso del lavoro spesso ho avuto modo di constatare come soltanto l’atto
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