Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations

G o zzi m a int a ine d th a t th ere ca n b e but thirty- six tra gic s a o s . e oo ea a s t o find o e h e was itu ti n Schill r t k gr t p in " m r , but e e . un abl e t o find eve n so m any as G ozzi . G o th Th e Thirty - Six Dram atic Situ ations GE ORGES POLTI Transl a ted by Lucil e R ay a o Fr nklin , Ohi J A M ES K NAPP H E R V E 1 9 2 4 PY H 1 9 1 6 1 9 1 7 CO RI G T , , T H E E D ITO R CO M PAN Y P H 1 92 1 CO YRI G T , JAM E S KN APP R E E VE 2 839 6 T H E T H I R TY - SI X D R AMAT I C SITUAT I ONS I NTR OD U CTI ON G o zzi m a int a in ed th a t th ere can b e but thirty - six tra gic s a o s . e o o ea a s t o fin o e h e itu ti n Schill r t k gr t p in d m r , but was a e s s un bl t o find even o m a ny a G o zzi . - Th irty six situations only ! There is , to me , some a thing t ntalizing about the assertion , unaccompanied as it is by any explanation either from Gozzi , or from Goethe or Schiller , and presenting a problem which it does not solve . For I remembered that he who declared by this limited number so strongly synthetic a law , s had him elf the most fantas tic of imaginations . He was th e the author , th is Gozzi , of of Roi ” " na l o ue 7 the o ne Cerf , two works almost without é g , “ ” " upo n t he situation of the E n igma / th e other U pon phas es of metempsychosis ; he was t he creator of a d ra e t he a e e matic syst m , and Ar b squ spirit , through h im a s e e t e tr nsfu d , has giv n us h work of Hoffmann , Jean Paul Richter and Poe . ’ The Ven e ti a n s e xube rance would h a ve ma d e me e a ce a e s d oubtful of h im , sinc , h ving on l unch d at us thi d e 36 e e s . u t e a n numb r , h k pt il ence B Sch ill r , rigid a e a e e a e e a s a rd nt Kanti n , princ of mod rn sth tici n , m ster e a a — a d e e e of tru h istoric d r m , h h not in turn , b for “ a s e a e ea a s t o v e rif a nd ccepting thi rul , t k n gr t p in y it ( t h e pains of a Schill er !) th e reby giving it th e a dd itiona l ? a uthority of his powe rful critici s m a nd h is rich me mo ry l l a e a s And Goeth e , his opposite in a th ings s v trong a s e t he a wh o h is t t for abstr ct , throughout e se e t o e t e s e a d s es lif ms h a ve consid e r d h ubj ct , d his t ti ea s a e t e e o f e e a a e e mony y r ft r h d ath Sch ill r , y rs ft r th ir 8 T H I RTY - SI X D RA M ATIC SITU ATIONS r f uitful conversations , at the very time when he was “ completing Faust , that supreme combination of con trasting elements . r In F ance , Gérard de Nerval alone had grasped and presented briefly the ensemble of al l dramatic produc ’ ” tion , in an article upon Soumet s Jane Grey , in f written , un ortunately , with what dandy ism of style ! Having early desired to know the exact number of actions possible to the theater , he found , he - s tells us , twenty four . His basi , however , is far from s atisfactory . Falling back upon the outworn cl assifi o f cation the seven ca pital sins , he finds himself obliged at the outset to eliminate two of them , gluttony and sloth , and very nearly a third , lust (this would be Don Juan , perhaps) . It is not apparent what manner of tragic energy has ever been furnished by avarice , and the divergence between pride (presumably the spirit of tyr anny) and danger , does not promise well for the con texture of drama , the manifesta tions of the latter being too easily confounded with those of envy . Furthermore , murder or homicide , which he indicates as a factor for a obt ining several new situations , by uniting it in turn with each of the others , cannot be accepted as such , l l since it is but an accident common to a of them , pos sible in all , and one most frequently produced by all . n And fi ally , the sole title mentioned by Nerval , Rivalry of Queen and Subject , corresponds , it will be observed , - - only to a sub class of one , not of his twenty four , but of ’ o z - G zi s Thirty six Situations . ’ G o zzi s Since Nerval , no one has treated , in genuinely technica l manner , of the secrets of invention , unless it ’ be relevant to mention in this connection Sa rcey s cele “ brated - - theory of the scene a faire , a theory in general 1 but il l comprehended by an age which dreads d id acti cism , that is to say , dreads any serious reflection upon art ; some intimate notes of Dumas fit: which were pub l ish ed s again t his wishes , if my youthful memories are “ ” correct , in the Temps some years ago , and which set forth that d oub la pl ot of Corn eille and Racine , a heroine i e d sputed by two heroes , and a hero disput d by two I NTRO D U CTION 9 s heroines ; and , la tly , some works here and there by is Valin , upon composition . And that all , absolutely all . I - Finally , in brief , rediscovered the thirty six situa tions , as Gozzi doubtless possessed them , and as the reader will fin d them in the following pages ; for there a - were indeed , as he had indic ted , thirty six ca tegories which I had to formulate in order to distribute fitly among them the innumerable dramas awaiting classi ca tion . fi There is , I hasten to say , nothing mystic or cabalistic about th is particular number ; it might per haps be possible to choose one a trifle higher or lower , but this one I consider the most accurate . Now , to this declared fact that there are no more * - s than thirty six dramatic situation , is attached a singu lar corollary , the d iscovery that there are in life but - - thirty six emotions . A maximum of thirty six emo n — tio s , and therein we have all the savor of existence ; there we have the unceasing ebb and flow which fills e human h istory like tid s of the sea ; which is , indeed , the a very subst nce of history , since it is the substa nce of e humanity its lf , in the shades of Africa n forests as Unter d e n Lind en or beneath the electric lights of the Boule ’ va rd s ; as it was in t h e ages of man s hand - to - hand e t he struggl with wild beasts of wood and mountain , as be i and it will , indubitably , in the most inf nitely dis a e e - t nt futur , sinc it is with these thirty six emotions e — we no mor that we color , nay , comprehend , cosmic e a a nd e e m ch nism , sinc it is from th m that our theogonies e a s s a re a nd e e and our m t phy ic , v r will be , constructed ; “ — all our d ea r a nd fa nciful beyonds ; thirty - six situ io -s e s a t ns r ix a nd e . , thi ty motion , no mor e e e s e a t e It is , th n , compr h n ibl th in vi wing upon the sta ge the cea se l e ss mingling o f th ese thirty - s ix e mo a e a o a e a t t e e tions , a r c or n ti n rriv s h b ginning of its e - s s G re s e d finite self co nsciou ne s ; th e e k , ind e d , began e o s th ir towns by l a ying th e f und a tion of a th eater . It is e qua lly natura l th at o nly th e grea tes t and most com ‘ I a e e a e t h e o a se t he o a o h v r pl c d w rd tr gic , u d in qu t ti n , with a a .

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