Durham E-Theses The expressed and the inexpressible in the theatre of Jean-Jacques Bernard and Henry Rene Lenormand between 1919 and 1945 Winnett, Prudence J. How to cite: Winnett, Prudence J. (1996) The expressed and the inexpressible in the theatre of Jean-Jacques Bernard and Henry Rene Lenormand between 1919 and 1945, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5102/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 THE EXPRESSED AND THE INEXPRESSIBLE IN THE THEATRE OF JEAN-JACQUES BERNARD AND HENRY-RENE LENORMAND BETWEEN 1919 AND 1945 ' PRUDENCE J. WINNETT, M.A. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of French, School of Modern European Languages, University of Durham The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the written consent of the author and information derived from it should be acknowledged. December 1996 2 9 MAY 199? PRUDENCE J. WINNETT THE EXPRESSED AND THE INEXPRESSIBLE IN THE THEATRE OF JEAN-JACQUES BERNARD AND HENRY-RENE LENORMAND BETWEEN 1919 AND 1945 Abstract Ph.D. 1996 This study is concerned with the ways the Inter-War theatre of Jean-Jacques Bernard and Henry-Rene Lenormand illustrates the paradox of the relative impotence of words as instruments of communication on the one hand as compared with their potency in other respects. The first two chapters are devoted to Bernard's exploitation and demonstration of the inadequacy of words as vehicles of meaning, the complex and correspondingly confusing nature of dialogue and miscellaneous factors which generally aggravate the communication process. Chapter 4 is given over to an examination of the most important failing of verbal symbols as illustrated in Lenormand's metaphysically oriented drama, and Chapter 5 treats of the other ways in which Lenormand's theatre complements Bernard's by highlighting the fundamental inefficiency of words as communication tools and certain factors which further undermine dialogue and personal relations. Chapters 3 and 6 review how the plays of Bernard and Lenormand also bring into relief the extraordinary and sometimes dangerous effectiveness words can have, notably as provocative triggers and psychological catalysts. A substantial Introduction puts Chapters 1-6 into a historical perspective, explains the choice of playwrights, discusses the way their work has been critically evaluated, classified and analysed in the past and accounts for this study's particular approach to their drama between 1919 and 1945. - Ill - CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 1. The choice of playwrights 2 2. Critical reaction to the playwrights' theatre ... 13 3. Categorization of the playwrights' work 28 4. The elusive nature of the playwrights' drama ... 46 5. Critical assessment of the playwrights' dramatic heritage and legacy TT^ 77'. 77'. 77~. TTT ... 61 6. The playwrights' 'cri du coeur': 'Je suis un auteur dramatique et c' est tout!' TT^ TT! 77'. 77'. T.. 69' 7. This study's approach to the expressed and the inexpressible in the playwrights' theatre T 76 PART I - JEAN-JACQUES BERNARD 87 CHAPTER 1 - THE PARALINGUISTIC AND NON-VERBAL PACKAGING OF TWO-TIER DIALOGUE 89 1. The enforced silence 90 2. The limitations and advantages of non-verbal and paralinguistic expression 94 3. Paralinguistic and non-verbal signals as potential lie detectors and the interdependence of the various instruments of communication 106 4. The paradox of silence 116 5. Contrived social masks 121 6. Automatically erected personal fagades of dialogue 123 7. The convention of small-talk 128 8. The cathartic role of talking 132 9. The mutual interference of the 'dialogue entendu' and the 'dialogue sous-jacent' 77'. 77'. TTT ... 139 - IV - Page CHAPTER 2 - MISTAKES, MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND MISINTERPRETATIONS 145 1. The lubricity and fickleness of words 146 2. The tunnel vision of the intrinsically egoistic interlocutor TT. 771 TTT TT^ TT! TTi TT. ... 151 3. The poltergeist effect of unconscious motivations 162 4. The meddlesome consequences of a complex and unruly psyche 171 5. Deux Hommes and La Louise ... 188 6. The unknowable self, the unknowable interlocutor ... 193 7. Socio-economic and cultural factors affecting the efficiency of the communication process TTT" ... 198 8. The realist-romanticist divide 205 CHAPTER 3 - THE POWER OF WORDS 213 1. The power of rhetoric 214 2. The evocative power of words and their ability to inflict mental pain 77~. 77"^ 77'. TT! TTT" ... 219 3. The dangerously provocative power of words 228 4. The power of words to trigger off dynamic and tenacious psychological processes 234 5. The crystallization of verbally stimulated reactions 245 6. The preconditioned receptivity of the hearer as the key to the psychologically catalytic power of word's 252 7. The power of the spoken versus the unspoken word and its negative versus its positive potential 77'. TT. 258 - V - Page PART II - HENRY-RENE LENORMAND 263 CHAPTER 4 - THE SEARCH FOR THE 'INEXPRESSIBLE' 265 1. The missing 'mot' and the need to search for it 266 2. - through the pursuit of knowledge 271 3. - in religious faith generally 274 4. - in Christian versus pagan, beliefs 284 5. - in death 293 6. - in love of varying degrees of purity 297 7. The inexpressibility of the 'inexpressible' 313 CHAPTER 5 - THE RELATIVE INEFFICIENCY OF VERBAL COMMUNICATION 323 1. The unknown and unknowable self and its ability to undermine communication 324 2. The disruptive role in the communication process of a split and unruly psyche 328 3. Oases of communion 334 4. The fundamental hollowness, unreliability and insufficiency of words 337 5. General factors contributing to poor communication 348 6. Paralinguistic, non-verbal and indirect communication signals: their advantages and limitations 351 The destructiveness of absolute honesty 361 CHAPTER 6 - THE POTENTIAL TYRANNY OF WORDS 366 1, The creative and destructive aspects of words and their therapeutic potential 367 2. Words as instruments of mental torment with the power to kill 378 - VI - Page 3. The potentially lethal power of words as psychological catalysts 385 4. The power of spoken versus unspoken words as psychological catalysts 77'. 777, TTi TTT" 394 5. The need for and possibility of defensive resistance 406 6. Defeatism versus defiance 412 7. Knowledge of self and others: its importance, dangers and limitations TT! 77~. 77'. 77'. 77~. 77'. TTT 421 CONCLUSION 434 APPENDIXES 450 Appendix A Detailed analysis of the misunderstanding in Act I of Le Printemps des Autres 451 Appendix B Detailed analysis of the misunderstanding in Act III of Nationale 6 455 Appendix C Exchange of correspondence between Bernard and Lenormand at the end of the Second World War 458 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 462 Bibliographical NOTE 463 I. WORKS BY JEAN-JACQUES BERNARD 464 II. CRITICAL WORKS MAKING SIGNIFICANT REFERENCE TO JEAN-JACQUES BERNARD BUT NOT TO HENRY-RENE LENORMAND 469 III. WORKS BY HENRY-RENE LENORMAND 474 IV. CRITICAL WORKS MAKING SIGNIFICANT REFERENCE TO HENRY-RENE LENORMAND BUT NOT TO JEAN-JACQUES BERNARD 481 V. CRITICAL WORKS MAKING REFERENCE TO JEAN-JACQUES BERNARD AND HENRY-RENE LENORMAND, AND OTHER SECONDARY SOURCES 495 - Vll - REFERENCES In order to restrict the material investigated in depth to a manageable quantity, only the stage plays which were written, published or performed between 1919 and 1945 and which are contained in the Theatre of Jean-Jacques Bernard and the Theatre complet of Henry-Rene Lenormand are analysed in this thesis• PART I All the passages from Bernard's plays quoted in this thesis have been taken from his Theatre, Paris, Albin Michel, 1925-1952, 8 volumes - abbreviated henceforth to 'T I', 'T II', etc. Quotations from other works of Bernard have been cited from the following editions: Temoignages in Masques. Cahiers d'Art Dramatique, 25® cahier, Paris, 1933. Mon Pere Tristan Bernard, Paris, Albin Michel, 1955. Mon Ami le Theatre, Paris, Albin Michel, 1958. 'Le silence au Theatre', La Chimere. Bulletin d'Art Dramatique, no. 5, mai 1922, pp. 66-68. 'Reflexions sur le theatre. De la suggestion et de 1'artifice', Le Theatre Contemporain (Recherches et Debats du Centre Catholique des Intellectuels Frangais), nouvelle serie no. 2, octobre 1952, pp. 43-54. (Title abbreviated, after the initial reference, to 'Reflexions sur le theatre'.) 'Georges et Ludmilla Pitoeff', La Revue Theatrale, no. 27, 1954, pp. 7-16. - Vlll - PART II All the passages from Lenormand's plays quoted in this thesis have been taken from his . Theatre complet, 10 volumes - abbreviated henceforth to 'T I', 'T II', etc. Volumes I to VII published Paris, G. Cres et Cie, 1921-1931, Volumes VIII to X published Paris, Albin Michel, 1935-1942. Quotations from other works of Lenormand have been cited from the following editions: Les Pitoeff, Paris, 0. Lieutier, 1943. Les Confessions d'un auteur dramatique, 2 vols., Paris, Albin Michel, 1949, 1953. (Title abbreviated, after the initial reference, to Les Confessions.) 'Comment j'ecris une piece', Choses de theatre, no. 8, mai 1922, pp. 449-453. 'L'Inconscient dans la litterature dramatique'. La Chimere.