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Ontological Journeys of Descent in Dramas of Selfhood: Descensus ad inferos and Individuation in Dante, Claudel, Beckett, Ionesco By Ioana Sion A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements For the degree of PhD Graduate Department of the Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto © Copyright by Ioana Sion 2008 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55701-3 Our We Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55701-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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I+I Canada Ontological Journeys of Descent in Dramas of Selfhood: Descensus ad inferos and Individuation in Dante, Claudel, Beckett, Ionesco By Ioana Sion PhD Degree, Graduate Department of the Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto 2008 ABSTRACT The influence of Dante on early Italian and English poetry and drama has been well documented, and there is a whole exegesis and bibliography on this matter. There is clearly very little on Dante's impact on the modern and contemporary theater. In the attempt to fill a gap and address the issue of Dantesque influence and intertextuality within the spiritual quest of twentieth century drama - and with the declared objective of showcasing various post/modern reinterpretations of the Dantesque ontological journey - I have selected several plays by Paul Claudel (from the turn of the century), Samuel Beckett (mid-century), and Eugene Ionesco (towards the end of the century). This project focuses on the modern drama's engagement with the ritual recovery of being and a re-evaluation of the Commedia's archetype of initiation. Dante's poem is as much about death as it is about life. It is a Summa mortis humanae as much as it is a Summa vitae humanae. The ii estranged soul embarks on a journey of self-knowledge (Inferno), self-renewal (Purgatorio), and self-recovery (Paradiso). It is a symbolic account of descent and ascent or, in other words, the way of individuation, as Carl Gustav Jung calls it. The process essentially consists of a union of consciousness with the contents of the unconscious. This concept of wholeness is later used by Jung to describe the ultimate aim of all psychic activity. The self is an ideal centre, and the process of individuation follows the search for the true self, for the ideal inner core, the divine spark in man. Like Dante - Claudel, Beckett, and Ionesco emerge as shamans who bring the knowledge of the afterworld to the living. They attempt to expose the contents of the unconscious, to realize the absolute unity in duality, the final reconciliation of the opposites. Twentieth century wholeness becomes the ekphrasis of "holeness", negativity is absorbed in positivity, and the "new wholeness" contains nothingness, Paradise includes Hell. The onto logical journey is, in the end, a return to w/holeness, to that coincidentia oppositorum, a quest for the identity of the self within its dissolution. My exploration will essentially highlight a more subtle affiliation of twentieth century drama of selfhood to the Dantesque pursuit of fullness of being, in the form of an undercurrent of structural and thematic analogy, symbolism and subliminal allusion. This study of select dramatic texts, mainly focusing on En attendant Godot (Beckett), Le Repos du septieme jour (Claudel), and L 'Homme aux valises and Voyages chez les morts (Ionesco), will be approached from a textual standpoint, as well as from philosophical and psychoanalytical perspectives. My interpretation takes the form of bricolage, having the anagogical Dante in the background, in order to create the framework for a meditation on twentieth century (im)possibility of salvation, the revelation of being, the artist's prophetic role within the minefield of artistic creation. in TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. Terminology and Method 1 1.1. Contexts and Intertexts. Themes and Theories 1 1.1.1. Dantean Intertext. "Descendit ad inferos...ascendit adcaelos." 1 1.1.2. Methods, Motifs and Perspectives 6 1.2. Paul Claudel's Drama of Salvation 15 1.3. Descent to the Zero Point of Soul in Bekett's Plays ...17 1.4. Ionesco's Journeys to the Afterworld 21 1.5. Modern Chronicles of the Inferno: Conclusions 24 2. CHAPTER 2. DANTE. Labyrinthine Circling to the Centre of the Divine Comedy. Descensus ad inferos as Redemption in Inf. 8-9 and the Gospel of Nicodemus. Ascensus ad caelos and Individuation 29 2.1. The Motif of Descent: Brief Overview 29 2.2. Origins and Adaptations of the Gospel of Nicodemus's Descent Motif 33 2.3. Dante's Comedy: Three Descents into the Inferno 36 2.4.The Sacra Rappresentazione before the City of Dis: Inferno 8 and 9 38 2.4.1. First Act 40 2.4.2. Second Act 42 2.4.3. Third Act 43 2.5. The City of Dis Confrontation from an Intertextual and Psychoanalytical Perspective 44 IV 2.6. A Labyrinthine Extravaganza: The Cretan Myth Transformed Into A Christian Symbol 47 2.7. Dante's Crucial Arithmetic Sensibility and Medieval Numerology 56 2.8. Deus est sphaera cujus centrum ubique. The Soul's Journey to God. God as Circle and Centre. The Sacred Formal-Theological Design: Threefold and Fourfold 59 3. CHAPTER 3. CLAUDEL. The Circular Self and Salvation on the Seventh Day. Dantesque Intertext and Descensus ad inferos in Claudel's. Le Repos du septieme jour 70 3.1. Claudel's Dante. Preliminary Discussion 70 3.1.1. Around "Introduction a un poeme sur Dante" (1921) 70 3.1.2 On Human and Divine Rest: Salvation on the Seventh Day 76 3.2. Le Repos du septieme jour (1901) 78 3.2.1. Structure and Symbolism 78 3.1.2. The First Act: The triple Descent of Christ, Dante and the Emperor 83 3.1.2.1. First Episode 83 3.1.2.2. Second Episode 84 3.1.2.3. Third Episode 86 3.1.3. The Second Act: The Dantesque Journey of Descent 88 3.1.4. The Third Act: Salvation and Self-Understanding 94 3.2. Textual Analysis : Septenary Man and the Union of Heaven and Earth 98 3.3. The "Wholly" Vision 103 3.4. The Centre and the Circle. "Tout etre semble en soi rond" 105 3.5. The Emperor's and Reader's Hermeneutic Circle 114 v 3.6. Conclusions: Homo Claudelianus and Wholeness 117 4. CHAPTER 4. BECKETT. The Zero Self: Descent to the Ground Zero of Being. Godot's Waiting Selves in Dante's Waiting Rooms 125 4.1. Tout commence avec Dante... Beckett Between Dante's Hell and Purgatory.... 125 4.2. Waiting for Godot and Dante's Waiting Room 130 4.3. The Quaternary Self and Jung's Mandala 154 4.4. The Archetypal Shape of the Beckettian Self 160 4.5. Around Hell and Purgatory: Various Interpretations and Multiple Symbols Where None Intended 163 4.6. Conclusions to the Shape of the Beckettian Self: The Zero of Wholeness 165 5. CHAPTER 5. IONESCO. Mythical Self and Infernal Labyrinth: The Dantesque Dimension of Ionesco's Dreamscape 170 5.1. Myth and Archetype 170 5.2. Ionesco's Labyrinthine Realm of the Dead and Dantean Intertext 172 5.2.1. "Le Reve c'est le drame meme": Dream, Drama and Fundamental Mysteries 172 5.2.2. L'Homme awe valises: First Man's Redemption 176 5.2.3. Voyages chez les morts: Jean's Harrowing of Hell 182 5.3. Melanie Klein and the Quest for the Lost Mother: Matricide and Restoration of the Maternal Imago 190 5.4. Ionesco's Return to Myth and the Labyrinth 192 VI 6. CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSIONS 201 6.1. Postmodern Continuity or the Ontology of the Post/Modern Self ..201 6.2. Individuation between Sacred and Profane 208 6.3. The Soul's Voyage of Exile 211 6.4. Final Remarks 214 7. APPENDIX 220 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY 222 9. NOTES PER CHAPTER 251 vn Acknowledgements My chief debt of gratitude is to the late professor Amilcare Iannucci, distinguished Dante scholar and vibrant mentor, whose insight, intellectual enthusiasm and rigorous scholarship have inspired and guided my work.