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The Politics of Ideology in Brecht's Life of Galileo

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The Politics of Ideology in Brecht's Life of Galileo جملة اﻵداب / العدد 106 2013 م 1435هـ The Politics of Ideology in Brecht’s Life of Galileo A paper presented By Ihsan Alwan Muhsin University of Baghdad College of Languages Department of English Table of Contents 59 جملة اﻵداب / العدد 106 2013 م 1435هـ الملخص ألٌات الفكر السٌاسً فً مسرحٌة "حٌاة غالٌلٌو" لـ برٌخت ٌعتبر برتولد برخت واحد من افضل المسرحٌن المحدثٌن. ان مساهماته الكبٌرة فً التقالٌد المسرحٌة والمسرح الملحمً قد اضفت على سمعته مكانة مرموقة. كتب برخت كثٌر من المسرحٌات الناجحة ومنها )حٌاة غالٌلٌو(. تدور احداث هذه المسرحٌة حول الفٌلسوف وعالم الفٌزٌاء اﻻٌطالً غالٌلٌو غالٌلً الذي كان تأثٌره واضحا فً الثورة العلمٌة التً اتت ﻻحقا. تجسد هذه المسرحٌة الشد اﻻمتناهً بٌن العلم والسلطة الدٌنٌة القوٌة والقناعة العلمٌة المتحررة لﻻنسان. ومن هنا اتت هذه الدراسة لتبحث العﻻقة الجدلٌة بٌن الدٌن والعلم كما جسدت شخصٌة غالٌلٌو غالٌلً فً ضل العقٌدة الفكرٌة المهٌمنة انذاك. لقد وقع اﻻختٌار على هذه المسرحٌة بناء على ما تحتوٌه من معالجة رائعة وبصٌرة ثاقبة ﻻلٌات الفكر السٌاسً ودﻻﻻتها ذات العﻻقة الوثٌقة بوقنا الحاضر. نظرٌا ٌرتكز البحث على )نظرٌة الفكر والفن( لـ التوسٌر وتطبٌق هذه النظرٌة على مسرحٌة )حٌاة غالٌلٌو( لـبرخت. ٌعتبر التوسٌر )9191-9111( واحد من منظري ما بعد الماركسٌة فً العالم الغربً, وممن دعم نسخة مباشرة من الماركسٌة التً كانت دائما قرٌبة من الحزب الشٌوعً. التوسٌر اعتبر برخت كواحد من اعظم المسرحٌٌن الماركسٌٌن الثورٌٌن فً القرن العشرٌن ومن الذٌن وظفوا المسرح لمعارضة النظام الرأسمالً والفكر البرجوازي. ٌتكون البحث من ثﻻثة اجزاء رئٌسٌة: حٌث ٌختبر الجزء اﻻول كٌفٌٌة اصرار التوسٌر على تبنً نسخة مباشرة من الماركسٌة الغٌر ملوثة بمثالٌة الطبقة الوسطى والنفعٌة وتركز على الصراع الطبقً. حٌث كما هو برخت, كان التوسٌر ٌعتقد بأن النظام التربوي, الحٌاة الثقافٌة, المسرح والفن ما هً اﻻ مٌدان رئٌسً واحد من النظام الثوري ضد ﻻٌدٌولوجٌة الرأسمالٌة المهٌمنة. ٌتناول الجزء الثانً اراء التوسٌر عن برخت ككاتب مسرحً ثوري وكٌف ان المسرح الكﻻسٌكً كان قد ساند اﻻٌدٌولجٌات السائدة فً المجتمع والطرٌقة التً ساهم بها فً حل الصراعات اﻻجتماعٌة بطرق وجدانٌة ومثالٌة من خﻻل بطوﻻت البطل. فً حٌن ان الكومٌدٌا ومسرح العبث سخرت من كل هذا دون تقدٌم اي امل فً تغٌٌر حقٌقً. ومع ذالك فان نسخة برخت من المسرح استندت على العلوم التارٌخٌة من الماركسٌة وقدمت قراءة هدامة ومعارضة لﻻٌدٌولوجٌات الرأسمالٌة وفً مسرحٌات مثل )حٌاة غالٌلٌو( نفت وجود بطل او حل خٌالً للمشاكل اﻻجتماعٌة. ٌناقش القسم الثالث فً البحث الطرٌقة التً كان فٌها غالٌلٌو, فً الحقٌقة, انموذجا لﻻنتهازي البرجوازي الحدٌث الذي ٌستشعر بوجود عالم حدٌث وبأمكانٌات غٌر محدودة : كان غالٌلٌو ٌعلم بأن اكتشافاته العلمٌة الجدٌدة تشكل تهدٌدا حقٌقٌا للنظام اﻻقطاعً القدٌم بما فً ذالك الكنٌسة الكاثولٌكٌة والطبقة اﻻرستقراطٌة وخصوصا اذا ما بدأ من هم ادنى رتبة منهم, فً السلم اﻻجتماعً, بطرح اسئلة واستفسارات, ﻻ اجابة لها, حول المجتمع واﻻٌدٌوجٌات السائدة. وفً النهاٌة عندما هدد بالتعذٌب والموت, تنصل وتنكر غالٌلٌو عن ارائه واذعن الى حكم وقناعات السلطات التقلٌدٌة بدﻻ من المخاطرة واﻻستشهاد او حتى محاولة قٌادة حركة ثورٌة. لقد صور برخت غالٌلٌو مغرورا للغاٌة, باحثا عن ملذاته الشخصٌة ومتجنبا لﻻلم. رغباته اﻻنانٌة البحتة هذه ادت بالنهاٌة الى تزوٌد اعداء اﻻنسانٌة بسﻻح وتقنٌات جدٌدة ﻻستعباد وابادة الجماهٌر. لقد استوعب الناس الدرس جٌدا: بما ان الشمس ﻻ تدور حول اﻻرض اذا لم تعد هنالك حاجة لﻻنسان فً المستقبل من ان ٌجعل سواه كعبة له ٌطوف حولها. 60 جملة اﻵداب / العدد 106 2013 م 1435هـ Introduction Bertolt Brecht is one of the most leading playwrights in modern drama and indeed, one of the biggest stations where the train of drama should stop for catering. His colossal contribution to the dramatic technique, theatrical convention and epic theatre tags him enormous magnitude. He wrote many successful plays chief among them is Life of Galileo. This play is so influential not only for the reason that it reflects on the calamity of Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist and philosopher whose impact was so obvious on the later Scientific Revolution, but also since it incarnates the everlasting tug of war between the powerful pragmatic religious authorities and man‟s liberal scientific conviction. Hence, this paper comes to inspect the problematical relation between religion and science as depicted by Brecht‟s Galileo in the light of the dominant ideology at his time. The play has been chosen, in this paper, as it shocks us with its fascinating and insightful manipulation of the politics of ideology and its significant connection to our present time. Theoretically, the paper will mainly hinge on Althusser‟s Theory of Ideology and Art which would be applied on Brecht‟s Life of Galileo. Louis Althusser (1918-90) was one of the post-Marxist theorists in the Western world, and advocated an especially orthodox version of Marxism that was always close to the Communist Party line. He regarded Bertolt Brecht as one of the great Marxist-revolutionary playwrights of the 20th Century, who used the theater to oppose the capitalist system and bourgeois ideology. The paper is divided into three sections and a conclusion: In the first section, the paper will examine how Althusser insisted on a „straight‟ version of Marxism, uncontaminated by middle class idealism, pragmatism or humanism and centered on class struggle. Like Brecht, he believed that the educational system, cultural life, the theater and the arts would always be one major arena of revolutionary struggle against the dominant ideology of capitalism. The second section will consider Althusser‟s views on Brecht as a revolutionary playwright, and how classical types of theater merely uphold the dominant ideologies of society or resolved social conflicts in a sentimentalized and idealized way through the actions of a hero. Meanwhile comedy and Theater of the Absurd mocked all this without offering any hope of real change. Brecht‟s version of the theater, however, grounded in the historical science of Marxism, did offer a subversive and oppositional reading of capitalist ideologies, and in plays like Life of Galileo, even denied the existence of a hero or a fictionalized solution to social problems. In the third section on Brecht‟s Galileo, the paper will discuss how Brecht‟s Galileo was in fact a prototype of an early modern bourgeois opportunist and entrepreneur, sensing a new world of limitless possibilities. He knew that his new scientific discoveries were deeply threatening to the old feudal order, including the Catholic Church and the aristocracy, particularly if the lower orders began asking questions about society and the dominant ideologies that they could not answer. Galileo‟s New Science had removed earth from the 61 جملة اﻵداب / العدد 106 2013 م 1435هـ center of the universe and relegated it to the periphery, where it has remained ever since. It opened up the possibility that other earths and other civilizations existed out in space and time, while seeming to negate the idea that God was in his heaven and all was right with the world. Galileo could not even locate God or heaven in his telescope, which was deeply distressing to the church authorities and even to his own friends and associates. In the end though, when threatened with torture and death, he recanted his views and deferred to the traditional authorities rather than risking martyrdom or attempting to lead some type of revolutionary movement. Brecht‟s Galileo was highly egotistical and self-absorbed, hedonistic and concerned with enhancing his own pleasure and avoiding pain. He manages to survive under house arrest, but also comes to loathe himself for betraying and undermining his own scientific principles, leaving the ruling elites in control of the New Science. 1. The Workings of Ideology: An Althusserian perspective In “Marxism and Humanism” (1963) and “Ideology and the Ideological State Apparatus” (1969), Althusser described ideology as a system of myths, images and ideas playing a political and economic role in society. Far from being a set of abstract academic theories, ideology constituted “our lived relationship to historical reality, our „world‟ itself” as represented in popular culture.1 Althusser also insisted that Marxism (historical materialism) was a science rather than an ideology, and that it provided real knowledge about society. On the other hand, ideologies had certain functions under capitalism or any other social system that was not rationally chosen by individuals or even necessarily a conscious and rational part of their thought and personalities. Images from films, advertisements and television, for example, were part of everyday life and showed models of clothing, lifestyles, bodies and homes that became part of popular culture even though they may have had very little to do with the real world as most people experienced it. Marxist science demonstrated that “in reality, our lives are determined in every respect by the capitalist system of production relations in which we live.”2 For Marxists, the function of the state and the state apparatus is to maintain the ruling class in power. Althusser wrote that the Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) was the coercive side of the state that used the courts, military, prisons and police to protect capitalist interests, while the Ideological State Apparatus (ISA), including religion, political parties, the education system and media, existed to mold minds and personalities, manufacture consent, and manipulate and propagandize the masses. Ruling class ideologies will always dominate culture, education, politics and the media, but like Antonio Gramsci, Althusser regarded arts, culture and the educational system as arenas of class struggle in which oppositional and resistance ideologies can also be expressed.3 Marxist theorists like Gramsci and Althusser were naturally most concerned with culture, ideology and social relations under urban, industrial capitalism during the 20th 1 Luke Ferrerter, Louis Althusser (Routledge, 2006), p. 75. 2 Ferreter, p. 82. 3 Ferreter, p. 85. 62 جملة اﻵداب / العدد 106 2013 م 1435هـ Century, which did not yet exist during the time of Galileo. Indeed, the Renaissance, Protestant Reformation and Scientific Revolution all took place at the dawn of capitalism during the early modern period, when banking and manufacturing were still relatively small scale and nation states were only beginning to come into existence.
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